Siege of Vienna, 1683. Illustration by Peter Dennis/Osprey Publishing.

Many of us wonder why so-called Western countries continue to support Israel with financial and military help despite its two-year-long genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.

Of course, we all know that Israel is an aircraft-carrier for Western imperialism in the heart of one of the world’s most strategically vital regions. Yet that alone does not explain the deep and persistent emotional attachment that Western politicians and populations have for Israel as that country commits crimes against humanity and imperils even itself. Holocaust guilt among Western Christians has long been cited as another factor, but that rationale wears thin in the face of the live-streamed slaughter unfolding today.

A friend of mine suggests that settler colonists are instinctively inclined to support other settler colonists.

At first I dismissed that idea as too reductive—surely global politics and state policies can’t be explained away as subconscious psychological affinities. But the more I sit with it, the more sense it begins to make.

For those unaware of the meaning of settler colonialism, or doubtful about its application to Israel, it is, quite simply, defined as:

As for solidarity among settler colonists, I’ll illustrate this with an example from my own life.

I grew up as a white settler colonist—or at least as someone who benefited from the privileges created by earlier ones—in Canada. I still remember the Neilson’s Chocolate world map hanging in my classrooms, emblazoned with the slogan “The Best Chocolate Bars in Canada.” The map showed the British Empire (later the Commonwealth) in pink, spread proudly across the globe. Those of you of a certain age may recall it. As a child, my heart swelled at the sight of so many countries shaded the same colour. It felt good to be on the winning team.

The impact was palpable. Despite the fact that I have been an anti-imperialist, and an anti-Zionist Jew for more than half a century, I am still subconsciously imbued with biases acquired in my childhood. And I’ll bet you are too. We just don’t like to admit it to others, or to ourselves.

Here’s a case in point, and bear with me for a small history lesson.

Neilson’s chocolate world map, 1956.

Neilson’s chocolate world map, 1956.

A few years ago I was reading a book about the so-called “Second Siege of Vienna” in 1683, during which the armies of the Ottoman Turkish empire surrounded the city that their leader, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha, called the “golden apple.”

In the 14th century, the Ottomans launched an expansion deep into Europe, subsuming the Balkan states of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Byzantium before seizing Constantinople in........

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