Category Archives: Israel/Palestine

Sadness, Confusion, Possibilities

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Too many stories, not enough time.

Sadness

Sadness is the only word I can come up with on this second anniversary of the pogrom that shocked us all on October 7, 2023. Horror is the only word that conveys my feelings about the celebration of that massacre that erupted that same day. Please, may the people who have been calling for a ceasefire recognize that Israel has accepted Trump’s proposal; Hamas has not. Hamas needs to release the remaining hostages and relinquish power.

Confusion

Congratulations to trans activists who have conflated gay conversion therapy with exploratory therapy that is not sanctioned as “gender affirming therapy.” These are not equivalent, but now the Supreme Court is being pulled into this quagmire. The result is likely to be the resurrection of gay conversion therapy – despite its proven harms – with exploratory therapy, which is what confused young people need in this era of trans madness. Perhaps states should stop trying to legislate solutions to LGB and TQ matters? I don’t know. I feel for gay people who have been harmed and confused young people who are being harmed. Sure, guarantee rights to housing, jobs, education. Then let medical professionals get their heads straight about treatments that are based on actual evidence rather than ideologies.

Possibilities

In the war between cancel culture and billionaires, the latest battle has the billionaires coming out on top, again. Remember when Musk bought Twitter and reinstated accounts that Jack Dorsey had cancelled? That was a good day for free speech. (No, I don’t love everything that Musk has done, but undoing censorship was a good deed.) The thread now is David Ellison… Skydance Media… CBS… The Free Press (aka Bari Weiss)… free speech?

I know that most of my friends paid little attention when Bari Weiss left her position as an opinion columnist at The New York Times in the summer of 2020. Wasting little time, Weiss began publishing “Common Sense” on the Substack platform in January of 2021. Common Sense rebranded as The Free Press in 2022. It now boasts 1.5 million paid subscribers who want a source of information that is neither far right not far left.

I’ve read/watched/listened to The Free Press since its Common Sense days. It has published voices that were shunned by the MSM (mainstream media), voices that I appreciated. Yes, there’s a pro-Israel bias (that mirrors my own), but otherwise, it offers viewpoints that I don’t find elsewhere. Actually, I don’t find pro-Israel voices elsewhere much either. Why is that?

Well, good news for the curious: The Free Press has dropped its paywall this week. Go to thefp.com. Spend some time there and see what you think. Then tune in to CBS News once Bari has had an opportunity to bring in some balanced coverage. Let’s pound cancel culture into dust!

Three Cheers for Two States

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Hoopla abounds regarding declarations from France, England, and Canada about their intents to recognize a Palestinian state “soon.” 

Each country has some qualifications embedded in their statements. Those qualifications differ, but their desire for a two state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is clear. I share a desire for a two state solution, but I would not award the status of statehood to Palestinians anytime “soon.” And I doubt that any Palestinian leader would accept the offers that are on the table. Why would they turn down this opportunity? The countries behind the hoopla assume the continued existence of Israel, and that is simply unacceptable to the most vocal Palestinians. 

Palestinian statehood is not being offered in lieu of Israeli statehood. European countries that recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian state do not have the intent of terminating the Israeli state. Had any past leaders of Palestinians been willing to accept the continued existence of the state of Israel, they could have had a state long ago, imperfect though it might have been in their eyes. 

Israel did not begin with their conception of perfection. From the time of the 1917 Balfour Declaration on, Jews have known that they would not get as much land as they wanted, nor would they get to choose lands most important to them. Rather, they knew that they would get what others offered them. Meanwhile, Palestinians opposed every proposal that included land for a Jewish state.

Over the past 40 years, many people, myself included, have considered the Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be a major obstacle to achieving a two state solution. “Just Say No” to those settlements, and peace will ensue. I’ve read or listened to legal explanations of why the settlements are legal. I’ve offered links to those arguments for those curious enough to wade through history. But I’ve also thought that it doesn’t matter if the settlements are legal, they still might not be wise. Legal and wise are not synonymous.

This year, stories of “settler violence,” I.e. settler attacks on Palestinians, have been in the news. In one story, settlers even attacked IDF soldiers who were returning from dismantling a bomb making factory in a Palestinian town in the West Bank. That was shocking, not just to me, but to many in Israel. Other incidents of settler violence have appeared in western media. But I don’t trust accounts in most western media regarding anything happening in the middle east. 

Then today, I stumbled across a podcast called “Unpacking Israeli History” that focuses specifically on the issue of settlements and recent stories of settler violence. I’ve listened to other episodes of “Unpacking…” but this is an especially good one. I can’t construct an adequate summary of the whole West Bank settler issue, so I’m suggesting that you find time to listen to it yourself. Especially listen to it if you, like me, have long felt that the settlements are an ongoing impediment to a two state solution. 

