I started collecting this on Tuesday, mostly because I didn't want to let the Stevenson piece go without comment. The Mishra, which could still use some work, was also found in the Wichita Eagle that day. I had much more to write about the Ryu Spaeth piece, only some of which got tacked onto the footer section. Two points would have fit only awkwardly, but let me take a brief stab at them here:
Most leftists are informed and defined by a core philosophical principle -- that all people are fundamentally equal, and justice demands that they be respected as such -- but the left isn't some sort of religion or cult; it is a political tendency, effectively a party, aiming to incrementally improving justice by recognizing our fundamental equality. People who embrace this core principle will join the left, but you don't have to adopt the right thinking to align with the left. All you need is to find that your interests would be better served by the advance of the left. That happens a lot, especially with oppressed minorities. A bunch of things follow from this (which I'd rather not have to spell out at the moment -- one of which is that Jews in America, where there is risk of oppression, gravitate left, whereas in Israel, where they have attained the power to oppress others, they trend to the right).
Most leftists in America have come to embrace nonviolence, partly because we have come to realize that violence corrodes the spirit and compounds the difficulties of furthering justice, but also because it's more promising in our political system, which in principle allows for popular reform -- even though the system is heavily stacked against it. It is therefore tempting to raise nonviolence as a moral absolute, to condemn all exceptions, and to purge the left political movement of those who fall short of our ideals. I am pretty close to being an absolute pacifist, but even I have to admit that this would be self-defeating.
Several reasons: violence, especially in self-defense, is a universal human instinct, one we may disapprove of and often regret, but cannot totally deny, because in some circumstances it seems like the only option for saving our humanity; throughout most history, at least since the left became a distinct political force, the only way change toward greater equality and justice could be achieved was through violence (e.g., the great revolutions from 1776 to 1917); even where reforms have been achieved, they were often conceded to hold back the threat of revolutionary violence. Of course, we now more fully realize that our violence has a dark side. But aren't there still situations where nonviolent change is so completely closed off that only through violence can people assert their humanity?
I don't think that we, in neurotic but still fundamentally liberal America, can with certainty assert that people barely surviving in Gaza have any real, viable options. Sure, one may still hope that nonviolent means, like BDS, might persuade Israel to lessen its stifling grip over its Palestinian subjects, but it may be that all the nonviolent protest has achieved -- and it has been tried at least as often as violence -- has been to reaffirm the faith of right-wing Israelis that overwhelming force will always prevail. Even before the rise of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, but accelerating at an alarming rate after they joined the Netanyahu government, West Bank settlers had moved beyond their initial goal of staking claim to land to terrorizing Palestinians, hoping to drive them into exile. Israel's support for Azerbaijan's "ethnic cleansing" of Nagorno-Karabakh sure looked like a dress rehearsal for Israel driving Palestinians out of the West Bank.
While I personally believed that the revolt of Oct. 7 was ill-considered, politically reckless, and morally hazardous, their political and moral struggle was not mine to dictate or to judge. So I saw no point in condemning what appeared to be an act of desperation. Certainly not to make myself feel more righteous in comparison. Even less so as it would lend comfort to those who would take this act of violence and use as excuse to strike back even harder. And that part took no imagination on my part, as by the time I had heard the news, many Israelis were already clamoring for massive revenge -- as could have been expected, given that Israel's whole system of governing is based on their capacity for inflicting overwhelming violence.
Similarly, I can hardly condemn Israelis for defending themselves once the revolt broke out of Gaza. I would only point out that the defense was complete, and should have ended, once the attackers were rebuffed, and the border secured -- which happened within 24 hours of the initial attacks. The war since then, including some 40,000 tons of bombs Israel has dropped on Gaza, cannot be considered self-defense. This bombardment is no less than an act of systematic destruction and slaughter, an act that can only be summed up in the word "genocide."
