The death and elimination of Jews will not free Palestinians. This is true, just as you say.
Just the same, they, like those who have had similar or identical goals in the past, believe that it will free them, improve the world and better their lives. Whether bullets, boycotts, gas, death marches, herding into barns and igniting them, and all the other ingenious ways they’ve invented, they all thought the world would in the end be better.
Better might mean in trade, economy, lack of competition, eliminating a moral conscience, genetically, in equality, politically, and so many others.
Like these Gazan guests in the homes of so many in southern Israel, we now have others to complicate the list and therefore, complicate your question. So many have joined on since October 2023, but in the last week we can officially add two more: the teacher’s union and the Democratic Party. The union has endorsed a Jew hater for NYC’s next mayor, and the leader of the democrats has extended its “big tent” to include his intifada as one of its acceptable ideals.
I have no answers for the question you posed. I just made it more complicated and brought it to my own neighborhood too.
I think, rather, that an existential feature of life has been exposed. The struggle between the children of Yaakov and Yishmael is rooted in a very deep place. The secular attempt to rationalize away essential and spiritual essence blinded them to the nature of Yishmael, since they cannot admit that the Jewish people stand alone.
To me the most mind-boggling response has been the-islamic educator professors in universities etc. how can these "liberals" not condemn 10.7? How can they applaud and celebrate it?
You ask: "How could someone sit across from you at a kitchen table, drink your coffee, and then mark you and your children for slaughter?"
Remarkably easy. Fueled by drugs, like Captagon, the thought of normal behavior was not on anyone's mind. We have learned that their vicious response, as they filmed it and boasted it, was a mainstay of their actions. And continues to be.
Our problem, all of ours, is that we could not imagine such evil. It is there. It is real.
My parents experienced the same betrayal from people they lived amongst in Poland (no drugs needed)How were they able to objectify their neighbors in a way that allowed them to kill them. I also wrestled with understanding how the Gazans who interacted so intimately with the Israeli's in the kibbutzim were willing and able to do so.
Too true. Maybe because they also did not have the imagination what happenned at the end of the brutal train? Who did? They did know that they were separate. The Nazis allowed them that. Only that.
Great piece, Peter. Important piece of the puzzle of 10/7. It has been a part of the story since the 1920's and the Hebron massacre. People can read about this aspect in Yarden Schwartz's great book "Ghosts Of A Holy War".
There are so many lies motivating people to do each other dirty. People end up believing the lies instead of what is before their very eyes. Religious zealots are very dangerous. They lie in the name of G-d and frighten people with their rhetoric. It's good to have a religion, but that should be a source of comfort and a path that encourages kindness and love not death and destruction. That's the Devil's domain.
On the flip side, how were Israeli day laborers treated by their bosses in Gaza when they went there to work?
Or, is the reality that the indigenous Arabs from Gaza were always subordinate to Israeli Jews when it came to a master and subordinate relationship? My guess is most Israelis could not even fathom the implications of this reality, especially when almost all of those day laborers were crossing into Israel to work at menial jobs on land that have been taken by force from their grandparents or great grandparents.
There were no Jewish laborers in Gaza. If a Jew entered Gaza he would be murdered instantly. You know this. So cut the crap. And stop justifying monstrous evil. And your last sentence is a lie.
Now you’re getting desperate. One can only imagine the pain you’re in due to things your parents or others inflicted on you as a younger person - a pain that makes you react so violently.
Here’s a hint. Throwing the Nazi card at those who pray for an end to genocide and that our actions give the phrase “Never Again” real meaning isn’t a winning strategy. It just makes you look either desperate or dumb. I suspect it’s the former.
I make zero claims to being a genocide scholar. That honor has been assigned to the Israeli-American Omer Bartov, who is generally considered to be the world’s leading genocide scholar and who wrote the referenced piece.
I have little doubt that you think Bartov is a Nazi antisemite too. I pity you for being trapped in such an echo chamber
No. It’s a fact. Go back and read what Moshe Dayan said as he stood on the border between Gaza and Israel.
Perhaps your kneejerk views would be different if your name was Doug Filistine.
Want to talk about the outrages happening daily in the West Bank now? Or perhaps Mandy Patinkin will be easier for you to listen to than me?
