There can be no more insulting word to hurl at Jews than to accuse them of genocide. In living memory—nearly extinguished—of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who systematically and efficiently sorted the population of Europe to find the last hidden Jew, herd him with his family into a cattle car, then at the “selection point” separate those who will die immediately in the gas chambers from those condemned to live, sometimes to work to death, starve to death, die by disease, or be beaten to death by guards so bereft of conscience as to be barely human in the moral taxonomy.
The film “NAZA” mentions the word “genocide” only once, and that as a quote from one of the interview subjects. Here, as used in a NY Times op-ed by M. Gessen:
More than halfway through the film, Yuval Abraham, who conducted the interviews and co-directed the movie with Rachel Szor, asks one of the subjects if he realized that he was taking part in a genocide. This interviewee has already said that he found the work to be fun, because staying up late with your buddies, working toward a common goal, is fun. Now he agrees calmly, indeed casually, that yes, he has been taking part in a genocide.
In a courtroom, such an interview would raise an objection from the opposing counsel, that the question is leading the witness. In certain intersectional, power-balance obsessed, highly online circles, it is not only assumed that Israel is committing genocide, it is also chic to claim this.
The word that comes to my mind is “gaslighting.” If the whole world tells enough Jews that Israel is doing to the Gazans what the Nazis did to the Jews, some will question their own minds, what they’ve been taught since infancy, that “never again” means, in fact, never. And they will equate Israel’s effort to ensure its security and the promise of “never again” with extermination.
I make a lot of room here for freight. Israel has been heavy-handed from the start of the war following 10/7. (To give some context, at least Israel did declare war on Hamas and Hezbollah, so their attacks on Iran, and on Gaza fit within the definition of declared war, versus America’s foray into this war, which is undeclared, unpopular, and unapproved by Congress.) My initial take on this war was for Israel to go slow and choose the path of mercy as much as possible. That was never possible, because its enemies show no mercy, and proved it on October 7, 2023.
The problem for Israel is that the deck had always been stacked against them. Over decades, if they tried to make peace with their Arab and Palestinian enemies, any compromise solution, even yielding to every single point the PLO argued for, would be rejected as not enough. That would be followed by demonstrations, and violence, which in turn brought a reaction from Israel, which its enemies used to paint Israel as the aggressor, because Israel’s military and police powers were so much more developed than its enemies. Tell that to the innocent civilians and children blown up on buses, or the families of those slaughtered on 10/7.
Despite the most advanced system for quick reaction, target identification, advance notification of civilians to avoid collateral damage, and pinpoint accuracy, Israel cannot shake the claims that its goal is to exterminate all Palestinians living in Gaza.
All this because some IDF soldiers found the camaraderie, common goals, and adrenaline of war, even sitting in front of glowing LCD panels watching real-time AI-assisted target identification, to be thrilling. To a 19-year-old it is thrilling. Tell that to the elite soldiers who go into the thousands of tunnels in Gaza, some extending deep into Israel, or the massive underground depots in southern Lebanon dug and stocked under the nose of U.N. “peacekeepers” who are many times complicit in the terror. Tell that to the 19-year-old soldiers who are killed in this war, or to their families and comrades in uniform.
Israel had few good choices. We’re talking about choices to use “dumb” 2000-pound U.S.-produced bombs versus more advanced GPS-enabled smart bombs against hardened targets. Or firing air-to-ground missiles into populated areas in counter-fire operations to take out rocket launchers in the process of loading and firing on Israeli cities. These launchers are placed in populated areas on purpose, and are fired at the times when counter-fire will cause the most civilian deaths.
Israel’s enemies possess the most effective weapon in the world: the lives of their own people, to be sacrificed in the cause of making “never again” impossible.
It is now chic to show how the modern state of Israel, so militarily dominant in the Middle East, is akin to the enemy sparking its existence. It is chic to elicit quotes and evidence that the very reason it was founded, which being to ensure the continued existence of Jews around the world, to be a place where “never again” has meaning, is turned on its head, making Israel the genocidal evil.
It is chic to gaslight Jews outside of Israel to question their own moral footing, and to join the chorus of elites condemning their own religious, moral, and bloodline families as monsters.
No wonder Israel’s Prime Minister has reacted so viscerally to “NAZA,” even to the point of advocating stripping the movie’s producers of Israeli citizenship. How can anyone claim the mantle of being Israeli while denying the meaning of “never again,” and turning that on its head to ensure “yes, again” will indeed happen.
As the last living memory of Hitler and the actual Nazis in World War II fades into forgetfulness, the darkness of antisemitism, victim-blaming of innocent Jews, gaslighting, to cover for the very real persecution and hatred of Jews by many non-Jews who are crawling out of their holes, is rising.
Let me say it again: should Israel want to commit genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, it could. It could easily do it. Israel could inflict a million casualties in 48 hours, creating decaying piles of bodies piled high. But Israel has not done this. It’s really envy. Israel’s enemies yearn to have the advantages Israel possesses. If they did, they’d pile millions of Jewish bodies high, like the real Nazis. The restraint exercised by Israel should be praised, but instead, we get gaslit.
Yes, Israel has reacted brutally. Yes, many civilians have died. But that is not genocide. Genocide does not happen by accident, or by mistake. It happens by intent. And Israel has never possessed the intent to commit genocide.
Confusing mistakes, overreactions (can anyone blame them after 10/7?), and failures at the tactical, and even strategic, level with intentional genocide is nothing but propaganda from those who wish “never again” to be meaningless. And if “never again” becomes meaningless, then the fruit of what the Nazis began will grow in the world, until “never again” becomes “yes, again.”
But it’s chic to pretend it won’t happen because those who join in the genocide choir prefer to live in a pretend world.
Interesting article Steve and my immediate reaction and response was in the form of the question: How much of the anti-Israeli sentiment is driven by Bibi Netanyahu's actions/demeanor? He is a polarizing figure much like trump is and consequently the Jews are often painted using his brush.
If the US was exposed to the terrorist attacks and unrelenting hate espoused by the Israel's neighbors, the American people may not have pursued warfare with an intent to safeguard citizens of their enemies to the same extent that Israel has done throughout its' history. The ignorance of the hate drilled into 2-3 generations of Palestinian refugees (refugees established by and used as pawns by the Arab nations is truly unforgiveable. Ignorance as displayed by the cowards that scurried out of the UNGA when it was Bibi's term to speak.