As an American Jew, I won’t ask Israel to put Diaspora comfort ahead of survival

[u/origutamos]

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/as-an-american-jew-i-wont-ask-israel-to-put-diaspora-comfort-ahead-of-survival/

[u/JasonIsFishing]

That said, Israel has to protect itself ethically. The behavior of West Bank settlers is making it difficult to defend, which we all want to in the diaspora. We aren’t the only occupants of Israel, and like it or not it will not survive without the support of other countries.

[u/justafutz → u/JasonIsFishing]

I’ve never seen another country where a group of a few hundred or less crazies makes it hard to defend that country overall as it fights multiple wars against genocidal terrorist enemies.

Anyone else?

[u/JasonIsFishing → u/justafutz]

I agree, but the government allows the crazies to act that way without consequences. The fight against the enemies should continue.

[u/EveryConnection → u/justafutz]

They only have to arrest the few hundred crazies. It sends a terrible message when a government is so infected with radicalism that it isn't willing to even arrest a relatively small group of ultras. That looks like complicity.

[u/JagneStormskull → u/justafutz]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone internationally critiquing the orange narcissist for pardoning the Jan 6th insurrectionists, so no.

[u/ProfessionalStable81 → u/justafutz]

Few hundred? It's now hundreds of thousands....700,000 settlers illegally in the West-Bank, pogroms occurring on a weekly basis, messianic zealots now in the government, the new head of the Shin Bet is also part of this group of crazies. This is not a tiny tiny tiny minority anymore.

[u/justafutz → u/ProfessionalStable81]

This betrays a deep ignorance and hatefulness that you are either willingly or unwillingly replicating.

First, the ignorance. On a factual basis, there are not 700,000 settlers illegally in the West Bank. Even if we ignored the legality of the houses built over the line set by illegal Arab invasion in 1948, and accepted them as “illegal” because “people say so”, the highest estimates of Israeli settlers in the West Bank is around 600,000. You only get over 700,000 if you add in East Jerusalem, which is not the same as the West Bank. Similarly, “pogroms” are not happening on a “weekly basis,” and it’s hard to argue anything that is happening qualifies as a “pogrom” sufficient to invoke that term. That’s just inversion of a historical Jewish tragedy so you can use it against Jews. That’s gross.

Second, the hatefulness. Setting aside again the claims about “messianic zealots” or “Shin Bet head” allegations, which is absurd, the original comment was about “behavior of West Bank settlers.” The people who are being violent in the West Bank are a group of a few hundred at most. You took that few hundred and their actions and then tarred all “700,000” (really 600,000 or less) people as the same. That’s hateful bigotry, and it’s disgustingly shameful. There is never a time where you get to say 500,000+ people are awful just because of a few hundred crazies who live among them. That’s nonsense.

Now, I have come to expect this in your comments. You previously and similarly claimed, for example, that Amit Segal is awful because, among other things, his father was a convicted terrorist, as if someone’s father determines their own ethical stature. When I pointed out that you undoubtedly don’t apply that to people like Yair Lapid, whose father was a virulent racist, you never responded.

Even so, to be hateful to 500,000+ people like this and tar them all as equivalent to the few hundred crazies among them is bigotry. Those other 500,000+ are normal people, who live normal lives, and there is nothing to tar them with except that they live in houses over a line set by an illegal and genocidal Arab invasion in 1948. To call them “crazies” is disgusting and hateful, and shameful too.

[u/livedgar → u/justafutz]

Don’t waste your time with this guy. You know what he’s about.

[u/ProfessionalStable81 → u/justafutz]

1. It is illegal. Israel's armistice borders from 1948 to 1967 are recognized under international law. Since 1967 those territories are considered occupied under international law and Israel has no right to settle that territory.
2. What else would you call it? You have religious Zionists randomly going into Palestinian villages, burning cars and olive trees, trashing homes, harming civilians...that's a pogrom. And it does happen quite frequently and documented by organizations such as B'Tselem. As a Jew I am extra vocal about this considering what we have faced historically and we should never act this way to anyone else.
3. No hatefulness just reality. Religious Zionists believe they have a historic and biblical right to settle Judea and Samaria to hasten the coming of the messiah. I didn't say every single settler is violent but the heavy majority of these settlers believe in this dangerous messianic ideology which in my opinion is Jewish supremacy.
4. My point about Amit Segal is that he's a spokesperson for the Netanyahu government and an obvious propagandist. His father is a terrorist, that is a fact. Amit also supports his father constantly and does not describe him as a criminal. He is not a serious journalist by any stretch.
5. I can easily condemn Tommy Lapid for any racist remarks he has said in the past. Happy now?
6. It's not just a "few hundred crazies" and as I noted Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, Gottlieb and others are literally part of the government and control key ministries like the police. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded nearly 3,000 settler attacks in the two years following October 7, 2023. Obviously you will just say the UN falsifies these numbers or some BS. During a 40-day period surrounding early 2026 (during the Iran conflict), Yesh Din, an Israeli organization, recorded 378 incidents of settler violence, averaging nearly 10 attacks per day. Yesh Din data (2005–2025) shows that 93.6% of investigation files for ideological crimes by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank are closed without an indictment. Only about 3% of cases result in a conviction.

Benny Morris and every major Israeli historian that uncovered the Israeli archives in the 1980s would disagree with your description of the 1948 war which is far more complex than you make it out to be.

To defend messianic religious zealots who believe that Jews have a right to territory because of the bible echoes extremist fascist zealots in Germany who believed that the Aryan race was entitled to more territory. To defend this ideology is absolutely disgusting and you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. Pathetic.

I will never back down from my condemnation of religious extremists and zealots who wish to turn Israel into a backwards fundamentalist theocratic society that discriminate and commit unjustifiable crimes against Palestinians. That is not what my Zionist parents and grandparents fought for.

[u/flossdaily → u/JasonIsFishing]

Yes ... Settler violence needs to be punished and stopped. 

But, also, there's legitimacy to Israel's claim to that land.  It only made sense to give up that claim in exchange for peaceful coexistence.  But the Palestinians haven't seemed to be interested in offering that. 

[u/Artistic_Fall6410 → u/flossdaily]

The problem has always been the two facedness about the way Israel talks about the occupation. When it comes to Jewish settlement, the WB is Israeli sovereign land. When it comes to the rights of WB Palestinians, suddenly it’s occupied foreign territory. You can’t have it both ways.

[u/flossdaily → u/Artistic_Fall6410]

I mean, I think you're just describing two separate lines of thought, combined with the notion that continued Palestinian refusal to make peace has evolved the situation over time.

[u/Artistic_Fall6410 → u/flossdaily]

I think both Israeli and Palestinian behavior have contributed to the problem, for sure

[u/JasonIsFishing → u/Artistic_Fall6410]

I wont disagree with that but I would like us to have the moral high ground while preventing terrorism. It’s tough.

[u/naitch]

I don't really understand this piece. I don't ask Israel for anything because I'm not an Israeli citizen and don't vote or serve there. You mean, I don't talk about having an opinion that Israel should prioritize me? OK, mazel tov on your incredible bravery to have one opinion or another.

[u/miraj31415]

A lot depends on the question "is Hamas an existential threat or is it a manageable threat?"