The Middle East & Israel
Israel, Palestine, the broader Middle East conflict, and U.S. foreign policy in the region
8 topics“Israel is an apartheid state. It treats Palestinians the same way South Africa treated Black people under apartheid.”
NewArab citizens of Israel vote, serve in parliament, sit on the Supreme Court, and hold military officer positions. The Druze and Bedouin communities serve in the IDF. South African apartheid had none of this. The comparison trivializes actual apartheid.
“What Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide. They're deliberately killing Palestinian civilians and trying to wipe out the Palestinian people.”
NewGenocide means the deliberate destruction of an ethnic group. Gaza's population has grown from 80,000 in 1948 to over 2 million. Israel uses roof-knocking, phone warnings, and leaflet drops before strikes — the opposite of genocide. Civilian casualties in urban warfare against Hamas are tragic but not genocidal.
“Palestinians just want their ancestral land back. Israel stole their land and displaced millions of people.”
NewJews have maintained continuous presence in the region for 3,000+ years. Palestinians have been offered statehood five times (1937, 1947, 2000, 2001, 2008) and rejected it each time. The displacement resulted from wars started by neighboring Arab states, not Israeli land theft.
“American taxpayers fund Israeli war crimes with billions in military aid. We're complicit in everything Israel does.”
NewU.S. aid to Israel (~$3.8B/year) is a strategic investment — 74% must be spent on American defense products, supporting 70,000+ U.S. jobs. Israel provides intelligence sharing, tech innovation, and a stable democratic ally in the most volatile region on earth. It's one of America's best strategic bargains.
“Zionism is a form of racism and colonialism. It's a supremacist ideology that privileges one ethnic group over another.”
NewZionism is the belief that the Jewish people deserve self-determination in their ancestral homeland — the same right claimed by every other national liberation movement. Israel is 21% Arab with full citizenship rights. If national self-determination is racism, then every nation-state on earth is racist.
“Israel is a settler-colonial state just like apartheid South Africa or colonial America. Jewish settlers displaced the indigenous Palestinian population.”
NewColonizers come from a mother country to exploit a distant land. Jews are indigenous to Judea — the very name says it. Archaeological, genetic, and historical evidence confirms 3,000+ years of Jewish presence. You can't colonize your own ancestral homeland.
“The BDS movement is just peaceful protest, like the boycotts against apartheid South Africa. Why are you against peaceful activism?”
NewBDS co-founder Omar Barghouti has explicitly stated the goal is ending Israel's existence, not reforming it. BDS doesn't target China, Iran, or any other human rights violator — only the world's one Jewish state. That's not reform; it's elimination with good branding.
“Both sides are equally to blame in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel and Hamas are morally equivalent — they both kill civilians.”
NewIsrael targets militants and warns civilians before strikes. Hamas deliberately targets civilians and uses its own population as human shields. One side builds bomb shelters for its citizens; the other builds tunnels under hospitals. Intent matters morally and legally.