Perhaps you want to talk about the young American who was beaten to death by squatters in the West Bank this week? It appears that you’re an American so he was one of your fellow citizens, unlike the weirdo squatters who killed him. Or do you rationalize monstrous evil (as shown by this killing and, of course, the nearly 60,000 massacred in Gaza, but listen to Patinkin, not me).
Really? The economic stranglehold Israel has long imposed on Gaza created few other opportunities. Thus the obvious master and subordinate relationship in every way. The indigenous Arabs of Palestine have zero sovereignty to control their own economic destinies. What is happening now in the West Bank, where the squatters are killing the Arabs while destroying their homes, land and livestock to facilitate more theft is shameful.
If Jews are made to feel unsafe by people wearing keffiyahs imagine how the indigenous Arabs feel when they see the squatters with the weird haircuts coming their way, armed with automatic weapons that they were given by the Israeli government.
Luckily for them they had billions of dollars in aid money to build all those tunnels (not to mention senior leadership sitting in Qutar with many of those billions). Personally, I'd have invested all that aid in something more conducive to human flourishing.
I’d insist that they have the right to self determination free of squatters, land theft, apartheid and genocide.
At least learn how to spell Qatar since it apparently bothers you so much.
it was charming for the weirdo squatters to beat a fellow American to death while shooting another Arab in the back earlier this week. I’m sure it didn’t bother you even the tiniest bit. Great moments in Zionism.
And then there’s the genocide in Gaza that has killed almost 60,000 now.
Doha is a beautiful place. You should visit sometime. You could meet many from the American military in the area since U.S. Central Command is essentially based in Qatar (the Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain). Qatar is our most valued ally in the region.
This truth has bothered me since 10/7. When people say “Gazans are not Hamas,” it’s clear that many, including UN aid workers, were very sympathetic to the cause and supported the orgy of violence.
Thousands of ordinary Gazans followed Hamas through the broken fence. Some collaborated in the violence and kidnapping. Some stole and used the credit cards of victims. Some beat and spit on the hostages as they were brought into Gaza. Some held hostages in their homes, treating them like slaves. Some celebrated the deaths of Shiri Bibas and her precious boys like it was a family carnival. I have yet to see any stories of a single Gazan who helped a hostage.
Polls showed huge support for Hamas’ terror attack — until it affected them personally.
This tragedy has destroyed my respect for elite universities, the Democratic Party, the International Red Cross, and media organizations I formerly trusted.
Perhaps worst of all, it has shown me sides of friends that I had not expected. And spawned a wave of antisemitism so repulsive and threatening that it makes me wonder whether I need to leave my home and country.
Peter, I'm an Israeli, and I appreciate you writing about this. As you say, "the darkness of that day remains a constant shadow", certainly around here. As for the betrayal -- one of the likely reasons for it that you haven't considered is that these people most likely didn't have a choice and were threatened themselves by Hamas and risked endangering themselves and their families if they didn't provide the information. That doesn't excuse them -- it remains a betrayal -- but it helps explain it.
All this bullshit about the innocent civilians in Gaza. Forget that they voted in Hamas...they were in massive numbers in favor of Oct. 7. Many were actively involved in the evil perpetrated, many held Jews hostage. Of course as their world exploded and Hamas stole the humanitarian aid, all of a sudden they cried for help, for food, for water, complained about Hamas (now!). Sorry, this Israeli vet couldn't give a single fuck about Gazan civilians. Had Hamas kept "winning" every single civilian there would have been cheering the slaughter,
I wish the entire world would/could read this!
The death and elimination of Jews will not free Palestinians. This is true, just as you say.
Just the same, they, like those who have had similar or identical goals in the past, believe that it will free them, improve the world and better their lives. Whether bullets, boycotts, gas, death marches, herding into barns and igniting them, and all the other ingenious ways they’ve invented, they all thought the world would in the end be better.
Better might mean in trade, economy, lack of competition, eliminating a moral conscience, genetically, in equality, politically, and so many others.
Like these Gazan guests in the homes of so many in southern Israel, we now have others to complicate the list and therefore, complicate your question. So many have joined on since October 2023, but in the last week we can officially add two more: the teacher’s union and the Democratic Party. The union has endorsed a Jew hater for NYC’s next mayor, and the leader of the democrats has extended its “big tent” to include his intifada as one of its acceptable ideals.
I have no answers for the question you posed. I just made it more complicated and brought it to my own neighborhood too.
