Yeah, it should but that doesn't mean it will. Everybody with half a brain cell realizes that the Palestinians can't militarily defeat Israel and that the world isn't going to swoop in and save them. The Palestinians and their so called allies can't comprehend a negotiated settlement with Israel because that would mean giving up the Sacred Right of Return.
Post-WWII or even liberal-left theories about how these things should work basically have no idea what to do when groups refuse to be realistic and keep insisting on complete victory because under their understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, their group possesses all justice and the other group is completely wrong. The I/P conflict is one example of this. Universal principles clashing hard against implementation in messy reality.
None of the wars you invoked involve developed democracies. Israel is a develop democracy and is held to developed democracies standards. That means people expect them not to go full out.
The it's war logic hasn't applied since World War II. Humanity, especially in the democracies, is suppose to be too civilized for that for now. This is especially true in conflicts that attract the interest of the international caring community/chattering classes. For a variety of reasons, the I/P conflict attracts a lot of outside interest and partisans on both sides. Turning the I/P conflict into a proxy war for a variety of other conflicts hasn't done much to bring the I/P conflict to a resolution but it is what it is.
Trump's relationships to Israel is just an example of how a lot of his policy is a sort of monkey paw's version of leftist policy desires. Many leftists wanted the United States to be a lot less close to Israel for years or decades but they didn't imagine it would be because the American President is easily bribable and the gulf monarchies are willing to pay.
Mexican influencer murdered by gunshot on livestream. There are times where I think that barbarianism is a lot more common than us civilized folks think and that the belief the world was getting better in a liberalish sort of way was more of an illusion than anything else:
It's hard to read what Trump's policy towards Israel is. Obviously, the Arab Gulf Kingdoms can bribe Trump a lot more than Israel can. Trump's administration also closed the Palestine Office of the State Department and he isn't exactly putting pressure on Israel to do anything.
In today's "merely anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic" incident, Jewish woman brutally assaulted in Copenhagen, called a Jewish whore as people chant Free Palestine at her:
The basic problem with most of the liberal-left and Jews is that they basically can't see Jews as anything but white people with different holidays rather than a distinct minority group with a culture and religion of our own. They know just enough about our own history to ask for help for their cause but when it comes to things like minority rights and multiculturalism or understanding why Jews might want a place of our own, they just can't get it. They know what minorities and oppressed people look like and it isn't like the Jews.
For the record, I think that every side sucks and are using Jews as props. Saul is focusing more on the Right anti-Semites because he thinks they are a bigger danger and the Right is greater danger. The Left also has many anti-Semites that they refuse to do anything about because that would start a big civil war on the Left.
This doesn't change the fact that I think Jews are being used as a prop by the left and the right. Nobody is making a positive case for Jewish support, only a negative one.
Like it should be blindingly obvious to people that there is a big issue in Islam's adopting to modernity. Every Muslim majority country has big issues in how the wrong type of Muslims and non-Muslims are treated even if it doesn't go to the levels of massacres. It should also be really clear to others why many Israeli and Non-Israeli Jews, no matter what type of Jew they are, aren't exactly into letting their guard down when they see what is happening to non-Muslims through out the rest of the Middle East and North Africa.
Alawites and Christians are being massacred in Syria by Islamists. This is why Israeli Jews aren't up for completely dismantling Israel and replacing it with a one state solution:
The right has plenty of anti-Semitism of it's own that it hides up. They force universities to deal with a particular type of anti-Semitism. The problem with left anti-Semitism for the Democratic Party and mainstream liberals is that most of it comes from forces outside the Democratic Party.
A Holocaust denying podcaster has turned anti-Semitism into crypto. Making matters more worrisome, left and right anti-Semites seem to be finding common ground. A kid name Mo Khan who put up a "F*ck the Jews" sign at one of David Portnoy's bars after ordering bottle service got $10,000 from them. The right and the left can't make any positive arguments on why Jews should support them, only negative ones.
The cheating tools were a lot more primitive when I was in school but listening to tales of cheating always made it seem like you didn't save that much time from studying the material yourself.
I am not remembering this from the first Trump administration at all. I suppose it has to do something with the allegedly sacred right of return for Palestinians.
Than the Palestinian leadership should negotiate with the Israeli government rather than go on quixotic quests to destroy Israel. Even if they think a final settlement would cause a Palestinian Civil War.
To be blunt about, the Anti-Israel people could argue that the Palestinians and their allies are going to out number Jews, so the sensible thing would be for the Jews to depart because the Palestinians and their allies will never change.
I'm generally inclined to agree with that but that leaves us with the problem without a solution phase. Maintaining the Occupation forever isn't really a good thing for Israel. It distorts the society and you are never going to convince enough people elsewhere that it is a necessity.
