Credibility

A few thoughts on the issue of credibility.

The anti Israel mob has a major problem - credibility.

TikTokers, YouTube influencers, holocaust deniers, neo nazis, anarchists, college students not old enough to buy a beer, comedians, pop culture figures, porn stars, rappers, UFC influencers, and radical college professors have flooded the the media with lies about Israel’s military.

They have accused Israel of carrying out a genocide. They have accused Israel of crimes against humanity. They have accused the IDF of committing war crimes.

Against the backdrop we’ve seen a historical rise in hateful rhetoric against Jews and Israelis, which too often leads to hate crimes against Jews outside Israel.

But are these people trustworthy?

Can you trust rappers, leftist activists, or Marxist propagandists to speak about military affairs with any credibility?

Genocide is overwhelmingly a military phenomenon. With a tiny number of notable exceptions, genocide is mostly armed forces that commit genocide.

Are these people experts in military history? Do they have any military background?

Do they have PRACTICAL experience in the laws of armed conflict?

Very few of them have such qualifications.

In fact, the vast majority of the people who do have these qualifications reject the genocide accusation as a blood libel.

It used to be the case that those who spoke about the question of genocide overwhelmingly had military background. They normally also had deep knowledge of military history, including tactical history - some really intricate military knowledge. For instance, the first genocide trial in history (Nuremberg) was a military tribunal, where all or almost all of those involved had military background

For example, Benjamin Ferencz, a Jewish American jurist. He prosecuted many nazi war criminals who murdered Jews in Eastern Europe. In 1943 he joined the U.S. Army. He moved from scrubbing toilets, to pilling potatoes, to manning anti aircraft guns. He fought in the western front. He was awarded five battle stars for his combat service. He knew military culture, and had been under fire under the most extreme circumstances imaginable.

Nuremberg was a military tribunal. Almost all the other prosecutors, judges, and investigators had backgrounds like Ferencz’s.

But today, men with backgrounds like Ferencz are almost never seen in the public debate on the “Gaza genocide”.

Instead of having scholars, journalists, and jurists who know how to appreciate the combat environment, we have a group of people who get their news on TikToks. We have a group of journalists who spit out stories, uncritically, that originate from HAMAS.

How many of these people who lyingly accuse Israel of genocide have any serious knowledge about Hamas? How many of them know about the IDF? How many of them know about anti terrorism?

Not many.

Why?

Because the vast majority of people who do have such backgrounds find these narratives despicable.

Take for example John Spencer, the world’s leading expert on urban warfare. Spencer is a major supporter of Israel’s campaign to defeat the terrorists. He is a major authority on urban warfare, given his position as head of the urban warfare department at West Point, the world’s leading military academy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spencer_(military_officer)

He’s a scholar and a soldier. A marine, he has taken troops to battle, and returned most, but not all, of them alive. He knows the facts, the law, and the stakes. The overwhelming majority of people like him think the anti Israel hate movement is disgraceful.

In my personal experience, I recall many instances where I found myself around folks with deep military backgrounds, including intelligence backgrounds, special forces training, and hardcore combat experience. This was mostly in academic settings, where it’s rare to find such people, but possible.

Every time I find myself in such situations, there’s always a couple people, with no such background, who spew anti Israel nonsense. Invariably, after hearing what those with actual expertise on these issues have to say, they lose their bravado. Invariably, they either stop talking, or they change their minds.

When forced into the world of military thought and the world of facts- they have nothing to contribute to the discussion. All they have is lies and propaganda.

They are unwitting participants in the psychop campaign of the death cult. They help rogue groups, and rogue intelligence agencies. Those with any sense of self awareness, recognize that. They understand it but don’t think it’s a bad thing. They support the resistance because they’re fanatical. But obviously, it’s an awkward position to be in a serious situation.