Thank you for writing this. I wholeheartedly agree that there is no moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas--and while Israel has its merits and demerits, Hamas is a threat to all of Western Civilization, and pure evil.
Showing solidarity with the hostage families is an act of compassion in response to despair. Some protesters may prioritize politics but that doesn't mean others should refrain from calling for the release of those suffering in horrific captivity.
While people have the right to disagree with or protest the acts of any government, the murder of people half a world away, simply because they are the same ethnicity as those in that government, is a simple act of bigotry.
Should we commit violence against anyone of the same identity as someone we believe has treated us unfairly?
We may disagree with Vladimir Putin’s behaviour in Ukraine - but are we then justified in targeting random Russians around the world for murder?
It was political terrorism, but there's no evidence that the perpetrator would have acted any differently had the march been organized not by Jewish Zionists but Evangelical Protestant Zionists, who are actually more numerous. So there are no grounds for calling it antisemitic.
Here’s a link to an article in the Atlantic that goes into far more detail about why this inhumane attack on a group of elderly Jewish people walking in support of the hostages being held by Hamas was motivated by antisemitism, and is not simply an act of “political terrorism.”
Yeah, the Atlantic article is begging the question.
Given that in both acts of terrorism the suspects shouted "Free Palestine!" the prima facie motivation is political.
For decades Israel has sought to conflate antisemitism with any criticism levelled against it. Ironically, this serves to increase the erroneous perception of antisemitism, and obscure *actual* antisemitism.
The article wants to have it both ways. It begins with
"The anti-Semitic motivation of these attacks is clear."
By the end, though, it concludes with
"Public discourse must maintain a strong distinction between what Israel does and who Jews are."
Or should the distinction be drawn between what Israel *is* and what Jews *do*?
In any case, first it blurs the distinction and then it advocates making a strong distinction.
It's incoherent.
I think what it boils down to is that when Israel does something laudable, or can be portrayed as a victim, then it's the Jews. But when Israel commits ethnic cleansing and war crimes then it's all on Netanyahu.
Israel is only a *Jewish* state when it's not committing genocide.
These acts of terrorism were misguided, but let's not pretend they were antisemitic.
Helen, by any objective standard what’s happening in Gaza is not a “genocide of Palestinian civilians” — it’s a war between Israel and Hamas.
As outlined in the New York Times article linked above, Hamas has been brutally abusing the two million civilians in Gaza, cynically using them to remain in power and further their own objectives. We all know that Hamas can end the war tomorrow by turning over the remaining hostages, laying down their weapons, and stepping down from power so the people in Gaza can form a new government committed to pluralism and peace.
Israel is seeking to survive. Its enemies are seeking its destruction “from the river to the sea.” What I wrote (regarding the violent antisemitic attacks against Jewish people in Israel and the U.S.) is: “…we need to remain true to our values, especially now. If we respond to these attacks by hardening our hearts—or by becoming consumed with hatred—then our side, the side of love and light, has lost. Even if we win on the battlefield against evil, we will have lost our souls.”
My point is that people of goodwill—-in Israel and elsewhere—-need to find the courage and compassion to meet ignorant hatred with righteous love. If we don’t stay true to our values, then we risk losing our souls.
I'm neither a philosopher nor a moralist, but i spent 34 years in the USAF. I was a rescue helicopter pilot. We lost several aircrew members in a failed effort to rescue the hostages being held in our embassy in Iran during Desert One. We made some tactical errors, but this was a very risky mission from the gitgo. Why such risk?
It later came to light that President Carter was adamant in his desire to minimize civilian casualties regardless of the risk to our military. This seems very different from the 50,000 killed in Gaza by Israeli military operations. Even if completely "morally justified", I can't help but worry that the survivors of these military operations will believe they are justified in seeking to avenge these deaths.
It seems like Hamas understands and leverages this dynamic — drawing fire by terror, then maximizing casualties among the civilian population on purpose, then taking the opprobrium directed at Israel as a moral victory, thus galvanizing new terrorists. Repeat.
