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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 28, 2024

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Low-effort mindreading.

No? It is an explicit, stated goal in many places and by many officials, including ones who are presently in power. There's no shortage of evidence to support the idea that many high-ranking Israelis believe that their territory ultimately covers the areas laid out in their religious scriptures. This is something that even pro-Israeli partisans will agree is their ultimate goal and something they're actively working towards - you don't need to read somebody's mind when they actively and loudly tell you what they intend and why.

There's no shortage of evidence to support the idea that many high-ranking Israelis believe that their territory ultimately covers the areas laid out in their religious scriptures.

Are you refering to calls from "the river to the sea" (the Jordan and the Mediterranean) respectively?

There are actually some Israelis who have used that phrase and they'd count, yes.

Some Palestinians too which was kind of my point.

If we are going to condemn the Jews it seems only fair to condemn the Muslims too. You wouldn't want to be seen as taking sides in a religious dispute would you?

Some Palestinians too which was kind of my point.

Who cares? Palestinians saying that they want their land back isn't actually germane to the topic at hand, which is that when people say that Israel wants to depopulate them and take the land they aren't actually engaging in mindreading.

If we are going to condemn the Jews it seems only fair to condemn the Muslims too.

"If we're going to condemn the nazis and their plan to exterminate the jews, it seems only fair to condemn the jews too." No? I have no problems saying that I think the Israeli state is a racist ethnostate engaging in ethnic cleansing, and I don't think that my tax dollars should support it. I don't think that it qualifies as a religious dispute either - if the entire Israeli population saw the light of Allah, recited the shahada and converted to Islam overnight(or vice versa) I doubt it would make much of a difference.

Palestinians saying that they want their land back isn't actually germane to the topic at hand...

How can it not be germane when it's one of the core points of contention?

The Gaza strip is the product of an armistice between Isreal and Egypt, the West Bank a product of an armistice between Isreal and Jordan, if might makes right why doesn't it make right here? If it doesn't make right, what are you so bent out of shape about?

How can it not be germane when it's one of the core points of contention?

Because this is a conversation on a specific subtopic - do Palestinian territorial ambitions matter in a larger context? Of course they do. But we're not having that conversation - we're talking about whether or not Israel wants to dispossess them and settle their lands, and whether or not Israelis have made statements to that effect in public. If you've got a good explanation for why Palestinian desires matter at all in this specific context then feel free to explain, but I don't think it'd change the actuality of the Israeli perspective on this either way.

if might makes right why doesn't it make right here?

When did I say that? My criticism was about not wanting my tax dollars to support them - it doesn't matter how mighty a given foreign military is, I still don't think they should get any of my government money.

what are you so bent out of shape about?

I am? News to me.

Yeah I mean Churchill wrote about this stuff when talking about the Americas. The reality is that this is what settler colonialism is. But I don’t have a problem with the existence of the United States or Australia, and I think it clearly obvious that the primary reason people care about Israel doing what it does is that the Ummah has both more members and more supporters than the Native Americans or Aboriginal Australians did.

Like, yes. The settlement of North America was a great thing for humanity. The settlement of Australia was a great thing. The settlement of Israel is a great thing. There is no injustice done when a more capable tribe replaces a less capable one. That is history.