Israel is More F*ckd Than You Know

Where I Touch Every 3rd Rail

Israel isn’t difficult to understand if you ask some simple questions. As it stands, Israel is on a path to a theocracy which is an unintended consequence of traditional and secular Jews believing they could ultimately control their tribal cousins.

Similar dynamics in geopolitics are in play in many parts of the Europe. Israel just makes it easier to notice, but harder to talk about openly in a world where secular people still believe they can sweep these problems under a rug. (The U.S. also had this problem, but between the formerly middle-class and the economic elites).

Okay. Don’t burst a blood vessel, but an argument could be made that both the Haredi and Hamas need to be wiped out to maintain a democratic Israel.

In a winner take all, if the 1.3 million Haredi (ultra-orthodox Jews) battled Hamas and the surrounding 2 million Arabs in Gaza who would win?

Answer, the Haredi Jews seldom take part in Israel’s Defense Forces so Hamas would win.

If the 3.5 million secular Jews of Israel battled Gaza who would win? (Let’s assume Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank sit it out).

Answer, the secular Jews would ultimately win but the number of casualties on both sides would be greater than the recent growth in ultra-orthodox and Zionist populations in Israel. In other words, secular Jews would leave Israel with a greater population of hard-right Jews, whether you count them as Orthodox or Zionist.

Demographics is destiny, after all.

You want to know why Israel didn’t go hard-charging in Gaza immediately. I bet that problem is lurking in everyone’s mind in the IDF.

The problem of secular Jews losing control of Israel is easily visible in Israel’s inability to form a stable government in the past few years.

If all Jews in Israel moved to a new territory in Africa (an idea floated in early Zionist days), would they be better off than if they stay where they are? That’s just one of those academic questions to allow your blood pressure to return to normal.

When a secular Israeli dies battling Hamas in Gaza, should Haredi Jews read one extra page of the Torah before bedtime? Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Yes, this is no joking matter.

After the Holocaust the Jews played a simple game. They pointed to religious Jews (usually Orthodox) and reminded Western nations that many of them were killed, they’re still helpless, and Jews need support. It was the smart thing to do. Americans love ambitious people so it worked.

Orthodox Jews have done very well in the West while other ethnic groups can’t help but feel a bit slighted.

Anyway, my argument isn’t that Haredi Jews are evil or behind the problems. Indeed, they have zero interest in this stuff. All they need is enough money to study the Torah and they’re happy. When they need extra money the women, who can’t pray with the men, get to go work for it. Again, they’re a tribal culture. Can’t make sense of it with modern eyes.

Then you have the Zionist orthodox. They wanted the above plus some land. Secular Jews wanted to stop that, which was hurting Israeli-Arab relations, but they’ve lost control of the government so they can’t.

Trump tried to mend fences through “The Art of the Deal”. That is, wealthy Israelis trading with those sick f*cks in the KSA. Sorry, everyone who has an interest in this subject loses their mind! As if that would work long-term!

While Israel was playing the feel-sorry-for-us because of the Holocaust PR game, it built a technologically advanced nation, with a powerful military, using nothing but sand and seawater — and that support I mentioned in passing. Just joking. By getting first-preference in many trade relations with Western nations.

Of course, did Israel, or did not Israel, earn its wealth? That question only leads to “what is it to earn wealth?” It isn’t an important question for a very simple fact. The simplest and easier fact to understand in this whole piece.

The Palestinians (and most Arabs) don’t give a f*ck.

They just want their land. Let’s leave aside the billions of pages written about who really owned the land in 1555, 1933, 1948, 2023 (picking dates at random). It doesn’t matter if “Palestinians” really exist. They’re Arabs. And many Arabs all over the Middle East don’t give a f*ck. They don’t want Jews controlling “their” land — especially those who get extra favors from the West because European nations were particularly nasty 80 years ago.

If there is one myopia of many Jewish people that never ceases to amaze me its their inability to grasp that simple truth. They’re one tribe. Arabs are another tribe. Tribe A wants Tribe B off the land. Tribe B says make me.

Most people in the world also…couldn’t give a f*ck.

Israeli’s and pro-Israeli Jews living in the West seem to have forgotten that getting a favor from someone (like submarines from Germany) doesn’t mean the person giving the favor believes you deserve land over some other tribe.

Sure, we want to support democracy, but land battles between tribes. Um, would rather not get involved (until I see something in it for me).

Yeah Israel, you’re a democracy! We love your culture. Yeah Israel, you’re great to do business with — we all prosper. But no Israel, we don’t care about your tribal wars with your neighbors.

What are many Jews answering this “we don’t give a f*ck” attitude with? Calling those people antisemites. As if we’re back in the 1950s and the memories of piles of Jewish bodies at Auschwitz are fresh in everyone’s mind. That generation is gone. What’s left is many Jews who honestly believe they are entitled to whatever they want as long as they get good grades on their SAT.

Even young American Jews honestly believe that if you just gave the Palestinians a little more land everyone would live happily ever after. A not insignificant number of Arabs want it all. Full stop.

The point of this piece is that they’re the least of Israel’s problems. Israel has a military that can whip them all. What Israel does NOT have is a unified people. I see a lot of commentators saying Israel has never been more unified.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

PS

A fellow Medium writer, John Brodix Merryman Jr., wrote God’s Problems, a fascinating take on religious history.