'A racist, lying, decieving, overgrown ethno-criminal organization as a makebelieve/so called state'
Let's meet some of Israel's American detractors
This piece follows “Start the Revolution Without Me.”
There’s a not particularly old saying that in any Middle East peace negotiation, “the Palestinians won’t be singing ‘Hatikvah.” This just makes the point that to expect the Palestinians to see things Israel’s way would be unrealistic and hubristic.
But past discussions and negotiations have demonstrated that the sides can stretch and almost reach a handshake. But what was nearly impossible before Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has become less likely. After two years, with each side carrying more sunk costs as well as leaders who wouldn’t see vision if it was staring them in the face, this land that everybody claims to love is running low on hope.
Another victim of the war is international popular support for Israel, which is felt more acutely outside Israel than in it. Jews on the right who somehow feel they’re responsible for Israel’s actions, have become angry, defensive, hysterical, juvenile and masters of sophistry in trying to defend it. Hypocrisy is practically a causus belli.
Perhaps because they’re here in the United States, Israel’s opponents may feel they have the privilege of being purists in support of the Palestinian cause. Opponents is not the right word for these folks. What do you call someone who wretches at the sight of cooked green vegetables? In addition to being angry, defensive, hysterical, juvenile and masters of sophistry, these people are extraordinary name callers. They’re maximalists, eager to erase Israel verbally and politically. They are mean. They are spiteful. And they won’t back down.
I’ve traded words on Facebook with some of these opponents. The experience was eye opening and mind boggling. They are justifiably angry at the death and suffering in Gaza, but Hamas’ attack on Israel doesn’t register at all. Israel is like a stone in their shoe; they can’t wait to get rid of it.
Here are some comments from conversations I’ve had on Facebook. Their hatred of Israel far surpasses their — what? — love? care? — for the Palestinians. Because I’m a Jew, a Zionist, I’m therefore a Nazi. Very clever of them to pick that word. The N word.
I’ve changed everyone’s name but mine for privacy.
COL. MUSTARD:
“no country in the middle east is starving babies and committing genocide except Israel. Israel has for many decades had the worst human rights record of all of them. But over the past 2 years, its gone on steroids and they are acting like modern day Nazis. You dont refute any of this. You just think Israel's genocide of Palestinians is justified.
“As Israel's genocide of Palestinians accelerates and it descends into Squid Games-like bloodletting, the criticism is starting to take a harsher, meaner edge. Nobody cares to be nice or polite to modern-day Nazis.
PROFESSOR PLUM:
“Why doesn’t Hamas just surrender if they truly care about their people? They have no chance whatsoever to win this war of choice.”
COL. MUSTARD:
“Professor Plum, why doesnt Israel just surrender if they truly care about their hostages? They have no chance to win this war of choice. Israel is the world's most incompetent military. They have billions of dollars and the best technology but still cannot defeat Hamas after 3 years of trying desperately. IDF is great at killing starving babies and pregnant women. But not so good at actually defeating a military foe.”
MR. GREEN:
“if the only reason god almighty would do a day of judgement was because some despicable criminals within his creation collaborated and set up a racist, lying, decieving, overgrown ethno-criminal organization as a makebelieve/so called state (and named it Israel, defiling the name of a blessed prophet of the most compassionate, may peace be upon Yakoub/Jacob and all the true messengers and prophets) I would find it justified.
“its like a daily memory scrub fest for these racist genocidal filthy scum. the only way they can live. you might like to scrub your memory every single day but don’t project that on us.
“~ 80 years of brutal occupation and humiliation of the indigenous semitic people does not vanish into thin air just so these criminals can live on with a clear conscience.
“god almighty entrusted you with free will and this is what you chose to do with it.
“eternal hellfire is justified.”
MISS SCARLETT:
“Professor Plum, you and the rest of the genocide cheerleaders are toddlers who are caught doing something bad and immediately blubbering 'but he did it too!' A deflection that only accidentally makes you admit that israel is guilty of every vile thing it's accused of.
ME:
“Miss Scarlett — Huh? I've seen this "you deflect" move too often. It shuts down anyone who is not on the pro-Hamas side, whether they are pro-Palestinian or not. Just like Colonel Mustard and his "Nazi" shtick. I get it, you're unmovable. By any means necessary. Some of you are sharp with your pro-Hamas hasbarah. Some pretty dumb: ‘No country that occupies another country for over 7 decades should exist.’ Not to mention genocidal.”
MISS SCARLETT:
“ you have written pure nonsense. But bloodlust turns people into idiots who make irrational conclusions. Why is it considered 'pro-Hamas' to simply point out that Zio genocide cheerleaders always deflect with 'but others did it too' as if that excuses their own savagery? People with average intelligence recognize that this is a terrible and immoral argument while they unwittingly lump themselves in with the very regimes they claim to despise. Low IQ brainwashed people though see this as hamas support”
ME:
“Miss Scarlet. Go on. I know you're just warming up.”
