October 15th, 2023/µ

Hypocrisy Is As Hypocrisy Does

Everyone seems to be comparing the attack on Israel on the 7th of October 2023 to 9/11, so let’s remember 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan that followed. Civilians were killed by the thousands during this invasion, paying a heavy price for an attack that was plotted in Germany – no one bombed Germany, where some of the involved terrorists were from Saudi Arabia. No one bombed Saudi Arabia.

Guys I knew went to war after the attack, Operation Enduring Freedom. And my thoughts were never on the Afghan civilians – my thoughts were mainly in the line of Hope they are okay, and Fuck those bastards (those bastards would be Al-Qaeda). That’s the truth. And when a couple of guys called up and asked if I had a message to send to Al-Qaeda when they were decorating bombs, I said yes. I will refrain from stating here what my younger self said. I am not proud of it.

Invading Afghanistan – I admit I had to check the map in 2001 to see where it was in the world – seemed justified. And that invasion, the one most believed to be justified – I still do – killed thousands upon thousands of Afghan civilians, including innocent children. And that is a fact.

Today, I think it is applaudable the way the Israelites are calm and trying to get the civilians out of Gaza before messing up the place after a terrorist attack of such horrible dimension, such cruelty perpetrated by a murderous terrorist organization, Hamas. The Israeli calm is praiseworthy. Nothing less.

This tiny nation has suffered an attack of such horrors that it is more or less impossible to envision without giving up upon humanity altogether; a small nation that arose first as a dream and then as reality on the backdrop of the pogroms and later, the 20th-century genocide in Europe, and the continued hatred towards those that survived and prospered.

Socially Acceptable Hatred

Despite this history, despite the European nations’ crimes against its Jewish citizens, hatred towards Jewish people and Israel is still very much alive in Europe and, to my alarming knowledge, very often socially acceptable. And in my world, it began in school.

I grew up in a school system (even the private school I went to) that systematically fed us lies about the state of Israel; it was a murderous and cruel nation that stole the land from the Palestinians and then suppressed and killed them. The brainwashing didn’t work for me, though – I grew up knowing Israelis and non-Israeli Jewish people. And when I adulted, life and my knowledge of the real world - not the world some parts of the European left-wing create in their crazy fantasies - kept the Danish school system’s fanatical lies out of my head.

I also resisted the brainwashing US-bashing, a country the Danish left-wing hated in the 1980s and 1990s and, to my knowledge, still hates – even if they gladly vacation and work there. Left-wingers, could you be more hypocritical?

Is There A Point To This?

My point in telling you the above and about my thoughts when the allied forces invaded Afghanistan is that I think, now that so many compare 9/11 to the attack on Israel, it would be wise to remember how we felt and how we acted around 9/11 and stop holding Israel to double standards, demanding they behave like the perfect example when no one else does. It is hypocritical, shows that the green-eyed, hateful Israel-bashing is still socially acceptable, and lends evidence to some peoples’ annoyance that Israel managed to create and sustain a democratic, modern, and prosperous society amid years of war and terror.

“Many and sharp the numerous ills
Inwoven with our frame;
More pointed still, we make ourselves
Regret, remorse and shame;
And man, whose heaven-erected face
The smiles of love adorn,
Man's inhumanity to man,
Makes countless thousands mourn.”

Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796

November 7th, 2023/µ

Genocide

Genocide! That word kept coming at me from a string on social media on my telephone screen. - Genocide? Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza? What?!

Within a month, world opinion has turned the worst terrorist attack in the 21st century since 9/11 into the worst victim-blaming scenario in world history. Within a month, this brutal terrorist attack against a sovereign nation is not only questioned, no, Israel’s retaliation is now called genocide on social media. Genocide?

Genocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.

Merriam-Webster

When committing genocide against a people, you do not let in ambulances and trucks with fresh supplies. When committing genocide against a people, you do not allow, even encourage, civilians to leave the conflict zone.

The Holocaust was a genocide; the slaughter of the Armenians was a genocide; the slaughter of the Yazidis was a genocide.

Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza to stop them from crossing into Israel to kill is a reprisal and a preemptive strike against a skilled, determined, and dangerous enemy; Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza is no more a genocide than invading Afghanistan to hunt and kill Al-Qaeda was post 9/11. The fighting, bombings, and deaths (on both sides) inside Gaza, that’s war/armed conflict – death, destruction, and human misery.

The Facts

Israel became the victim of the worst terrorist attack in the 21st century (per capita) on October 7th, 2023, carried out by a skilled and ruthless guerrilla/terrorist group; approximately 1400 1200 (number updated by the IDF) human beings were brutally slaughtered, and more than 200 were taken hostage.

Israel is now attacking Hamas in Gaza; Hamas hides amongst, behind, and literally underneath civilians, using them as de facto human shields, leaving the Israelis no choice but to attack where there might be civilians.

Those are facts. But one month after the attack, the facts seem to be less important than frenzied feelings and spreading circumventing dishonesties about a horrifying terrorist attack against a sovereign democratic nation.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found it valuable and worth your time! Until next time, remember to get your facts straight and that whatever good times you have will never come back as bad times,