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It's Not Gaslighting. It Never Was [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-11-07

I was watching a TikTok this weekend and everything crystallized. The creator was describing how modern progressive thought is based on the simple dichotomy of oppressor and oppressed. People see Israel — and Jews — as white and powerful, therefore we must always be the oppressor — no matter the context, no matter the history. We must always be wrong.

www.tiktok.com/...

In 1948, the colonial powers said, “yeah, you can have a Jewish home state.” Their intentions were nowhere near pure. Some of them wanted to encourage Jews to settle anywhere but in their countries. Some of them wanted us to complete their religious fantasies. Some of them wanted a friendly state near the Suez Canal.

And we accepted. After the Holocaust — and all the other massacres, expulsions and ethnic cleansings — how could we not? The world had shown us that we were fundamentally unwelcome and unsafe — and continues to do so. What survivor would turn down that offer?

Now, you want to continually relitigate that choice, to hold us to a standard that applies to no one else.

You accuse us of performing an ethnic cleansing and an occupation by having the state of Israel exist in a place that was formerly occupied by Arabs, but where the lines drawn and ratified by the UN — never once considering the very real ethnic cleansing that happened in Arab countries at the same time. Nor do you consider the presence and participation of Arabs in Israeli society and government.

You unconsciously accept “From the river to the sea” as a generic and harmless expression of a desire for peace and self-determination, erasing the original intent of that phrase — which is hard for us to ignore, by the way, given how it’s baked into Hamas’ charter.

You hold Israel to an impossible standard in the conflict, including accusing us of war crimes, while accepting the atrocities of October 7th as the natural consequence of “brutal occupation”.

You studiously ignore Israel’s repeated attempts to trade territory for peace.

You choose not to see that Israel’s people and government are not “rational actors” and disregard the emotional nature of their actions. You paint us as cold and calculating, when in reality we have adopted unhealthy survival responses. You expect us not to flinch, despite the number of times we have been punched in the face.

You choose to ignore that Palestinian suffering is allowed to continue for the benefit of states other than Israel. **cough** IRAN **cough**

You use genetics, legalism, and pedantry to justify discounting our religious, ethnic, and cultural heritage. I’ve lost track of the number of times people have asked questions to validate my Jewishness for themselves in much the same way a poll worker verifies my voter registration. I don’t know of any other groups that are so routinely disqualified from their identity.

Almost everything Palestine says is accepted in good faith; almost everything Israel says is dismissed as propaganda and lies.

You fail to understand that Israel’s attempts at realpolitik are just that. Traumatized people make foolish choices and say stupid, hurtful things.

I could go on and on… Genocide, Open-Air Prison, Apartheid. The list is a long one, but they all come down to Israel — and to a certain extent, Jews as a whole — having been assigned the role of villain without any nuance, consideration or grace.

This is a territorial dispute between Arab and Western culture. When you treat it as anything else, it is you that engages in gaslighting.

If I had my way, all of the sacred places would be made into World Heritage Sites, secured by UN troops and controlled by a tripartite council of the faiths that hold them holy.

If I had my way, Gaza and the West Bank would be made contiguous, with US troops used to secure the peace and allow the Palestinians find a new way. I would also have them no longer be stateless refugees; A self-determined Palestinian state should exist.

If I had my way, there would be a massive outpouring of material support to Palestine. Nothing can change as long as they are poor and fearful.

If I had my way, the validity of Israel would simply be accepted as fact.

If I had my way, everyone would stop arguing over who is more indigenous to the area. Both Jews and Arabs are indigenous and any debate to the contrary is nothing more than a distraction.

Similarly, if I had my way, there would be no more discussion of who got there first. This is a modern dispute that cannot be resolved by biased amateur historians.

If I had my way, when people say they want to “criticize Israel without being accused of antisemitism”, that would not regularly be code for “Israel should cease to exist”.

If I had my way, people would take into account the history of the conflict and the cultural traumas involved before they give their hot take.

If I had my way, all the hostages would be returned.

If you truly want the conflict to end, advocate for the colonial powers — which includes Arab states — to do the hard work of fixing the problem they have allowed to fester for so long.

Lastly, if you want Israel to behave differently, you have to give them the safety to do so.

After I wrote this, but before I published, I saw this by Beau. I think it’s spot on, with the exception that I believe external stabilization is going to be necessary to create room for forgiveness and change. He doesn’t demonize Israel or excuse Hamas.

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