If Not Slavery, What?

Evidently, not everyone who graduates from Orangeburg Preparatory School in Orangeburg, South Carolina remember Article I, Section 2 of a fairly important document.:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the favorite Republican presidential candidate of cable news of the center or left:

Nikki Haley: "We've never been a racist country" pic.twitter.com/qcB0wTjvJS

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 16, 2024

Haley states to Fox News host Kilmeade "We're not a racist country, Brian. We've never been a racist country." As to whether the USA currently is a racist country, your mileage may vary. As to whether the USA ever has been a racist country, there can be little doubt when the most important of our founding documents reinforced slavery as an institution and defined its victims as three-fifths of a person. "Blacks are by nature inferior to whites" would have been a little more explicit, but not by much.

She's running a con. Haley adds "I know. I faced racism when I was growing up..."  However, she was, albeit perhaps through no fault of her own, an intimate part of a bigoted system when she was growing up. In 1989 Haley graduated from Orangeburg Preparatory Schools, an "independent, college-preparatory , coeducational day school enrolling students in preschool through twelfth grade," which was formed from the merger of Wade Hampton and Willington Academy. 

The academy was founded in 1964 for parents to circumvent the integration of public schools which had begun in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Or as "a group of Orangeburg parents" stated, "separate private school facilities must be provided...)to) avoid the pernicious 'experiment' being foisted upon the people of this state and nation."

And so in 1971, all 1500 students were white. In 1989, the year one of its graduates was the future presidential candidate, only one of its students was black, and he then moved out-of-state. In 2007, 90% of the town's public school students were black while 95% of Orangeburg's students were white.

Haley may have faced racism as a young person. We know for certain, however, that she studied at a segregated academy existing so white students wouldn't have to attend school with black students.

This "I personally have endured racism but this is not a racist country" game has been played before. Delivering the GOP rebuttal to President Biden's State of the Union address in 2021, Senator Tim Scott claimed

I have experienced the pain of discrimination. I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason. To be followed around a store while I’m shopping. I remember, every morning, at the kitchen table, my grandfather would open the newspaper and read it — I thought....

I’ve also experienced a different kind of intolerance. I get called “Uncle Tom” and the n-word by progressives, by liberals.

Then with no apparent sense of self-awareness, Scott declared "America is not a racist country."

The message is "America is exceptional- but I've always been a victim."  And so it is with former UN ambassador Haley, who not only contends "I faced racism while growing up" but that the USA never has "never been a racist country." Never.

Maybe it's something in the water in South Carolina, which Haley previously served as governor and Scott still serves as a United States Senator. Or perhaps it is prompted by the difficulty of being a candidate for the Republican nomination for President, a race Scott withdrew from in November.

More likely, it is "of color" individuals trying to have it both ways. Republican voters don't want to acknowledge flaws in American psyche or in the narrow narrative of America the Greatest which has been predominant in our national culture and, until recently, our educational system. At the same time, they want to remind primary voters that they can nominate someone who would allow them to deny being racist or being part of a racist party, a "some of my best friends are colored" candidate. And, of course: victim.

In a generous interpretation, Nikki Haley has a complicated relationship with the Civil War. However, it could be less complicated than simple hypocrisy. and it may be difficult to discern definitively her motive. However, the left-wing media, itching for a Republican nominee and President who is not a white male, should ask this one how she would describe considering people 40% inferior because of their race.

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He Went to a Fight, and Texas Broke Out

I can't see the future, although I believe in Iowa tonight Donald Trump will crush Ron DeSantis and Ron DeSantis will crush Nikki Haley (momentum be damned).   But it doesn't take much to foresee mob violence in our future. An ardent Zionist, usually correct (and always right) about Israel, would not be appalled at this thought:

Texans don’t mess about! This is how they dealt with a Palestine activist who disrupted a speech by @GovAbbott. And the cowboy didn’t even lose his hat pic.twitter.com/Y6lFRHzW7J

— Jake Wallis Simons (@JakeWSimons) January 15, 2024

It had to happen somewhere, and it did when

A brawl broke out during a campaign speech by Texas Governor Greg Abbott after a protester disrupted the event.

