Biased Corners: Erroneous Assumptions & Facts About Israel & Hamas
The Clever Use of Terminology Does Not Make You Neutral
On one hand, this is an answer to an article posted on Substack. On the other, it is meant for anyone who, like the original author, claims they are “neutral” and all they want is “peace.”
A few weeks ago, when I posted the “Substackers Against Nazis” letter in The View From Israel, I received a notice that someone had commented on a post of mine. I raised an eyebrow even before looking. I was getting used to the attacks and the mindless dribble about free speech and how many will insist there is no limit to free speech no matter what, which is false.
So when I went to look at the comment, I first noticed that it was written well, and it was not an attack, though the author certainly disagreed with me. I answered.
answered back. And soon, a virtual friendship of dual respect emerged. It was a pleasure to meet someone who could define their logic and ideas without attacking and screaming out the typical fanfare against Israel and the Jews. lived up to his comments and the ability to articulate his ideas. He is the author of the Substack newsletter:
You will not be disappointed if you subscribe. Even if you disagree with what he says, and I certainly disagree, it is still a pleasure to read his writing.
Yet now I must answer his recent post, entitled “Neutral Corners”:
Let me preface this with the following:
This is not an attack, as is typical on social networks.
earned my respect way before this piece.This is a step-by-step answer to what was written in his article “Neutral Corners.”
Why post it? Because it lies at the essence of the argument about Hamas and the 10/7 War. This applies to everyone.
The quotes I am using from the original piece are not in the order they appeared. Let us be clear. I am not trying any subterfuge here. The only goal is to put forward a cogent argument based on one step leading to another.
Bold and Italics are mine unless otherwise noted.
If there is anything “Neutral Corners” teaches you, it is the power of using words and descriptions to associate ideas. This is where the author excels, falls short, and misleads one down a path not connected to the facts. It is an opinion op-ed piece that uses terminology skillfully and passes over most eyes, leaving breadcrumbs in the brain. Dangerous, false, misleading lies hidden under a mass of words and terms. This is why it must be pulled apart paragraph by excruciating paragraph.
Okay, now that is out of the way, let us get down to the article itself.
In essence, “Neutral Corners” attempts to lay out the conflict as one views it from an ivory tower. Now, do not get me wrong. I, myself, view the War in the Ukraine from an Ivory Tower. We all have that luxury on many issues. And no one would expect
to be different. As he wrote:As the kids never tire of telling you nowadays, silence is complicity. I suppose that by my silence I’ve become Schrödinger’s Bigot, a simultaneous supporter of the murder of Palestinian children and the rape of Israeli women. I acknowledge that neutrality is a privilege. I have very little skin in the game. If I were an Israeli or a Palestinian, it would be much more difficult for me to rise above the fray. But when one has privilege, it’s important to use that privilege for good.
Two points here.
The first point is just a notation and, admittedly, picayune. It is not the kids who came up with that statement about silence. It originates in the Talmud and is a cornerstone of the Talmudic justice system and Yiddish lore. The Talmud was formalized around 1900 years ago, just to be clear.
The reason must consequently be because the accused remained silent, and silence is regarded as admission!
Tractate Yebamot 88A (and many other places)
The second point made me raise an eyebrow. At first, it seems a bit detailed, but it is not. It establishes a tit-for-tat, and nothing should be taken for granted in this war, primarily when it is written in such a piece.
The order here is oh-so-wrong, and they should never be compared.
the murder of Palestinian children and the rape of Israeli women.
If you are even considering comparing these two, get the order right. It should be: “the rape of Israeli woman and the murder of Palestinian children.” It is an important distinction-a critical one.
First came the attack. The Rapes. The burnings of bodies. The mutilations. The Killings. The horrific acts. Then came Israel’s answer.
Comparing these two is impossible. They are in no way in the same category; they do not even share the same universe. To compare them as such, one is just comparing “acts,” without any discussion or background of how these acts took place. That is simply disingenuous. The clever manipulation of terms and words is what Israel and Jews have to deal with every hour of every day.
