Alright that is helpful context, and thank you for your service. Look, here’s the thing: Again, I know I probably sound extremely snarky or defensive to you, but I do not always take the time to respond to people—and I want to reiterate, I believe you that you have earnest intentions. That is why I am still talking to you.

But let me start by informing you that by saying (in writing! pretty audacious ngl) “I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I should start resenting Jews, if I'm always going to be berated like this simply for giving a damn about their plight or taking an interest in the survival of the Israeli population.” – you undermine your credibility or authority on this entire subject.

You see, while you honestly may not have realized that you already are harboring resentment, your exasperated and entitled announcement that it could be moral, reasonable and perhaps inevitable (understandable, even!) that you “perhaps” “should” resent Jews, is not even a subtle threat, but an overt admission and tacit endorsement of something you already consciously feel. And certainly of something you have observed around you (which is why I would say that although my defensiveness naturally seems overblown to you, yes, I am quickly “triggered” by the actions and intentions of antisemites, conscious and otherwise).

Moreover, present in your own words, there is an ironic paternalism that is frankly typical of someone (usually white and male, like yourself) who comes from a life of extreme relative privilege and heightened sense of responsibility/credibility, like yourself. Your own sentence vehemently denies any possible preexistence or presence of antisemitism or antisemitic bias, because you *know better* than the Jews of the Israeli “regime” and you are just the messianic figure to “help” them, right into their own sure deaths and/or expulsion.

Nonetheless, I sense that your criticism of what you refer to as the “empire” comes from, again, earnest reflections and possible guilt or resentment or trauma or moral obligation stemming largely from the things you likely observed as a soldier, and of the amalgam of experiences that has made you who you are.

I really don’t think you’re wrong about many of your criticisms of America. But you are applying (projecting) your myopic American worldview onto Israel (and onto Jews, albeit more subconsciously) with such a self-assuredness that is potentially dangerously impenetrable. But here I am, trying to explain to you one last time how and why you are wrong.

Your entire argument hinges on the notion that Israel is “fueling” and “exacerbating terrorism” in the way that you allege the United States did. You seem so blinded by what you perceive as your own “rational” and personal experience of combating the “empire” that you are unable to see patterns and experiences and realities beyond yours that don’t actually align with your view of history, of current events, and of the allegedly inevitable trajectories of the world.

Arab terrorism (and violent imperialism) pre-dates the existence of the United States. Israel, and Jews, have faced many, many situations across the diaspora (and in Israel, recently and in distant pasts) where we face existential threats on all sides. Most of those didn’t turn out well for us, and now for the first time in modern history, we can defend ourselves.

Congratulations, sleuthy, you found out that I’m an American! Guess what, I lived in Israel. No, I didn’t serve in the IDF, but I am aware and eternally grateful every single day for the profound sacrifice they make for me—yes, me. Because Israel is my homeland; because most Jews have family and loved ones and roots there; because I am ready at any time to fill out my paperwork to leave to there if needed, in case I need to escape an onslaught of people who justify standing by as half the world’s Jews die, or who would gladly sacrifice their own. Should I assume that you rolled your eyes at that, or is there some part of you deep down that can comprehend why that is shitty and frightening and in any way valid? Again, I won’t hold my breath.

Islamist terrorism is operating in the same way that an aspirant caliphate has always functioned. You can scapegoat the Jews and justify it all you like (and I’m sure you’ll doubt consciously doing that), but Israel would be attacked and merely slaughtered if they lay their weapons down, or committed to whatever high-and-mighty authority of “THAT’S ENOUGH!” that you have personally deemed morally adequate for their response in not just rescuing hostages but ensuring that no other hostage situation or mass murders could happen again.

Yes, you have military experience, you have personally witnessed what war is like in that region – but that still doesn’t mean you have a perfect crystal ball to understand what it would be like if your next-door neighbors have hundreds of miles of terror tunnels under their cities, which are all uniquely crafted to brutally murder and torture your people. That doesn’t discount the fact that it’s a proxy war (which, by the way, Iran is allied with China and Russia). But even before it was a proxy war, Israel has had enemies – Arab ethnostates – on every side that have rallied to destroy the country on multiple occasions. And failed, despite all odds! And despite a lack of support from America.

It is possible for them to do again alone, I’m sure, if they needed to. Jews will fight for our existence even with our bare hands if we have to, as Netanyahu has said. But if you are not an isolationist or a pacifist, then what is it in particular that would make you feel compelled to turn a blind eye to the right of Israel, the only Jewish state (the only true safe haven for Jews anywhere in the world, and our ethnic and religious homeland), and so confidently turn your back on them for arbitrary and selectively fixated-upon allegations about the *way* that they defended themselves.

I honestly don’t comprehend how someone who clearly perceives themselves as a compassionate, balanced and rational authority on this subject, who identifies neither as an isolationist nor a pacifist, doesn’t see how it is not a coincidence that they are cherrypicking the one conflict that involves Jewish people defending themselves as one of the exceptions that does not warrant support (or understanding, or compassion, outside of paternalistic “advice” and omniscient, entitled “wisdom”).

I believe that you don’t “hate” Israel. I believe you are holding it to standards that you don’t demand of other countries, that you don’t even demand of yourself, and then you have the nerve to imply that you are a conditional advocate of helping out allies and people existentially in need around the world, but just not this one, right now. Perhaps after they all die, right?

And by the way, since I see you have some interest or enjoyment in critical debate, I would also point out that you undermine yourself by invoking the hostages as “the ultimate proof” that the war is being improperly conducted; the concerns and anguish of the hostage families is completely understandable and all-consuming and devastating. That doesn’t mean that someone in a state of extreme hysteria and trauma and anguish, whose only goal is to get their loved one back, is the best authority on whether the longer-term goal, ensuring that something like Sinwar being released in a prior hostage deal only to go on to do October 7th—never happens again.

It is a horrific situation. If only more of the world showed any kind of compassion and concern to Israel (to Jews), and had been willing to apply the standards you claim to care about when you perceive Isreal to do anything resembling those, to Hamas. Then maybe the war would’ve ended much sooner.

Anyways, I don’t have the time or tbh the desire to continue writing long essays to each other, but I actually do appreciate the dialogue, and that you had rational points to bring up. I really hope that you will humble yourself and do some more reflection.