The Texas governor was giving a speech in Collins County when an alleged pro-Palestinian heckler interrupted him. While what the protestor said to Abbott is not clear, it was met with immediate boos as a group of attendees swiftly attempted to remove him from the event, which was held in support of Texas Rep. Candy Noble.

The demonstrator yelled "don't f***ing touch me!" as a group of attendees, some in cowboy hats, shoved and pulled him toward the door. One can be seen grabbing the demonstrator's jacket and pulling him before others join in. CBS Texas has reported there were two demonstrators at the event on Saturday, but Newsweek has not been able to confirm this.

The video, which has been posted on social media by numerous accounts, has divided opinion. Responding to a post with the video by political commentator and Donald Trump supporter Anthony Hughes on X, formerly Twitter, user Dianna Dull wrote: "Don't mess with Texas!!!"

This is exactly how it's not supposed to be done- not in a society which values open expression, tolerance- and yes, enforcement of the law. The brawl in Texas represents not only mob violence but also the failure of police to enforce the law. If police sit idly by as they neglect to perform their duty, there will be serious outbreaks of violence which will lead to injuries and, eventually, death.

This guy is wrong on two counts:

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS:

Pro-Palestine heckler tries interrupting a speech by Governor Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) and is promptly reminded that he is in Texas.

WATCH: pic.twitter.com/jRg8RaFFpH

— Anthony Hughes (@CallMeAntwan) January 14, 2024

Not only turned on the attack on the protestor, he is unaware that "Don't Message with Texas" has nothing to do with beating up people one disagrees with, the state's prolific use of the death penalty, or being a macho, macho man. Rather, it's a slogan promoting a campaign by the state's Department of Transportation urging residents to reduce littering on Texas roads.

Hostility paired with ignorance is not a prescription for a more perfect union or domestic tranquility, and will become increasingly common in the decade ahead.

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It's Almost As If Germany Understands Genocide

As bombs continue to rain down upon Amman, the capital city of a nation including approximately three million Palestinians, South Africa has leveled a charge of genocide against the State of Israel at The Hague in the Netherlands. Both sides have presented their case and a decision will be handed down at a later date.

Of course, Israel has not attacked Jordan, a reality seemingly lost on South Africa, which accuses Jerusalem of being "intent on destroying the Palestinians as a group in Gaza" while trying to "bring about the destruction of its Palestinian population." (CNN)

Were Gaza populated by Slavs, that group would be the innocent victims of Israeli bombs welcomed by Hamas. . If it were populated by Scandinavians, that group would be the victim. They are Palestinians, so they are the victims, and not because of some racist plot. Were Israel trying to annihilate Palestinians as a group, there would be aerial assaults elsewhere- including in Amman- in the region.

South Africa is trying to rope all Palestinians in with the Gazans. Among its charges is “The acts and omissions by Israel complained of by South Africa are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.” Not Gazans, but Palestinians- which the charging party is unable to identify as a distinct national, racial, or ethnic group. Nonetheless, "genocide."

Germany is one of the countries the past several decades most appalled by, and wary of, genocide, Fortunately, the western European nation now has weighed in, as a third party, on the side of the victim and against the perpetrator while a representative of the German federal government explains

My personal and political opinion is that one can criticize the Israeli military for using harsh measures in the Gaza Strip. However, that does not constitute genocide. Those who would commit genocide, or desire to do so if given the opportunity, are Hamas. The annihilation of the State of Israel is on their agenda. So we can understand the slogan "from the river to the sea" as not meaning that Jews should leave Israel by boat but as an extinction fantasy. Accusing Israel of genocide is a complete distortion of victims and perpetrators in my view and is just wrong.

The South African action needs to be put into context. When a senior Hamas delegation visited South Africa, in early December, the Jewish News Syndicate noted

South Africa is one of few countries that is not only sympathetic to the Palestinian cause despite officially advocating for a two-state solution, but recognizes Hamas as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

 Last week, the National Assembly, South Africa’s parliament, voted 248–91 to close the Israel embassy and suspend diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. While the resolution is nonbinding, it has sent a chilling message to South African Jews.

