How are there still Israelis who think like this? And how to respond.

On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, an Israeli man I know (about 40-45 YO I am guessing) accused Israel of committing a Holocaust against the Palestinian people for 77 years. My first impulse was to diss him for cheapening the Holocaust and for comparing Israel to the Nazis for Israel must be made up of Nazis if we are committing a Holocaust.

But doing that would go nowhere so I decided to do something else instead.

I asked him to explain to me how Israel was committing a Holocaust.

Once I know what he regards as our specific crimes, I can address them, whereas there is no way to counter the general accusation other than calling the person names or blocking him or her. Therefore, I suggest you do the same in similar situations.

I can respond to specific accusations with facts, if he is wrong. If, on the other hand, he is misinterpreting the actions with which he takes issue and calling them examples of Holocaust-like behaviour, I can explore with (or without) him whether or not they actually constitute Holocaust-like behaviours.

I bring you my response to only one of his list of our “crimes” because it is used repeatedly against us.

His point was that we are indiscriminately bombing and killing mainly women and children.

Of course he is referring to our war against Hamas in Gaza. This is such a common accusation against us. And, given that THE Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews, I suppose if we were indiscriminately bombing and killing mainly women and children in Gaza, it might qualify as genocide. We would have to claim it was a systematic and state-sponsored purposeful genocide — and to see if we are seeking out Gazans to kill wherever they may be (as the Nazis did re the Jews) — in order to qualify as a holocaust, a term I am reluctant to apply to other than THE Holocaust.

But, holocaust aside, here is my response to the accusation:

We are indiscriminately bombing and killing mainly women and children?

Have you not read any of the military experts in Israel and abroad (Richard Kemp, Andrew Fox, John Spencer, Nick Freitas) who have weighed in on this question? Take eight minutes out of your life and watch this, and then we can discuss whether or not Israel is indiscriminately bombing and killing mainly women and children. If you don’t even watch it, then our conversation is over forever.

For those who prefer to read than watch, I list the main points below the video.

Main points raised in the video

1. Asymmetry arises when you have a weaker force using the strengths of the stronger force against them. That was part of Hamas strategy.
   1. Hamas knew when they invaded Israel that they were not going to overthrow Israel.
   2. Hamas knew when they took hostages that the IDF was going to go after them.
   3. So why did they do that? And how did they know that western academia would instantly be on their side? They knew that the way to mobilize westerners is civilian casualties. And no military, advanced and strong as it may be can mitigate civilian casualties in the urban warfare that was the only kind of warfare in Gaza.
2. I’ve been in the situation, Freitas says, where we are trying to get to the bad guy and behind every door we open are women and children. And when a 12-year-old opens a gun on you and you defend yourself, is that a civilian casualty or a legitimate military target? Hamas reports on that as a child civilian casualty.
3. How do you mitigate civilian casualties? Not by sending text messages, dropping leaflets, or otherwise warning people to leave a building you are about to blow up. But the IDF is doing those things.
4. There is no way to measure acceptable proportional civilian casualties and come to any conclusion OTHER THAN that the IDF has gone above and beyond what any standards for that might be.
5. An honest media [and individual] would ask why Hamas insists on keeping women and children in combat zones.
6. If Israel wanted to genocide Gaza they could have done that long ago.

Of course, he asks the corollary: If Hamas had had the power to do everything it wanted to do, would Israel still be here?

And he ends with: “If Mexico crossed into Texas, killed 40K people and kidnapped another 1500-2000” and if the EU quickly told us to show restraint, we would tell them where to go. And we would show the world that what the Mexico did “was a really bad idea.”

What the West has taught Hamas is that the more civilian casualties you have, the more funding you get and the more support you get. We have incentivized them killing their own civilians.

Yet

We have ignorant people saying that Israel is a war criminal indiscriminately bombing and killing women and children. And some of those ignorant people are even Israelis who should unquestionably know better.

Who is Nick Freitas

Freitas was a Green Beret and lastly served as a weapons specialist and intelligence specialist in Iraq. He is currently Republican representative in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Military analyst Andrew Fox – read his Substack here.

Urban warfare expert John Spencer – read material on his website here.

Read about Richard Kemp here.