I'm behind in blog reading because of Yom Tov (I don't use electricity). I can't believe any honest person can read the things that are being written by this conflict by Israelis and diaspora Jews and still believe that Jews enjoy the death of non-Jewish/Palestinian children (with the caveat that I'm judging by English language content). Of course, most people just don't read that.
Your post also reminds me of a trope I used to notice a lot in the noughties and early teens, where British journalists reporting on the Second Intifada, Iraq War/insurgency, Arab Spring or Syrian Civil War seemed to be contractually obliged to say, "Arabs love children," along with a cute anecdote to prove this point. After a while, I found myself wondering, "Well, if they love their children so much, why don't they teach them that there are better things to be in life than a 'martyr'?" Conversely, journalists never said anything humanising about the Israeli love for children, even though many tourists and new olim note the willingness of strangers to offer unsolicited child-rearing advice, and even though Israel is the only Western country to have an above-replacement fertility rate, even if you strip out the particularly high birth rates in the Haredi and Arab Israeli communities.
The idea that Israelis enjoy killing babies is a metamorphosis of the blood libels. Growing up in Israel, I have seen nothing that supports this accusation. Israelis live under tremendous amounts of stress, and their discourse is not always as polite as in other Western countries--but the idea that there is an enjoyment of killing children is wrong. When children are killed in war, it is a tragic outcome. I believe that all people love their children, and I hope that the Palestinians will reject the pressure to educate children to be martyrs. I am convinced that most human beings just want to live in peace.
I'm behind in blog reading because of Yom Tov (I don't use electricity). I can't believe any honest person can read the things that are being written by this conflict by Israelis and diaspora Jews and still believe that Jews enjoy the death of non-Jewish/Palestinian children (with the caveat that I'm judging by English language content). Of course, most people just don't read that.
Your post also reminds me of a trope I used to notice a lot in the noughties and early teens, where British journalists reporting on the Second Intifada, Iraq War/insurgency, Arab Spring or Syrian Civil War seemed to be contractually obliged to say, "Arabs love children," along with a cute anecdote to prove this point. After a while, I found myself wondering, "Well, if they love their children so much, why don't they teach them that there are better things to be in life than a 'martyr'?" Conversely, journalists never said anything humanising about the Israeli love for children, even though many tourists and new olim note the willingness of strangers to offer unsolicited child-rearing advice, and even though Israel is the only Western country to have an above-replacement fertility rate, even if you strip out the particularly high birth rates in the Haredi and Arab Israeli communities.
The idea that Israelis enjoy killing babies is a metamorphosis of the blood libels. Growing up in Israel, I have seen nothing that supports this accusation. Israelis live under tremendous amounts of stress, and their discourse is not always as polite as in other Western countries--but the idea that there is an enjoyment of killing children is wrong. When children are killed in war, it is a tragic outcome. I believe that all people love their children, and I hope that the Palestinians will reject the pressure to educate children to be martyrs. I am convinced that most human beings just want to live in peace.