Before I get around to the problems in the comparison, we need to look at another section of “Neutral Corners.” Here, we will assume only for the sake of not arguing every single thing that Kenaz's following statement is also half-true, which it is not. (Step by step, folks. Step by step.)
Since that time 20,000 Palestinians have been killed: about 70% of those have been women and children. Where it was once fighting a band of Hamas guerrillas, Israel now finds itself condemned by most of the world.
Tell me, off the top of your head, how many Hamas guerrillas (op: guerrillas - seriously?????) were killed? Go on. I bet you can’t. Know why? That number is around 7,800 and is going up daily. And even if you include that number in the 20,000, which is from the IRC, and I have written two posts about their behavior, the very source contaminates the facts. Yes, I know. You got it from a report. A report that traces back to Relief Web - run and associated with the IRC - which is not a neutral partner. I am not arguing the absolute numbers here. I would be a fool to do such a thing. But I just don’t get it. The IRC is incapable of visiting hostages, getting them medicine, or making a list, but Relief Web and the IRC are capable of counting bodies and burying Hamas. Something is really wrong with that picture.
“ fighting a band of Hamas guerrillas” - Seriously? Kenaz, this is truly surprising. That is what you call them? A lesson of war everyone knows. “Never underestimate your enemy.” Hamas are not some apes in the jungle. They are not some ragtag group. They are backed by billions of dollars flowing straight from Iran. They are armed to the teeth and divided into sections like a typical army; they have ranks and soldiers. The last thing in the world you can call them is “guerrillas.” Their attack on Israel was as simple as it was ingenious. They caught everyone sleeping. They planned two years for it. They laid the groundwork. They used workers, who got their work permits from Israel and were paid by Israelis for their work, as spies to draw maps. This is not the work of “guerrillas” but the actions of a well-planned, well-organized army.
Using such a term, I will admit, is clever. You do this repeatedly throughout your article, playing with words and terminology. It is worthy of the NYT or ABC. I won’t insult you by comparing you to the BBC. Not even I am that evil.
There is another term that kind of dates you, but then again, it is so overused on Substack that I can see where you are influenced. You use the terms “Zionist cause” and “Zionist State.” You interchanged them three times in your article. It is as if you want to make a difference between Israel, Jews, and Zionism—the old argument. The endless argument that says, “I love Jews, I hate Zionists. The only people I want to push into the sea are the Zionists.” Shades of Rashida Tlaib’s poor excuse when she almost got thrown out of Congress. It is old, and it is weary. While not all Jews are Zionists, far from it, even those Jews would not be living like they are, wherever they are, if Israel did not exist. They can be self-hating Jews or hate the Zionist part of the Jewish people, but I will repeat for clarity, even those Jews would not be living like they are, wherever they are if Israel did not exist.
What is it? Zionist State” or the “State of Israel”? Which one
?Your very answer will tell me precisely how you stand in this discussion.
Now, to your comparison between “Israelis being raped” and “Palestinians being murdered.”
We discussed the order. Now let us discuss the comparison based upon all I have written above. Let us be clear here.
On October 7th, 2023, out of the clear sky, literally out of the clear sky, at 6:29 AM, at least 2000 terrorists and Gazans poured into Israel with one goal on their minds.
Get the Jews. Get the Zionists. Kill them. Rape them. Shoot them. Mutilate them. Burn and behead the babies. Get Hostages.
Why am I repeating this? Because as our friendship began, does that not sound like a Nazi to you? Not even close? The same term many seem so proud to defend. Not ringing any bells? The term Nazi is not only repugnant, it leads to the above. Simple fact. Simple humanity at its glorious evil.
These were civilians. When they attacked the army bases, they also killed and pulled hostages out, but not anywhere near the number of civilians. There were babies, children, old men and women.
Is this not murder and then some? Only rape? (I cannot even believe I have to write the words “only rape.”) So let us be factual here. Hamas came to Israel to kill, among many other things. I don’t know where you come from, but in my book, that is called “murder.”
So now we compare “murder” with “murder,” right? Oh, so wrong!