It reasons that in order for this cycle to end, Hamas needs to go and the civilian population needs to undergo a radical moral transformation that elevates the inherent dignity of every human life.
No culture can long survive its own singular focus on vengeance—demise is written in the lines of that dark moral code.
“Even if we win on the battlefield against evil, we will have lost our souls.”
First, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, and condemning one’s adversary in achieving the goals of self interest is just dumb, but it’s also clever and dangerous. It’s what happens before eager genocide. It’s what has happened before every ‘lawn mowing’ in Gaza. It certainly isn’t a pro-human sentiment to express regard for a cultural group in those terms. That’s what the Nazis did…remember?
Second, your use of the word “souls” is interesting, especially in conjunction with “evil”. Both terms are used as tools, and as weapons, but neither have a basis in reality. There is no determination of what qualifies as evil that isn’t 100% subjective and tied to the greater notion of a supernatural being that favours the ‘good’ or chosen ones.
And that right there gets to the problem, because the Israelis have themselves conveniently convinced that their God gave the land to them…all of the land of historic Palestine, and if they are so inclined, so say these children of a made up God (as all gods are), much of the land around Palestine too.
Inconveniently however, many devote Jews, including distinguished and vocal rabbis are pointing to the fatal flaw in your argument, which for you is the sin of omission, and that is that Jews have no business being there in the form of a Jewish state at all. The utter lack of humility with which zionist settlers have conducted themselves in the long colonial project that began c. 1889, and the complete lack of respect and humanity accorded to Palestinian Arabs in the intervening years makes mockery of the story you tell here.
So why were you at Hostage Square yelling at the Israeli government to release the hostages? They are not holding the hostages but the leftists in Israel hate Bibi more than they hate Hamas. Poor choice of demonstrations to join. Perhaps foreigners should stay out of local politics.
Alison, I’m not sure where you got the idea that I was “yelling at the Israeli government to release the hostages.” My wife and I were there at the invitation of her Israeli cousin, and passively taking it all in. Most of the speeches were in Hebrew, but from what we could tell nobody at the rally was yelling at the government. What we experienced was a beautiful demonstration of compassion for the hostages and their families.
Those of us even in the diaspora understand the goal of that crowd. They are the same people who tried to bring down the government over the much needed judicial reforms. Perhaps your cousin agrees but if you don't really know what's going on perhaps you should not join in demonstrations when in a foreign country.
The term “antisemitism” has been used to silence anything not showing Israel as the victim, but israel’s recognition in the 20th C had little to nothing to do with a Jewish refuge. Read “The Transfer Agreement;” read how Zionists poisoned wells in Iraq to get Iraqi Jews to go to Israel as worker bees; read how Zionists bombed the SS Patria, killing several hundred of their own ppl, to keep it in Haifa port, and read how most Zionists were atheists who cared nothing about Judaism, only about a land grab that would become the Rothschild seat of power in the Middle East as time and the Jewish victim narrative moved on, gathering more power from the takeover of the US govt and its institutions.
Loretta, if I’m understanding your comment correctly, you are saying that antisemitic attacks on Jewish people in the United States are justified because you believe that the Zionists who founded Israel were atheists, who intentionally targeted and killed other Jews in order to get them to stay and become “worker bees” — and that you believe the whole Zionist movement and formation of Israel after the Holocaust and WWII was in fact a “land grab” to create a “Rothschild seat of power in the Middle East” and use the “Jewish victim narrative” to complete their “takeover of the U.S. Government and its institutions.”
Wow. That is a lot to process. I’m always open to hearing other perspectives, but what you wrote is dangerously ignorant, and a disturbing justification of antisemitic violence.
I can only hope that you are joking—or that you will take some time to educate yourself and challenge your own biases.
Dear Bion,
Thank you for writing this. I wholeheartedly agree that there is no moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas--and while Israel has its merits and demerits, Hamas is a threat to all of Western Civilization, and pure evil.
Thanks,
randy
Showing solidarity with the hostage families is an act of compassion in response to despair. Some protesters may prioritize politics but that doesn't mean others should refrain from calling for the release of those suffering in horrific captivity.
