Judaism vs. Islam: One of these things is not like the other
On self-defense and just deserts.
So weary of the false equivalencies, of hearing Islam and Judaism linked in a way that implies that Islamophobia and anti-Semitism/-Zionism are comparable offenses against comparably innocent subcultures. Biden did it again in his speech to the nation last Thursday. Neither the phobia nor the ism is a good thing; it’s just that only the phobia seems understandable in light of the historical record.
In fairness, as is true of race, no individual should suffer for the sins of the group. (I have Muslim students whom I adore; colleagues too. They know my heart and, I think, would not be overly offended by what I write here.) When it comes to Islam, however, the group has surely sinned. Often, and in ways that we don’t see from Jews or others.1
A few pointed questions for skeptics.
How many backpacks with nail-studded bombs have Jews left in cafes to kill and maim innocents?
How many times did Jews issue their version of a fatwa or jihad, vowing to kill people of another religion for the mere sin of being of another religion? Or to kill an author who dared to set his novel amid the rhythms of Islamic life?
How many commercial airliners did Jews fly into skyscrapers?
How many videos have Jews circulated depicting a cadre of elders reading from the Talmud with sword at the ready as they stand above a kneeling hostage in a jump suit?
When was the last time Jews armed with AKs burst into the offices of a publication to execute cartoonists?
No sane person supports outright, indiscriminate hatred of Muslims…but wouldn’t that same sane person be entitled to wonder and worry? Even if one subscribes to the hoary bad apples conceit, there seem to be an awful lot of toxic orchards here and there throughout Islam. At minimum, giving the benefit of the doubt, Islam has done a piss-poor job of keeping its deadly harvest from reaching world markets.
The American Left has had no qualms about indicting the nation’s local law-enforcement community based on less evidence and far less mayhem than the apostles of Islam have wreaked worldwide.
So if Jews have become brutal—if their endeavors to survive can truly be described that way—well, they’ve directed that brutality toward one segment of mankind only: the segment that for generations has vowed to extinguish them (and other infidels); the segment that has attempted to reify its agenda by the most gruesome means; the segment whose most devout followers refuse to observe live-and-let-live. In a sense, today’s Israelis wear on their backs the targets that Jews have worn for millennia. The war has been ongoing throughout, remitting for short periods, never ending. Different malefactors but the same war. There has never been a genuine ceasefire on the part of those who hate Jews. (Consistently in polling, for the record, about half of Palestinians support Hamas. More anecdotal coverage of the phenomenon can be found here and here.)
The horrors that the Jewish people have endured—mostly without retaliation or even meaningful resistance—are unique and unspeakable. Now that Jews have a homeland, I grow increasingly deaf to complaints about Israeli excess or any “a is the same as b” parallels. History tells us otherwise. To begrudge the Israelis their defensive zeal is to begrudge chemotherapy its assault on cancer. This is not to portray Islam itself as a cancer. But aggressive Islamic cells are every bit as dangerous as aggressive cancer cells, and one should applaud their destruction.
As for the argument that Israelis invited the massacre perpetrated on them, Osama bin Laden made the same claim with regard to 9/11, insisting that Americans provoked that attack by (a) supporting Israel and (b) despoiling Saudi Arabia and other Muslim cultures.
Moreover, said bin Laden, in this holy war there were no civilians.
The story of radical Islam, and to some degree the Islamic mainstream (e.g. the outspoken Rashida Tlaib), is one of projecting onto enemies the evils of which the radicals themselves are guilty.
In 1947, for the first time in history, and for very good reasons, Jews were given a place of their own, where they hoped to live and raise their children in peace. That hope proved naïve, and today Israelis are committed to defending their tiny (8600-square mile) redoubt at all costs. (Maryland, in comparison, spans 12,000 square miles.) Israelis vow “never again,” and I for one support what must be done to bulwark that mantra.
Perhaps Israel one day will be faced with extinction and, its back to the wall, will deploy the doomsday weaponry it is reputed to have, thereby achieving one final apocalyptic measure of historical recompense. It wouldn’t be a happy day in world history, and who knows what wider cataclysms such an event might set in motion. But if I survived the episode I think I’d nod in quiet acknowledgment. Just deserts in the desert
I say this mindful of events like Israeli’s 1948 siege of Deir Yassin. But that came amid the geopolitical tensions surrounding the nascent Israel, when a wartime mentality prevailed and the horrors of the Holocaust were still fresh in mind. You can find differing views of the tragedy here and here.
While I don't believe the USA should get dragged into another foreign war, and while I disagree 1000% with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that "America can certainly afford to fight two wars" simultaneously (we're still struggling with the costs of the last two simultaneous foreign wars), I do want our leaders to tell Israel we will *not* interfere *against* them either. Being against American involvement is entirely distinct from being at all sympathetic towards Hamas. Israel has every right to defend itself, and for all the very good reasons that you listed, there is no moral equivalence between the IDF and Hamas. Not to mention, when it comes to arguments levied against Israel for its "occupation of stolen lands," you could make the same argument in favor of a violent Mexican reconquista of the USA or of Xosa thugs genociding Boer farmers in South Africa, which - surprise, surprise -- is exactly the position of BLM/Hamas sympathizers.