In a recent post James Joyner observes at Outside the Beltway that the United States is practically alone in its undeviating support for Israel:
To the extent Israel’s war aim of eliminating Hamas is just—and I believe it is—it remains unclear to me what more they are supposed to do to protect civilians given the circumstances. Gaza is a tiny, highly urbanized area, and Hamas militants are illegally hiding among the civilian population. Egypt has sealed its borders, meaning safe areas—which the IDF is taking great pains to announce, complete with color-coded maps—are likely the best of bad alternatives.
Whether Israel’s war aims are achievable, alas, is a different question altogether. Two months in, it’s hard to know how close the IDF is to destroying Hamas. And it remains unclear what the end state is. A Palestinian zone in Gaza run by someone (who?) other than Hamas? An Israeli-occupied Gaza?
Regardless, it’s undeniable that the result is civilians, including children, being killed in astonishing numbers. World opinion has largely turned against Israel as a result. And, while some of this can surely be explained by hatred of the Jews, it’s clearly much more than that. After all, the US was joined by France, the UK, and Japan in voting against the October 16 ceasefire resolution. Less that two months laters, France and Japan are on the other side and my strong guess is that the UK abstained only to avoid voting against its strongest ally.
To cast a little more light on the subject consider this statement by the leader of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, quoted by the editors of the Wall Street Journal:
The tune hasn’t changed, even from the leaders pressuring President Biden. Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), celebrated Oct. 7 at an American Muslims for Palestine convention on Nov. 24. A damning excerpt was publicized Thursday by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
American Muslims for Palestine then took down the full video, and Mr. Awad now claims a “hate website selected remarks from my speech out of context and spliced them together to create a completely false meaning.†But we got the video before Mr. Awad’s ally hid it, and here’s what CAIR’s leader had to say:
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on Oct. 7. And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, that they were not allowed to walk in. And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense.â€
Israel stopped occupying Gaza in 2005. Indeed, his entire statement is only tangentially related to verifiable fact although I’m sure he believes it. Contrary to his statement Hamas’s attack was at best murderously criminal contact and unjustified and the Israelis are completely justified in defending themselves.
While I’m on the subject, what is meant by the slogan being chanted “From the river to the sea Palestine must be free”. Much is said about the “river to the sea” part but little attention is paid to the “free” part. For practical purposes there is no such thing as a liberal democratic country with an Arab majority with the possible exception of Iraq and not only did we impose that government on it but Iraq continues to persecute its minority populations. Most countries with Arab majorities proclaim themselves a part of the “Arab nation” despite the presence of substantial indigenous populations subject to discrimination if not outright genocide in most of them. The Amazigh (Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Libya, Tunisia, etc.), the Kurds (Turkey, Iraq, Iran), the Yesizis (Iraq), the list goes on. The Druze are freer in Israel than they are in any Arab country.
Free to live under autocracy and engage in genocide?
My views are:
- Hamas was not justified in attacking civilians in Israel
- Israel is justified in making war against Hamas
- I cannot dictate to Israel how to wage war against Hamas
- Israel is not the 51st state—it is country different from the U. S. and our interests are not in complete alignment
- The administration’s policy WRT Israel is mistaken
The objectives of the Palestinians and Israelis are no symmetrical. Genocide of the Israelis must be deemed the Palestinians’ objective at this point. I have no idea what Israel’s objective WRT the Palestinians is. I suspect they just wish they would go away and to that end they have no problem with making their lives as miserable as possible and denying them full rights.
At present Israel is probably the most liberal, most democratic country in the Middle East. It cannot remain so with a majority Palestinian population. I have no idea how the Israelis can reconcile their objectives with minimizing civilian casualties in Gaza. Contrary to the administration’s position which is for their to be no space between the United States and Israel, I think in preventing the United Nations Security Council from passing a resolution against Israel, we have exhausted our responsibilities to Israel.
