Obama provides Hamas with a convenient excuse for their future terror attacks.
Leftist Critics of Israel: Playing the Oppressor Card
Leftist critics of Israel are fond of playing the oppressor card. It allows them to talk out of both sides of their mouths.
You’d have to be crazy to come right out and say Israel had the horrific massacre of some 1,400 of its people — including civilian women, the elderly and babies — coming. To maintain any form of strained credibility, even many leftists will say Israel has the right to defend itself.
On the other hand, to appease the anti-Semites in their ranks, they will warn Israel that it has to play fair and not go too far in its response to the raping of its women and the butchering of Israeli babies.
Why? Because Israelis are framed by leftists as colonizing oppressors who, at the end of the day, deserve what they get.
Former President Barack Obama — known for his oratory skills in saying one thing and meaning another — is in lockstep with the Israeli as oppressor narrative.
In a statement published Monday on Medium, Obama started with the familiar line that “Israel has a right to defend its citizens” and root out Hamas following its “horrific” surprise attack on Oct. 7.
However, it didn’t take long for Obama to shift gears. The third paragraph began, “But even as we support Israel, we should also be clear that how Israel prosecutes this fight against Hamas matters.”
There’s the shift. Israel has the right to respond to the brutalization of innocents, but …
By the fourth paragraph, the former president was finishing up with his condemnation of Hamas by saying its “military operations are deeply embedded within Gaza — and its leadership seems to intentionally hide among civilians, thereby endangering the very people they claim to represent.”
Bad Hamas, right? That’s what it looks like on the surface. The subtext suggests that for the Israelis to accomplish their goal, they will have to march into heavily populated Gaza and indiscriminately kill civilians. This, the Obama narrative seems to suggest, is unacceptable.
No one wants to see civilians get caught in the crossfire except Hamas, which uses them as human shields, as Obama suggested.
However, the Israelis aren’t going to rape women and purposefully murder babies. There will be civilian casualties, but not by Israeli design.
What Obama does not say is more telling than what he does say. He never says what Israel should do, just what it shouldn’t do — attacking Gaza will mean the death of innocent Palestinian civilians, so don’t do it. That would mean Israel would have to give up on rooting out Hamas.
Failure to hold Hamas accountable would be the same as inviting another attack on Israeli civilians. That’s what terrorists do.
By the fifth paragraph, Obama geared up to give Hamas a ready-made excuse for its next terrorist attack, warning that “any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs could ultimately backfire.”
“Already, thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the bombing of Gaza, many of them children,” he lectured. “Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes.”
I’m not sure where Obama gets his news. Maybe Al Jazeera? Whatever the case, he clearly was trying to shift blame from Hamas to Israel. Are we now to see Israel as the terrorists?
The former president wasn’t finished. His next move was declaring the Palestinians as oppressed by the colonizing Israelis. To make this point, he went on a bit of a rant.
Declaring that “all of us need to do our best to put our best values, rather than our worst fears, on display,” he described what that would entail:
- It means acknowledging that Palestinians have also lived in disputed territories for generations; that many of them were not only displaced when Israel was formed but continue to be forcibly displaced by a settler movement that too often has received tacit or explicit support from the Israeli government; that Palestinian leaders who’ve been willing to make concessions for a two-state solution have too often had little to show for their efforts; and that it is possible for people of good will to champion Palestinian rights and oppose certain Israeli government policies in the West Bank and Gaza without being anti-semitic.
Spare us the history lesson, professor.
The Israeli-Palestinian dispute has a long history that reaches back to biblical times. Reducing it to the aftermath of World War II may be convenient for leftists, but it’s at the expense of the truth.
Leftists choose power over truth each and every time.
Obama ended his lecture with a call to action — do what I say and all will be good.
I can see him pontificating from a Harvard lectern as he opined, “But if we care about keeping open the possibility of peace, security and dignity for future generations of Israeli and Palestinian children — as well as for our own children — then it falls upon all of us to at least make the effort to model, in our own words and actions, the kind of world we want them to inherit.”
What model was he suggesting? That we talk out of both sides of our mouth like consummate politicians? That won’t do. Nothing at all would make sense.
Does he want us to condemn Israel and praise the Palestinians? That would amount to perpetuating a big lie.
Or maybe he wants us to follow along like blind lemmings and make it easier for leftists like him to lead the West over a cliff.
It’s not going to happen.
Drop the mic, Obama. It’s time for you to get off the stage — for good.
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The post Obama Gifts Hamas a Ready-Made Excuse for Its Next Terror Attack appeared first on The Western Journal.
How does the narrative of Israel being both the victim and the villain impact the international community’s perception of the conflict?
Umanitarian costs of this conflict — whether deliberate or unintentional — is wrong and will only serve to alienate the international community and further isolate Israel.”
So, Israel is not only the oppressor but also the one responsible for alienating the international community. It’s a strange narrative where Israel is both the victim and the villain.
Leftist critics of Israel have a long history of painting the Jewish state as the aggressor, despite the fact that it is surrounded by hostile neighbors who openly call for its destruction. Instead of condemning those who seek to harm Israel, they choose to focus their criticism solely on Israel’s response to attacks.
This one-sided view ignores the reality on the ground and the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It fails to acknowledge the numerous attempts at peace negotiations that Israel has made and the repeated rejections by Palestinian leaders. It overlooks the fact that Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, is recognized as a terrorist organization by numerous countries.
Leftist critics of Israel also fail to recognize the importance of self-defense and the right of a nation to protect its citizens. They conveniently ignore the fact that Israel has faced numerous terror attacks, rocket fire, and threats to its existence. They downplay or dismiss the legitimate security concerns that Israel faces on a daily basis.
The oppressor card is an easy one to play, but it only serves to perpetuate an inaccurate and biased narrative. It allows leftist critics of Israel to avoid the difficult questions and complexities of the conflict. It allows them to scapegoat Israel while ignoring the actions of its enemies.
If we truly want to work towards peace in the Middle East, we must acknowledge the realities of the situation and address the root causes of the conflict. We must hold all parties accountable for their actions and work towards a negotiated solution that ensures the security and well-being of both Israelis and Palestinians.
Playing the oppressor card may be politically convenient for some, but it does nothing to advance the cause of peace and only serves to further divide and polarize the issue.
It is time for a more nuanced and balanced approach to be taken by leftist critics of Israel. It is time to acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense and the legitimate security concerns it faces. It is time to recognize the complexities of the conflict and the shared responsibility of all parties involved.
Only through honest and open dialogue can we hope to achieve a lasting and just peace in the region.
It is time to put the oppressor card aside and work towards a better future for all.
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