Friedman Attacks Netanyahu Once Again

 By Walter E. Block

Yes, Friedman attacks Netanyahu once again, alright, but this time he goes all out. He has not before, in his dozens of previous screeds on this matter, pretty much equated the Prime Minister of Israel with the mass murdering Hamas. But even handedness is now his motif. Both are equally responsible for the horrors now taking place in Gaza according to this world class editorialist (Hey, he works for one of the most prestigious newspapers on the planet).

Let us allow this New York Timesman to speak for himself:

“What makes this war different is that it pits what I believe is the worst, most fanatical and amoral government in Israel’s history against the worst, most fanatical, murderous organization in Palestinian history.” If that is not moral equivalence, then nothing is moral equivalence. Well, at least he should get credit for accurately assessing Hamas.

Continues this editorialist: “Israel had managed to assassinate 10 senior Iranian military officials and 16 nuclear scientists sitting in their homes and offices. So how was it that Israel had the capacity to destroy pinpoint targets in Iran, some 1,200 miles from Tel Aviv, and could not safely deliver boxes of food to starving Gazans 40 miles from Tel Aviv?”

Well, if we are playing the they’re both equally responsible game, why is it that Hamas does not deliver food to Israel? Since when did it become the responsibility of warring militaries to feed the civilians under the control of their enemy? Did the US distribute food to Germany and Japan during World War II? Perhaps to the North Vietnamese or the Afghans during its war with them? To ask this is to answer it. Why single out Israel in this regard? That is not very even handed.

Whose fault is it that people are supposedly near starvation in Gaza? Who started hostilities on that day of infamy, almost two years ago? Let me clue in Mr. Friedman: ‘twas not Israel. But wait, I must stand corrected. According to this writer: “For months Hamas has been fully aware of the acute food and housing shortage in Gaza — shortages it helped trigger by launching a savage attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023,”

Waitasec. “Helped trigger?” Hamas only “helped” start this war? This means, if it means anything at all, that someone else also “helped trigger” the war that started on that date. It takes two to tango! Who else could it have been? Lichtenstein, perhaps? Maybe Argentina? Possibly New Zealand. Wait. I know. It was Canada! No. None of those. This man has the temerity to blatantly claim that Israel was complicit in the murder of some 1200 of its own residents and citizens and for the capture of yet another 250 innocents by partially starting this war. After all, it, too, along with Hamas, “helped” start the hostilities. They were buddies, partners, in this affair. If that don’t beat all, nothing will. Friedman doubles down on this error: Hamas “is a sick, twisted organization that bears huge responsibility for the suffering in Gaza.” Huge? Huge? Get real. Total! Had they not started their Al Aqsa Flood on October 7, there would not now be been any “huge” suffering in Gaza (apart from Hamas murdering its own people).

No truer words were ever stated by anyone about the tragedy now taking place in this sad corner of the world than these, uttered by none other than Mr. Even Steven Friedman: “For months now Hamas has also known that if it released its Israeli hostages, agreed that its leadership would leave Gaza … the suffering of Gazans would stop immediately. But Hamas refuses to do that.” Yes, true, all too true. And this is the supposed moral equal of Israel which is condemned for refusing to supply sufficient food to Gaza, which is seized by Hamas in order to cling to power. We are now in some sort of looney bin.

That country is run by “Jewish supremacist thugs” who are no worse, and no better than the leaders of Hamas. Who knew? After all, both, not just one or the other, are “guided by leaders who have consistently prioritized their own political survival and ideological obsessions over the basic well-being of their own people.” Hamas hides behind Gazans it uses as shields and purposefully murders innocent Israelis. The IDF refuses to feed Gazans to the degree that Friedman deems appropriate and tries to the extent possible to preserve Gazan lives. Sounds roughly comparable to me.

Friedman mentions “the number of Palestinians killed while waiting for food aid handed out by Israel.” So, which is it? Is the IDF handing out food or not? You can’t have it both ways. As for the killings, the Israeli military fires warning shots, first, when they are about to be overrun. Only then, in self-defense, are these attackers killed. This journalist admits that this largesse has “cost the lives of nearly 50 Israeli soldiers since the war was resumed in March.” How so? It is due to unruly Gazans who attack them, biting the hand that feeds them.

Last but not least, here is yet another blatant logical contradiction. On the one hand Friedman avers: “Netanyahu still insists on ‘total victory’ over Hamas, which he will never achieve.” On the other hand he has stated: “Hamas as a military force had been defeated.”

What is wrong with total victory, if your cause is just? Isn’t that the aim of every nation fighting a defensive war against an implacable enemy?