Once again, you nailed it. Yesterday I was reading responses to Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib's report about the latest Realign for Palestine project. In case anyone doesn't know this is an organization started by Alkhatib to oppose the glorification of Hamas and other terrorist groups and the promotion of antisemitic rhetoric and speech. The members are Jews and Palestinians who want peace and work for it by opposing terrorism. As a Gazan who has lost 30 family members and friends in the war, he blames the Western "Pro-Palestine" movement for the continuation of the war and failure of all of Israel's attempts to create a two state solution. At the end of the report he, once again, begged these people to stop interfering and making things worse for his people and instead to either keep quiet or contribute to the efforts of Palestinians like him to reach a realistic solution rather than screaming abuse and making ridiculously impossible demands. Immediately after he posted, some one responded that she thinks he's wrong because the demonstrations against Israel "create solidarity." I had to put the song "No More Fucks to Give" on repeat until I could calm down.
Before I leave this comments section, to good articles on the recent "decision" by the supposed recognized scholars of genocide, that Israel is indeed guilty. Hint: not all of the members are actually scholars and the 86% vote came from less than barely a quarter of the 500 members:
In his films, Alfred Hitchcock used a plot device called a MacGuffin, which is defined as an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself.
And for Westerners of the Social Justice faith, their entire cast of rotating sacred victims—the black and brown, the Trans child, the migrant, the mythical Palestinian and especially their children and babies—are also a MacGuffin, meaning that their actual welfare and circumstances are only a pretext, whereas the real goal is for the Westerner to parade their moral vanity, display how kind, wise and compassionate they are (esp as compared to their political enemies) and to appropriate the suffering of distant strangers in the hope of increasing their social and political power.
This is easy to prove: when all the cool kids were chanting "Defund the Police", supposedly as a way to help poor black people, did anyone consult them? Did anyone happen to notice that this was a very unpopular idea among the sacred victims the saviors were claiming to speak on behalf of? That no one in a dangerous neighborhood wants FEWER cops!?
And now of course there's the newest must-have item for our age of conspicuous compassion, the Palestinian child or infant. When chanting "Free Palestine" does anyone stop to ask—free them from what exactly? How could any Palestinian be free when they're ruled by a theocratic kleptocratic dictatorship? Is Israel really the cause of Palestinian misery or could it be the world's worst leaders combined with a culture fixated on toxic Jew hate? But to ask hard questions is to face a complicated reality, whereas to join a mob and chant simplistic slogans makes the chanters feel righteous and SEEN.
The Palestinians are simply the latest MacGuffin of the Social Justice faith and the social media age, where the suffering of distant strangers is a valuable resource that also serves as a trendy commodity for people hoping to get ahead by publicly atoning. The victims and their circumstances are irrelevant, all that matters is the crusade for attention disguised as a political cause.
One theory to explain the attraction of the "Palestinian cause" in western countries is that with the end of South Africa's apartheid regime in 1994, a new "omni-cause" had to be found for all that crusading energy and the superstructure for Palestine had already been built by the Soviet propaganda machine decades earlier, including the infamous "Zionism is racism" UNGA resolution in 1975 later repealed, but not before the western feminist movement and elements in the racial equality movement like MLK successor Jessie Jackson got on the bandwagon, famously ostracizing Feminist icon Betty Friedan. Early 1990s is, by coincidence, when the "academic boycott" of Israeli institutions as first proposed by British academics.
That sounds about right, but I also think that the 60s hippies had become professors & professionals by the late 80s. They could then sponsor Student PLOs, spread lies at scale, and publish them, too. Then they peer review each others lies and by now, they’ve created a small army of brainwashed intifadans. I fear we will soon have college students becoming jihadis because they aren’t in control of their own minds.
Yes, some of the "New Left" youth did go onto become university professors and administrators which is why our post secondary institution are such cesspits now. At the extreme, the anti-Vietnam war protestors and the anti-racism movement established very violent organizations like the Weather Underground bombers and the Black Panthers, some of whom were later pardoned and had careers as university professors.
