Israel’s Audacity to Survive

Woke leftists simply oppose the military action of some states but uniquely hate Israel with a visceral passion. Indeed, a clear and ugly implication underlies all the far-left criticism of Israel's conduct: that Israelis should just let themselves be killed by Hamas's rockets rather than fight back. By Aaron Kliegman For months now, Ethiopian forces and allied troops from neighboring Eritrea have been killing, raping, and starving civilians across Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray. Humanitarian aid is still being blocked. Hundreds of thousands remain displaced from their homes. The horrors continue. Yet there are no repeated op-eds in the New York Times decrying the situation. No loud condemnations from Democrats in Congress. No inflammatory protests in major Western cities. No trending hashtags. No widespread efforts by progressives to portray Ethiopia or Eritrea as a bloodthirsty aggressor. Besides some news reports (which certainly don’t make page one), the violence in Tigray has largely gone unnoticed among the woke. But when Israel uses military force to defend itself from enemy fire, we get all the above and more: a barrage of op-eds, non-stop speeches from liberal Democrats, protests and riots across the West, hashtags galore, comparisons to Nazi Germany — the whole nine yards. All condemning Israel. All meant to demonize the Jewish state. It’s the same routine every time Israel has the audacity to defend itself. This time, Israel has had the temerity to launch airstrikes against Hamas, the US-designated terrorist group in control of Gaza, for attacking Israeli civilians with thousands of rockets. As a result, progressives are expressing outrage. Apartheid! Genocide! Ethnic cleansing! The war cries against Israel are everywhere across woke Twitter, spilling out into anti-Israel demonstrations in the streets across the US and Europe. We’re also seeing this anti-Israel animus in Congress, the media, academia, even Hollywood. The double standard here is striking: Woke leftists simply oppose the military action of some countries but loathe Israel for acting in self-defense. Progressives reserve a unique, visceral hatred for the Jewish state. No other country receives such treatment. It would be bad enough if Israel was actually abusing human rights like Eritrea and receiving disproportionately intense criticism. But Israel isn’t abusing human rights; it’s merely targeting Hamas’s weapons and terrorist operatives — after Hamas began hostilities by firing at Israel in the first place. Not to mention Hamas stores its weapons in civilian sites such as schools and hospitals, using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Israel does all it can to warn civilians ahead of time to leave before striking, but Hamas tries to get them to stay. In such an environment, some civilian deaths are inevitable. It should be obvious that there’s no moral equivalence here: Hamas tries to kill civilians; Israel tries to save them. Hamas is a genocidal organization whose founding charter calls for the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel; Israel is the lone democracy in the Middle East and a crucial US ally. Yet the progressive left still blames Israel, ignoring all context and even perpetuating misinformation to portray the Jewish state as the belligerent. They even chide Israel for having a missile-defense system to shield Israelis from rocket fire. There’s a clear and ugly implication underlying all the far-left criticism of Israel's conduct: Israelis should just let themselves be killed by Hamas's rockets rather than fight back. Indeed, demonizing Israel — and Israel alone — for firing rockets at Hamas’s launch pads is another way of saying Israelis should just stand there and take the rocket onslaught instead. That’s the only way to explain the left’s insistence on placing blame at Israel’s feet, not Hamas’s. But, progressives say, Israel of course has a right to defend itself. One often hears this perfunctory statement from the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders right after bashing Israel’s military strikes and calling the Jewish state the reincarnation of Nazi Germany. That’s all well and good, but all nations have the right to defend themselves. Why do progressives feel a need to clarify that they believe Israel has a right to exist? Why is this even a question up for debate? Because so many people, especially on the progressive left, castigate and delegitimize Israel whenever it does anything to protect itself from Palestinian terrorism. The past couple weeks are a case in point. One can be forgiven for thinking leftists don’t actually believe Israel has a right to self-defense. But regardless of what anti-Israel activists on college campuses or in the halls of Congress think, Israel has the audacity to survive as a Jewish state and will endure — even if the woke disapprove. Newt hosts monthly virtual events in which he discusses news of the day and why it matters to you and your community. These Newt Live events are your opportunity to communicate directly with Newt. We hope you will join us next time and let Newt answer your questions and provide his insight on the issues that concern you most. JOIN TODAY to be a part of this special event and receive a BONUS GIFT. Click here to join Newt’s Inner Circle. More from Aaron Kliegman: