Earlier this year, under a barrage of thousands of Hamas missiles that indiscriminately targeted Israeli civilians, Israel responded by trying to knock out Hamas's ability to continue the barrage. The Israeli military succeeded overwhelmingly, though not perfectly, in avoiding Palestinian civilian casualties. Every warning was given for civilians to vacate targeted structures.
Many on the left felt that Israel overreacted and should not have tried to degrade Hamas’s ability to rain missiles on Israeli citizens. Israel, after all, had the Iron Dome; the Israelis, people said, should just rely on that and hope for the best. I wrote at that time that this was an ask never before made of another country -- to just sit and take it. It felt to me that Jewish blood was again being held cheaply and that it wasn't histrionics or cultural appropriation at such a moment to proclaim that Jewish lives matter.
Some responded at that time that I was overreacting, that criticizing Israel for the nature of its counter strike is not anti-semitism, and that of course Israel had a right to defend itself. Evidently these people felt that that right extended only as far as a reliance on Iron Dome.
And yet this week, the leaders of the left opposed continued funding for Iron Dome. For anyone who cares about any lives of any religion in the Middle East, this is a stupid position because it would result not only in greater Israeli loss of life but in massively greater loss of life elsewhere when Israel more aggressively defended itself. It is the height of hypocrisy for AOC and her friends to talk about human rights as they take positions that would lead to the loss of the greatest of all human rights on a massive scale -- namely the right to live.
The events of this week expose the nine house members who voted no and the two who voted present as anti-semites and liars. The Israel they can live with is a helpless, sacrificial, martyr state. But the year is 2021, and Jews don’t play that game. It's my hope that at least some of those who were critical of Israel's response earlier in the year will break with these leaders of the left and recognize the necessity of Iron Dome and the duplicity of AOC and her ilk.
Matt
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