"If using US law to crush the enemies of the Jewish people, and to exclude terror supporters is 'weaponizing antisemitism,' I say go for it. Go harder."
While protecting a people from whom much of western culture sprung (along with the ancient Greeks and marauding Romans) is important — especially a people who have contributed so much — one can certainly understand the resentment and envy that lie underneath antisemitism. Resentment and envy are two of the worst emotions in the human composite and must always be beaten out of the ourselves and our society.
One rarely resents or envies the lowest — it is those who contribute much and succeed we wish to question and degrade. But the funny thing about persecution is it produces persecuted people who are stronger, faster, better, and agile. See the Copts in Egypt. See the Jews. They adapted and survived by driving accomplishment with whatever skills and aptitudes they may have to its highest level. That has great value and a lesson for the world.
However there is a geopolitical angle to our support of Israel, and the Jewish people in general. Israel remains the political and oddly enough this tiny country is the beacon of democracy, innovation, and enterprise in the Middle East. Israel strives for the future while so much of the Arab world strives to remain what it thinks it once was.
Imagine if Israel sprung from the desert of Saudi Arabia and sat upon billions of barrels of oil. In fact, Israel is helping tease oil from the eastern Mediterranean, and some of this flows to Lebanon and Egypt, and even Turkey. Oh those Jews, always finding an entrée. What next? A petro-state?
But the point remains, support for Israel (and in reality all Jews) comes with many costs, caveats and conditions, … but there are important benefits and some of those boil down to geopolitical as well as our humane and cultural obligation.
One might say our relationship with Israel is both cooperative and contentious, and they have spied on us (Jonathan Pollard) and sold our secrets. So it is coopentious. Be that as it may, … when our interests align and overlap, there is no better friend and no better cause in the region which has world’s worst traffic jam of traders, exploiters, and traitors.
Primal hatred of one, soon spreads to hatred of others. And it helps if those singled out for persecution due to their DNA or faith, happen to sit astride this zone of friction along the tectonic political plates of the conflict ridden desert lands. They make good allies, if not always friends.
On Andrew Sullivan's April 4 substack Andrew has an audio debate with Douglas Murray about Murray's book On Democracies And Death Cults. Andrew attacks Murray for not being sympathetic enough towards Gazans in the book, saying dogmatically that thousands of Gazans children have been killed and there is no excuse for it. Murray answers back well, countering with facts but if ones mind is made up... . I am disappointed with Andrew on this and also his luke-warm support for Ukraine. At one point Andrew plays a clip of their mutual friend Christopher Hitchens, who in the clip is a little critical of the need for Zionism and a Jewish state. Murray then points out that Hitchens did not grow up knowing he was Jewish, did not find out till late in his life, and so did not experience anti-Semitism himself. I feel this to be obviously so but Hitchens was always anti-fascist and that is part of what I feel is missing in the anti-Semitism debate. The people who hate Jews hate anyone who does not slavishly obey them, whether they are extreme left or right. Just because you're not Jewish doesn't mean they won't hang you too.
I don't live in the US, so I can't speak to the experience of witnessing firsthand the antisemitism that Jewish Americans, particularly students, have faced since October 7th, '23. But I’ve followed the news closely, and what has been happening is horrifying. No student, Jewish or otherwise, should be subjected to violence, harassment, or hatred. Governments everywhere must act decisively within the bounds of the law to protect anyone who is vulnerable.
But this is also where things become dangerous. Trump has shown time and again that he does not respect the US Constitution or the rule of law. Rounding up protestors, silencing people and imprisoning them without due process is authoritarianism, not justice. If someone breaks the law, they should be held accountable through the law, not outside of it. If these people are suspected of a crime, then due process should be followed. Why is this so difficult?
What’s happening on university campuses cannot be separated from a much larger, long-standing crisis—the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Hamas's October 7 attack was appalling, but the Israeli government's policies toward Palestinians, including settlements, military occupation, and systemic oppression, have spurred this conflict on for decades. And the US is also responsible for this. It has funded and armed Israel without any accountability, enabling this cycle of violence to continue.
Extremism grows where justice is absent. The US cannot expect to wage wars abroad, support unjust actions, ignore alleged war crimes, and disregard humanitarian crises without consequences at home. This moment demands moral clarity, not just condemnation of the visible hate, but also a reckoning with the conditions that have allowed it to thrive. With Trump in the White House, I worry about how all of this will play out.
"If using US law to crush the enemies of the Jewish people, and to exclude terror supporters is 'weaponizing antisemitism,' I say go for it. Go harder."
How do I get this on a bumper sticker?