Israelis have disputed that word, but with independence in 1948 they established a formal caste system with distinct legal status for Jews and Arabs, driving some 700,000 of the latter into exile, expropriating their property, and forbidding their return. They've also, building on the British model, regularly practiced collective punishment, including indiscriminate killing. Those are two of the three essential constituents of genocide. The third is the loss of inhibition against killing, which has been happening continuously since the 2000 Intifada and the 2006 loss of Gaza to Hamas, such that the Oct. 7 revolt merely tipped the impulse into action, with public statements to match. It is still possible that Israel's leaders will come to second thoughts and rein their killing in, but until they do, shying away from the term only encourages them to proceed.
Much more I could write on this, but time to post on schedule is running out.
Israel: If you are at all unclear on how we got to the revolt on Oct. 7 and the subsequent intensification of the Israeli war against Gaza, start with this timeline: Countdown to genocide: the year before October 7.
Mondoweiss:
[11-20] Day 45: Israeli military besieges the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza.
[11-21] Day 46: Israeli tanks besiege Indonesian Hospital as bombardment of Gaza continues.
[11-22] Day 47: Israel and Hamas agree to a temporary truce, release captives and prisoners.
[11-23] Day 48: Ahead of temporary ceasefire, Israeli forces continue to terrorize hospitals.
[11-24] Day 49: Four-day truce begins in Gaza after a night of heavy bombardment.
[11-25] Day 50: First Israeli and Palestinian hostages released as Gaza takes stock of devastation.
[11-26] Day 51: Israel fires at Palestinians attempting to return to northern Gaza amid shaky truce. The latter point is especially significant, as well as "Israeli forces prevent any scenes of celebration of the released prisoners in Jerusalem." Israel's leaders were not just very reluctant to agree to any sort of "pause," they are embarrassed that they did, and horrified that anyone might treat their compromise as any sign of weakness.
Ghada Ageel: [11-25] While the world has abandoned Gaza, its doctors have done the opposite. They are our heroes.
Michael Arria: [11-26] Three Palestinian students shot in Vermont in apparent hate crime.
Erin Banco/Nahal Toosi: [11-21] US has sent Israel data on aid group locations to try to prevent strikes: Which didn't exactly work, or did it?
Zack Beauchamp: [11-22] The Israel-Hamas deal is not a real ceasefire.
Roger Cohen: [11-20] Between Israelis and Palestinians, a lethal psychological chasm grows: This "chasm" is real, but its symmetry is forced. One side has immensely more power than the other to punish and/or to forgive, and as such has responsibility for perpetuating the hostility.
Dave DeCamp: [11-22] Biden admin worries the pause in Gaza will give journalists more access to expose Israeli atrocities.
Richard Falk: [11-24] When is 'a humanitarian pause' genocidal?
Abdallah Fayyad: [11-22] Why Israel imprisons so many Palestinians: "150 Palestinian prisoners are being released as part of Israel and Hamas's recent hostage deal. But thousands more remain behind bars."
Joshua Frank: [11-19] The dangers only multiply: "Could Israel's war on Gaza go nuclear?" No surprise that at least one of Israel's more sociopathic politicians suggested that it should, but common sense argues that it won't: mostly because the target is too close to risk the nuclear fallout. On the other hand, it's sobering to read this line: "Indeed, well over 25,000 tons of bombs had already been dropped on Gaza by early November, the equivalent of two Hiroshima-style nukes (without the radiation)." One thing that's not stopping Israel is scruples about genocide.
Sophia Goodfriend: [11-24] Israel's 'thought police' law ramps up dangers for Palestinian social media users. The amendment was first drafted a year-and-a-half ago, but only passed in the current panic.
Jonathan Guyer: [11-22] The Israel-Hamas hostage deal, explained: "This is a deal that has essentially been on the table for about a month," i.e., well before Israel's ground offensive.
Tareq S Hajjaj: [11-25] A 'temporary ceasefire' means realizing how much we've lost.
Sam Hamad: [11-18] Understanding Hasbara: Israel's propaganda machine.
Benjamin Hart: [11-22] How long could the Israel-Hamas ceasefire last? Interview with Gershon Baskin ("an Israeli peace activist who played a key role in the freeing of Gilad Shalit" in 2006), who plainly states: "There is no scenario where the war ends with Hamas in control of Gaza."