Thanks for this, Bion 👍
While people have the right to disagree with or protest the acts of any government, the murder of people half a world away, simply because they are the same ethnicity as those in that government, is a simple act of bigotry.
Should we commit violence against anyone of the same identity as someone we believe has treated us unfairly?
We may disagree with Vladimir Putin’s behaviour in Ukraine - but are we then justified in targeting random Russians around the world for murder?
Absolutely not.
It was political terrorism, but there's no evidence that the perpetrator would have acted any differently had the march been organized not by Jewish Zionists but Evangelical Protestant Zionists, who are actually more numerous. So there are no grounds for calling it antisemitic.
Here’s a link to an article in the Atlantic that goes into far more detail about why this inhumane attack on a group of elderly Jewish people walking in support of the hostages being held by Hamas was motivated by antisemitism, and is not simply an act of “political terrorism.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/performative-intimacy-antisemitic-terror/683011/?gift=co4sMjmrUcFf0S6TivWXdW0GMLnavvrkFTyqNBNwCDo
It does nothing of the sort. It merely asserts that lie, while providing no evidence for it whatsoever.
Yeah, the Atlantic article is begging the question.
Given that in both acts of terrorism the suspects shouted "Free Palestine!" the prima facie motivation is political.
For decades Israel has sought to conflate antisemitism with any criticism levelled against it. Ironically, this serves to increase the erroneous perception of antisemitism, and obscure *actual* antisemitism.
The article wants to have it both ways. It begins with
"The anti-Semitic motivation of these attacks is clear."
By the end, though, it concludes with
"Public discourse must maintain a strong distinction between what Israel does and who Jews are."
Or should the distinction be drawn between what Israel *is* and what Jews *do*?
In any case, first it blurs the distinction and then it advocates making a strong distinction.
It's incoherent.
I think what it boils down to is that when Israel does something laudable, or can be portrayed as a victim, then it's the Jews. But when Israel commits ethnic cleansing and war crimes then it's all on Netanyahu.
Israel is only a *Jewish* state when it's not committing genocide.
These acts of terrorism were misguided, but let's not pretend they were antisemitic.
Seriously, you would call the Israeli govt’s genocide of Palestinian civilians the side of “love and light”?
Helen, by any objective standard what’s happening in Gaza is not a “genocide of Palestinian civilians” — it’s a war between Israel and Hamas.
As outlined in the New York Times article linked above, Hamas has been brutally abusing the two million civilians in Gaza, cynically using them to remain in power and further their own objectives. We all know that Hamas can end the war tomorrow by turning over the remaining hostages, laying down their weapons, and stepping down from power so the people in Gaza can form a new government committed to pluralism and peace.
Israel is seeking to survive. Its enemies are seeking its destruction “from the river to the sea.” What I wrote (regarding the violent antisemitic attacks against Jewish people in Israel and the U.S.) is: “…we need to remain true to our values, especially now. If we respond to these attacks by hardening our hearts—or by becoming consumed with hatred—then our side, the side of love and light, has lost. Even if we win on the battlefield against evil, we will have lost our souls.”
My point is that people of goodwill—-in Israel and elsewhere—-need to find the courage and compassion to meet ignorant hatred with righteous love. If we don’t stay true to our values, then we risk losing our souls.
There is no genocide. In fact, the gazan population has grown despite the war. Get some facts before you open your piehole.
Right, and the International Criminal Court and hundreds of human rights organizations are just a bunch of Jew haters.
I'm neither a philosopher nor a moralist, but i spent 34 years in the USAF. I was a rescue helicopter pilot. We lost several aircrew members in a failed effort to rescue the hostages being held in our embassy in Iran during Desert One. We made some tactical errors, but this was a very risky mission from the gitgo. Why such risk?
It later came to light that President Carter was adamant in his desire to minimize civilian casualties regardless of the risk to our military. This seems very different from the 50,000 killed in Gaza by Israeli military operations. Even if completely "morally justified", I can't help but worry that the survivors of these military operations will believe they are justified in seeking to avenge these deaths.