In Gaza, Hamas has a little trick. They hide in the civilian population and steal all the money meant to help people build tunnels and make rockets. I do not think one needs to post these pictures yet again. Troll through The View From Israel posts, and you will find enough of them.
Hamas hides in schools, hospitals, apartments - anywhere where they can use human shields. This is a well-documented fact. Not something Israel made up. They use human shields. Did you mention that little trick in your comparison?
The fact that Israel has taken unprecedented precautions, unknown in any war, to protect those people who were killed is nowhere in your piece. Indeed, we have lost many soldiers because we did not attack immediately. Because we took those precautions. Because we did not want to kill innocents. I can give you a piece I wrote for a conference of Medical Experts on COVID-19, which defines the rules of war as they are laid out in international legal documents. I will not bore you with the details here. However, alluding to the rules of war - tell that to Hamas et al. Israel is the last place on earth you need to preach the rules of war.
But when you are used as a human shield, or you stay where you are after being told for two weeks that you will be considered a member of Hamas if you do not move out, then yes, you are going to get killed.
you are arguing from the clouds, where the air is so pure, and black evil won’t touch your soul. What do you think war is? Did you think Hamas can do what it wants, then sit back and wait for Israel to negotiate? Have you never understood war? In war, people get killed. They suffer. They are wounded. I don’t get it. I genuinely do not understand. Are you trying to compare the Hamas attack out of nowhere to the “Zionist State” saying, “Enough is Enough. No more. No more second chances. This is war, and a war we must win.” Then again, we cannot afford to lose. We will be pushed into the sea while many watch in glee.How on God’s given earth do you have the “chutzpah” to compare what happened to Israel on 10/7 and afterward to the people who insisted on sticking around with Hamas and mainly Hamas themselves?
And let us just clear up another matter. If you wanted to avoid the deaths in Gaza, all you have to do is convince Egypt to open the border in Rafiach. Simple. Problem solved. But guess what? Egypt is way too bright for that trick. They refuse to let anyone in. Why? Because they know exactly what Hamas would do to their country. Jordan, who cries and cries for the Palestinians, will never let them in as well for the same reasons. They already had their taste of it. Remember “Black September”?
And you are coming to the “Zionist State” for an answer to this? Why? Because they claim it is their land? If so, you need a long lesson in history. A really long lesson. Or is it because you have another agenda here? Something to defend your “neutrality.”
So stop with that nonsense. It is beneath you. The comparison is not a comparison. It is a trick of terminology to equate two things that do not have one thing in common.
You wrote:
I’m definitely rooting for a just and peaceful resolution. There’s a difference between neutrality and apathy.
No, there is not. The United States learned that the hard way on December 7th, 1941, and again on 9/11. Though cliche, the text leader here and on my website makes that crystal clear. A cliche is usually a cliche because it is true.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Silence Is Not An Option
Silence makes you into a coward. It harms your soul. It is apathy. Just like in World War Two, the Pope was “neutral” about the concentration camps. And so were the allies. They, too, were silent. They, too, are damned for it.
Silence is apathy. Neutrality is apathy.
You wrote:
I hope to look at the available information as dispassionately as possible, and use that data to get the clearest possible picture of where we are and where we might go.
But you did not do that, did you? You used, in a very clever manner, terminology that shows precisely what side of this fence you sit on. It is far from dispassionate. You created a very cogent argument for what? What was the point? To excuse your neutrality? To hope for peace? To present sides, even when you yourself admit you cannot begin to understand them? I don’t get it.
And if you want to use data, may I suggest better news sources?
Down to the “boycott.” Yes, it hurts. But may I suggest you look up “Israel High Tech” on any site you wish which grades countries. I think you have this impression that we are a third-world country. You do realize the company you name, pick it, will have operations in Israel, right? From the biggies all the way down. I don’t think you have your vision of Israel straight. From Amazon to Apple to Intel to Facebook to TikTok to Google… damn, just the name of the company. You really need to do an upgrade on what and where Israel is in the world of production, high tech, manufacturing, and all the rest. Not to mention that it is a leader in “Cyber.” So that is just not true.