Ellen Ioanes: [11-24] The controversial phrase "from the river to the sea," explained.
Amira Jarmakani: [11-20] The ADL is leading the attack against free speech on Palestine.
Caitlin Johnstone: [11-13] Israelis keep hurting their own PR interests by talking.
Fred Kaplan: [11-22] One factor behind the Gaza cease-fire deal: A massive shift in the US relationship with Israel.
Kathy Kelly: [11-24] Tunnels for safety and tunnels for death.
Jen Kirby: [11-22] How Qatar became a key broker in the Israel-Hamas deal.
Daniel Larison: [11-22] The warfare of starvation: "The siege will kill Palestinian civilians and by doing nothing, the US is supporting it."
Lauren Leatherby: [11-25] Gaza civilians, under Israeli barrage, are being killed at historic pace: "In less than two months, more than twice as many women and children have been reported killed in Gaza than in Ukraine after two years of war." Also see the Corey Robin tweets, below.
John Mueller: [11-21] What if Israel didn't set out to 'destroy Hamas'? "The case for a limited response after the October 7 attacks."
Orly Noy: [11-23] What Israelis won't be asking about the Palestinians released for hostages: "The list of Palestinians slated to be exchanged for Israelis should provoke reflection over the role of mass imprisonment in the occupation."
Taha Ozhan: [11-25] The West will pay a heavy price for expending its credibility on Israel.
Matthew Petti: [11-20] Media amplified US, Israeli narrative on Palestinian deaths: "Following senior officials' lead, many prominent Western news outlets started linking Hamas to hospitals in Gaza."
Mitchell Plitnick: [11-24] Israel wants to pull the U.S. into a regional confrontation, but Biden remains reluctant.
Mouin Rabbani: Two pieces that Norman Finkelstein published: [11-26] Thoughts on the truce; and Israel has lost the plot: This provides a cogent explanation of why "the elimination of Hamas is unattainable" -- not exactly the one I was thinking of, but good enough for all practical purposes. Given that the root-and-branch elimination of Hamas is doomed to failure, serious thought should be given to how to turn Hamas into a force for reform: basically, how to domesticate it. Israel has long complained about not having a "partner for peace," but Israel never wanted one (else they would have made an effort). Also see this [11-07] discussion between Rabbani and Finkelstein: Gaza one month later.
Mohannad Sabry: [11-22] Israel's killing of journalists and denial can't hide the horrific toll in Gaza.
Richard Silverstein:
[11-20] Former IDF commander calls for Gaza genocide: "Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland argues inflicting disease and starvation will hasten Gaza's surrender."
[11-21] Friendly-fire incidents killed 10 IDF officers, wounded dozens of others, killed many civilians: "Israeli drones and helicopters killed Israeli hostages as Hannibal Directive was invoked."
[11-24] Amalek: 'Erasing' Gaza.
Tom Suarez: [11-26] The masterful propaganda of 'deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust': "Israel and its supporters are engaging in Holocaust revisionism to justify its genocidal attack on Gaza."
Jeffrey St Clair:
[11-25] Complete and utter carnage: "The Scourging of Gaza: Diary of a genocidal war." Too bad this is paywalled, leaving free riders with another St Clair reprint (see Rebirth of a Nation: US history according to DW Griffith).
[11-18] Enter the moral abyss: The previous week's entry in "The Scourging of Gaza: Diary of a genocidal war."
