Hamas blinders

The rational absurdity of genocide apologists

A ribbon flag at a Palestine rally I attended in Dunedin, NZ

When Trump’s government arrested and tried to deport a permanent resident without any hint of a legal pretext I became alarmed. Not because a lot of what he and his administration have said and done is not already alarming (throw in Biden, Obama, Bush, and all the rest in there as well), but because this to me signaled a dangerous escalation into territory that could have truly chilling consequences.

I posted a few things about it here on Substack but then made the mistake of posting something on Facebook. One of the reasons I started a Substack account was that I thought people were sick of me going off on politics and capitalism all of the time on Facebook. It wasn’t really that people fought with me a lot, although that happened sometimes, it was that people just didn’t seem engaged or interested in that kind of commentary. Granted, given that I share an account with my wife, it can be quite jarring when a flow of pictures of my kids engaged in whatever cute thing they are doing gets interrupted by an exercise in Marxist theory or a rant about how our government is selling out our country to corporate interests. It’s not really the venue. So I left the politics off Facebook and came here.

I returned to Facebook with this latest development because I considered it a serious enough escalation to broadcast a bit more widely. I don’t know really what I was thinking, but I posted this

Okay, I’ll grant that this was a bit inflammatory. But I was concerned and was trying to impress upon whoever might still be listening or following that this was a big deal.

What followed was a deluge of comments (121 and counting) which have devolved into a perfect example of the state of discussion of the Israeli genocide. It has been exhausting, infuriating, saddening, and dejecting.

What is clear to me, and I’m sure this is not news to anyone else here, is that Israel’s equating all Palestinians with Hamas terrorists has utterly poisoned any chance of rational and reasonable conversation about this topic.

Now, some of the people who responded were just your run of the mill pieces of shit, such as the person who made fun of me for using my wife’s account (shared account by the way) to post “anti semitic hate”, saying it “doesn’t get anymore Beta than that.” Don’t you have an Andrew Tate circle jerk to be at?

For others, even those who were concerned about Trump’s clearly illegal behavior, they still had to demonize Mahmoud as a “scumbag”. Why the scare quotes around pro-Hamas? It’s clear he was engaged in terrorist activity. A hilarious post today by Lukas Unger captures the sentiment perfectly.

But for others, it was clear that they were really trying to reach me and help me understand the error of my ways. These are educated people with advanced degrees. People I would consider to be good people. Their sentiments were even more disturbing because of the rational way in which they approached their Palestinian erasure. These are people who are convinced they have done the background reading and understand the history. These are people who insist that we will just have to agree to disagree. That there are many valid “opinions” on the matter, as if the actual reality is inconsequential. These are the rational genocide apologists.

Didn’t I realize that Mahmoud was supporting Hamas? By law anyone who supports Hamas forfeits all rights because Trump said so? Palestine has unfortunately sided with Hamas and so we must do this in order to protect our country. Hamas has hidden in schools and hospitals and cares nothing for its people. President Trump is a strong leader who is protecting us from a threat. Palestine has demonstrated time and time again that they hate all Jews and want to kill them all. Palestine has “poked the bear”. Mike Johnson said he felt threatened at a Columbia University rally for Palestine. Shouldn’t Jews be able to feel safe? Trump has done more for peace in Palestine than any other president. He wants to end the bloodshed. Palestinians should just accept his deal for peace. The feud between Israel and Palestine goes back 2000 years, and started because Hagar did not want to yield her son Ishmael’s rights to Abraham’s sons who were the lawful heirs. Palestinians continue to perpetrate this conflict. Both sides are not perfect. War is awful.

I want to gouge my eyes out.

The list of absurdities goes on and on. But what is most maddening about these exchanges with people is how rational they think they are. Nothing anyone says can convince them of anything else. For these people it is completely logical that because all Palestinians support Hamas they must be eradicated. There is no cognitive dissonance here, not even when you try to point out the facts of the genocide. Everything can be brought back to the fact that somehow, in some way that has to make sense, all Palestinians are Hamas supporters and so must be dealt with accordingly.

So, I’d like to ask these rational people to consider the absurdity of their position in light of these facts, chronicled tenaciously by Caitlin Johnstone throughout the genocide:

All of those women and children shot through the heads or in the back by snipers, they were being used as human shields?

All of the pregnant women killed in a 2 for 1 deal by grinning Israeli soldiers, they were Hamas aligned?

All the children who went out to play with booby-trapped toys and were blown to bits, these were Hamas operatives?

All of the civilians that were methodically tracked and shot by drones while going about their business or running away, these were official Hamas agents?

All of the civilians who were bombed and burned in their tents after relocating to a place where they were told by the IDF that they would be safe, these people were engaging in terrorist activity?

All of the pictures of grinning IDF soldiers posing in murdered or evicted Palestinian women’s underwear, these were special operations to root out Hamas insurgents?

All of the patients who were on life support or oxygen and the babies in incubators who were methodically killed by the IDF when they went floor to floor in the hospitals, were these hiding or shielding Hamas soldiers?

All of the people who were shot and killed waiting for food to be distributed, or killed by booby-trapped food packages, they are also Hamas aligned?

The stories about Hamas fighters jumping on top of Israeli hostages to shield them from the IDF’s bombs and the photo of an Israeli hostage kissing his Hamas captor upon release, while released Palestinian prisoners are emaciated and bear the marks of torture, all just an elaborate Hamas psy-op?

All of the empty apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals that were dynamited and bulldozed, this was a safety precaution against Hamas?

Yet somehow, these apologists will find a way to absolve the IDF of these crimes or turn it back onto Palestinian heads.

It’s numbing to experience the casual dehumanization of an entire group of people played out in real time over the course of a few days among people who you know in real life.

What can be done?

I fear not a lot for people who are getting their news from the White House and listening to Speaker Johnson for their information.

For some, perhaps actually going to a rally for Palestine and hearing some of the speakers could reach them.

I have never been more moved in my life than when a courageous 14 year old girl stood up and sobbed her message of solidarity while explaining that her family had been killed in Palestine that week.

The reality of the Israeli propaganda machine hit home when a Jewish friend spoke of he and his family leaving Israel because of the culture of hate and denial they experienced there. And when his wife read an open letter to her father imploring him to see through the lies that had turned his heart and country into a cauldron of hate and poison.

I go through days where even seeing someone from Palestine walking the streets is enough to bring me to tears. This is what experiencing the struggle in my own way and trying to express solidarity has done for me. I am forever grateful for these experiences, even as I am horrified by my recent interactions.

To be honest, I don’t feel a lot of hope after my last few days. While there were many comments from friends in support of Palestine, the Hamas blinders are fixed and it seems immovable for far too many people. I don’t know that anything can change that. But I have to hope that something can. Perhaps small acts in which we experience and are forced to see the humanness of one another can cut through the dehumanization of the Israeli propaganda machine. I sincerely hope so.

Free Palestine.