A unilateral withdrawal and settling from the boundaries will lead to what is happening with Gaza on a larger scale. You can't just get rid of the Palestinians because that would be a moral atrocity. They won't negotiate a settlement because they see "No Israel" as the just solution.
You are assuming a very generous ability to connect the dots. During 2024, the protestors at Columbia were privileged to demand being fed at the buildings they were holding hostage. So yes, I suspect that they expected people to bend to them because they are so righteous.
I just don't get the thought process of the Palestinians or their so called allies. It should be obvious to anybody with half a brain cell that the Palestinians can't defeat Israel militarily and nobody is going to come down to save the Palestinians and impose a solution on Israel.
This means that the final settlement would be Israel vanquishing the Palestinians, which would be morally horrible, Israel unilaterally deciding the borders of a Palestinian state, or a negotiated deal. The Palestinians and their allies seem to think that a negotiated deal with Israel is too horrible to contemplate.
There have been a few things about the protest movement that confuses me and nobody seems to have an answer.
1. If MAGA were to say that they were not anti-Semitic because there are MAGA Jews than a lot of people on the liberal-left side would laugh at them. Yet, they want Jews to believe that the Pro-Palestinian movements are not anti-Semitic because there are some Jews in them.
2. The Pro-Palestinians in the West would have us believe that the Palestinians want a secular and multicultural Palestine. We have decades of statements from real actual Palestinian leaders about what they want plus how other Muslim majority countries are set up and that won't be friendly towards the Jews. Why should we believe people who aren't in control on what they say the Palestinians want and not the actual Palestinians?
Everybody used to be a lot more forgiving about youthful indiscretions. These days not so much. It is a much more punishing system. It is also unclear whether a night in the tank is the worse they can expect these days.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/12/2025”
Yeah, it should but that doesn't mean it will. Everybody with half a brain cell realizes that the Palestinians can't militarily defeat Israel and that the world isn't going to swoop in and save them. The Palestinians and their so called allies can't comprehend a negotiated settlement with Israel because that would mean giving up the Sacred Right of Return.
Post-WWII or even liberal-left theories about how these things should work basically have no idea what to do when groups refuse to be realistic and keep insisting on complete victory because under their understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, their group possesses all justice and the other group is completely wrong. The I/P conflict is one example of this. Universal principles clashing hard against implementation in messy reality.
"
None of the wars you invoked involve developed democracies. Israel is a develop democracy and is held to developed democracies standards. That means people expect them not to go full out.
"
The it's war logic hasn't applied since World War II. Humanity, especially in the democracies, is suppose to be too civilized for that for now. This is especially true in conflicts that attract the interest of the international caring community/chattering classes. For a variety of reasons, the I/P conflict attracts a lot of outside interest and partisans on both sides. Turning the I/P conflict into a proxy war for a variety of other conflicts hasn't done much to bring the I/P conflict to a resolution but it is what it is.
"
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem proposes Citizenship:The Reality TV Show
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kristi-noem-wants-migrants-to-compete-for-citizenship-on-hunger-games-style-reality-show/
"
Now let's see if this means anything.
"
Trump's relationships to Israel is just an example of how a lot of his policy is a sort of monkey paw's version of leftist policy desires. Many leftists wanted the United States to be a lot less close to Israel for years or decades but they didn't imagine it would be because the American President is easily bribable and the gulf monarchies are willing to pay.
"
Mexican influencer murdered by gunshot on livestream. There are times where I think that barbarianism is a lot more common than us civilized folks think and that the belief the world was getting better in a liberalish sort of way was more of an illusion than anything else:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4rn0z1r6o?fbclid=IwY2xjawKTaaVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFOeUJZS3RCcGZYNW00cXFNAR61-Q7RYDet9cW_drkbprMIIYmO2hoISbECMAjbvKdN_JaNpWOOFZ4CqvH7YA_aem_9pmTL-eJVr9ICn0_-4sswQ
"
It's hard to read what Trump's policy towards Israel is. Obviously, the Arab Gulf Kingdoms can bribe Trump a lot more than Israel can. Trump's administration also closed the Palestine Office of the State Department and he isn't exactly putting pressure on Israel to do anything.
"
In today's "merely anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic" incident, Jewish woman brutally assaulted in Copenhagen, called a Jewish whore as people chant Free Palestine at her:
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-845981
"
The basic problem with most of the liberal-left and Jews is that they basically can't see Jews as anything but white people with different holidays rather than a distinct minority group with a culture and religion of our own. They know just enough about our own history to ask for help for their cause but when it comes to things like minority rights and multiculturalism or understanding why Jews might want a place of our own, they just can't get it. They know what minorities and oppressed people look like and it isn't like the Jews.