Struan Stevenson: [11-20] Iran's 'axis of resistance' to Israel begins to crack. Author is a former member of the European Parliament (from Scotland), and a former chairman of a group called Friends of a Free Iran. This piece, like his previous [10-17] Iran's tyrannical mullahs created the Hamas monster, is vivid and vitriolic propaganda aimed at pinning the Oct. 7 Gaza revolt on Iran, for reasons known only to the diabolical mullahs. Much of what Stevenson writes is patently false, and much more is simply hard to believe. Iran didn't invent Hamas, and had essentially no interest in the Palestinian struggle until the 1990s, when Israel turned on Iran, figuring that Iraq could no longer be painted as an existential threat, and that Iran would play better with the Americans, who still nursed a grudge over the 1980 hostage thing. Even so, there's no credible accounting of how much support Iran has ever provided to Hamas. Stevenson's claim that "the mullahs have provided hundreds of millions of dollars annually to Hamas" is especially mind-boggling. (That's more like the levels of arms the US supplies to Ukraine and Israel.) Even if Iran is using its "proxies" just to stir up trouble, it would be much easier and cheaper to negotiate some kind of détente, or better still a normalization of relations, which would allow them (and others) the opportunity to enjoy peace, instead of just beating them with sticks like like Mojahedin-e Khalq (the Israel-supported terrorist group Stevenson is allied with).
Philip Weiss: [11-26] Weekly Briefing: The Israeli perspective -- on genocide -- dominates our airwaves.
Oren Ziv/Yotam Ronen: [11-22] Carrying the pain of loss on October 7, these families are pleading for peace: That the families of hostages have been the loudest and most visible opponents of the war against Gaza reflects, I think, two deeper truths. One is that sympathy gives them a forum to speak publicly where most Israelis (and all Palestinians) are intimidated into silence. The other is that they realize that Israel will gain nothing by prosecuting the war, while they stand to lose their families for no good reason.
Trump, and other Republicans:
Thomas B Edsall: [11-22] The roots of Trump's rage.
Margaret Hartmann:
Eric Levitz: [11-24] Trump as a plan for massively increasing inflation. Clever to note that while Republicans hammer away at Biden for inflation -- when he wasn't threatening to beat up Teamsters, Markwayne Mullin was lying about diesel prices (see [11-22] GOP Senator swiftly fact-checked after whining about gas prices for his massive truck) -- aren't solutions, and in many ways only make the problem worse. Still I'm not convinced that Trump's 10% across-the-board tariff idea is such a bad one: true it will raise consumer prices, and it may not stimulate much new domestic production, but it should reduce the trade deficit (which I've long taken to be a bad thing, although economists tend to argue otherwise). I also doubt that another round of Trump tax cuts will have much effect on consumer price inflation -- although it will undoubtedly lead to inflated asset values (something economists refuse to count as inflation). On the other hand, no mention here of antitrust (which Trump will presumably cripple, unless he can use it vindictively to attack his political enemies), which if enforced should push prices down, and if neglected will allow companies to become more predatory. Or of more deregulation, which helps unscrupulous companies increas profits both through higher prices and by passing costs on to the public (pollution, which includes the effects of global warming, is the most famous of these externalities). Still, Republicans do have one effective tool to quell inflation: recession. That's cure much worse than the disease it claims to treat. It's also the end-state of the last three Republican presidencies. Whereas this and the last two Democratic presidents (but not Carter) ended up with sustained economic growth, and (more modest) wage growth. Maybe a little inflation isn't such a bad thing.
Zachary Petrizzo: [11-16] Trumpworld is already at war over staffing a new Trump White House.
Roger Sollenberger:
[11-24] The secret megadonor behind the MAGA movement's 'nerve center': About Mark Rydin.
[11-22] Conservative group accidentally reveals its secret donors. Some of them are liberal orgs. The group is American Compass. The two orgs with a "liberal history" are Omidyar Network and the Hewlett Foundation, both founded by tech moguls.
Peter Wade: [11-26] Christie blames Trump for increasing antisemitism and Islamophobia: To quote him: "Intolerance toward anyone encourages intolerance toward everyone."
Biden and/or the Democrats:
Branko Marcetic: [11-22] Voters are leaving Joe Biden in droves over his support for Israel.