While Berlin is obviously aware of the rise of anti-Semitism in many nations in the east and west, its understanding of the stakes involved in the charge of genocide may go far beyond. The JNS continues

Howard Sackstein, founder of the Jewish Anti-Apartheid movement and chairperson of the South African Jewish Report, told JNS: “South Africa’s foreign policy is stuck in the 1960s Cold War with deep ideological revolutionary attachments to the oppressive regimes of Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and Palestine. Although claiming to support a two-state solution, for the South African government, Israel is a colonial manifestation of Western imperialism.”

This is the observable reality of the current Mideast conflict, one that Germany is well positioned to understand while unable for strategic purposes to put forward.  Call it a dirty little secret- for many nations, the issue is not Hamas vs. Israel, Gaza vs. Israel, or Palestine (Palestinians) vs. Israel. Were it so, there would be an active and effectual effort in the Middle East to create a Palestinian state or to welcome Palestinians into their own country. 

As Sackstein reaIizes, Israel is perceived in some quarters in the East as "a colonial manifestation of Western imperialism". And so it is that South Africa now has notified Washington that it is suing the USA because of the latter's support of Israel in its war against Hamas. 

Israel's fight is not only Israel's fight as the current conflict in the Middle East morphs into a struggle of East vs. West. Disturbingly, if Germany has an inkling of this, it may be the only country in the West which is even starting to figure it out. 

 

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Target: Israel

This is accurate, although a little misleading.

A reminder that South African officials met with Hamas as part of a solidarity event in DECEMBER. Hamas were also invited to lay flowers at Nelson Mandela’s grave. Two months AFTER the terrorists butchered their way through Israel. South Africa has *zero* moral high ground. Zero. pic.twitter.com/Ar5klnXqvr

— Heidi Bachram 🎗️ (@HeidiBachram) January 11, 2024

AP News reported in early December that

Hamas officials joined members of Nelson Mandela’s family in laying wreaths at a statue of the statesman and Nobel Peace Prize winner in South Africa on Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of his death.

Former Hamas government minister Basem Naim is in South Africa as part of a delegation and joined Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, and others at the ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of the South African government.

South Africa has been vocal in its support of the Palestinian cause for years and has strongly criticized Israel over its response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. South Africa has previously compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to its own past apartheid system of racial oppression.

And condemn Israel President Cyril Ramaphosa has done, claiming a "deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water" as "tantamount to genocide." However, he also has condemned Hamas for its attack of October 7, 2023.

The problem lies less with South Africa than it does with the United Nations as a body.  Twenty days after the brutal terrorist attack upon Jews because they were Jews, when the event still was fresh in everyone's mind, the General Assembly

demanded the unhindered provision of essential aid to civilians throughout the Gaza Strip, as the body continued its emergency session on the situation in the Middle East. The Assembly also failed to unequivocally reject and condemn the terrorist attacks by Hamas that took place in Israel starting on 7 October.

The United Nations did not even see fit to condemn definitively a crime against humanity more than twice as great per capita as any terrorist attack in history. Yet

In 2023, EU member states voted for one resolution each on the human rights situations in Iran, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, Crimea, the U.S. for its embargo on Cuba, and Russia for its war in Ukraine. See second table at bottom, showing resolution texts and votes. By contrast, EU states often voted in favor of nearly all 14 resolutions singling out Israel.

These same EU states have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution this year on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries.

Tweeter Bachram accurately notes that South Africa has little moral high ground to denounce Israel, thanks to the public support given Hamas by Nelson Mandela's grandson (who is no Nelson Mandela)  and the government's claim that Israel is conducting actions "tantamount to genocide" bespeaks an ignorance of genocide. However... oh, there is no however.

But the larger problem is the United Nations. This is not your grandfather's United Nations, rather an organization made up of member nations which wish the one democratic state in the Mideast would go away, perhaps as victim of the genocide it accuses Israel itself of.  Ultimately, world peace and justice would benefit if the organization would move to the middle of this country, such as to South Dakota, Nebraska, or Kansas, which might provide a great environment to raise a family but would be of no interest to the men and women from abroad who come to New York City, New York to promote a more dangerous world.

John Fetterman calls out South Africa for the genocide of white farmers.

I'm starting to feel bad for mocking him. He can wear hoodies & gym shorts all he wants if he keeps dropping more conservative talking points than people who claim to be "conservative" members of Congress. pic.twitter.com/XX07o5QcLM

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) January 11, 2024

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Mass Tolerance

Today's trick question is: which one of these is correct? 