You made things clearer. You simply pointed out the many “complications” that have emerged from 10/7.
I think, rather, that an existential feature of life has been exposed. The struggle between the children of Yaakov and Yishmael is rooted in a very deep place. The secular attempt to rationalize away essential and spiritual essence blinded them to the nature of Yishmael, since they cannot admit that the Jewish people stand alone.
Billam knew this, viscerally.
Thank you time, and again, for bringing moral clarity—
To me the most mind-boggling response has been the-islamic educator professors in universities etc. how can these "liberals" not condemn 10.7? How can they applaud and celebrate it?
BecUse they are "Islamic educator professors." Monsters.
You ask: "How could someone sit across from you at a kitchen table, drink your coffee, and then mark you and your children for slaughter?"
Remarkably easy. Fueled by drugs, like Captagon, the thought of normal behavior was not on anyone's mind. We have learned that their vicious response, as they filmed it and boasted it, was a mainstay of their actions. And continues to be.
Our problem, all of ours, is that we could not imagine such evil. It is there. It is real.
My parents experienced the same betrayal from people they lived amongst in Poland (no drugs needed)How were they able to objectify their neighbors in a way that allowed them to kill them. I also wrestled with understanding how the Gazans who interacted so intimately with the Israeli's in the kibbutzim were willing and able to do so.
Because they were human beings. Capable of the highest highs and lowest lows.
believe me I know because a righteous gentile was also willing to hide them for a period of time
Too true. Maybe because they also did not have the imagination what happenned at the end of the brutal train? Who did? They did know that they were separate. The Nazis allowed them that. Only that.
Such drugs did not exist when Mohammed and his band of serial killing psychopaths massacred millions. Stop making excuses for Islam.
Excellent piece
Great piece, Peter. Important piece of the puzzle of 10/7. It has been a part of the story since the 1920's and the Hebron massacre. People can read about this aspect in Yarden Schwartz's great book "Ghosts Of A Holy War".
Highly recommended!
The human race still has a long climb to go up the evolutionary ladder.
There are so many lies motivating people to do each other dirty. People end up believing the lies instead of what is before their very eyes. Religious zealots are very dangerous. They lie in the name of G-d and frighten people with their rhetoric. It's good to have a religion, but that should be a source of comfort and a path that encourages kindness and love not death and destruction. That's the Devil's domain.
Please check your DMs
On the flip side, how were Israeli day laborers treated by their bosses in Gaza when they went there to work?
Or, is the reality that the indigenous Arabs from Gaza were always subordinate to Israeli Jews when it came to a master and subordinate relationship? My guess is most Israelis could not even fathom the implications of this reality, especially when almost all of those day laborers were crossing into Israel to work at menial jobs on land that have been taken by force from their grandparents or great grandparents.
There were no Jewish laborers in Gaza. If a Jew entered Gaza he would be murdered instantly. You know this. So cut the crap. And stop justifying monstrous evil. And your last sentence is a lie.
Speaking of justifying monstrous evil……
I’d suggest you read this op-ed piece in today’s New York Times.
The New Work Times
OPINION
GUEST ESSAY
I'm a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.
July 15, 2025, 1:00 a.m. ET
NEVER AGAIN.
It was written by perhaps the world‘s leading holocaust scholar. Omer Bartov is an Israeli-American.
And to think that you find ways to rationalize this.
Deny, deny, deny. It won’t make the stain go away.
You are a genocide scholar. Hahahahahaha. You are a lying Nazi. Go to hell.
Now you’re getting desperate. One can only imagine the pain you’re in due to things your parents or others inflicted on you as a younger person - a pain that makes you react so violently.
Here’s a hint. Throwing the Nazi card at those who pray for an end to genocide and that our actions give the phrase “Never Again” real meaning isn’t a winning strategy. It just makes you look either desperate or dumb. I suspect it’s the former.
I make zero claims to being a genocide scholar. That honor has been assigned to the Israeli-American Omer Bartov, who is generally considered to be the world’s leading genocide scholar and who wrote the referenced piece.
I have little doubt that you think Bartov is a Nazi antisemite too. I pity you for being trapped in such an echo chamber
No. It’s a fact. Go back and read what Moshe Dayan said as he stood on the border between Gaza and Israel.
Perhaps your kneejerk views would be different if your name was Doug Filistine.