The Gaza conflict has put Israeli businesses in a COVID-sized stupor. Many small businesses have shut down because their owners, or most of their employees, have been mobilized. Tourism is at a standstill and the war is costing the Israeli economy an estimated NIS 1b ($280m) per day. The battle between Israel and Palestine may be asymmetrical in terms of force, but it’s also asymmetrical in terms of cost.
When the US goes to war, it is not on their borders. That is true for most Western countries these days. When Israel goes to war, it is inside or next door. That will affect the economy. And yes, it costs. But you know what? Though we want to make a living, despite the high cost, the overwhelming consensus here, like 90%, is “let us finish this once and for all. Then we will build again.” We have seen worse. We have seen better.
Of everything you wrote, this really got to me because it implies something that will never happen. It is a scare tactic. It actually makes me angry.
As yet a further complication, American support for Palestine is concentrated largely among the young — the very people we would be recruiting (or drafting) should we find ourselves in a major war. If you think the young Boomers hated Vietnam, just wait until you try to convince a bunch of disaffected Zoomers and Millennials to die for Israel.
Let me make this absolutely clear. No and, if, or but. No shying away. No possibility of misquotation here.
Israel, Israelis, all of us, will never allow, do not want, do not want to see or hear about any “boots on the ground” from any country besides Israel. And definitely not from the US.
No, Thank you. No way.
There is no universe in which that would happen.
What the Americans do with Iran, Houthis, Taliban, Afghanistan, Hizbollah, and all their other enemies - that is their decision. But I have a feeling we will be taking care of Hizbollah.
If the Americans want to rule Gaza, go right ahead. Do not blame that on Israel. We warned you. Until Gaza is clear of Hamas, it is not safe for any living thing. Especially not for the “American Satan.”
The IDF is burning itself out on an ongoing war that has gained no territory nor accomplished any objectives. Gaza has not been pacified, and we are no closer to a peaceful solution today than we were two months ago.
Nope. We are not burned out; we are far from it. The motivation of an army is beyond anything anyone dreamed of. The soldiers are not begging to go home. They are begging for one thing. Do not stop until this is done.
Yes. We are tired of our children dying. We are tired of being killed. We are tired and weary of all this. We are sick of it. We want it gone. Whoever thinks Israel wants war needs to have their head examined. No one looks forward to going from one funeral to another, or visiting a wounded soldier in the hospital. Do you seriously think we want this?
But yet the overwhelming, consensus in Israel is that this war must be finished. It must be won. We have no choice. 10/7 proved that.
Do not, I repeat, do not, impose your lofty intellectual gobbdley gook ideas upon us. You sit in the clouds imposing on Israel preconceived notions of how we feel? You are so removed from any of this, so out in left field, so imposing of your worldview upon the situation - you lost all the objectivity you stated you wanted to preserve.
I know why you don’t get it
I really understand why you cannot fathom that we are not burned out. I get that you look and quote articles that come from a fringe left. Unlike the US, most of the left here has woken up (and I certainly do not mean that in the WOKE terminology). You don’t go through 10/7 and remain asleep. Simply not possible.I have repeatedly said and written the following. Every Israeli and Jew worldwide has said it.
“There is a before and after 10/7. Nothing is like it was, nor will it ever be, as it was on October 6th. Those days are over. A dose of reality hit us and we woke up.”
Until you understand that, until you truly get that, you will never understand why we are not “burned out.” And if the world does not like Jews and Israel fighting for their lives and not accepting the Hamas atrocities, so be it. We are never going to the slaughter again as silent, acquiescent lambs. Never. This, too, is not an option.
Like all Western countries, you need quick solutions and answers. You do not have the patience that is required in war. Your pacifiers won’t take the pressure. Neither did we since Lebanon. But now we do. We know precisely what is at stake. And you would be singing a much different tune if it were your home being targeted with over 13000 missiles since 10/7. By the way, another number you did not mention.
That burned-out comment is so wrong and so off that it made my eyes burn with anger.
And finally, you wrote:
Once America saw Israel as the plucky little country that could. Today American youths see Israel as a genocidal apartheid state, and those youths will be voting in future elections. Will American politicians be so willing to offer unconditional pro-Israel support if it might cost them an election? Or will they happily turn on Israel and repeat the slogans that win votes?