Harold Meyerson: [11-20] Can Biden and the Democrats survive their divisions on Israel-Palestine? He offers some suggestions, mostly referring back to the 1968 rift over the Vietnam war, which isn't terribly relevant. Johnson's big liability in 1968 was that he and his administration had repeatedly lied about the war, falling way short of their promises, inspiring no confidence in their future, in a war that had enormous personal impact on millions of Americans. Consequently, Johnson/Humphrey were opposed by prominent Democrats. On the other hand, no major Democrat is going to stand up against Biden, especially not for showing excessive fealty to Israel. Maybe there's an enthusiasm slump as the gap between the Democratic Party leadership and base expands, but party regulars are almost certain to rally against Trump. The volatile center, on the other hand, may not be able to articulate the problem with Biden's wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and (heaven forbid) Taiwan, but the bad vibes could sink him.
Steven Shepard: [11-25] The polls keep getting worse for Biden.
Tweet from Daniel Denvir on points above:
If Democrats are suddenly worried that Biden will lose to Trump -- as they should be -- the rational thing to do would be to 1) make another, more popular Dem the nominee and 2) move the party away from its pro-genocide position. Blaming the left for saying genocide is bad won't work
Also from Nathan J Robinson:
I'm interested in the theory of how Biden is supposed to turn his numbers around, given that:
(1) The main issue is his age and he gets older every day, and
(2) Humanitarian crisis in Gaza will worsen as disease and starvation set in, and it is causing young Dems to hate him
Legal matters and other crimes:
Ian Millhiser: [11-21] A Supreme Court case about stocks could help make Trump's authoritarian dreams reality: "The 'unitary executive' is back, and it could supercharge Trump's plans to fill the government with his own loyalists."
Economic matters:
David Dayen: [11-20] How Larry Summers's bad predictions hurt the planet.
Emily Stewart: [11-20] Wages are rising. Jobs are plentiful. Nobody's happy. "It's a good time to be a worker and a bad time to be a consumer -- the problem is most people are both."
Ukraine War:
Sophia Ampgkarian: [11-23] Why US-led sanctions on Russia are a failure: "After nearly two years of the tightest embargoes ever, Moscow's economy and war effort are doing far better than anticipated."
Robert English: [11-24] Bad history makes for bad policy on Ukraine.
Edward Hunt: [11-21] The Ukraine war has been a 'great bargain' for US in the Black Sea.
Around the world:
Victor Grossman: [11-24] Split on the left in Germany.
Eldar Mamedov: [11-22] On foreign policy, Argentina's Milei leans neocon, not libertarian: Notably, he's a "staunch supporter of Ukraine," has a "fervid embrace of Israel," is opposed to Argentina joining BRICS.
Muhammad Sahimi: [11-24] Iran's political factions aren't united on Hamas, or the Middle East: "But most favor a policy of restraint in reaction to the Gaza war."
Helmer Stoel: [11-24] Far-right Geert Wilders won the Dutch election because the establishment indulged him.
Ryan Cooper:
[10-11] The cooperative that could: "How S Group became Finland's most dominant retailer." Pull quotes include: "S Group's business model depends in part on the perception that being a member benefits broader society."
[11-20] Nefarious corporate overlord accidentally kick-starts media company: "Gamurs Group fired the editor in chief of The Escapist. Most of the publication joined him to start something new, a worker cooperative called Second Wind."
Eileen Crist/Judith Lipton/David Barash: [11-24] End the insanity: For nuclear disarmament and global demilitarization.
Tom Engelhardt: [11-26] A slow-motion Gaza: But isn't it a little soon to turn "Gaza" into a metaphor for the "hell on Earth" that global warming is inching towards?
James Fallows: [11-23] Why Charlie Peters matters: The founder and editor-in-chief of Washington Monthly for 30 years (1969-2000) has died, at 96. I subscribed to the journal for several years early on, possibly from its inception, and found it to be seriously informative and generally sensible about policy workings in Washington. I was rather dismayed later on to find that Peters had coined the "neoliberal" term, though there may be an argument that what Peters had in mind differed significantly from the disparaging use of the term lately -- see Paul Glastris: [01-08] Need a new economic vision? Gotcha covered. Last thing I recall reading by Peters was a sad lament about his home state of West Virginia flipping Republican.