The protracted war in Gaza is horrible. But releasing Israeli hostages might go a long way to ending the war, and it’s frustrating to hear all of the Hamas slogans – “From the river to the sea,” “Globalize the Intifada” – etc. and not “Free the hostages!” How did this get so one-sided? And how is it that the press that promotes the Hamas version of events can continue to neglect to mention that the goal of Hamas is the extinction of Israel. Is that detail not important? 

I would like to see peace between Israel and the Palestinians before I die. As I am now in my 80s, and nothing resembling peace is on the horizon, I’m not optimistic. Since October 7, 2023, I’ve been paying a lot more attention to this part of the world. One thing I’ve noticed is that Jews, both  Israelis and those in the diaspora, are open about their disagreements about Israel, whereas Palestinians seem only to speak the party line. It makes a difference if you believe that you put your life in danger by disagreeing with that party line. Jews, on the other hand, are raised to argue over everything. This stark cultural difference is a big factor in my support of information about the war that comes from Israeli sources. I’m confident that if it is not accurate, a truer version will be out shortly. It is shocking to me that so many colleges are scenes of students and faculty uncritically spouting Hamas’ propaganda. Is thinking not allowed on campus anymore?

Well, this rhetoric about a Palestinian state is unlikely to bear fruit, IMHO. But life is full of surprises, though I’m not holding my breath. Meanwhile, here’s a link to the podcast and transcript.

Settler Violence: Hard Truths with Haviv Rettig Gur

ChatGPT is Dumber Than I Thought

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Artificial Intelligence is biased. This has been true for as long as AI has been around. AI is programmed by biased humans, relies on biased sources, and has no independent, skeptical brain with which to judge the mass of data it accesses.

Lord knows, we want to believe artificial intelligence. It would be so much easier to ask one source that has scoured the web for information than to do the scouring ourselves. But I’ll describe one query I made today and you can judge the credibility of ChatGPT for yourself. 

Over the weekend, there were reports about Israeli soldiers firing into crowds at an aid distribution site and killing 31 civilians who had come to get food. That’s a horrific claim. If you are already anti-Israeli based on pictures of dead children in Gaza, you’ll likely believe this claim. But I find it hard to believe without a LOT of evidence simply because the IDF has no incentive to kill Gazan civilians. Israel’s PR problems could not be worse as it is; an incident such as this could only reinforce the anti-Israel voices around the world. 

So, this morning I began searching for information about this report. I was disappointed to find that ChatGPT considered the Hamas Health Ministry a credible source. (Remember that report that Israel fired on a hospital in Gaza and killed 500 people? Turned out to be a rocket fired by a jihadi group within Gaza that misfired and landed in a hospital parking lot killing no one. That report was from the Gaza Health Ministry.) My AI friend also considered UNRWA a credible source, and the UN in general, both of which are 100% biased against Israel. 

Israeli sources say that the IDF is investigating, and I’m confident that it is. An incident such as this, if it were true, would be a terrible setback for Israel’s efforts to find a way to distribute aid that bypasses Hamas. And bypassing Hamas is critical to finding a way out of this war.

I am worried. We have tools that could be immensely helpful to people who are trying to learn the truth about various reports that appear in the news or on the web. But the simple fact is that these new tools are simply expert at gathering and sharing biased reports that do not lead us to the truth. Where is the judgement that is essential in any search for truth? That judgement resides in us!

Remember the famine that occurred in Ukraine in the 1930s? The New York Times opted to believe a compromised reporter who accepted whatever the Kremlin said and did not report the story. Meanwhile, an independent journalist risked his life to find out the truth about Stalin’s cruelty. Decades later, serious scholars have unearthed the truth. Watch the movie, Mr. Jones, or read books by Anne Applebaum (Red Famine) or Timothy Snyder (Bloodlines) for more information.

We cannot wait decades for people to accept the truth about Hamas. It is not a credible source for information about Gaza. It is a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel.

Sources and Methods

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Good morning, readers,

I have been speechless for a while, but I thought I could at least share with you some of the things I pay attention to when I’m not reading or watching mainstream news. I just never watch news on TV anymore unless I know there’s a storm coming. But I’m not totally ignorant of what’s happening in the US and the rest of the world. So here are some of the sources I find useful to keep tabs on the various wars, elections, and other info.

Click on these links. Seriously! Watch and listen to a few. When I insert links into blog posts that I write, they rarely get any clicks. Perhaps when I feature them in this way, you’ll take notice.

Ukraine: The Latest
At the start of the invasion of Ukraine, David Knowles, a young journalist with The Telegraph, gathered fellow journalists to keep people informed about military news, political news, and personal stories about what’s happening in Ukraine. David died suddenly a few months ago, but his colleagues have kept the work going.

Battle Lines
Battle Lines is also a podcast from The Telegraph. I don’t love it as much as the one focused on Ukraine, but Battle Lines covers a lot more territory. It’s a source of news about Africa, which we don’t hear much about elsewhere, as well as the middle east and Ukraine.

Preston Stewart
Preston Stewart is an invaluable resource if you want to understand the wars in Ukraine, Israel, and now Syria. If he is out of his element, he provides links to excellent resources. He’s also a quick study, so he will be well informed tomorrow, if not today. Stewart has several worthy news sites to check out.

