Think

The country of Israel was and still is a good idea, and I’m sure that it started out with the best of intentions.

It was to be a haven for Jews so that they would no longer have to suffer under oppression and persecution primarily from so-called Christian nations gone wrong.

The problem that Israel faced was that the land selected for the Jews by the landed nobility was already occupied by Palestinians who not surprisingly, were quite content living where they were.

Not to worry, the powers that be, accustomed to colonizing other nations, forged ahead.

They had a lot of money, and there was a lot of money to be made by controlling oil and gas assets in the Middle East.

The powers that be didn’t get to where they got it by being stupid. Their geologists had already staked out the Middle East as an oil rich region by the early 1900s.

It was only a matter, of figuring out how to steal the land from the Ottoman Empire.

World War I solved that.

After that, it was all downhill sledding.

And so Jews were brought in steadily with stops and starts from 1918 on. That was the beginning of the British mandate in Palestine.

It took a few years for the Palestinians to figure out what was going on, but in time they did, and so they begin to organize against Jews and the colonization of Jews.

This was their land after all, they reasoned.

Thus began the back and forth conflict between Jews and Palestinians in Palestine, now Israel.

What ensued has been a reverberating circuit of acrimony with Jews – backed by the UK and the US – gaining the upper hand.

Gradually Palestinians have been forced off their native lands. Many became prisoners in their own country in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

As the conflict grew the leaderships of both Israelis and Palestinians became more polarized.

Each leadership began to demonize the other side’s inhabitants and members as cockroaches and animals.

The Palestinians, without modern weapons, resorted to rockthrowing and suicide bombings.

The Israelis, backed up by the United States, and the United Kingdom, struck back with general every day harassment, an increased security state, and, of course, guided bombs.

Increasingly the left wing was left out of leadership positions within Israel. The conservative party of Likud became the party of choice. They were the “get tough” party.

Benjamin, Netanyahu and his predecessors created a toxic culture of hate toward Palestinians..

An internal reverberating circuit of toxic hate developed between the Likud party(and other conservative parties) leaders and their followers.

The leaders spouted their toxic venom to the people, and the people reinforced that toxic venom upon the leaders by cheering and clapping wildly. So there was positive reinforcement of hate brewing within Israeli culture.

The more negative things you said about Palestinians, the more applause you got.

So it was only natural that when a young IDF soldier, Elor Azaria, shot a helpless Palestinian soldier as he lay dying on the ground, he would receive tremendous support amongst the Israeli population. After all he was putting a dying animal out of its misery.

So of course he was perceived as a hero.

Why would we expect otherwise?

In time, the philosophy of Meir Kahane the radical right wing ultranationalist and racist politician became the norm in Israeli society.

It can happen in any country, especially if leadership feeds into it.

Besides. the leadership in the United States and the United Kingdom didn’t seem to care.

Why should they care?

They were making plenty of money with their partner Israel in the Middle East.. They had their outpost keeping a close eye on affairs going on there.

Someone needed to keep an eye on Iran.

So what if the Israelis got a little bit out of control?

As long as they stayed loyal to the United States and the Anglo-American empire, that was the important thing.

And so Israel was free to do what it wanted internally with rhe Palestinians.

The Palestinians, however, would not go quietly into the night.

They refused to accept defeat, and so they fought back.

The climate became more toxic, and the leadership of Israel correspondingly became more toxic.

Recently in the last few years this had led to the inclusion in the top ranks of Israeli leadership toxic right wing ideologues like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich who must’ve been sitting in the front row with eyes wide open and mouths agape as Rabbi Meir Kahane delivered one if not all of his speeches.

Smotrich’s statements (Wikipedia):

In April 2018, Smotrich tweeted that Ahed Tamimi, a 17-year-old Palestinian serving an eight-month jail sentence for assaulting a soldier, incitement, and interfering with a soldier in the line of duty, “should have gotten a bullet, at least in the kneekap”

In October 2021, he stated to Arab lawmakers that, “You’re here by mistake, it’s a mistake that Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job and didn’t throw you out in 1948.”

Smotrich’s positions (Wikipedia):

He is a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, opposes Palestinian statehood, and denies the existence of the Palestinian people.

Kahane lives! There is no doubt about it.

Ben-Gvir of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) openly antagonizes Palestinians in West Bank.

Smotrich of the Religious Zionist Party incorrectly states that the Palestinians and their culture never existed despite mountains of evidence that refute this.

These are lies that the Fuhrer would be proud of.

The loyal followers of both men eat this up. A religious fervor of hatred towards Palestinians ensues, and this religious fervor incites the leadership to come up with the next big thing which will garner them even greater applause and greater glory in their own minds.

And so the October 7 attack was permitted to happen.

This was to be their 911, and Pearl Harbor all wrapped up in one.

Finally, the Israelis would have the pretext and the justification for wiping the Palestinians out of Israel altogether.

And that is where we are today.

No peace as possible given the toxic climate in Israel today.

Yes, this toxic climate exists in Hamas as well, and they are equally responsible for what is going on..

It is a horrifying sight, and neither side is capable of saying that they are equally contributory to the carnage that has gone on.

It’s always the other guy.

And so here we are two weeks after the Oct 7 Hamas massacre, and Israel is readying for a ground invasion while still engaging in a relentless bombing campaign upon Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

What should Israel do? What should Hamas do?

Ask questions, and ask a lot of them.

Think.

Sincerely,

Archer Crosley

Copyright 2023 Archer Crosley All Rights Reserved