Winners and Losers of the Israel/Hamas War
All in all, it’s been an awful couple of months for those of us enmeshed in the current Israel/Hamas conflict with a tally of winners and losers being recognized when the dust settles.
The Winners:
Hamas: This terrorist organization dedicated to the killing of Jews achieved an impossible feat. They conducted one of the most barbaric assaults on a civilian population in recent memory but came out the heroes. They were excused for their atrocities as a response to oppression but that is not what motivated Hamas who were elected by Gaza the same year Israel evacuated their army and settlers from the region. Hamas has spent millions constructing tunnels, rockets and stockpiled weapons, funds that should have helped the Palestinians they care nothing about. They deliberately attacked Israel in anticipation of such a violent reaction which also serves…
Iran: Iran pretty much supports all the violent reactionary militias in the Middle East while suppressing dissent, the free press and women’s rights at home. Worried that a proposed Israel-Saudi alliance would isolate Iran, the Ayatollahs gave Hamas the green light to invade Israel hoping that Israel would respond the way it did and sabotage the alliance.
Bibi Netanyahu: Due to his blatant attempts to cripple the Israel Supreme Court; prior to October 7th, Israel was on the verge of a civil war with tens of thousands of protesters marching in the streets amid dire predictions that the nation would self-destruct. Since the Hamas attack, the country is unified and the protests put on hold. Hopefully, the Israelis will vote him and his extremist ministers who preach ethnic cleansing out of office.
Donald Trump: With Joe Biden being pilloried by young liberals for his initial support of the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the continuous arming of the IDF, many of his youthful would-be supporters have threatened to sit out the upcoming presidential election which will ensure a second term for Donald Trump and perhaps the creation of a right-wing dictatorship in America.
Anti-Semitism: It’s back and bigger than ever, a jump of over 350% since October 7th according to the Anti-Defamation League. Only this time, it’s coming from the Left despite their claims that criticism of Israel doesn’t equal hatred of Jews. But considering that slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea” do in fact refer to the extermination of the Jews in Israel, the fine line between the two has been eroded. See “Israel” below.
The Losers:
The Palestinians: As always, the Palestinians get shafted by everyone. Not just by the Israelis who respond to Hamas’ attacks by bulldozing an entire population into the ground. They get screwed by Hamas, their corrupt leadership on the West Bank, the Arab nations who have always used them as a red herring to deflect dissent at home and especially by those demonstrating in the streets on their behalf. It’s a lot of fun disrupting traffic, holding signs and chanting slogans. It’s a different matter to be on the ground actually helping those you pretend to care about.
Israel: The nation everyone loves to hate, the eternal whipping boy. The ignorance surrounding the history and founding of Israel by supposed Progressives is astounding and deliberate. You have to be truly naïve not to think anti-Semitism isn’t a factor in the equation. If Israel was a nation devoid of Jews, nobody would care what they and the Palestinians did to each other.
Joe Biden: See “Donald Trump” above.
The American Left and the Peace Movement: There are those who are consciously trying to bring Israelis and Palestinians together to construct a peaceful and equable future and I applaud them. However, organizations such as “Jewish Voices for Peace” aren’t among them. Since the beginning, they and other “Peace” groups have cheer-leaded for Hamas while blatantly ignoring their atrocities. During the gap between October 7th and Israel’s invasion of Gaza, there was not one protest in response to the brutality of this attack, the details of which were made clear to every literate American. Apparently, Jewish lives don’t matter (See below.)
Victims of Sexual Assault: I never thought I’d see the day when women and teenage girls could be targeted for mass rape, sexual mutilation and murder and the global response from Progressives is denial, gas-lighting and outright lies. This unspeakable betrayal came from those who in the past would have been outraged by such carnage but not when Jewish women and girls are involved. Why?