Here, I totally agree. The young generation in America will not support Israel the way it has been supported in the past. You know what? That will last until Hamas or some other radical Islamist group attacks Americans on American soil. You know what happens then, right?
Below is a letter i sent to both of Melbourne's major newspaper after the "Frends of Palestine" who also seem to think long term Islamic cultural tradition is a "progressive force", stormed the stage at the televised Carols by Candlelight. I will also add that pacifism and "our goal must always be peace!" will just mean more Rwanda 1994's. That is the cost of non-intervention. Note how Hamas skillfully used Israel not widely releasing video of the 7/10 pogrom in an attempt to be humane and decent and respect the feelings of the victims' grief-stricken families to discredit and undercut them in the information war.
----
Dear (The Age/the Herald Sun)
Something has to be done quickly - and physically if need be. I'd even use the short drop and a sudden stop at this stage (the gallows).
Tell anyone you know in fed or state Labor with power that action needs to be taken NOW. A child on that stage could have hurt themselves trying to flee these "protestors" or even gone into shock.
Have them tell Lambie, tell Pocock, tell Dutton et al that the Greens and the far left? That they are the aggressors, trying to destroy a sovereign Jewish state, who progressives helped in its creation. Once they have destroyed it, they will aim to do the same to the ALP, and after that, it will be your turn. The Greens are your friends at times, but once your usefulness ran out, they will discard your friendship like a kid bored of his toy. They are a threat to Australia and must be stopped.
Disruption is not "peaceful protest". Disruption is intimidation and coercion, both of which are forms of violence.
Jesus was a Jew. This really cannot be denied by anyone who has read the Christian Gospels, which are the only sources for his life. His name was Yeshua ben Yosif. He was born either in Bethlehem in the Kingdom of Judaea or (more likely) in Nazareth in the Tetrarchy of Galilee, both Roman client states ruled by members of the Jewish Herodian dynasty. He was circumcised and presented at the Temple in Jerusalem in accordance with Jewish law (Luke 2:21-22). He had a sound Jewish education: when he was 12 he was able to debate Jewish law with the scholars in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52). He upheld the letter of Jewish law (Matthew 5:18). The reason Jesus was arrested in Jerusalem was because he was there for the Jewish Passover (Pesach), again as required by Jewish law.
All the disciples and other early followers of Jesus were also Jews. The Jesus movement was seen as a sect of Judaism (one of many) for several decades after Jesus’s lifetime. At the Council of Jerusalem in 50 CE, Paul persuaded the leaders of the movement that new converts need not follow Jewish laws such as circumcision. But there was no definite break between the Jesus sect and mainstream Judaism until after the fall of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD.
There was no such place as Palestine and no such thing as a Palestinian during the lifetime of Jesus.
The land where Jesus lived was called Judaea (from which the word "Jew" derives). After the defeat of the last Jewish revolt against Roman rule (the Bar Kokhba Revolt) in 136 CE – a century after the death of Jesus – the Romans renamed the region Syria Palaestina (Syria of the Philistines), in order to erase its connection with the Jews (the first of many such attempts). The Philistines were a non-Semitic people who had lived in what was then southern Canaan during the Bronze Age. Although they no longer existed by Roman times, the southern coastal area was still commonly called Philistia.
In the fourth century CE Syria Palaestina was divided into three smaller territories called Palaestina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia. These existed until the Arab conquest in 636. From then until the creation of Mandate Palestine in 1923, there was no territorial unit called Palestine, and the name was used only in historical contexts and as a general geographical term. There was no such thing as a “Palestinian people” until the Mandate period. A visitor to Jaffa or Nablus in 1900 would not have found a single person who identified themselves as a Palestinian.
This history is well known and has been recounted many times. The assertion that “Jesus was a Palestinian” is a deliberate fabrication by people who want to deny the 3000-year-old historical connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. In other words, by antisemites. I hope none of your Christian friends have been or will be taken in by it. They might also like to be reminded strongly that Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which the number of Christians is increasing.