I think the shaming and guilting have a lot to do with something Carl Jung, the famous Doctor Who began with Freud, called a projection of the shadow. That means that sometimes things that are unconscious inside ourselves, wind up being put onto an outside person or group and then attacked. It goes together with scapegoating. I think that the Palestinians and the pro Palestinian movements need to look at the responsibility that the Palestinians have concerning their own suffering, like by making the wrong choices or even more by not really being into recovery, but mostly into punishing Israel and the Jews, for mistakes that the Palestinians have made.
On par with all of your pieces, my reading entailed the rotating ‘exactly’ exclamation stated out loud (to no one listening) and LOL.
I actually read this just after returning home from hearing Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern speak this evening in Toronto. Her being amazing aside, she discussed precisely how the seemingly disparate causes of the social justice movement are bound by the single thread of antisemitism. It runs throughout and strings them all together like a party decoration (my own visual). Her statement made so clear the world in which Greta inhabits . The one in which her passion for climate change activism logically leads her to set sail on a flotilla bound for Gaza to save Palestinians not from their own leaders but from the Jews.
Wouldn't everybody be happier if Israel went ahead and wiped out Gaza? Certainly Israel would be, the progressives would be gleeful ("See? That's what I've been telling you for 2 years"). The Gazan men would be raping virgins in heaven instead of Bristol, and the Gazan women and children... well, that is where it falls apart. Some of them may not be rabid animals.
The Hamas leaders and the UN would lose a significant source of funding, but f*ck 'em.
Once again, you nailed it. Yesterday I was reading responses to Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib's report about the latest Realign for Palestine project. In case anyone doesn't know this is an organization started by Alkhatib to oppose the glorification of Hamas and other terrorist groups and the promotion of antisemitic rhetoric and speech. The members are Jews and Palestinians who want peace and work for it by opposing terrorism. As a Gazan who has lost 30 family members and friends in the war, he blames the Western "Pro-Palestine" movement for the continuation of the war and failure of all of Israel's attempts to create a two state solution. At the end of the report he, once again, begged these people to stop interfering and making things worse for his people and instead to either keep quiet or contribute to the efforts of Palestinians like him to reach a realistic solution rather than screaming abuse and making ridiculously impossible demands. Immediately after he posted, some one responded that she thinks he's wrong because the demonstrations against Israel "create solidarity." I had to put the song "No More Fucks to Give" on repeat until I could calm down.
Before I leave this comments section, to good articles on the recent "decision" by the supposed recognized scholars of genocide, that Israel is indeed guilty. Hint: not all of the members are actually scholars and the 86% vote came from less than barely a quarter of the 500 members:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/genocide-scholar-says-group-pushed-through-israel-condemnation-without-debate/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2025-09-02&utm_medium=email
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-genocide-scholars-resolution-a-charade-in-academic-garb/d
They are trying so hard to make their movement look overwhelming. It isn’t. It’s just extremely fanatical. Not that that helps 🤷♀️.
Another organization taken over by activists who don't care if they destroy the organization's credibility because "ends and means"
Everything you have written is depressingly true.
^^^^Yup, agreed.
In his films, Alfred Hitchcock used a plot device called a MacGuffin, which is defined as an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself.
And for Westerners of the Social Justice faith, their entire cast of rotating sacred victims—the black and brown, the Trans child, the migrant, the mythical Palestinian and especially their children and babies—are also a MacGuffin, meaning that their actual welfare and circumstances are only a pretext, whereas the real goal is for the Westerner to parade their moral vanity, display how kind, wise and compassionate they are (esp as compared to their political enemies) and to appropriate the suffering of distant strangers in the hope of increasing their social and political power.
This is easy to prove: when all the cool kids were chanting "Defund the Police", supposedly as a way to help poor black people, did anyone consult them? Did anyone happen to notice that this was a very unpopular idea among the sacred victims the saviors were claiming to speak on behalf of? That no one in a dangerous neighborhood wants FEWER cops!?
