The Macklemore battle presents a trap that pro-Israel activists have yet to escape

Two options: Either stay silent as more and more celebrities accuse Israel of genocide in ever more prominent forums, and hope the tide will pass, or wield the tools available to them to shut down such discourse — and risk magnifying the issue while being labeled as enemies of free speech’ There are additional options. First is to stop hysterical performance politics every time some fool waves the flag of what is the non-existent state of ‘Palestine.’ Individuals like Macklemore to states such as Norway, France and the UK can be challenged not by equaling their theatrics but by identifying that a nation state minimally requires a single, functioning preferably democratic government which recognizes Israel’s right to exist in a stable and secure manner; a common, independent, self sustaining and active economy; law enforcement which will not threaten Israel and a common culture and objectives. It’s easy to scream ‘free Palestine’ or to offer ‘recognition’ to an entity which doesn’t exist. In reality, ‘Palestine’ doesn’t exist any more than does Judea or Samaria as they are all rooted in biblical mythology and reference Israel must recover it’s secular roots and put an end to, and stop supporting, still growing ‘biblical Zionism.’ It must take Haredi violence seriously and enforce draft laws equally while arresting and removing subsidies from Haredi draft evaders and those who commit, or threaten, violence against the IDF, the police, politicians and civilians with women being often targeted. So far as any Palestinian state, all we now have are two feuding dictatorships in Hamas and the PA neither of whom recognize Israel nor one another but have been in an internecine war for decades. While the PA offers some alignment with Israel (which is being wasted by Netanyahu’s government), Hamas’ sole purpose is to commit genocide against every Israeli man, woman and child. Hamas terrorists initiated the most horrific day in the history of modern Israel on October 7, 2023. They had fully planned to move further into Israel but were finally stopped – with no help from Netanyahu – by an organizing IDF, police and others. Thankfully, retired IDF senior officers also put on their old uniforms, grabbed their handguns and headed south. An independent state commission which can investigate October 7 without political interference must be set up and their work started. Those who scream to ‘free Palestine’ or offer it ‘recognition’ should be challenged to do the work necessary to bring the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank together towards something which might start to look like a secure and, preferably, demilitarized nation state. This is something I would definitely support. And Israeli citizens should and will accept nothing less. But that would require very difficult, delicate and hands-on work which pro-Palestine factions won’t do with a preference for performance politics rather than reality. Instead, they want to transfer everything to Israel. While Israel and Netanyahu share in their accountability, the fixation on Israel alone reflects an agenda rather than reality Waving a flag is nonsense just as is holding a press conference to ‘recognize’ an entity which does not exist. Both are nothing but publicity grabbing and counterproductive. It’s also not up to Israel to create ‘Palestine’ but Palestinians…who will need the hard support which is not now present. In Israel, the additional options include voting out Netanyahu and his violent, extremist coalition who are not only creating incredible suffering for Palestinians – and Israelis – without purpose other than their biblical mythologies of a no longer existing Judea and Samaria, but are also continuing to ratchet up global virulent anti-Semitism.........

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