TONY THE TIGER:
“No country that occupies another country for over 7 decades should exist. Palestine has been the largest open air prison for too long”
MR. MONOPOLY
“As long as American taxpayers continue to fund this relentless campaign of violence and genocide, Israel’s war machine will never face a shortage of resources or resolve. With Washington’s tacit approval, the annexation of Palestinian land marches forward, uprooting entire communities without the slightest concern for where they might go. This is not a question of relocation; it is a calculated erasure. For those who dare to resist abandoning their homes, the choices are cruel and deliberate: a slow death by starvation or an abrupt one under falling bombs.”
MR. PEANUT:
“Unfortunately, this genocidal nation has been armed to the teeth by this country on the pretext of ‘self defense.’ Everyone else will just have to be murdered,,starved, maimed or just drop dead!”
ME:
“Mr. Peanut, you exaggerate in your conclusion. Everyone? No.”
COLONEL MUSTARD:
“David Holzel you are a weirdo with your pedantic word-policing of people who are outraged by Israel's genocide.”
PILLSBURY DOUGH BOY:
“First its not a country, it an apartheid Occupated land run by Evils and with our Tex money supporting to do whatever they like, just think how we are going to stand front of creator on the day of judgment day and what we r going to say?”
In 1978, my shock at the vehemence of the protesters on the Diag jarred my life onto a new course. Along with getting rid of the shah, the angry demonstrators wanted to do away with Israel. They did this with no regard to the Jewish students on campus, turning us — me, for certain — into the other.
The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 led to a lot of regrettable American over reaction. It also woke up a lot of liberals whose politics were shaped by opposition to the Vietnam War. Nearly 3,000 people died that day and it could have been any of us. The Al Qaida terrorists were just out to murder Americans. And Americans and Jews were practically interchangeable for the terrorists because, as we’ve been told, Jews control the country.
To think back on it now, what a surreal, spectacular waste of life it was. What an oddball, psychotic expression of faith: It was a brilliant morality play using the living and dead as the cast.
But threatening albeit less spectacular events were ahead. It was 2005 when a Danish newspaper published 10 editorial cartoons depicting Muhammad, the founder of Islam. It sparked “protests around the world, including violence and riots in some Muslim countries.”
In January 2015, two Muslim gunmen murdered 12 people and injured 11 others in the Paris offices of the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo. Two days later, a Muslim gunman killed four Jewish men during a hostage-taking at the Hyper Cacher supermarket.
Like the protest on the Diag 45 years earlier, the more polished and elaborate “From the River to the Sea” tent encampments on U.S. campuses pushed its hard line, not at distant events but, with the hyperfocus of a one-cause obsessive, at the Jews around them.
To them, Jews and Zionists and Israelis are a monolith. We all look alike: white, European, colonialist, genociders, apartheiders, Nazis. Their hatred of Israel spills out with the surety of the religious faithful:
COL. MUSTARD:
“Zionasties always lie. Always.”
If everything I say is a lie, what’s the point of saying anything? And that may have been the point all along. From “Death to the Shah. Death to Israel” to “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” we are facing anger, verbal homicide and, when possible, actual homicide.
Attempting to bridge the gap, understanding the other narrative, supporting the other side against extremists on my side — all this has done is stir up toxic fumes from people who are my neighbors. Many know nothing about Israel or Jews, yet they have no doubts.
COL. MUSTARD:
“Is Israel a Nazi state? Yes or No?”
MISS SCARLETT:
“Only a nazi would say no”
THE MARLBORO MAN:
“Calling everything bad or authoritarian ‘Nazi’ isn't helpful.”
ME:
“Do y'all have a list of Nazi behavior that you could share with me? I was going to call it criminal and reprehensible, but maybe that doesn't have the same zing. It also lacks the irony that if the Holzels hadn't been murdered by Nazis, they would be Nazis. Genius.”
COL. MUSTARD:
“I think starving people and then luring the starving people with food only to shoot them qualifies as Nazi.”
Israel deserves plenty of criticism. But the “racist, lying, decieving, overgrown ethno-criminal organization as a makebelieve/so called state” is something else. This is hate with no bounds, and the malevolence reveals something deeper. There’s antisemitism running through the cracks here, spreading eddies of blind Jew hatred.
In high school biology we learned the difference between homologous and analogous organs. How a squid’s eye looks much like the human eye, so seemingly homologous. But it isn’t. Unlike the human eye, the squid’s eye developed to see under water.
Unlike the human eye that dilates to let in more or less light, “a squid's pupil is square and adjusts for the level of light by changing from a square to a narrow rectangle.” The eyes are analogous.
More than anything, these online interactions, plus the campus tent shows, the flotillas and boycotting celebrities have me rethinking.
I had thought that since we were neighbors, that we were liberal and progressive, that we were the children and grandchildren of immigrants, that we were homologous. But it isn’t so.
Similarities can fool. Wait for it and you might see the inky venom of Jew hatred emerge.
So much of the world is mad. If Israel didn’t exist, we would need to create it.
I don’t think we can do business.
Good piece David! Keep up the fight!