It’s been nearly two weeks since Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza concluded and as ought to be expected from prior experience, there doesn’t seem to be any exploration of the moral dimension of Israel’s behavior on the part of the Jewish-American pro-Israel bloc.
In fact, the leaders of the myriad groups constituting this bloc have nothing but a hearty “kol hakvod” or ‘way to go’ to say to Israel. You can be excused for thinking I’m being ironic, but I’m quite serious. Take this as an example, the “chief policy officer” of the Israel Policy Forum described Israel’s latest assault on Gaza as — “proof of concept for a better Gaza policy.” As awful as this man’s description of the most recent massacre in Gaza is (likening it to a successful technological concept for a new consumer good) it doesn’t compare to the way a certain American-born émigré to Israel justifies it: it’s okay because of “what happened thousands of years ago,” in Jewish history (see the article linked above).
Is it fair to say that these spokespersons for Jews on Israeli policy are not okay? Aside from the very real problem of using biblical references as historical fact, these clowns (I’m being generous here) don’t even get the point of the biblical references they cite and appeal to as justification for Israel’s crimes. It’s almost as if Judaism doesn’t matter to these people, it’s just the shield they use to exercise their own power issues in the form of Zionism.
Whether the heads and spokespeople of these immoral groups get it or not, Israel doesn’t win no matter how many Palestinians are killed or forever bullied into silence, or acquiescence to the insane and criminal construct they find themselves in – a construct that enjoys full-throated financial, diplomatic, and political support to such an absurd degree that some self-proclaimed progressives (and by extension their progressive primary challengers) find common cause with Donald Trump on this one issue.
It’s enough to make one ask themselves what this really is all about.