You made a lot of noise and inconvenienced people that have no control over Gaza. For all your bluster you got the attention you so desperately crave yet you've accomplished nothing. Nothing has changed. All you've done is turn regular people against your cause. Congratulations.

— the truth is hard (@truthishard__) January 7, 2024

The AP  reported

Protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 5 in Seattle for several hours Saturday.

Additional demonstrators on a nearby overpass cheered in support of the blockade, which began around 1:15 p.m., the Seattle Times reported. The state transportation department said on the social media platform X that traffic at one point was backed up more than 6 miles (9.7 kilometers), and the agency asked drivers to use alternate routes.

Demonstrators chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go.”

Seattle police posted on social media at 3:40 p.m. that officers gave a dispersal order, though protesters disputed receiving any such orders. Stormy weather, including hail, moved through the area, and protesters left the freeway around 4:45 p.m., according to the Times.

Neither tweeter is correct. 

It's not surprising that Seattle police would condone, or be ordered to condone, lawbreaking on such a massive scale. The massive scale is precisely what compels the Police Department to try to contain the protest and avoid an outbreak of violence that would become the main story of each broadcast on MSNBC and CNN for days. Thus, illegal and dangerous obstruction of traffic went on for several hours until stormy weather intruded because principles are principles but do we really want to get wet? (Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd was grotesque. Killing him in late May, the time of nearly the best weather in the upper Midwest, was peak stupid.)

It's not as if the authorities in the area were taken by surprise. The Seattle Times noted "Seattle-area demonstrators have taken to the streets nearly every weekend since the Israel-Hamas war began in October."  Innocent, law-abiding citizens have had their lives disrupted frequently the last few months by lawbreakers  and either the political or law-enforcement powers (or both) were unprepared- in the age of social media chatter.

Of course, the disregard for the rights of the innocent and unsuspecting will take its toll elsewhere.

Activists in New York have blocked the Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Holland Tunnel, demanding an end to the “siege” of Gaza. So take down the fence and then what? Oh, a huge massacrepic.twitter.com/xVpkbKBDJT

— Jake Wallis Simons (@JakeWSimons) January 8, 2024

Over 300 protestors reportedly were arrested by New York City police who as with Washington, D.C., police have extensive experience with huge demonstrations. However, the vast majority of local police departments, even in major cities such as Seattle, do not have adequate personnel to arrest individuals en masse. Even with assistance from the Washington State Patrol, officers remained on the opposite side of the barrier from demonstrators. Fortunately, there are other resources, inasmuch as 

The guard can be deployed by state governors for law enforcement purposes. Many states activated their National Guards in response to historic anti-racism protests across the United States after George Floyd was killed in May 2020. In January 2021, the DC National Guard was deployed in response to an assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob backing President Donald Trump while lawmakers were meeting to certify the presidential election. The guard was later quartered inside the Capitol building, evoking comparisons to the Civil War.

Yet, despite the justified and inevitable anger these protests stir in ordinary citizens (and especially affected motorists), it is not clear that they've accomplished nothing and that they will accomplish nothing.  They not only put pressure on policymakers, they have the capacity to trigger less controversial but more effective tactics, such as boycotts.

Besides being apologists for homicidal terrorists, the activists may promote an impression within the public of government officials and enfeebled or feckless. If an isolated lawbreaker committing a minor or major offense of a political or non-political nature is confronted by police, he is arrested.  If dozens or more individuals are brazenly breaking the law, police should follow the example of New York City and promptly arrest the offenders. There should be no safety in numbers.

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When Pitiful Meets Detestable

Hey, NBC! How about giving Representative Elise Stefanik of New York a platform to make a speech so dishonest as to rival those of Donald Trump? Oh, you already did! (Even a conservative ex-New York congresswoman understands that.)

This is so pathetic that @EliseStefanik is willing to call violent offenders from Jan.6 “hostages” in order to please Trump. Elise sounds like the hostage. https://t.co/cBIdUZXH3F

— Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) January 7, 2024

And it would make almost as much sense to broadcast, without challenge, an interview of a hostage by Hamas. On Meet the Press, Welker asked

In terms of what we're hearing today, former President Trump has referred to January 6th as a, quote, "beautiful day." Just this weekend, he referred to some of those who are serving time for having stormed the Capitol as, quote, "hostages." Do you still feel as though that day was tragic and that those who were responsible should be held responsible to the fullest extent of the law?

