Never before have multiple advanced democracies lent such unambiguous support to a single mass extermination. But it is just one of several dimensions of this rapidly unfolding crisis that are historically unique. Of course there is nothing unusual about modern states arming genocidal groups, as America did with Indonesia in the seventies and Guatemala in the eighties. But rarely have they carried out their own mass exterminations, as we are seeing today in the Levant—and far less often in recent generations. We are all Philistines now as our hearts are pummeled by this effort to, in the words commanded by God in the Bible “kill every man, woman, child, and living thing.” Most genocides occur in obscure places, and the world knows little about them until they are nearly complete. But Israel is arguably the last colonial outpost of the western world. Thus, its actions are being watched with rage by formally colonized peoples the world over. And its perpetration of genocide represents a rupture in the global imaginary so great that it might be said to constitute an attack on the very idea of humanity itself. The extermination of Ghazans is arguably the most globalized effort to liquidate a people in history. More people from around the world are involved in helping to perpetrate it, and more people from a wider range of countries are attempting to stop it. Meanwhile, multiple previous attacks on this city of children means distant observers have better access to the experience of its victims than perhaps any other effort to wipe a people off the face of the earth—as does a population prepared to document every atrocity, while spreading it globally on social media. In this way, it is almost impossible to underestimate the historical significance of this mass regression to barbarism on the global imaginary through which we conceive of our shared humanity. It will undermine the moral legitimacy of liberalism and social democracy, weaken support for the alliance of democracies, bring everlasting shame on the political parties supporting it, and take an axe to generations of work on human rights and international law. In this way, every attack on a Philistine child is an attack on our own rights and freedoms. People don’t want to think about little girls with severed limbs, choking on dirt, as they cry for their mommies, beneath a ton of rubble. So, media outlets have sanitized stories for the general public. But they also don’t want to think about the fact that the murders they are helping perpetrate are far more gruesome and numerous than the worst stories told of Hamas. So, governments across the western world have carried out unprecedented levels of censorship to hide their shame. But like the tell-tale heart, buried beneath the floorboards, our crimes will haunt us until we are forced to confess. Israel is breaking records for its cruelties while the whole world is watching. In a virtual blink of the eye, they have shattered generations of diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East, chewed through a web of fragile alliances, plunged their society into ghoulish cruelties with which they will forever be haunted, and likely inspired another millennium of antisemitism. The word Israel will forever be associated with the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, and Pol Pot—and its propagandists have made sure to inextricably tie it to Jewishness. Genocide is always a nihilistic act that destroys victims and perpetrators alike. This is likely the first time in the modern era that the perpetrators of genocide have shut off access to water among their victims while bombing all the water and desalinization plants. It is likely the first time in the modern era that they have managed to completely take out a medical system in so short a time by bombing hospitals and ambulances, while shutting off their access to power. It is likely the first time in the modern era that as many as 32 journalists and 59 UN aid workers have been killed so quickly, thereby intimidating the rest into submission. It may be the first time in the modern era in which the primary victims of a war are children, as noted by Brazil’s president Lula Ignacio de Silva. And it quite possibly the first time in the modern era that such a high percentage of a perpetrator population has participated in so much mockery of the victims through cruel videos making fun of their plight, which have gotten tens of thousands of shares. Genocide is often called the ultimate human evil, because it entails all other evils. Murder is valorized, theft encouraged, lying undertaken en masse, and gruesome violations of the body normalized. Suddenly, all values are inverted, and everything that was good becomes bad, while otherwise decent people find themselves arguing in defense of mass murder. This kind of inversion of values is difficult to sustain in wealthy states where citizens enjoy a measure of freedom and the press is likely to report on atrocities. And it is all the more difficult to sustain in a place like Ghaza, which has been watched so closely for years, and every other person seems to track the atrocities with their phone. As the symbolic last resistance to western colonialism, Palestinians have transformed resistance into a national identity. And they have opened participation in their struggle to the world. Thus, joining their battle for freedom from afar means lending your support to a deeper and wider effort against domination more generally. In this way, saving Ghaza means saving our own humanity, and fighting for their right to live means engaging in a common global struggle for freedom. It may not be the fight to save democracy that some of us expected, but it is vital, essential, beautiful, and necessary. Israel has opened up a breech in the collective unconscious of the western world, releasing demons that took centuries to lock away. We dreamed for a time of a world of free societies bound together in respect of human rights, and now that dream has transmogrified into a nightmare. Is it still possible to wrestle these demons back into their box and force our leaders to abide by their own stated principles? The future of humanity may be determined in our efforts to save Ghaza. Meanwhile, if only we lend our souls to their struggle, the open hearts and incessant service of the people of Ghaza may infuse our ideals with the missing ingredient of humanity, the forgotten prerequisite to their realization.
TC or GTFO
Gtfo
👏👏👏
Where are the hostages?
Where are the Palestinians holding them?
If Israel wanted to perpetrate a genocide, this thing would have been over 8.10
A genocide going on for 70 years where the population has increased 600% in the last 70 years !!
Genocide is about intent and actions not population numbers.
If it is only based on intent and action , Islam would be considered a genocidal religion . Also , by your argument , Palestinians have caused genocide of Jews - because they have the intent and is backed by actions .
Throwing around genocide is actually quite dangerous but ok carry on
“saving Ghaza means saving our own humanity” - what a bunch of crap. Gaza is infested with terrorists. It’s a hive of murderers and criminals, we must save Gaza by dismantling it and removing any civilian people to go somewhere else where they are not under the oppression of Hamas
So many little Ben Shapiro clones today.
You’re speaking from Atheists perspective, true believers in Allah are ok to be martyred and go to heaven.
Not just okay . They are taught that life in heaven is forever and so much better than life on earth . So , it’s better to kill non believers and go to heaven than live peacefully on earth .
That's a lot of text. 7.10