Staying Neutral Would Have Been Cheap, But Picking Sides Comes With Costs

From the Daily Mail: "Leaked US diplomatic cable from Oman embassy 'warns Biden's support for Israel's military campaign is "losing us Arab publics for a generation"'." 

    The Biden administration has been warned by US diplomats in the Arab world it is 'losing us Arab publics for a generation' with its support for Israel's campaign in Gaza, according to a diplomatic cable seen by CNN.

    A confidential message from the US Embassy in Oman on Wednesday read, 'we are losing badly on the messaging battlespace' as Arab leaders judge the US' support for Israel's 'material and moral culpability in what they consider to be possible war crimes'.

    The cable, from the second-highest official in Muscat, was sent to security outfits including the White House's National Security Council, the CIA and the FBI, and cited conversations with 'a wide range of trusted and sober-minded contacts'.

Meanwhile, while attention is focused on Gaza: "'Leave or Die'--An account from a Palestinian in the West Bank"--Salon. I realize Salon cannot be trusted, but nevertheless this is what the Leftists are reading:

    The settlers look like soldiers. They come at night, but sometimes during the day, wearing army uniforms. They execute operations against Palestinians, beating us, taking our phones and smashing them to prevent us from documenting their terror. The settlers steal things from our homes and take our money. And in the end, their message is always the same: “You have 24 hours to flee, or we will shoot you.”

    The threat is terrifying. And they’ve already succeeded in forcing the expulsion of six Palestinian villages off their lands so far.

    All my life, I’ve been a resident of the Susya village, a small Palestinian village. We’re in Area C in the West Bank, in the shadow of what is happening in Gaza. The settlers see this as an opportunity to take control and claim parts of Area C as their own through terrorism and violence. We know who these settlers are. They’re criminals, and they should be arrested. But at the moment, they have become the law. They administer the law. They are the army, and they do whatever they want.

    Over the last three years, settler violence steadily increased day after day. Those of us who live in villages near the settlements know these settlers, especially the violent ones who assault and try to expel us. Four days ago, they came to my village at night. They forcibly entered my neighbor’s home and detained all the men and held them at gunpoint. Then they took them outside the house, and with an M16 gun pointed to the head of the house owner, they told him he had two options, and there wasn’t a third: “Leave or die.”

    Things have never been scarier for us. We tried to call the Israeli police to tell them what their citizens are doing to us. They told us we are in a state of war, and that they are powerless to do anything. But even last year, my home was raided in the night by the IDF. They blindfolded and arrested me, terrifying my family, only to release me later without charge but with a stern warning: Stop “causing all the trouble in the area.” Since the beginning of the war to the south, settler violence has increased, but for us, it did not begin on Oct. 7.

    Israeli authorities were here on Oct. 16 when a settler entered our village with a bulldozer. He used it to destroy and block the main road into Susya. In total, he blocked 16 roads, and since then, for three weeks now, my village has been under a complete siege. We don’t have water or medical services and supplies. People are unable to get medicine. There are people with chronic diseases, like diabetes and high blood pressure and such, who are now going without their life-dependent medicines. No children have been able to attend any of the schools in our area because of the settler terrorism and their closure of the roads.

    The same day they destroyed our roads with the bulldozer, the settlers also destroyed an entire grove of olive trees, and they destroyed three water wells, the only source of drinking water for the Palestinians. They also destroyed our solar panels, knowing that our village isn’t connected to electrical services except by solar panel. Most Palestinian villages in Area C are like this. My people are living in poverty because of this very difficult siege imposed upon us by the occupation. They are waging a war on Palestinians in every aspect of our lives. And they do this, all of this, under the protection of the army and with the knowledge of the police.

And from Parents Magazine: "Talking to Black Kids About Israel and Palestine Brings up Issues Closer to Home":

    For Black people–who are typically in support of the people of Gaza–the conversation is particularly nuanced. Black American communities have found kinship with Palestinians, having been subjected to oppression and colonialism, too, still enduring the lasting trauma and impact.

    Historically, organizations such as the Black Panthers–who openly advocated for “the right of the Arab refugees to return to their Palestine homeland”–were labeled as terrorists and outliers. This in itself can bring out a lot of powerful emotions for us and our children.

    Black activists such as Tamika Mallory and activist groups such as Black Lives Matter and Black Christians for Palestine are standing in solidarity with Palestinian causes. Even Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, Berniece King, took to Twitter to correct Amy Schumer’s false claims that her father would have supported Israel’s occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

    In the last few years, Palestinians have advised Black protesters during the racial justice uprisings following the death of George Floyd. They also painted murals of him as a show of support for the Black cause.

    With round-the-clock news broadcasts and social media posts covering the Israel-Palestine war, it’s easy for children to be exposed to unfiltered and uncensored content, much of which contains images, videos, and conversations about suffering and death.

* * *

    Importantly, especially for Black children, Palestinian support is visibly growing on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram among Gen Zs and Millennials. Younger generations are understanding the continuous interconnection between the fight for freedom of Black and Palestinian people. Sadly, there’s also a deep, dark parallel between the lives of Black American children not being guaranteed, similar to the lives of Palestinian children.

    I have three takeaways from the foregoing articles:

    First, it is educational to see how Critical Race Theory, created as a weapon against the Christian West, has been so quickly been turned on Jews and Israel. Of course is should not surprise anyone. According to this 2017 article from Chicago Jewish News: "A total of 30 percent of the wealthiest 100 and 140 of the Forbes 400 belonged to American Jews, according to 2009. African Americans made up only two of the Forbes 400 in 2017: media tycoon Oprah Winfrey and tech investor Robert Smith. Five Latinos made up the other five members of the Forbes 400." So it is inevitable that a philosophy built on envy would eventually turn on Jews who are disproportionately represented among the wealthy.

    Second, with Israel's military incursion into Gaza increasingly resembling the Nazi's putting down the Warsaw uprising--even including figuring out how to kill enemy fighters using underground passageways--Israel may win military but will almost certainly lose the battle for public opinion, which is what these articles seem to show. 

    Third, notice the implied warning in the Parents article: U.S. blacks identify with Palestinians. So does this mean that we will see more intifadas from the black community like in 2020?