A SOCIAL CONTAGION

FOR MILLIONS OF RUDDERLESS PEOPLE, “PRO-PALESTINIAN” ACTIVISM FILLS A DEEP NEED.

“Pro-Palestinian” activism is an affirmation of individualism.

In a world filled with tragedy, how does the plight of Palestinians eclipse every other conflict and natural disaster on the planet?

What is happening in Gaza is a catastrophe. But so is what’s happening in Afghanistan, Sudan, the Sahel, Yemen, Myanmar, Congo, Ethiopia and, of course, Syria and Ukraine.

But scan the social media feeds of activists or get your knowledge of global affairs from street rallies in any major European or North American city and you would assume that the Israeli-Hamas conflict is the only tragedy on the globe.

Moreover, the world inverts victim and perpetrator, siding with those who started and perpetuate this conflict and against those who are its targets — even going so far as to accuse the intended victims of genocide of perpetrating a genocide.

(Inevitably, I was recently accused of “anti-Palestinian racism” by someone who was incapable of challenging my arguments on their merits and so could only dismiss them ad hominin as a symptom of disordered motivations.)

Russia’s war on Ukraine gets headlines, but activists worldwide aren’t marching in solidarity with Ukrainians in numbers anywhere resembling those ostensibly chanting for Palestine.

I say “ostensibly” because those who call themselves “pro-Palestinian” are partly responsible for the huge number of Palestinian deaths and injuries. Instead of calling for the defeat and/or surrender of Hamas, they egg Hamas on, rewarding their war on Jewish civilians with chants of “From the river to the sea” and “Long live October 7.” This war, and all its associated tragedies, would end tomorrow if Hamas surrendered, but overseas activists instead send nothing but moral support to Hamas, urging them to fight Zionism to the last dead Palestinian. That’s not social justice. It’s not advancing peace. It’s sure as hell not “pro-Palestinian.” It’s sadism driven by ideological fanaticism.

How do people who wrap themselves in the self-righteous cloak of social justice make such egregious, immoral errors?

A few reasons.

The first, most obvious one, is Jews. Plenty of people will stop reading now because they refuse to consider the role antisemitism plays in their worldview. (Which is probably the most conclusive evidence of the role antisemitism plays in their worldview.) Jews have always been the explanation of first resort for people in Western civilization to justify social injustice or any other malady. Today, the Jewish state is the empty vessel upon which we heap our messy sociopsychological bullshit. Yet we convince ourselves that we are the first generation to actually, correctly blame the Jews for the world’s problems. Our ancestors blamed the Jews, of course, and they were wrong and antisemitic. This time, though, we’ve perfected the recipe. We may be attacking the Jews (in the form of the Jewish state) with hysterical, maniacal fervor, but unlike our great-grandparents, we are fully justified because, unlike the imagined well-poisonings and babykillings of which our ancestors accused Jews, the (imagined) crimes of which we accuse Israelis are totally, authentically legit.

There are other factors, though, which build on this ancient prejudice and make anti-Israel activism (which is pig-lipsticked with the positive-sounding but deceitful term “pro-Palestinian” activism) the only cause that matters.

For one thing, the overwhelmingly young demographic that makes up the movement of tentifada activists comes from a generation raised almost entirely without transcendent values. A huge swath of young people don’t believe in anything. Religion is bullshit. Patriotism is fascism. Manners and human decency are, godknows, passé. Enlightenment ideals of democracy, reason and individual liberties are Grampa’s causes.

Some of the values that sustained earlier generations are a mixed bag, no doubt about it. Religion has its good aspects and its inquisitions, for instance. But human beings need to believe in something.

So along comes Palestinianism. It has characteristics that make it ripe for contagion. Why? Because, like antisemitism (yes, this again), anti-Zionism is a phenomenon that fills a need. Anti-Zionism has spread faster and wider than a global pandemic because it is the conspiracy theory that answers every question — just like antisemitism. Anything people don’t like — settler-colonialism, imperialism, racism, privilege, blah blah blah — gets projected onto Israel and then we crucify the vessel. The same thing great-granddaddy did with Jews.

The fanaticism of the Palestinian cause allows adherents to abandon every other value they claim to cherish. Never mind “Queers for Palestine,” a group so ridiculous and self-destructive that they should be laughed out of our Pride parades.

Worse still are the pretend progressives who support #MeToo unless you’re a Jew. They demand “Believe women,” except for Israelis. When rape is used as a weapon of war and terrorism, as it was on October 7, activists respond not with universal condemnation but with both denial and celebration. (It didn’t happen and the Ziofems got what they deserved.)

Feminists chant “Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no,” which apparently doesn’t apply if you’re wearing a Star of David necklace or happen to be in Israel when the marauding murder mobs descend. Then no means go.

Self-defined antiracists are among the foremost perpetrators of antisemitism, justifying their positions by redefining antisemitism to suit their own purposes.

Above all, the Palestinian cause allows the world’s laziest activists to wallow in a ridiculous heroic self-conception. Suddenly they’re not just losers in their parents’ basements, they are globally engaged humanitarians.

It is no coincidence that it is often the most privileged people in Western society who are the most avid “pro-Palestinians.” This may be a sort of dispensation, a substitutionary atonement, in which they assuage the guilt they feel for being among the world’s richest, most advantaged people, so they do what hundreds of generations before them have done: project their own sins onto a Jewish scapegoat.

Still, there’s even more to it. In a short-attention-span world, the slogans that make up the entire “intellectual” underpinnings of Palestinianism are easy to grasp. This allows people to seem worldly without the bother of cracking the spine of a history book. Palestinianism is like training wheels for young activists, the gramma bar in the shower of political engagement.

“From the river to the sea” is a call for ethnic cleansing at a minimum and genocide at worst. But to the cosplayers LARPing social justice warriors, it is a mantra that sets them apart as conscientious activists, like the tattoos and piercings that are somehow signs of individuality even though everyone has them now.

And that is precisely my point.

Anti-Zionism, like antisemitism before it, is the eternal answer to every mystery, a dollar store ideology worn like a diamond. Its adherents think they have found the master key that explains every mystery. What they have found, in fact, is the oldest hatred.

And just like every generation thinks it has discovered the great mysteries of life, this generation has discovered antisemitism and thinks they have unlocked the mysteries of the universe.

Those of us who have been around long enough know there’s nothing new under the sun.