Israel Uber Alles

If you're a small (maybe) nuclear-capable country known for a religion founded by a genocidal deity who's had to fend off your neighbors for decades and you're already at war with Hamas and Hezbollah, when one of your adversaries tumbles from power faster than the value of the Hawk memecoin, why not take advantage of the situation to bomb that country back to the Stone Age?

As someone raised in a religious tradition that made it clear that the Jews were the Chosen People but because they didn't believe in Jesus they'd end up in a different not-quite-as-good Heaven as the rest of us in the death cult^[1] and so we saw them as people we should respect, but in the most condescending way possible, I too have supported Israel against all comers. Just, feels like they’re getting a little too Biblical, you know?

Here's something you might not know: the Holocaust? Part of God's punishment for what they did to Jesus. Because while the Son of God might forgive, He'd never forget, and the crucifixion was basically Heaven's 9/11. Isn't Sunday School neat?

If the Nazis had been the only ones interested in a less Jewish world, that would be enough to fuel self-preservation on a pathological level for the rest of their existence. And it's understandable, as much as I can get my brain around being subjected to that much hatred. Only thing I've really got to worry about as a white cisgendered college educated Man Of A Certain Age is whether I can still say "Merry Christmas" in a Starbuck's, so it's not like I can relate, but I can get my brain around the Israeli Defense Force standing their ground by any means necessary.

Except that with the attacks on Syria after Assad's departure, Tel Aviv has gone from George Zimmerman to Kyle Rittenhouse, and their current campaign is more panzer than pre-emptive, as they're defining the buffer zone around Israel the way evangelicals define forgiveness: broadly, unless you’re one of those sinners that did something that gives them the ick.

The Israeli argument is that destroying Syria's air force, navy, and infrastructure keeps it out of the country's incoming leadership, affiliated as it has been with al Qaeda, and presented with that kind of military might, could see an opportunity to attack Israel in strength.

Israel long ago crossed the border between existence and empire, exerting their will and their will only on their neighbors. Doesn't help that some of the neighbors are actively trying to unalive the country, but it also doesn't excuse tactics that result in amputee kids. If the arc of Israel’s history has taught us anything, it’s that yesterday’s terrorist is today’s freedom fighter and tomorrow’s despot, and defense looks a lot like wanton destruction when you’re on the other side.