The Israel-Gaza War has only been going on for a little over a week as of this writing (please check local listings for the number of weeks in your area), but some people are already tired of it. After the shocking reports of casualties in Gaza, provided by Hamas by the way, Leftists started calling for a cease fire. This approach isn’t unusual for Leftists, but as you might guess I’m a little skeptical about the underlying reasons.
And by a little skeptical, I mean a lot skeptical.
cease fire
What the Left thinks it means – a way for both sides of the Israel-Gaza conflict to sit down and talk out their differences
What it really means – a way for Leftists to give time for Hamas to reload
The purpose of any cease fire is to try to deescalate a violent situation where both sides have something to gain, namely ending the loss of life and property. This only works if both sides are willing to be honest about ending hostilities, though. If one side still harbors the notion the other side should be relegated to history like New Coke or Corey Feldman’s music career, any cease fire will be temporary at best.
Guess which version of events I’m going with here, kids.
I have zero faith in a cease fire working in Gaza, and not just because of who is pushing hardest for it. The Middle East is one big Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch where everyone has access to the pin. All it will take to instigate the next big global war is someone to tug hard enough that the other parties lose their grip. Then, it’s only a matter of time.
Or Newsweek, for that matter.
I would write a series of books about the number of deceptions coming from the Left and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) just in this first week, but people are already documenting them, so I won’t. Still, there is a fundamental question on the table: why are Leftists working so hard to make the cease fire a thing?
As I noted previously, Hamas is winning the PR war with a healthy assist from the Left and the mainstream media (Is there an echo in here?), so they really don’t have a reason to sit down and work things out with Israel. And, no matter what Israel does, the Left will hold them accountable for all the bloodshed, real or fabricated. That’s not going to make Benjamin Netanyahu want to rush to the negotiating table, either. So, it’s an exercise in futility, which is pretty much on brand for the Left if you really think about it. And I do because I don’t have a life.
But what I do have is an insight on the calls for cease fire. It’s not to broker a peace agreement between Hamas and Israel because neither side has an incentive to negotiate. Hamas is winning the PR war, and Israel is winning the actual war, you know with the bombs and stuff. And with the existing hostilities in that region, peace between the two sides would be impossible until one side is completely depleted. Instead of peace, the motivations behind the cease fire requests come from a much darker, more partisan place.
The Left agrees with Hamas on the state of Israel.
Leftists love to pull for an underdog, and who could be a bigger underdog in this case than Hamas? Even with Iran’s financial backing and the Left’s desire to carry water on the world stage, Hamas is seen as weaker and Israel is seen as the bully. Pay no attention to the fact this most recent round started because of Hamas, they’re just poor people trying to live their lives in an “open air prison. This stuff is ready-made for puff pieces and a 43 part miniseries by Ken Burns, brought to you thanks to generous contributions from taxpayers…I mean viewers like you.
As long as the Left can make the case Hamas is the victim, they will ride that idea as far as it will take them, and there are more than enough Jewish and Gentile Leftists happy to go along for the ride. Any inconvenient details are swept under the rug, and every infraction by Israel from destroying homes to having an overdue library book at the Library of Alexandria will get blasted all over the place. In order to keep that notion in motion, the war has to continue, and ironically it’s a cease fire that will allow that to happen.
Remember what I said earlier about how any negotiations where one party wants to eradicate the other was bound to fail? The sad thing is the Left’s idea of a cease fire is designed to fail. By even pausing the fighting for a day or two, it allows other parties (I’m looking at you, Iran) to supply their side with more money, arms, and recruitment tools to keep the war going. And with greater pressure being put on the Puddin’ Head Joe Administration to push for a cease fire from Congressional leaders and staffers, there’s a chance we could see us cut back on the money and arms going to them. But don’t worry! Puddin’ Head Joe already has an idea about where they could go! [link] But that bad idea is a blog post for another time.
Meanwhile back at the war, there are people on both sides who are caught in the crossfire of combat, and I’m not talking the one between Israel and Hamas. I’m speaking of the ideological conflict at play here. The Left’s desire to stick up for the underdog, regardless of how horribly they act, will ensure Hamas will keep fighting a proxy war the Left is afraid to fight themselves. After all, they might not have a working Starbucks in Gaza, man!
To be fair, the Left and the Right are on equally bad footing when it comes to sending people to war on their behalf, but lately it’s been the Left that’s been beating the war drums like a Buddy Rich solo. Mainly, I think it’s because the Left has come around to the use of force to advance ideological goals. That, and they’re cowards. Nevertheless, as long as the Left has even some semblance of power, they will attempt to make people come around to their line of thinking, one way or another.
Now, for the part the Left hasn’t considered. Hamas doesn’t like us, either. Oh, they’ll gladly take our money and assistance in whitewashing their reputation, but they’re just not into us. In fact, they want us gone, too. So, in other words, the Left is siding with our enemy.
Again.
At least we know the Left is committed to recycling, albeit with bad ideas.
And the cease fire is not just fully in the bad idea camp, it’s become a camp counselor. The Left doesn’t want to solve the problems in Gaza so much as exploit them for political gain. But there is a drawback: when people start seeing the puppet strings, you can’t make the strings disappear. Eventually, people will start looking at who is pulling the strings and drawing conclusions, and that’s not going to end well for the Left.
Maybe we can offer them a cease fire…
