“It must be so awkward having to check whether the dead child is from Gaza or Syria before deciding whether to be morally outraged.” So to those condemning Israel: Are you pro-Palestinian, or are you really just anti-Israel? Many of you reportedly care so much when you really care so little. As Leon Wieseltier of the New Republic once wrote: It is easier “not to dive deep into the substance of anything. It is less immediately satisfying than cursing and linking.” My Facebook feeds would have me believe that the only noteworthy military conflict in the world today is that between Israel and Hamas. Either many of you care about war only when it involves a Jew holding a gun, or you are woefully unaware of what else is going on in the world. In case it is the latter, and I sincerely hope it is, here is a (very) partial list of the death tolls from other ongoing conflicts. In no particular order: Syria: 162,000+ (700 just this week alone) Mexico: ~80,000 Nigeria: ~5,000 South Sudan: ~10,000 Gaza: ~600 This is not to say that your attention and sympathies should be dictated by casualty counts. All civilian deaths are tragic. While there are few of you whom I would accuse as individuals of holding animosity toward Jews, there are many of you who are participating in a global, collective media assault on Israel that is indeed suggestive of something much darker. I am not asking you not to care. On the contrary, I am hoping that you all start to care more – about the many problems in the world. Then, perhaps going forward your condemnation of Israel could be – let’s see, how I should I put this – more proportional.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:10:20 +0000
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