Thoroughly Horrible People

On the moral squalor of the "anti-Zionist" Left and those adjacent to it

George Orwell: He should be living at this hour

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During World War Two, George Orwell enraged much of the British Left with an argument that a British pacifist was, objectively, a supporter of fascism. That is, the pacifist who refused to defend his country was giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

It’s one of those arguments that one feels instinctively to be wrong. But upon examination, it’s difficult to say how it’s wrong. True, the individual pacifist’s refusal to take up arms lent only a tiny measure of assistance to the enemy, not likely to affect the outcome of the war. But suppose that pacifism had become a major movement, such that it did affect Britain’s war effort? Hitler & Co. would surely have been delighted.

Orwell’s argument might be, indeed was, countered by the claim that the pacifist could be a good person, well-meaning but misguided. He himself was unimpressed by this, remarking that many pacifists of his acquaintance were moral bullies and generally unpleasant people and that anyhow, good intentions do not excuse objectively bad actions.

I was reminded of Orwell’s counterblast against pacificism earlier today when I read a response to my recent Substack note opining that anti-Zionist Gaza ceasefire activists are bad people, in that they are giving aid and comfort to Hamas, a genocidal death cult that perpetrated a horrifying atrocity on October 7, 2023. Here’s my note and the response:

Advocates for a Gaza ceasefire are trying to prevent the destruction of the homicidal death cult, Hamas, that perpetrated these atrocities. Shame on every “anti-Zionist” activist and Hamas apologist. You are terrible people, one and all.

Good people can be dead wrong if they are not deep thinkers or emotionally attached to one outcome.

Good people, you see, if they’re not deep thinkers or “emotionally attached” to one side of the issue, might well be deluded into supporting Hamas.

Several possible replies to this flitted through my mind, one or two not suitable for a family audience. Is it really the case that the demonstrators who’ve been marching on campus and in the streets, harassing and threatening Jews, blocking bridges and tunnels, cheering Hamas and shouting the genocidal slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” are good people, no more than low-information types who aren’t deep thinkers? I’m not buying that. Most of the “anti-Zionist” Left knows exactly what it’s doing and means exactly what it says.

Another respondent to a comment of mine on this issue took a different approach. Claiming to be “pro-human,” she conceded that yes, Hamas is bad, but that Israel’s attempt to destroy Hamas is worse—because children were being killed. She was deaf to the argument that Hamas bears the full responsibility for the death and destruction in Gaza; she insisted that Israel must abandon its campaign of revenge. Here’s my comment and her reply:

Let’s just be clear about one thing: Hamas, not Israel, is killing children. The full moral responsibility for the death and destruction in Gaza rests with Hamas, not Israel. The only way that ends is if Hamas is wiped out.

I know Hamas started it. I am certainly not anti-Semitic . I’m pro human. I know Hamas plays dirty. Are you saying that Israel has not bombed the crap out of Gaza? Are you saying Hamas is still causing death and destruction and Israel is watching. Of course not. I feel like too many civilian have died while Israel is avenging Hamas. Now they are threatening Rafah. I don't expect Hamas to back down. They are barbarians. But Israel has to get through the civilians that are the human shields. Not really fair to call me anti-Semitic. I don't even dislike Israel. I am on their side in that they are the victims here. But they're also the civil ones. They're the only hope for preventing the total destruction of the Gaza Strip and the innocent Palestinians. Cuz I’m also not anti-Palestinian, especially not the innocent ones. It's not fair that Israel has to be the adult here, the one that needs to show restraint. But I don't think they're trying hard enough to avoid collateral damage. I’m really sorry Hamas is such a threat to Israel . Killing thousands of children is not an acceptable way for a civilized nation to beat a terror group. It doesn't even seem like it's gonna work in the long run anyway.

This person’s position is reminiscent of the pacifist’s stand: I am not taking sides. Occupying the moral high ground, I condemn all violence.

But objectively, as Orwell might have said, condemning all violence merely cedes the initiative to the side that’s unaffected by moral pressure. Embodied in Clausewitz’s concept of “ideal war” is a principle of extremes. For instance, if one side in a war employs violence without compunction, the other side is compelled to follow suit, taking matters to an extreme. It’s true that he went on to note that actual war, which is affected by many external factors, seldom if ever approaches the ideal. But his principle remains valid. In the case of the Gaza War, if Hamas employs violence without compunction, including the use of civilians as human shields, Israel must either refuse to be deterred by such tactics or lose the war—in the latter case, allowing Hamas to survive, rebuild and resume its genocidal struggle against the Jewish state. That would be the result if Israel acted like the “adult.”

To be “pro-human,” to demand that Israel renounce its right to self-defense, is objectively pro-Hamas, pro-violence, and pro-genocide. Refusal to choose is a choice. It’s also objectively antisemitic, in that it saddles Israel with the full moral responsibility for ending a war it didn't start.

Reviewing all this, I find myself compelled to the conclusion that the condemnations of Israel, the support for Hamas, the demands for a ceasefire in Gaza, the hand-wringing over civilian casualties, the harassment and violence directed against Jews in America and Europe—the whole “anti-Zionist” performance—is the work of thoroughly horrible people. First they memory-holed the horrors of October 7, 2023, and now they’re slandering Israel as a fascist, apartheid state, visiting genocide on the Palestinians of Gaza. Antisemitic rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi Germany is not merely tolerated but celebrated on university campuses and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Hamas has been given a makeover: It’s a gallant band of freedom fighters.

Some of these people, as I noted, know what they’re doing: They’re outright antisemites and advocates of genocide like those odious cretins, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Others delude themselves with false equivalencies, magical thinking, and soothing constructions like “pro-human.” But the bottom line’s the same: The Jews are to blame. They should just swallow what happened to Israel on October 7 and stop trying to get “revenge”—that is, they should not defend themselves.

Of the two factions I prefer the outright evildoers: Their hatred has the quality, if not the virtue, of candor. As for those whose choice is a refusal to choose, I’m reminded that in the Inferno, Dante consigned such people to the Vestibule of Hell. Neither Heaven nor Hell had any place for those who refused to choose or take a side.