Stefanik began by charging "as typical for NBC and the biased media." A responsible journalist would have challenged the congresswoman by either defending her employer or uncomfortably suggesting an equivalence on the right, the latter option something like "are you including Fox News and Newsmax as part of the "biased media?"

The congresswoman continued

....you played one excerpt of my speech. I stand by my comments that I made on the House floor. I stood up for election integrity, and I challenged and objected to the certification of the state of Pennsylvania because of the unconstitutional overreach. So, I absolutely stand by my floor speech. I am proud to support President Trump.

Pennsylvania yes, Arizona- no. Not only did she vote on January 5 against certifying Arizona's electoral votes for Biden, two days earlier she has released a video in which she remarked "tens of millions of Americans are rightly concerned that the 2020 election featured unprecedented voting irregularities" and that they were properly concerned about "a fundamental lack of ballot integrity and ballot security."

In December, she had  joined in the amicus brief signed by 126 House Republicans in support of a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general to overturn the election results in three states won by Biden.  In an open letter to her constituents on January 6, before the confrontation at the Capitol, she falsely claimed "more than 140,000 votes came from underage, deceased and otherwise unauthorized voters- in Fulton County alone." 

In her speech of January 6, Stefanik did condemn the violence of that day, then name-checked Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan in claiming that "the 2020 election featured unconstitutional overreach by unelected state officials and judges ignoring state election laws." 

Asked for a second time whether January 6 was "a tragic day," Stefanik began 

I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages. I have concerns – we have a role in Congress of oversight over our treatments of prisoners. And I believe that we're seeing the weaponization of the federal government against not just President Trump, but we're seeing it against conservatives. We're seeing it against Catholics.

Hostages. Welker could have asked "what makes the defendants from the insurrection "hostages" and after Stefanik changed the subject or lied, corrected her and then cut the interview off. 

By one  estimate, approximately 230 Israelis and foreign nationals, some since killed, were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7.  They were not kidnapped for no reason. (Excuse the double negative.) No doubt Hamas wants something in return, probably far more than Israel simply ceasing hostilities. That's why they're called hostages. They're not prisoners, unlike the insurrectionists arrested at the Capitol who upon conviction for a serious offense are legally prisoners. 

Stefanik clearly was trying, even harder than usual, to curry favor with Donald Trump. By that point of the interview, Welker had already played a tape of the former President four times saying to "hostages" and had mentioned that Trump had  referred o the criminals serving time as "hostages."  The congresswoman could not more enthusiastically declare to Trump her availability as his running mate. (Well, there is one way but she hasn't done that. Yet.)  Subtly trying to equate the men and women storming the Capitol with the men, women, young people, and babies snatched from their homes by armed terrorists is a loathsome tactic by a loathsome person.

Also, this: Catholics?  Republicans have been trying for some time to gin up public outrage against Democrats by invoking some mythical bias the latter have against Catholics. We know from her reprehensible performance berating Claudine Gay in a committee hearing that Stefanik loves to play the ethnic card. But that's no reason not to shut down an interview when someone makes false accusations unrelated to the question asked or the conversation going on.

Meet the Press has been running for over 76 years, with 15 hosts or co-hosts along the way. It recently had declined, under Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, and the even worse David Gregory. But in the ten months preceding an important election in such tenuous times, NBC's signature news show deserves much better than Kristen Welker.  It's time to pull the plug on her.

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De-Radicalizing the Radicals

The tweeter evidently believes Iran is governed by the philosophical descendants of Mahatma Gandhi.

Depraved, warmongering maniac, Lindsey Graham is at it again. wtf is the matter with him? https://t.co/jZ7MSt4iS6

— pissed af (@freespeech707) January 4, 2024

Lindsey Graham is not depraved and probably not a warmonger. (And Iran is a major threat, and not only to Israel.)  Gay, probably, but that's off-topic. What is not off-topic, but probably misleading is the response to him by Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated

We're absolutely committed to achieving our war goals, that is destroying Hamas, releasing our hostages, making sure Gaza doesn't become a threat again, and also making sure that we can return our citizens in the north and in the south. For that we'll apply maximum power with maximum precision everywhere that's needed

I don't know what the Prime Minister of Israel meant by "return our citizens in the north and in the south." However, getting the hostages released, destroying Hamas, and making sure Gaza doesn't become a threat again are reasonable and righteous goals.