"
For the record, I think that every side sucks and are using Jews as props. Saul is focusing more on the Right anti-Semites because he thinks they are a bigger danger and the Right is greater danger. The Left also has many anti-Semites that they refuse to do anything about because that would start a big civil war on the Left.
"
Adding to Saul's link, multiple Trump officials linked to anti-Semitic extremists:
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/14/nx-s1-5387299/trump-white-house-antisemitism
This doesn't change the fact that I think Jews are being used as a prop by the left and the right. Nobody is making a positive case for Jewish support, only a negative one.
"
Like it should be blindingly obvious to people that there is a big issue in Islam's adopting to modernity. Every Muslim majority country has big issues in how the wrong type of Muslims and non-Muslims are treated even if it doesn't go to the levels of massacres. It should also be really clear to others why many Israeli and Non-Israeli Jews, no matter what type of Jew they are, aren't exactly into letting their guard down when they see what is happening to non-Muslims through out the rest of the Middle East and North Africa.
"
Alawites and Christians are being massacred in Syria by Islamists. This is why Israeli Jews aren't up for completely dismantling Israel and replacing it with a one state solution:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-10-2025-001051_EN.html
"
I forgot the link from my point yesterdeay:
https://forward.com/news/718429/mo-khan-stew-peters-crypto-jproof/
"
The right has plenty of anti-Semitism of it's own that it hides up. They force universities to deal with a particular type of anti-Semitism. The problem with left anti-Semitism for the Democratic Party and mainstream liberals is that most of it comes from forces outside the Democratic Party.
"
A Holocaust denying podcaster has turned anti-Semitism into crypto. Making matters more worrisome, left and right anti-Semites seem to be finding common ground. A kid name Mo Khan who put up a "F*ck the Jews" sign at one of David Portnoy's bars after ordering bottle service got $10,000 from them. The right and the left can't make any positive arguments on why Jews should support them, only negative ones.
On “From New York Magazine’s Intelligencer: Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College”
The cheating tools were a lot more primitive when I was in school but listening to tales of cheating always made it seem like you didn't save that much time from studying the material yourself.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 5/5/2025”
I am not remembering this from the first Trump administration at all. I suppose it has to do something with the allegedly sacred right of return for Palestinians.
"
Than the Palestinian leadership should negotiate with the Israeli government rather than go on quixotic quests to destroy Israel. Even if they think a final settlement would cause a Palestinian Civil War.
"
To be blunt about, the Anti-Israel people could argue that the Palestinians and their allies are going to out number Jews, so the sensible thing would be for the Jews to depart because the Palestinians and their allies will never change.
"
I'm generally inclined to agree with that but that leaves us with the problem without a solution phase. Maintaining the Occupation forever isn't really a good thing for Israel. It distorts the society and you are never going to convince enough people elsewhere that it is a necessity.
A unilateral withdrawal and settling from the boundaries will lead to what is happening with Gaza on a larger scale. You can't just get rid of the Palestinians because that would be a moral atrocity. They won't negotiate a settlement because they see "No Israel" as the just solution.
"
You are assuming a very generous ability to connect the dots. During 2024, the protestors at Columbia were privileged to demand being fed at the buildings they were holding hostage. So yes, I suspect that they expected people to bend to them because they are so righteous.
I just don't get the thought process of the Palestinians or their so called allies. It should be obvious to anybody with half a brain cell that the Palestinians can't defeat Israel militarily and nobody is going to come down to save the Palestinians and impose a solution on Israel.
This means that the final settlement would be Israel vanquishing the Palestinians, which would be morally horrible, Israel unilaterally deciding the borders of a Palestinian state, or a negotiated deal. The Palestinians and their allies seem to think that a negotiated deal with Israel is too horrible to contemplate.
"
There have been a few things about the protest movement that confuses me and nobody seems to have an answer.
1. If MAGA were to say that they were not anti-Semitic because there are MAGA Jews than a lot of people on the liberal-left side would laugh at them. Yet, they want Jews to believe that the Pro-Palestinian movements are not anti-Semitic because there are some Jews in them.
2. The Pro-Palestinians in the West would have us believe that the Palestinians want a secular and multicultural Palestine. We have decades of statements from real actual Palestinian leaders about what they want plus how other Muslim majority countries are set up and that won't be friendly towards the Jews. Why should we believe people who aren't in control on what they say the Palestinians want and not the actual Palestinians?
"
Everybody used to be a lot more forgiving about youthful indiscretions. These days not so much. It is a much more punishing system. It is also unclear whether a night in the tank is the worse they can expect these days.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.