Eric Levitz: [11-22] OpenAI was never going to save us from the robot apocalypse.
Robert Lipsyte: [11-21] Farewell to the New York Times sports department: "Or should it be good riddance?"
Pankaj Mishra: [11-18] The west never had a chance at winning over the world: Talks about the phrase "the global south," and how it's come to the fore since Russia's invasion of Ukraine tightened the bond between the US and Europe, while estranging both from the rest of the world (now known as, the Global South). It surely can't be a surprise that the renewed and militant union of Europe and the US (aka, the West) would be viewed suspiciously by the Global South? Mishra notes that "the Biden administration failed to enlist any major country of the Global South in its cause," i.e., economic war against Russia, ostensibly to defend Ukraine. He adds: "Even worse, the conflict in Gaza may now have mortally damaged Western power and credibility in the Global South."
Olivia Nuzzi: [11-22] The mind-bending politics of RFK Jr.'s spoiler campaign. He's having a moment as a free agent presidential candidate, partly because he might appeal to scattered, disaffected groups that otherwise are stuck in the two-party straitjacket; possibly also on the 60th anniversary of the assassination that turned his family into a cult memory project. Most of his appeal will probably blow over, because the one group he has no appeal for is moderate-tempered centrists. That leaves extremists who hate both parties, and who don't care who wins. How many of them are there really?
However, note that a recent a recent Harvard/Harris Poll, which shows Trump over Biden by 6% in a two-way matchup, gives Kennedy 21% of the vote in a three-way, increasing Biden's deficit to 8%. In a five-way with West (3%) and Stein (2%), Trump loses 1%, Biden loses 2%, Kennedy 3%. St Clair (link above) comments: "If your Lesser Evil countenances the bombing of hospitals and the slaughter of nearly 6000 children in a few weeks, don't you know that you can count me out."
Andrew O'Hehir: [11-26] My mother, the debutante Communist: An American family story of love, loss and J. Edgar Hoover.
Nathan J Robinson: [11-21] Can the left reclaim "security"? A review of Astra Taylor's new book, The Age of Insecurity.
Douglas Rushkoff: [11-25] 'We will coup whoever we want!': The unbearable hubris of Musk and the billionaire tech bros. Reviews some books, starting with Walter Isaacson's Musk.
Anya Schiffrin: [10-13] Fixing disinformation online: "What will it take to regulate the abuses of Big Tech without undermining free speech?"
Katharine Q Seelye: [11-19] Rosalyn Carter, first lady and a political partner, dies at 96: I don't really have anything to say about her, good or bad, but thought I should note her passing in the plainest way possible. While trawling through the NY Times obituaries, I also noticed:
I was surprised not to find an obituary there for the late photographer Larry Fink (82, Mar. 11, 1941-Nov. 25). For some images, start here.
Ryu Spaeth: [11-20] Israel, Gaza, and the fracturing of the intellectual left. Title makes this seem like a big deal, but it's really just comes down to a couple pieces in Dissent between Joshua Leifer and Gabriel Winant, with side glances to a couple more journals (n+1, Jewish Currents). This sort of thing happens every now and then, usually when someone who has long identified with the left freaks out and turns on his former comrades. Back in 1967, I used to read a journal called The Minority of One, which was very strongly opposed to the American war in Vietnam . . . until June 1967, when the editor flipped to support Israel in its Six-Day War, and forgot about everything else. Something similar happened with Paul Berman after 9/11. There have been other cases of leftists turning hard right, but these two (presumably Leifer, too) insisted that they were being consistent, and others in the left had gone haywire. They created some noise, but had little if any impact on the left, which always recovered with a principled examination of the facts.
This article quotes Arielle Angel (Jewish Currents): "What we are watching is a full reactionary moment among many Jews, even some left-wing Jews, because they feel there was no space on the left for their grief." That doesn't seem like too much to ask. The left is fueled by indignity over injustice, and injustice is often first experienced as grief. But few on the left would grant anyone, even Jews (whose suffering has left an indelible mark on most Euroamerican leftists), an exclusive right to grieve, let alone a license to channel that grief into a force that strikes out at and inflicts grief on others.
