Shira Efron is no friend of Israel

By Walter E. Block

Dr. Shira Efron. Screengrab via Youtube.

Dr. Shira Efron bewails the fact that the Jewish state is becoming more and more isolated from more and more people. She finds “Especially worrisome … the age breakdown. Among Americans aged 18 to 49, nearly three-quarters view Israel unfavorably, including nearly 60 percent of young Republicans, the very demographic many Israelis still assume supports the Jewish state. It is, in short, next to impossible to find a young cohort in America that looks at Israel and likes what it sees.”

What is the problem, and how can the Israelis solve it, so as to become more acceptable to the masses of people who now hate and revile it? She offers this: “Much criticism stems from Israel’s behavior: in addition to images of devastation and hungry children in Gaza, as part of Israel’s brutal response to the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, the world now often sees footage of settlers torching Palestinian homes in the West Bank and reads about Israeli soldiers looting living rooms in Lebanon.”

Let us consider this advice one point at a time.

First, the “devastation and hungry children in Gaza.” Whose fault is this? In 2005, Israel forcibly removed all of its citizens from this unhappy corner of the world. For all intents and purposes, this was in effect a “two state solution.” There was a civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, but after 2007, the former was in total control. What did they do with their in-effect sovereignty? Did they built hotels? No. Desalinization plants? None. Maybe factories for consumer goods? Not at all. Instead, tunnels out from which sprang suicide bombers, aimed at Israel restaurants and nightclubs. Israel is supposed to stand idly by in the face of this devastation aimed at it?

Second, “Israel’s brutal response to the Hamas massacre.” Hamas mobilized vast armaments; drones, rockets, bombs. They parked them in hospitals, schools and residential areas. Was Israel supposed to refrain from defending itself against an enemy that used its own people as shields in such a manner? No other army, not even the Nazis, ever did anything so despicable. Since when is self-defense to be characterized as “brutal,” particularly by a supposed friend of the Jewish state?

Third, “settlers torching Palestinian homes in the West Bank.” There is more fallacy in this short phrase than you can shake a stick at. The “settlers” are the Palestinians, who can trace their occupancy only a few scant centuries. The original occupants were the Jews, who were there, tilling the soil, for several millennia. Moreover, those homes were torched because their occupants threw stones as the Jews, stabbed them with knives, shot them with guns. The victims didn’t much like being subjected to modern pogroms. As well, the proper name for these territories is Judea and Samaria, not the “West Bank.” Surely, an Israeli such as she ought to know this.

Fourth, “Israeli soldiers looting living rooms in Lebanon.” Why are they there in the first place? That is because Hezbollah has this quaint habit of pulverizing northern Israel with drones and bombs. If Canada attacked Montana in such a manner, do you think the US would stand idly with its thumb in its mouth by and tolerate such behavior? No sovereign nation would allow any such thing. If and to the rare extent such things do occur, IDF soldiers would be punished. How about the misbehavior and much worse, of its enemy soldiers? They are celebrated, not penalized.

This Middle Eastern expert acknowledges that these latter “incidents represent a small fraction of Israeli conduct…” Yes, indeed. She also correctly notes that “they are framed through a social justice lens and amplified by social media.” What she fails to realize is that it is commentators like her, and her colleagues at the New York Times, who are doing just that.

I have no reason to believe that this is purposeful. As far as I know, she honestly thinks she is helping the Israeli cause. But she is so taken with the left-wing view of this matter, with the appeasement-is-best approach, that she does not see matters clearly. She should ask herself, suppose Israel were to give in, fully, to Iran and is three proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, to all of their demand. What would life be like for Jews now living in Israel. There would be no “two state” solution. There would be only one state, Palestine, in which Jews would be a distinct minority. Would they be treated any better than are whites, now, in South Africa? Probably not. I don’t say that October 7, 2023 would be repeated every day. But I do not deny it either. These are the people with whom she is asking the Israeli government to bargain with, to engage in “diplomacy” with.