Want to talk about the outrages happening daily in the West Bank now? Or perhaps Mandy Patinkin will be easier for you to listen to than me?
Perhaps you want to talk about the young American who was beaten to death by squatters in the West Bank this week? It appears that you’re an American so he was one of your fellow citizens, unlike the weirdo squatters who killed him. Or do you rationalize monstrous evil (as shown by this killing and, of course, the nearly 60,000 massacred in Gaza, but listen to Patinkin, not me).
https://www.jta.org/2025/07/14/culture/mandy-patinkin-calls-on-jews-to-reflect-on-gaza-war-is-this-acceptable-and-sustainable
https://youtu.be/CYVFAIn2d90
Surely if they didn't want to work those menial jobs, they didn't have to.
Really? The economic stranglehold Israel has long imposed on Gaza created few other opportunities. Thus the obvious master and subordinate relationship in every way. The indigenous Arabs of Palestine have zero sovereignty to control their own economic destinies. What is happening now in the West Bank, where the squatters are killing the Arabs while destroying their homes, land and livestock to facilitate more theft is shameful.
If Jews are made to feel unsafe by people wearing keffiyahs imagine how the indigenous Arabs feel when they see the squatters with the weird haircuts coming their way, armed with automatic weapons that they were given by the Israeli government.
Luckily for them they had billions of dollars in aid money to build all those tunnels (not to mention senior leadership sitting in Qutar with many of those billions). Personally, I'd have invested all that aid in something more conducive to human flourishing.
I’d insist that they have the right to self determination free of squatters, land theft, apartheid and genocide.
At least learn how to spell Qatar since it apparently bothers you so much.
it was charming for the weirdo squatters to beat a fellow American to death while shooting another Arab in the back earlier this week. I’m sure it didn’t bother you even the tiniest bit. Great moments in Zionism.
And then there’s the genocide in Gaza that has killed almost 60,000 now.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/middleeast/american-killed-israeli-settlers-west-bank-intl
https://youtu.be/CYVFAIn2d90
It was a typo. These things happen.
Doha is a beautiful place. You should visit sometime. You could meet many from the American military in the area since U.S. Central Command is essentially based in Qatar (the Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in nearby Bahrain). Qatar is our most valued ally in the region.
One in every crowd. Unbelievable.
This truth has bothered me since 10/7. When people say “Gazans are not Hamas,” it’s clear that many, including UN aid workers, were very sympathetic to the cause and supported the orgy of violence.
Thousands of ordinary Gazans followed Hamas through the broken fence. Some collaborated in the violence and kidnapping. Some stole and used the credit cards of victims. Some beat and spit on the hostages as they were brought into Gaza. Some held hostages in their homes, treating them like slaves. Some celebrated the deaths of Shiri Bibas and her precious boys like it was a family carnival. I have yet to see any stories of a single Gazan who helped a hostage.
Polls showed huge support for Hamas’ terror attack — until it affected them personally.
This tragedy has destroyed my respect for elite universities, the Democratic Party, the International Red Cross, and media organizations I formerly trusted.
Perhaps worst of all, it has shown me sides of friends that I had not expected. And spawned a wave of antisemitism so repulsive and threatening that it makes me wonder whether I need to leave my home and country.
You just stated exactly what I think every single day.
UN workers are Hamas.
Too many, to be sure! And those who weren’t part of the group were totally supportive of it.
Peter, I'm an Israeli, and I appreciate you writing about this. As you say, "the darkness of that day remains a constant shadow", certainly around here. As for the betrayal -- one of the likely reasons for it that you haven't considered is that these people most likely didn't have a choice and were threatened themselves by Hamas and risked endangering themselves and their families if they didn't provide the information. That doesn't excuse them -- it remains a betrayal -- but it helps explain it.
I support the war on the terrorists Hamas.
All this bullshit about the innocent civilians in Gaza. Forget that they voted in Hamas...they were in massive numbers in favor of Oct. 7. Many were actively involved in the evil perpetrated, many held Jews hostage. Of course as their world exploded and Hamas stole the humanitarian aid, all of a sudden they cried for help, for food, for water, complained about Hamas (now!). Sorry, this Israeli vet couldn't give a single fuck about Gazan civilians. Had Hamas kept "winning" every single civilian there would have been cheering the slaughter,
Fuck them.
Absolutely fuck. Them.