Passing Judgment
Are you tied of war news? Then tune in to Passing Judgement. Law professor Jessica Levinson offers clear, articulate information on current legal affairs, often with interviews of people with knowledge of particular cases or issues.

Call Me Back
Dan Senor offers daily updates on the situation in Israel. I find him to be a welcome counter to the mainstream media in the US and UK. Lots of interviews with key Israeli journalists and good information about Israeli politics.

Quillette Podcast
I trust Quillette on culture war issues. Jon Kay and Iona Italia interview people immersed in various culture wars in the Anglosphere.

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has taken over the job of protecting our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly. The ACLU abdicated this role in favor of defending Woke, so keep up to date on this critically important work via So to Speak.

Health Check
This is a BBC podcast that I’ve listened to for as long as podcasts have been a thing. Yes, it discusses issues within the context of the UK’s National Health Service, but the information about new approaches to many health conditions is useful, plus it features information about health concerns around the world.

Pacific Northwest Weather Watch
This is a new one for me, but I discovered it just before our recent wind storm. It was right on target.

Hope and Fears as I Cast My Ballot

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I’ll be voting a split ticket today, some Rs, some Ds. Historically, I’ve voted straight tickets, but this year I just can’t. I’ll be voting for Harris/Walz on the national scene, but for Dave Reichert for governor of WA and probably for the Republican for attorney general. Reichert is the most normal, reasonable Republican to make it to the general election ballot in years, and I am anxious for a change in Olympia. 

My concerns at the state level are with a too-soft approach to crime and a too-woke approach to education. Not to worry, lefty friends, there is no chance that Reichert will win. I’ll continue to be a lonely centrist in a far left state come January.

The national election is too close to call as of today, October 22, 2024. I am anxious about it. My curious streak wants to see what would happen if Trump were to win. Would our fears be realized? Would the world as we know it vanish before our eyes? I’m not willing to risk it, so I’ll be voting for Harris, but I’m anxious about the future even if she wins. 

I have a wild set of hopes and fears if Harris takes the oath in January. Yes, I’d love to see a capable woman become president! And Harris is good enough for me. The long row of white men who have preceded her in the office have not necessarily been the best men in the country at their time. They’ve succeeded in winning for a variety of reasons. Most of them grew in competence while in office. (I can’t imagine that anyone is ready to assume the job of leader of the free world on Day 1.) Harris will be a fast learner, and her values and goals are fine with me…

…With a couple of concerns: Just how woke is she? Can she support the rights of trans adults while accepting the need to temper the demands of the most extreme trans activists with regard to children? Can she temper the enthusiasm of public schools to denigrate both our history and the legitimate accomplishments of western culture? Can she address concerns about the criminal justice system the way she did in her book, “Smart on Crime,” rather than follow the radicals who ruled in 2020? 

On the international scene, I have hopes that Harris will be more supportive of Ukraine than Biden has been, and by that I mean I hope she will support the goal of winning in Ukraine, not just fighting until everyone is exhausted.Trump would just give the Donbas and Crimea to Putin and wash his hands of it all. At least, if she wins, we won’t be pulling the rug out from under Ukraine immediately. 

As for Israel, I don’t have confidence in either Trump or Harris. No one knows what Trump would do. He has insisted that October 7 would not have happened if he’d been in office, Ukraine would not have been invaded, no bad things at all. BS, in my mind. I don’t think his craziness, which he now cultivates as an asset, will prevent all bad things. So what would he actually do for the Middle East? I’m confident that even he has no idea.

What about Harris? More restraints on Israel? Fewer restraints? Could she find moderate Muslim partners to rebuild Gaza? Two States for Two Peoples! Yada, yada, yada. Create a Palestinian state without a complete change of heart by Palestinian leaders willing to accept Israel vocally, in public, risking assassination by doing so – that would mean two states armed sufficiently to maintain order, but also armed for self defense. Personally, I think it will take at least a generation of calm, perhaps longer, before Israel would again consider two equal states. But a Palestinian “starter state?” We should at least talk about it.

People can change. I’ve seen it. My father’s family was just fine with Jim Crow. Separate drinking fountains? Fine with them. Separate schools, of course. Separate public accommodations, sure. And then? They let it go. They didn’t all accept the equality of black and white, but they let go of Jim Crow, and many black Americans have taken advantage of opportunities afforded to them. Remember, though, that we were not rushing to bomb shelters, within our homes, when rockets were fired at us by the victims of Jim Crow. No one had armed them hoping to obliterate us. Rather, we had a leader who spoke courageously of judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Palestinians who might have had the potential to become voices for peaceful coexistence have been systematically “taken out” by Hamas and others. Will any surface from the rubble of Gaza? I trust Harris much more than Trump to find them if they are there and work with them. 

Hopes and fears. I have some hopes and many fears as I cast my ballot this year. How about you?