While protecting a people from whom much of western culture sprung (along with the ancient Greeks and marauding Romans) is important — especially a people who have contributed so much — one can certainly understand the resentment and envy that lie underneath antisemitism. Resentment and envy are two of the worst emotions in the human composite and must always be beaten out of the ourselves and our society.
One rarely resents or envies the lowest — it is those who contribute much and succeed we wish to question and degrade. But the funny thing about persecution is it produces persecuted people who are stronger, faster, better, and agile. See the Copts in Egypt. See the Jews. They adapted and survived by driving accomplishment with whatever skills and aptitudes they may have to its highest level. That has great value and a lesson for the world.
However there is a geopolitical angle to our support of Israel, and the Jewish people in general. Israel remains the political and oddly enough this tiny country is the beacon of democracy, innovation, and enterprise in the Middle East. Israel strives for the future while so much of the Arab world strives to remain what it thinks it once was.
Imagine if Israel sprung from the desert of Saudi Arabia and sat upon billions of barrels of oil. In fact, Israel is helping tease oil from the eastern Mediterranean, and some of this flows to Lebanon and Egypt, and even Turkey. Oh those Jews, always finding an entrée. What next? A petro-state?
But the point remains, support for Israel (and in reality all Jews) comes with many costs, caveats and conditions, … but there are important benefits and some of those boil down to geopolitical as well as our humane and cultural obligation.
One might say our relationship with Israel is both cooperative and contentious, and they have spied on us (Jonathan Pollard) and sold our secrets. So it is coopentious. Be that as it may, … when our interests align and overlap, there is no better friend and no better cause in the region which has world’s worst traffic jam of traders, exploiters, and traitors.
Primal hatred of one, soon spreads to hatred of others. And it helps if those singled out for persecution due to their DNA or faith, happen to sit astride this zone of friction along the tectonic political plates of the conflict ridden desert lands. They make good allies, if not always friends.
On Andrew Sullivan's April 4 substack Andrew has an audio debate with Douglas Murray about Murray's book On Democracies And Death Cults. Andrew attacks Murray for not being sympathetic enough towards Gazans in the book, saying dogmatically that thousands of Gazans children have been killed and there is no excuse for it. Murray answers back well, countering with facts but if ones mind is made up... . I am disappointed with Andrew on this and also his luke-warm support for Ukraine. At one point Andrew plays a clip of their mutual friend Christopher Hitchens, who in the clip is a little critical of the need for Zionism and a Jewish state. Murray then points out that Hitchens did not grow up knowing he was Jewish, did not find out till late in his life, and so did not experience anti-Semitism himself. I feel this to be obviously so but Hitchens was always anti-fascist and that is part of what I feel is missing in the anti-Semitism debate. The people who hate Jews hate anyone who does not slavishly obey them, whether they are extreme left or right. Just because you're not Jewish doesn't mean they won't hang you too.
"The people who hate Jews hate anyone who does not slavishly obey them, whether they are extreme left or right."
1st they come for the Saturday People, then the Sunday People.
Debating the Khalil case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9oPRaNG5AA
Apr 4, 2025
Douglas Murray (author of "On Democracies and Death Cults") debates Israel and Gaza with Andrew Sullivan.
I don't live in the US, so I can't speak to the experience of witnessing firsthand the antisemitism that Jewish Americans, particularly students, have faced since October 7th, '23. But I’ve followed the news closely, and what has been happening is horrifying. No student, Jewish or otherwise, should be subjected to violence, harassment, or hatred. Governments everywhere must act decisively within the bounds of the law to protect anyone who is vulnerable.
But this is also where things become dangerous. Trump has shown time and again that he does not respect the US Constitution or the rule of law. Rounding up protestors, silencing people and imprisoning them without due process is authoritarianism, not justice. If someone breaks the law, they should be held accountable through the law, not outside of it. If these people are suspected of a crime, then due process should be followed. Why is this so difficult?
What’s happening on university campuses cannot be separated from a much larger, long-standing crisis—the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Hamas's October 7 attack was appalling, but the Israeli government's policies toward Palestinians, including settlements, military occupation, and systemic oppression, have spurred this conflict on for decades. And the US is also responsible for this. It has funded and armed Israel without any accountability, enabling this cycle of violence to continue.
Extremism grows where justice is absent. The US cannot expect to wage wars abroad, support unjust actions, ignore alleged war crimes, and disregard humanitarian crises without consequences at home. This moment demands moral clarity, not just condemnation of the visible hate, but also a reckoning with the conditions that have allowed it to thrive. With Trump in the White House, I worry about how all of this will play out.