What we are seeing around the world, in response to Israel's Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, is an almost perfect illustration of the hypocrisy and selective outrage of the international community. Right next door, there is a civil war of terrifying proportions in Syria that has seeped into Iraq. This past week, in an enormous battle between the Syrian Army and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, now just going by the Islamic State, or IS), more than 700 people were killed over two days. Overall, at least 170,000 people (and frankly, probably closer to 200,000) have died in the course of the Syrian civil war since its inception as peaceful protests in March 2011. Nine million Syrians have been displaced. At least a quarter of tiny Lebanon's population now consists of refugees fleeing the Syrian hellhole. In Iraq, ISIS has captured Mosul, swept down the Euphrates Valley and has marched to the outskirts of Baghdad, looting, destroying, crucifying, and beheading the entire way. ISIS has displayed the heads of people it has massacred on its Twitter page. But who really cares? The world decides to, instead, unleash its opprobrium in a more westerly direction, to that dagger-shaped, New Jersey-sized country on the Mediterranean - Israel. Of course.
Violent, hate-filled protests have broken out in Boston, Los Angeles, Paris, Rotterdam, The Hague, Berlin, Paris, etc. not to mention the capitals of the Middle East. There is certainly a selective outrage toward the "Zionists" (read: "Jews"). When the Assad regime gassed the people of the Ghouta east of Damascus, the world kind of pretended to be mad about it for a week before moving on to domestic politics, LeBron James, or whatever. However, as soon as there is the exchange of gunfire in the West Bank, or an IAF air raid on the Gaza Strip, or, Heaven forfend, an Israeli incursion, the world simply does not have time for anything else. There are rallies, and angry vituperation, and poisonous anti-Semitic invective spewed both orally and via social media. The other, and far bloodier, conflicts in the Middle East simply do not exercise this much passion (among Westerners, that is). This utter obsession with Israel/Palestine is not rational and, to use a word often used in this context (stupidly), disproportionate. If you were to strip Jews from the equation, and moved the location of the fighting to Greenland, no one would care about this conflict. No one.
The obsession comes from two places: a naive one and a dark one.
On the naive side: the absurd notion of post-colonialism that the wealthier, stronger (and usually whiter) side is, ipso facto, wrong and evil. The poorer, weaker (and usually darker) side is, ipso facto, correct and good. This ridiculous one-size-fits-all to history is the opposite of helpful, or analytical. There have been times where it has been correct, and there have been times when it has not been. This is what happens when you try to reduce the complexities of history, culture, and society to arbitrary formulae conjured up by academics in Cambridge, New York, Oxford, Paris, or Berkeley. History is not a "science" and certainly not mathematics; so while the laws of physics dictate natural phenomena, there simply is not a comparable framework within which historical progress, or lack thereof, must operate. The one-size-fits-all approach is somehow seen as sophisticated when in fact it is necessarily rigid and close-minded. This approach has dominated academia, and white liberals trying to feel better about themselves adopt pet causes, most predominantly the Palestinian cause. The whole thing would be comical if it were not so deadly serious in consequence. The fact of the matter is that just because Israel is wealthier and more technologically advanced, that does not make it "the aggressor." Just because Hamas is poorer and less technologically advanced (from its own doing), that does not make them noble freedom fighters. Far from it. They stand for everything that the left claims to stand against. And the whole "white-brown" or "white-black" dichotomy collapses in the face of Arabs who could pass for Europeans and Israelis who are of Middle Eastern, African, Persian, Afghan, etc descent. There are black soldiers in the IDF (two of the dead Israeli soldiers in this conflict were black). The whole thing is absurd and wrong. But for the uninformed, it's very easy to see this as a "white-black" thing, both ethically speaking and racially speaking. That's where the moronic college students come into the picture, and they're the ones pushing these rallies in Boston, LA, and Washington, D.C.
On the dark side: anti-Semitism. It is impossible for me to isolate Israel's Jewish nature from the opprobrium it receives from the international community. Not when Bashar al-Assad and ISIS are doing what they are doing right next door, or people are raped and murdered by the thousands in the Congo and Sudan, or when the North Korean government continues its weird Stalinist policies, and we hear very little, proportionally anyway, about it. When the bullets start flying in Gaza or the West Bank, it dominates the world section of newspapers to the detriment of other, bloodier conflicts. It is very sad to say, and I say this as someone who admires Western civilization more than anything, but anti-Semitism is a central feature of Western civilization. The obsession with the Jews has dogged the Westerner, historically speaking, much more than it has the Arab or the Persian. The terminus of this road was the Birkenau gatehouse. There seems to be an ecstatic, cathartic glee that Europeans experience when they get to shout about how the Jews/Zionists/Israelis are murdering babies and committing genocide against the Palestinians. They enjoy it. Because unadulterated anti-Semitism is not acceptable in polite society, it can be cloaked in anti-Zionism, and Europeans can get that Jew-sized elephant off their chests and scream and rant about the Jews doing these evil things. It is, in many ways, the modern version of the blood libel, which is today found most frequently in the Middle East, although in certain circles in Europe and the United States as well.
In sum, Israeli military action brings with it disproportionate (yes, this word is correct in this context) shouting from the rooftops, rage, rallies, and violence. This is not the case with any other conflict. Syrians get exercised about the Syrian civil war, and the murderousness of Bashar al-Assad and ISIS. And they absolutely should, because their country is shattered and hundreds of thousands of their compatriots have been killed. But where are the Westerners at those rallies? Where are the "die-ins" that we saw in Boston? Where are the equivalents of the shouts of "Zionist scum" directed toward Bashar al-Assad or toward ISIS? I haven't heard any of them calling for the slaughter of all Alawites, of whom the Assads are the most prominent representative (nor should they) but I have heard protesters calling for Jews to be sent back to Birkenau. There is a mindless rage toward any Israeli action, which no matter how limited or restrained is "disproportionate" (and, no, this word is not correct in this context). But with the rage comes the deep, sensual pleasure at being able to unload it.
