By Walter E. Block
Dr. Shira Efron. Screengrab via Youtube.
This New York Times writer makes two distinct claims: “Israel’s Isolation Is Deepening Fast. It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way.”
Let us take each of them separately. With regard to the first, she is undoubtedly correct. The Eurovision song contest that she starts with is only the teeniest tip of the gigantic iceberg in this regard. There are also the continual votes in the United Nations, which overwhelmingly go against the only civilized country in the Middle East. The numerous anti-Semitic acts of painting swastikas on synagogues is as nothing compared to the brutality and even outright murder of Jews in Britain, Italy, the United States, Canada and many other countries. My favorite, because it is so emblematic, is Queers for Palestine. If a pundit had made that up, he’d be laughed off his podium. But it is an actual group. This, despite that fact that in such enclaves as controlled by Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis, gays are summarily executed. In sharp contrast, homosexuals are not merely tolerated in Israel, as they are in all urbane nations. Pride marches regularly take place there. You have to dig very deep to come up with better evidence for the isolation of the Jewish state than that, and you might well not succeed.
What, then are her solutions for this challenge? How can Israel act so as to reverse this pervasive downward march into isolation, anti-Semitism and viciously anti-Israel sentiment?
She offers five suggestions:
“A new governing coalition could signal that Israel intends to answer its global critics by curbing settler violence, halting de facto annexation of West Bank land, facilitating a plan to reconstruct Gaza, restoring workable ties with Palestinian institutions and re-establishing predictable, democratic governance.”
Let us take these one by one. First so-called “settler violence.” But who are the “settlers,” the “colonialists,” the newcomers to Judea and Samaria? The Jews were there for some three to four millennia, while the Arabs arrived more recently, a scant several centuries ago. So, yes, the Palestinian settler violence should indeed be “curbed.” The Arabs there have long been initiating hostility against the Jews there, and should indeed be stopped. But this is not at all what she means. That is to say, she has inverted matters. The initiators of aggression are the Palestinian “settlers” and those engaged in defense are the Jews. Why is she blaming the victims for engaging in self-defense?
Second, yes I agree with her, Israel should indeed halt the de facto annexation of (misnamed) West Bank land. Instead, they should do so de jure, and render Judea and Samaria as full, legal parts of Israel. Justice requires no less, given who tilled the soil there first.
Third, again, there is superficial agreement. Israel should indeed “reconstruct Gaza.” It should do so just as soon as all of the Palestinians, without exception, are resettled elsewhere. After all, once again, the Jews were there first. This is legitimate Jewish territory.
Fourth, “establishing workable ties with Palestinian institutions.” But these people, and their “institutions,” were busily and ostentatiously dancing in the streets in celebration of the Jewish nakba of October 7, 2023. Has this Middle Eastern “expert” forgotten about that day of infamy?
Moreover, Hamas declares in its original charter (1988) by quoting Islamic sources: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, ‘O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him…’ The Qur’an is clear: ‘And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah.’ (8:39) This amounts to an open-ended declaration of war against those whose religion is not ‘for Allah.’” Some commentators point to the fact that the former document has been slightly edited. But actions speak louder than words; these people are still murdering innocent Jews. “Workable ties?” Feh.
Fifth, “re-establishing predictable, democratic governance.” Here, Dr. Efron is referring to the efforts of the Likud party to democratize the Israeli Supreme Court. She erroneously believes, like so many other political ignoramuses, that this was “undemocratic.” But democracy means that the voters have some say in the makeup of this judicial body, even an indirect on, via the ballot box for politicians. At present, the electorate has none, zero, nada. Replacements are chosen by the presently sitting members of this court. Before October 7, 2023, there were massive protests in Israel against Netanyahu’s attempt to democratize this institution. That ignorance may well have led to the event of that terrible day.
Dr. Efron poses as a friend of Israel. If she were, she would not have been published in the New York Times on this matter.
Additional Sources
Walter E. Block and Obed Kohn Faran. 2026. “A friendly amendment to Bezalel Smotrich’s plan for Gaza.” The Washington Examiner, May 11:
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