This is a bit of a late comment, but hopefully you see it. I agree with most of what you say here, except there is one major problem. You challenge leftists to present a plausible vision of change, but you also admit that a final settlement cannot exist with Hamas as it currently exists in power. However, you also advocate for what is plausibly the only way to remove Hamas from power: via force. Technically, you advocate for a ceasefire here, but my assumption is that you would want Israel to either stop the war entirely or scale it back to a point in which removing Hamas from power would be virtually impossible.
The fact that these protestors are primarily motivated by social signalling and self-aggrandizement is already an insurmenoutable problem, but even if it was not, they would still have to acknowledge the only opportunity for change is to remove Hamas from power, and the only plausible way to do so is through force that will result in the deaths of thousands upon thousands more civilians (and, even then, it may not work). If you are unwilling to pay this cost, then the only alternative a withdrawl from Gaza and letting Hamas continue to rule for the foreseeable future. They will not give up power voluntarily, Israel will not create a two-state solution with them, and the West Bank will not join a two-state solution without them. If you want a ceasefire, you have to acknowledge that there will be no solution to the conflict. I'm not saying that this position is wrong; just that it is the only alternative go removing Hamas by force.
Wow. Glad to see at least one person gets it. I am an 11th generation of my family here in Israel/Palestine/Judea. I am tired of being called white. I am tired of being told to go back to Poland (never even visited). I am tired of being told Hamas are freedom fighters. I am tired of being told I amliving in an apartheid state and participating in a "genocide" because I am the new Nazi. All of this is unhelpful. All of it is untrue.
I will make painful concessions FOR PEACE. I will not do so to gratify the ignorant yet arrogant death porn tourists and unrepentant Islamists that currently infest the "ceasefire" and "pro-Palestine" crowd. I will not do so just so the Palestinians can continue to be ground under an Islamist bootheel that rejects every progressive principle ever.
So far I have found one commenter at least asking the right questions. That would be you. I wish I had the solution. But I know "Globalizing the Intifada" ain't it.
This is a bit of a late comment, but hopefully you see it. I agree with most of what you say here, except there is one major problem. You challenge leftists to present a plausible vision of change, but you also admit that a final settlement cannot exist with Hamas as it currently exists in power. However, you also advocate for what is plausibly the only way to remove Hamas from power: via force. Technically, you advocate for a ceasefire here, but my assumption is that you would want Israel to either stop the war entirely or scale it back to a point in which removing Hamas from power would be virtually impossible.
The fact that these protestors are primarily motivated by social signalling and self-aggrandizement is already an insurmenoutable problem, but even if it was not, they would still have to acknowledge the only opportunity for change is to remove Hamas from power, and the only plausible way to do so is through force that will result in the deaths of thousands upon thousands more civilians (and, even then, it may not work). If you are unwilling to pay this cost, then the only alternative a withdrawl from Gaza and letting Hamas continue to rule for the foreseeable future. They will not give up power voluntarily, Israel will not create a two-state solution with them, and the West Bank will not join a two-state solution without them. If you want a ceasefire, you have to acknowledge that there will be no solution to the conflict. I'm not saying that this position is wrong; just that it is the only alternative go removing Hamas by force.
Six months on, this still holds up. In the meantime, thousands more Gazans have been killed.
this has got to be the best take i've read thus far about the issue. thank you for your writing as always:)
Wow. Glad to see at least one person gets it. I am an 11th generation of my family here in Israel/Palestine/Judea. I am tired of being called white. I am tired of being told to go back to Poland (never even visited). I am tired of being told Hamas are freedom fighters. I am tired of being told I amliving in an apartheid state and participating in a "genocide" because I am the new Nazi. All of this is unhelpful. All of it is untrue.
I will make painful concessions FOR PEACE. I will not do so to gratify the ignorant yet arrogant death porn tourists and unrepentant Islamists that currently infest the "ceasefire" and "pro-Palestine" crowd. I will not do so just so the Palestinians can continue to be ground under an Islamist bootheel that rejects every progressive principle ever.
So far I have found one commenter at least asking the right questions. That would be you. I wish I had the solution. But I know "Globalizing the Intifada" ain't it.