Most of us realized immediately that's exactly what Israel's leaders had in mind. They saw the Oct. 7 revolt not as a tragic human loss but as an affront to their power, and they immediately moved to reassert their power, with scarcely any regard for more human losses (even on their own side). Over six weeks later, as threats of genocide were turned into practice, we need hardly debate that point.
Glenn Thrush/Serge F Kovaleski: [11-25] Stabbing of Derek Chauvin raises questions about inmate safety. Weren't there already questions? If not, why do police interrogators brag about how treacherous life in prison will be?
Jen Wieczner: [11-22] Behold the utter destruction of crypto's biggest names.
Here are a series of tweets from Corey Robin (I'm copying them down because the original format is so annoying; the chart matches the Leatherby piece above, so that is probably the uncited source here):
1/ "Israel's assault is different. Experts say that even a conservative reading of the casualty figures reported from Gaza show that the pace of death during Israel's campaign has few precedents in this century.
2/ "Conflict-casualty experts have been taken aback at just how many people have been reported killed in Gaza -- most of them women and children -- and how rapidly. It is not just the unrelenting scale of the strikes . . . It is also the nature of the weaponry itself.
3/"'It's beyond anything that I've seen in my career,' said Marc Garlasco, a former senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon. To find a historical comparison for so many large bombs in such a small area, he said, we may 'have to go back to Vietnam, or the Second World War.'
4/ "Modern international laws of war were developed largely in response to the atrocities of World War II."
The comments range from stupid to facetious ("It is morally appalling that Hamas decided to start a war with a country that can mount such a powerful air assault, . . . All those tunnels & not one bomb shelter").
Corey also offered a tweet on the Ryu Spaeth article I wrote too much (but not enough) about above:
Everyone's pissed about this piece but I think it has two virtues. 1) It gives a fair, full hearing to the anti-Zionist side. 2) It reveals, inadvertently, the extent to which Zionist progressives depend on debates from 100 years ago. I'll take the win.
One more point I might as well make here, as I didn't consider it appropriate above, is that this article is only of interest to those on the left who are in close proximity to people with a deep psychic identity connection to the very old Zionist left (the romance of the kibbutzim) and/or the trauma of the Holocaust. The Oct. 7 attack hit these people so hard that they suspended their critical facilities, losing track of the context, and therefore unable to foresee the consequences.
Most of us immediately recognized the context that led to the revolt, and understood that the response of Israel's leaders would be genocidal. Hence, no matter how much we may or may not have grieved for the immediate victims of the revolt, we understood that their deaths would soon be dwarfed by Israel's vindictive reassertion of their overwhelming power.
It's worth noting that while such reactions are unusual on the American left, they are very common in Israel. The best example is the long-running Peace Now bloc, which formed after the 1982 war on Lebanon went sour. Ever since then, they have never failed to support initial Israeli military outbursts (e.g., 2006 in Gaza and Lebanon, and the many subsequent Operations in Gaza), although they've almost always come to regret those wars. Israelis, even ones with liberal and/or socialist temperaments, are conditioned to rally under crisis to support the state's warriors, and the national security state pulls their triggers whenever they want to strike out. It's practically an involuntary reflex, even among people who must know better.
It's great credit to Jewish Voice for Peace that they didn't fall for this triggering.
Regarding Larry Fink, I posted the following comment on Facebook:
I met Larry several times. Longest talk we had was mostly about jazz, in the car on the way to a memorial "meeting" for his mother. He took a lot of notable photographs of jazz musicians. Liz had one framed, of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald sitting together in a table in a club somewhere. On 9/11, he called Liz, and told her he was thinking about rounding up some fowl for a "chickens come home to roost" photo, echoing the famous Malcolm X quote. He was living on a farm in PA at the time, but I don't recall whether he had his own chickens, or whether he ever took that photo. But of the myriad reactions to 9/11, his was one of the smartest. (Or maybe I thought so because I was already thinking about the same quote.)