It seems like Hamas understands and leverages this dynamic — drawing fire by terror, then maximizing casualties among the civilian population on purpose, then taking the opprobrium directed at Israel as a moral victory, thus galvanizing new terrorists. Repeat.
It reasons that in order for this cycle to end, Hamas needs to go and the civilian population needs to undergo a radical moral transformation that elevates the inherent dignity of every human life.
No culture can long survive its own singular focus on vengeance—demise is written in the lines of that dark moral code.
This, right here is where your thinking fails:
“Even if we win on the battlefield against evil, we will have lost our souls.”
First, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, and condemning one’s adversary in achieving the goals of self interest is just dumb, but it’s also clever and dangerous. It’s what happens before eager genocide. It’s what has happened before every ‘lawn mowing’ in Gaza. It certainly isn’t a pro-human sentiment to express regard for a cultural group in those terms. That’s what the Nazis did…remember?
Second, your use of the word “souls” is interesting, especially in conjunction with “evil”. Both terms are used as tools, and as weapons, but neither have a basis in reality. There is no determination of what qualifies as evil that isn’t 100% subjective and tied to the greater notion of a supernatural being that favours the ‘good’ or chosen ones.
And that right there gets to the problem, because the Israelis have themselves conveniently convinced that their God gave the land to them…all of the land of historic Palestine, and if they are so inclined, so say these children of a made up God (as all gods are), much of the land around Palestine too.
Inconveniently however, many devote Jews, including distinguished and vocal rabbis are pointing to the fatal flaw in your argument, which for you is the sin of omission, and that is that Jews have no business being there in the form of a Jewish state at all. The utter lack of humility with which zionist settlers have conducted themselves in the long colonial project that began c. 1889, and the complete lack of respect and humanity accorded to Palestinian Arabs in the intervening years makes mockery of the story you tell here.
So why were you at Hostage Square yelling at the Israeli government to release the hostages? They are not holding the hostages but the leftists in Israel hate Bibi more than they hate Hamas. Poor choice of demonstrations to join. Perhaps foreigners should stay out of local politics.
Alison, I’m not sure where you got the idea that I was “yelling at the Israeli government to release the hostages.” My wife and I were there at the invitation of her Israeli cousin, and passively taking it all in. Most of the speeches were in Hebrew, but from what we could tell nobody at the rally was yelling at the government. What we experienced was a beautiful demonstration of compassion for the hostages and their families.
Those of us even in the diaspora understand the goal of that crowd. They are the same people who tried to bring down the government over the much needed judicial reforms. Perhaps your cousin agrees but if you don't really know what's going on perhaps you should not join in demonstrations when in a foreign country.
The term “antisemitism” has been used to silence anything not showing Israel as the victim, but israel’s recognition in the 20th C had little to nothing to do with a Jewish refuge. Read “The Transfer Agreement;” read how Zionists poisoned wells in Iraq to get Iraqi Jews to go to Israel as worker bees; read how Zionists bombed the SS Patria, killing several hundred of their own ppl, to keep it in Haifa port, and read how most Zionists were atheists who cared nothing about Judaism, only about a land grab that would become the Rothschild seat of power in the Middle East as time and the Jewish victim narrative moved on, gathering more power from the takeover of the US govt and its institutions.
Loretta, if I’m understanding your comment correctly, you are saying that antisemitic attacks on Jewish people in the United States are justified because you believe that the Zionists who founded Israel were atheists, who intentionally targeted and killed other Jews in order to get them to stay and become “worker bees” — and that you believe the whole Zionist movement and formation of Israel after the Holocaust and WWII was in fact a “land grab” to create a “Rothschild seat of power in the Middle East” and use the “Jewish victim narrative” to complete their “takeover of the U.S. Government and its institutions.”
Wow. That is a lot to process. I’m always open to hearing other perspectives, but what you wrote is dangerously ignorant, and a disturbing justification of antisemitic violence.
I can only hope that you are joking—or that you will take some time to educate yourself and challenge your own biases.
Read it where? In some Arab propaganda? All lies