COMMENTARY: Political winds shift sharply against Israel


By Berl Falbaum

When the world woke up on October 8 to the horrific and unimaginable butchery suffered by Israelis from the Hamas attack a day earlier, my wife and I said sympathy for the Israelis would last for about a week or so.

It did not take that long. The world turned on Israel in just three to four days, with criticism continually increasing from charges that Israel was conducting an “indefensible” and” disproportional” military operation to committing “genocide.”

Disappointing, to be sure, as well as frustrating, hurtful, hypocritical, and, in many — too many — cases, hateful and antisemitic.

Here are a few examples of anti-Israel actions and rhetoric from just the last two weeks or so that that I thought deserved some attention.

—Let’s begin with former President Obama whose statements fall into the changing political posture I mentioned.

On October 9, two days after the attack, he supported the dismantling of Hamas. Then, on October 23, he said the following:

“What Hamas did was horrific and there’s no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians is unbearable… you have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree.”

It is contemptable for Obama to establish moral equivalency between Hamas’ savagery and Israel’s goal to live next to Gaza without worrying about another siege which Hamas has promised will come.

The former president’s grotesque comparison stands in stark contrast to the characterization by Joe Biden, his successor and former vice president, who called the pogrom “an act of pure evil” and “unadulterated evil.”

I don’t quote Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell very often (not being much of a fan) but he was right when he said, “Unfortunately, the shameful moral equivalence that has been creeping across elite and influential corners of the left has now been embraced by a former commander-in-chief.”

No, President Obama, the collective “we” are not complicit in Hamas’ savagery. The collective “we” does not even want to watch the videos of the butchery.

—Hundreds of political appointees representing government agencies as well as congressional staff members have sent letters to President Biden opposing his
administration’s support of Israel.

What caught my eye was the signatories demanded anonymity. That meant they would like the Israelis to risk beheadings, being burned alive, having their babies riddled with bullets by halting their military operations, but these critics sought anonymity because, and I quote, “Concern for our personal safety and risk of potentially losing our jobs.”

I don’t think that statement needs any comment from me. It gives the word “cowardice” an entirely new meaning.

It is utterly shameful and let us not forget, presumably these appointees and staff comprise some of our brightest stars, advising and assisting our nation’s leaders. It is clear, however, that “courage” is not their strong suit.

—The Center for Constitutional Rights has sued the Biden administration, charging that Israel was committing genocide.

The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, asks that U.S. officials “take all measures within their power to prevent Israel’s commission of genocidal acts against the
Palestinian people of Gaza. These include pressing Israel to end the bombing of Gaza, to lift its siege of the territory and to prevent the forcible expulsion of Palestinians.”
The Center states that Hamas’ border-crossing attack October 7 in which 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered and 240 taken hostage, does not provide a legal justification for the scale of Israel’s assault on Gaza.

I read that sentence several times to make sure I got it right and I needed to process that anyone would put such a thought on paper. When I was satisfied that I understood the point, it prompted the following question: How many Jews does the Center believe needed to be butchered to justify Israel’s response —3,000, 5,000, 10,000, 50,000? Since this was the most savage attack on Jews since the Holocaust, how does 6 million sound?

—-The media consistently uses the Hamas Health Ministry’s statistics on casualties. While the media may attribute numbers to the Ministry — some media outlets don’t even bother — they do not alert their followers that the Ministry, an integral part of Hamas, might just distort and exaggerate the numbers. I guess that is a too cynical supposition.

Nor does the Ministry’s statistics differentiate between civilians and Hamas terrorists or how many Palestinians died when killed by failed missiles. One such missile killed hundreds outside a hospital for which Hamas blamed Israel. And ...

—Addressing the double standard applied to Israel, I have already mentioned a few times such examples as the 21-month onslaught of Ukraine by Russia, use of poison gases by Syria on its own citizens, and how the world turned a blind eye on the Yemen war where 377,000 died. One more: In the seven-month civil war in Darfur, very few stories in the media report, to quote one official, that people are “dying like insects.” The millions protesting Israel have not felt compelled to raise their voices on these atrocities.

Now, consider the following: As I am writing this column, Pakistan is beginning a program to deport almost 2 million undocumented refugees. Not a peep from anyone in the media or any politician in the world about this humanitarian disaster.

All the above, of course, is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg on anti-Israel developments, attitudes, and policies.

The political environment as it relates to Israel is close to an epidemic and, regrettably, there is no vaccine or antidote available to slow down or stop the infection.
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Berl Falbaum is a veteran journalist and author of 12 books.