And now of course there's the newest must-have item for our age of conspicuous compassion, the Palestinian child or infant. When chanting "Free Palestine" does anyone stop to ask—free them from what exactly? How could any Palestinian be free when they're ruled by a theocratic kleptocratic dictatorship? Is Israel really the cause of Palestinian misery or could it be the world's worst leaders combined with a culture fixated on toxic Jew hate? But to ask hard questions is to face a complicated reality, whereas to join a mob and chant simplistic slogans makes the chanters feel righteous and SEEN.
The Palestinians are simply the latest MacGuffin of the Social Justice faith and the social media age, where the suffering of distant strangers is a valuable resource that also serves as a trendy commodity for people hoping to get ahead by publicly atoning. The victims and their circumstances are irrelevant, all that matters is the crusade for attention disguised as a political cause.
Brilliant.
Thanks!
One theory to explain the attraction of the "Palestinian cause" in western countries is that with the end of South Africa's apartheid regime in 1994, a new "omni-cause" had to be found for all that crusading energy and the superstructure for Palestine had already been built by the Soviet propaganda machine decades earlier, including the infamous "Zionism is racism" UNGA resolution in 1975 later repealed, but not before the western feminist movement and elements in the racial equality movement like MLK successor Jessie Jackson got on the bandwagon, famously ostracizing Feminist icon Betty Friedan. Early 1990s is, by coincidence, when the "academic boycott" of Israeli institutions as first proposed by British academics.
That sounds about right, but I also think that the 60s hippies had become professors & professionals by the late 80s. They could then sponsor Student PLOs, spread lies at scale, and publish them, too. Then they peer review each others lies and by now, they’ve created a small army of brainwashed intifadans. I fear we will soon have college students becoming jihadis because they aren’t in control of their own minds.
Yes, some of the "New Left" youth did go onto become university professors and administrators which is why our post secondary institution are such cesspits now. At the extreme, the anti-Vietnam war protestors and the anti-racism movement established very violent organizations like the Weather Underground bombers and the Black Panthers, some of whom were later pardoned and had careers as university professors.
And SDS. All organizations except the Panthers were heavily infiltrated by the Soviets, those bastards.
Angela Davis was, notoriously, and may yet be a tankie
Excellent!
I think the shaming and guilting have a lot to do with something Carl Jung, the famous Doctor Who began with Freud, called a projection of the shadow. That means that sometimes things that are unconscious inside ourselves, wind up being put onto an outside person or group and then attacked. It goes together with scapegoating. I think that the Palestinians and the pro Palestinian movements need to look at the responsibility that the Palestinians have concerning their own suffering, like by making the wrong choices or even more by not really being into recovery, but mostly into punishing Israel and the Jews, for mistakes that the Palestinians have made.
On par with all of your pieces, my reading entailed the rotating ‘exactly’ exclamation stated out loud (to no one listening) and LOL.
I actually read this just after returning home from hearing Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern speak this evening in Toronto. Her being amazing aside, she discussed precisely how the seemingly disparate causes of the social justice movement are bound by the single thread of antisemitism. It runs throughout and strings them all together like a party decoration (my own visual). Her statement made so clear the world in which Greta inhabits . The one in which her passion for climate change activism logically leads her to set sail on a flotilla bound for Gaza to save Palestinians not from their own leaders but from the Jews.
Here is a link to a podcast discussion with Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-6-echoes-of-silence-dr-miri-bar-halpern-on/id1827304878?i=1000724525635
And, a more humorous listen on our friend Greta: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/echoesofjewishhistory/episodes/Echoes-of-Irony-Greta-Thunberg-and-the-Necklace-of-Erasure-Bonus-Episode-e37n484
They hate Jews. They may write a thousand word rationale favouring Palestine, but it won't be rational. They just hate Jews.
Wouldn't everybody be happier if Israel went ahead and wiped out Gaza? Certainly Israel would be, the progressives would be gleeful ("See? That's what I've been telling you for 2 years"). The Gazan men would be raping virgins in heaven instead of Bristol, and the Gazan women and children... well, that is where it falls apart. Some of them may not be rabid animals.
The Hamas leaders and the UN would lose a significant source of funding, but f*ck 'em.
Ok, beyond the distracting meta-discourse, whats your concrete proposal to resolve the conflict fairly and fundamentally?