Extra: The Moral Panic of a “Gaza Genocide”
Moral panics are nothing new for humanity. Those of you a little older may recall when a bunch of unimaginative puritanical prudes decided fiction equals reality and caused an uproar against DnD and later WoW nerds for…playing a game. If anything, WoW’s cardinal sin is that it refuses to die and yield its playerbase to newer games not running on 20-year-old janky code. And who could forget the ‘Satanic Panic’ that ruined many an ordinary daycare with false accusations of “devil worship” (with prices and waitlists being what they are now, I’d bet more than a few would be fine with a little Satan on the side).
Unfortunately, these are some of the tamer examples from history. Hatred of the Jewish people often manifests as a moral panic; that is, those under its spell fall for hostile beliefs about Jews that simply aren’t true and lead them to believe Jews are dangerous to the welfare of society. We saw this with the rhetoric of Hitler and the Nazis: their propaganda focused heavily on the idea that Jews were “unclean” somehow, that they “corrupted society”—and they advocated for a ‘Judenrein’ space, literally a space cleansed or purified of the Jewish people. But they weren’t the first to come to the end result of genocidal antisemitism; pogroms against Jews had swept across Europe for 60 years before the Holocaust, and historically many times in the past two millennia.
The common thread amongst moral panics is that they are driven by pure emotion—with no regard for reality. It is not that they can’t be disproven; rather, those asserting the claims refuse to hear otherwise. It is pure pathos unbalanced by the Logos. In our time, the prime example of a moral panic is in the patently false claim that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza via its war with the genocidal terrorists of Hamas.
These accusations are so outrageous and shocking to the conscience that to even entertain the possibility that the Jewish nation—in the wake of the Holocaust—would then willingly and gleefully commit the worst crime against humanity that many of them HAD JUST THEMSELVES SURVIVED is…well, it’s simply absurd. In fact, Israel is the only entity on the entire planet that is actually aiding the Palestinians in Gaza. Every other collective and organization, from the Hamas branch of the UN that is UNRWA, to the United Nations itself, to various international “humanitarian” organizations like Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Médecins Sans Frontières (or Doctors Without Borders—je ne parle pas Français), to the “charming” regimes backing Hamas i.e. Erdogan’s, Putin’s, and Khamenei’s—are all complicit in creating the tidal wave of antisemitism we are seeing today by continually lying about literally everything about Israel and its people. These Jew-hating enemies of Israel will be regarded in history with the same moral outrage as Goebbels, the Russian propagandists behind ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’, and the instigators of the Dreyfus Affair. Their names are forever tied to new-age blood libel. Eternal historical shame awaits for them and for every single individual who sides with Jew hate over Humanity.
When I was libeled as a “genocide supporter” by several of my close friends and acquaintances (ironically setting in motion a chain of events that would lead me into becoming a public advocate for Israel and Jewish human rights), at first I could simply not believe what was happening. Surely these individuals—law students, I might add—could not seriously believe the morally bankrupt accusations they were laying at the feet of the people of Israel. I knew that they were capable of at least elementary legal analysis. They should have been able to differentiate truth from obvious antisemitic propaganda.
But here’s the thing: it seems that they did actually believe that Israelis are bloodthirsty, genocidal monsters. They were in the grip of the moral panic of our time. They could not see reason around the subject, because to them there was none; only pathos, only pure emotion. The facts on the ground indicate that Israel is waging the most compassionate war in the history of humanity. Believe me, I’ve studied wars and the worst things we as human beings have ever done to ourselves.
This—is not one of those things. Israelis and the brave defenders of Israel are literally the saviors of the people of Gaza, who have been oppressed by Hamas and their international supporters for an entire generation. Israel provides Gazans with food, water, power, and lifesaving medication in abundance. The IDF has personally guarded civilian escape roots FROM HAMAS as they try to murder their own people for “running away”. Israel developed weaponry never-before-seen in warfare, purpose-built to save civilian lives—i.e. the ‘knock-bomb’. Not to mention the countless flyers and phone calls they make warning civilians to get out of potential combat zones.
But facts do not penetrate into the moral panic. They can’t by definition. There are no lights on upstairs. The casualties of this newest antisemitic moral panic have let their hearts be consumed by darkness and hate to the point that critical thinking skills become irrelevant, and all that remains is the narrative of lies they have been given.
I distinctly remember as the libels started flying in the group chat I shot out a photo of myself wearing my ‘Stronger Than Hate’ memorial shirt for the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. I sent it as I was walking home from McDonald’s, crossing past the Baylor Medical Center just north of Deep Ellum. I thought at the time that surely they would recognize something was deeply wrong with their actions, if I was taking it this seriously. That has become something of a core memory of mine—it was the death of my life as a mere law student and my rebirth as an Advocate for the Good. My entire life changed overnight; it just took me a little while to know it.
As reality set in, I began to realize that my accusers really did believe the lie they had been sold, that Israelis were so evil as to commit the worst crimes against humanity with callousness or even glee. But their beliefs do not excuse their actions. On day one I was ready to go to court over the false accusations against me and by extension the people of Israel—that is how easy they are to disprove. I was eventually talked out of litigation, and I do think I’m happier for it. Libel is libel, however; and libels against the Jewish people must never be tolerated. Never again.
The moral of this cautionary tale is: never piss off a student of philosophy. They may just dedicate their entire life to proving you wrong, and in the most excruciatingly public and permanent way possible. Don’t side with evil against Humanity. The consequences of doing so are eternal. You don’t have to remain a villain in the pages of history. Because believe me, I will write you into it; one way, or another.
Truth can never be silenced. It always roars like thunder. My resolve cannot be broken, not with all the hate in the world. It would be easier to move Mount Everest than to shatter my determination to see this fight through to the bitter end. And we will win; of that, I have never once doubted. Join with us on the right and righteous side of history. No one is beyond redemption. You need only open your heart to love and your mind to almighty Truth. I sincerely hope you do so.