r/samharris trolls question Sam’s unflinchingly pro-Israel stance

And why I think they’re wrong and Sam’s spot on as usual.

(This article was shared on Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/samharris/s/MxsUpim4sC and can best be responded to there after reading below — there are hundreds of comments on r/samharris which lend context to what I have written below.)

Many think Sam’s recent commentary about the war fails to highlight the legitimate gripes of Palestinians or call out the wrongs being done by Israel. I’d like to offer a few words about Sam’s stance and by extension my own.

So here’s the deal: Sam doesn’t want to see people killed — to follow Sam’s commentary on Making Sense (https://www.samharris.org/podcasts) is to know he values life and peace above all else, for all people, regardless of their religions or beliefs.

He’s not looking to sacrifice a bunch of people merely due to his commitment to a specific ideology or concern over Jihadism.

He has shown, clearly and repeatedly, and I daresay generously, the reasons why in spite of the losses, Israel has no choice.

And for anyone who thinks he ignores valid geopolitical reasons for violence, consider that Israel’s involvement in West Bank and Gaza was never the plan; it’s almost entirely a JUSTIFIED DEFENSIVE POSTURE, after an illegal, unprovoked DEFENSIVE WAR Israel fought in ‘48 and ‘67 and to this day, following the cowardly, criminally-insane attacks by Islamic extremists on over a thousand kind-hearted civilians.

Concerning the alleged expulsion in and around 1948, oft referred to as the Nabka, there was no such racial expulsion whatsoever, but instead Jihadist sympathizers living within Israel proper fled their homes in preparation for a massacre of the Jews that never succeeded. Peaceful Arabs stayed and enjoy full citizenship. Note that nearly two million bonafide Israeli voters are Muslim Arabs.

If you didn’t know that, it’s no coincidence. The distortion on these matters is fueled by mandatory lying called Taqqiya, as outlined in the Hadiths. Any rare exceptions to this story — peaceful Arabs forcibly having been expelled — are aberrations, and have been magnified to distort the narrative disingenuously.

The reasons for Palestinian anger are largely not valid, so there is little for Sam to make sense of on that front. (Their emotions are valid, and Sam’s emotions on the matter of civilians killed are bighearted, but let’s not confuse sadness over civilians lost with whether that sadness is evidence of wrongdoing.)

The blockade is effectively self-imposed due to Hamas’ persistent intent to smuggle deadly weapons into Gaza to be used against Israeli civilians.

And Israel MUST seize the high ground in the mountains of the West Bank at any cost, or Israel’s major cities and airport would be rubble by this time tomorrow.

The young concert goers and residential families murdered were specifically noted as broad-minded people who longed to humanize and make peace with the Gazans, and these people did more than talk, but were willing to live their words, as evidenced by where they were when they were killed.

Cultishly woke stunted children on college campuses may mean well and think they care about the Gazans; these students and activists mistakenly regard themselves as noble, clear-eyed humanitarians speaking out for innocent underdogs.

Sadly, these activists have been duped by bigoted murderers and don’t know it, and seemingly, don’t want to know it.

Perhaps too alluring is the romance of having a cause, a generation’s very own Che Guevara poster come to life, cheering on the lionhearted underdogs who resemble the Leaf Village Ninja from a popular anime series, and lashing out against the rich, obnoxious Jews who allegedly run the world.

These screaming, mewling ignoramuses chanting “free Palestine” don’t know a thing about tolerance and sacrifice, they don’t hold a candle to the liberal Israelis who lived along the Eastern border and sought to help Gazans.

Those murdered Israelis, and their guests at the peace concert, were arguably the true heroes of peace, and the American far left desecrates all the good will they exhibited.

Our deluded protestors, and those around the world, in brainlessly siding with the enemies of civilization and tolerance, enable and embolden lovers of chaos and lies.

All acts of Israel are in defense. The fact their religious settlers do it with added religious purpose is bad, but has been magnified and distorted.

And the Al Aqsa Mosque was essentially being used as a base for attacks in the Old City over real estate disputes involving Arabs who were offered full Israeli citizenship and refused, and thus don’t have the same rights by choice.

When the IDF nipped that in the bud, Hamas rebranded that as aggression against their sacred mosque.

Violent Jihadism is merely the warning signal Sam is emphasizing.

But Sam’s personal distaste for violent Jihad, while justified, is NOT the sole reason he is supporting Israel in this war. It’s simple: every way you look at it, the onus is on Hamas.

If you hate the tragic death of civilians, as Sam does, and as I do, try to remember that Hamas’ criminal refusal to simply release 100+ innocent hostages is a decisive factor explaining why civilians are now hungry, displaced, and in many cases, if they insist on close proximity to Hamas militants, they have been killed in the crossfire, per the explicit plan of Hamas.

Hamas wants to hold hostages to exchange with prisoners, but holding civilians as hostages is a clear war crime.

The fact is, if Hamas wants to cling to its people and vice versa, in naive hopes of some ill-conceived checkmate, they miscalculated.

They are the criminals, not Israel.

And if you want to focus only on imagined Israeli wrongdoing, and never mention any frustration with Hamas or the dubious civilians clinging to them, you are a big part of the reason these civilians continue to die.

Israel is legal. Arabs attacked first, illegally in ‘48. Israel defends to this day. It is only due to their modern, liberal humanity that they didn’t carpet bomb decades ago and end the problem in a single day.

Israel to this day sacrifices its own children to save a few extra lives of Gazan children. This is morally extraordinary and unprecedented, and Israel gets almost no acknowledgement of this ethical triumph.

Israel’s acts of legitimate defense have been rebranded as attacks and imperialism and conspiracy, by deranged liars, and then believed by ignorant, biased fools.

And to Sam’s credit, he’s right to point out that there is no explanation for this barbaric behavior that doesn’t strongly include religious fanaticism of the worst kind, Islamist Jihadism.

That’s really all this is. Which is why the onslaught against Israel — the side with a commendable level of fortitude, reason, lawfulness, and humanity — is so unconscionable.

As for the recent salvo from Iran, my nickel’s worth is that both sides knew it was coming and that the missiles wouldn’t hit anything. It was likely a face saving gesture of statecraft similar to what Lebanon has done. The U.S. will plead with Israel not to retaliate, and Israel will compromise by “merely” finishing up in Gaza.

Remember, two million Israeli citizens are happy Palestinians. 20% of the Knesset are Palestinians. Palestinians are beautiful valuable human beings. When I say finish up, I only mean defeat Hamas and get the hostages back. I wish Hamas didn’t do the human shields thing and so does Israel.

It’s bizarre that so many think Israel winning this war is tantamount to genocide. What I hope happens is Gazans get new leadership and stop having an all or nothing attitude, and the UN should do its job and not let militaries build tunnels under homes and hospitals.

The only side that sincerely is pursuing genocide is the extremist Islamist Jihad side. They want to kill all Jews, LGBTQ, etc. Thank G-d the ones with all the power are not the Islamist jihadists hellbent on a global caliphate. If they had such power, surely you and yours would be on the hit list.

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(Please comment here or at https://www.reddit.com/r/samharris/s/MxsUpim4sC, where there are hundreds of comments regarding this piece.)