By contrast, in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Christmas and summarized by The Times of Israel, Netanyahu

laid out three “prerequisites for peace” in an op-ed published tonight in the Wall Street Journal.

They are to “destroy Hamas, demilitarize Gaza and deradicalize the whole of Palestinian society,” he says....

“The US, UK, France, Germany, and many other countries support Israel’s intention to demolish the terror group. To achieve that goal, its military capabilities must be dismantled and its political rule over Gaza must end,” writes the premier.

 Second, Israel must also ensure that Gaza is “never again used as a base to attack” Israel.

 “Among other things, this will require establishing a temporary security zone on the perimeter of Gaza and an inspection mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt that meets Israel’s security needs and prevents smuggling of weapons into the territory,” says Netanyahu.

Destroying Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza are not only righteous goals but critical to Mideast peace. Nonetheless, the Prime Minister veers into more questionable territory when

 In light of reported suggestions that the Palestinian Authority administer Gaza post-war, he says the “expectation that the Palestinian Authority will demilitarize Gaza is a pipe dream.”

It's a pipe dream because the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, was unpopular before the attack of October 7 and commands the support of even fewer "Palestinians" now that Hamas has been shown to be much more proficient at killing Jews. Netanyahu himself is King of the Pipe Dream as

The PA, he accuses, “currently funds and glorifies terrorism in Judea and Samaria and educates Palestinian children to seek the destruction of Israel.”

Third, he says, “schools must teach children to cherish life rather than death, and imams must cease to preach for the murder of Jews.”

“Palestinian civil society needs to be transformed so that its people support fighting terrorism rather than funding it,” he writes.

This may never happen and if it does, it will be only as a result- not a cause- of normalization of relations between Israel and the Palestinians, which probably will require a Palestinian state. Nonetheless

“That will likely require courageous and moral leadership,” says Netanyahu, attacking PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who “can’t even bring himself to condemn the Oct. 7 atrocities.”

"Moral leadership" says the man who currently is under indictment for charges of corruption in three separate cases. Nevertheless

Netanyahu points to the “successful deradicalization” that took place “in Germany and Japan after the Allied victory in World War II,” and says that “today, both nations are great allies of the US and promote peace, stability and prosperity in Europe and Asia.” He also says that post 9/11, “visionary Arab leaders in the Gulf have led efforts to deradicalize their societies and transform their countries.”

“Once Hamas is destroyed, Gaza is demilitarized and Palestinian society begins a deradicalization process, Gaza can be rebuilt and the prospects of a broader peace in the Middle East will become a reality,” he concludes.

This is not 1945, not Europe or Asia, nor secularists running their respective governments. It is the Middle East, 2024, and the leaders of Hamas and Fatah are not partial to individuals or governments who don't share their religious perspective. 

Netanyahu's contention that "positive Arab leaders in the Gulf have led efforts to deradicalize their societies and transform their countries"  largely refutes his argument. Sure, the Abraham Accords did in fact normalize the relationship between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and other deals were consummated with Bahrain and Morocco. 

Yet Saudi Arabia was next, with Riyadh considering recognizing Israel in exchange for guarantees of security from the USA.  President Biden has stated "one of the reasons why they acted like they did, why Hamas moved on Israel, is because they knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis. Because the Saudis wanted to recognize Israel and that would in fact unite the Middle East." Netanyahu was on his way to freezing out the Palestinian Authority to relieve pressure on Israel to accept a Palestinian state. We saw on October 7 how his vision of a Middle East without that pesky Palestinian problem has worked out.

It didn't turn out well, and will not turn out well until people officially designated as "Palestinians" have either a homeland or are at least satisfactorily accommodated. That cannot take place without Gaza being demilitarized and should not take place without Hamas being weakened almost to the point of extinction. De-radicalization of the movement would be ideal, but is only a little more likely than someone parking a new BMW 3 Series vehicle adorned with a red bow in my driveway next Christmas. And I don't have a driveway. 

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