Excellent essay, down to the word. You nailed the essence of these people with no personal stake in the conflict but who have made their careers on it. That she blocked your perfectly reasonable critical response to her screed proves your point. By being so utterly vile and genocidal in their rhetoric, people like her do not help Palestinians in the slightest. If there is any hope for peace it’s because of people like you, and in spite of people like her.
Her second sentence is so ahistorical and false it’s hard to know where to begin with this useful idiot.
I agree with the rest of your post and wished 90+% of Palestinians had your wisdom and perspective.
PS - you are the first Palestinian I’ve ever heard who recognizes the Jewish connection to the land and their legitimate desire for self determination. Are there more? Maybe I just don’t get out enough.
You say that Palestinians are connected to the land as Canaanites. But I've heard most people, including other Palestinians, say that Palestinians are Arabs. I don't say that as a reason for not having a connection with the land. Arabs colonized the land a thousand years ago - the people who've lived there since have known no other home. And of course there were other cultures besides Jews living there before the Arabs colonized it and the Romans and all the others as you said. I would just appreciate understanding why you connect Palestinians to Canaanites rather than Arabs.
This is a really great article, balanced, thoughtful, and well-written.
And yes, there’s a lot of fetishization of non-Western in the west in that vein, by people who don’t quite see that it feels dehumanizing to be on the receiving end.
“Fetishizing” is the perfect word. They do the same with Israelis but on the other end of the spectrum. Demonize, but with a special kind of foaming at the mouth hatred that is obviously not actually about Israelis. The demonizing, the fetishizing-it is all about THEMSELVES, and that’s why it feels so gross. CJ is dehumanizing you just as much as Israelis, but you are angels even if you mass murder, and Israelis are evil occupiers, even if you’re a toddler. CJ and her racist ilk just overlay what they feel guilty about personally. Israel is South Africa, African Americans, the IRA, the Native Americans, British colonialism. Name where a “pro-Palestine” protester is from and I’ll tell you what they say about “Zionists.” It is the most obvious scapegoating/projection.
Today, they took to social media to rant angrily about Edan Alexander’s release. They “protested” a Nova survivor for going to a singing competition. There is no new low to which they won’t sink. They do not care about Palestinians any more than a man cares about a trophy wife.
Not to take away from your specific points, but do you think it’s just the pro-Palestinian global left that has a fetish in this conflict?
Evangelical Christians, militant national security hawks, anti-Muslim xenophobes, neo-crusader western chauvinists, and right-wing nationalists the world over, but especially in the United States, seem to have a cult-like pro-Israel obsession that seems unmoored from any sincere philo-semitism or deep interest in the conflict or the people who actually experience it.
It’s become ideological cosplay for both sides in ways that weren’t so 30-40 years ago when I was first acquainted with the history and current events of the P/I conflict.
I'm not Israeli so their fetishisation isn't really my problem to carry, but I agree with you. Fetishising Israel is weird and problematic too. Especially those who see Israel as their opportunity to spur the end of the world, the return of Christ, etc, ie the most radical Christian Zionists. They see Jews as a tool for their own religious aspirations.
I just subscribed. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and depth of knowledge. I've read through a few of your other pieces and look forward to fully reading them all soon.
I looked for this in the few other pieces of yours I read, but didn't find it. Apologies if you've already answered this and I missed it. My question is what do you think the solution is, practically speaking? Who should live in the holy land? Should we pursue the classical two-state solution? Should we try for a one-state multicultural liberal democracy? It seems to me peace is your goal, but what does that mean on the ground? Again, if you've already laid that out, I'll read what you already wrote with thanks; you can just point me to it.
Incidentally, Caitlin Johnstone is one of the only public figures who interacted with me during my time on Twitter. I was respectful toward her and she was nice enough to me, but I'm not a fan of her analysis of international politics.
I really like your question, so much that I'm going to write a post about it, and weirdly enough I was thinking about this kind of question independently myself just 5 minutes ago and thinking about writing a post today or tomorrow on it.
Long story short I support whatever political solution will lead to peace and to the end of inter-ethnic violence and maximising freedom and equal rights. I generally would say that the classical 2 state solution (hopefully with both states being multicultural liberal democracies) is the most likely to achieve this, and there is a desire I think for some separation simply because of how bad things have got between Palestinians and Israelis.
However I'm not necessarily against a 1-state multicultural liberal democracy if that is what we can agree. I'm willing to compromise to get a solution that people can agree to, and I don't want to dictate my views to other people. But the key is the violence has to stop, and we have to treat each other like equal human beings.
I saw her tweet, and was immediately reminded of Edward Said’s book Orientalism. It is impossibly easy for people with no personal stakes to give their black-and-white takes on a situation whose people involved are going through immense pain and grief. Fetishization of that pain, and people’s history, helps absolutely nobody and actively harms in its spread of misinformation.
Great piece, and hopefully gets wider exposure. I look forward to reading more of your writing. Fetishizing an "oppressed" other seems to be in vogue in so many places and situations. I think it's a substitute for not being able to glorify in your own "oppression". Oppressed by proxy?
Thank you for this. What a strange, confused Australian chick. She could spend time enriching herself culturally instead of feeling so sorry for herself. She's bought into the cultural Marxist lie that "white people have no culture" when there's plenty. She's too lazy to study her own history, and find meaning in her nation and community.
Suddenly, without having fully delved into her own personal history, she has fully cracked out Jewish/Arab relations and culture. Everyone's an expert on this internet since October 7. God help this generation. Thank you for breaking it down so well. 🙏🏻
I can't help but see strong parallels between white guilt mongers, "indigeneity" theorists, and noble savage moralists and some of their putative enemies, namely the "trad" reactionaries who worship a nostalgic image of a supposed past Western world while denigrating the one that actually exists as "globohomo". But beyond that, I think Caitlin Johnstone is a particularly vivid example of a folly that transcends all formal ideologies, which is the imagining of the world as a giant morality play and the psychological need to have a hero to root for in that play. There is no room for tragedy or even disappointment in such a worldview; if anything bad happens it must be the Evil People doing eeeeeevil. The hero cannot have any flaws and the villain cannot have any noble qualities.
Since I cannot edit comments below an article I will add an addendum: this whole dynamic also reminds me of the monopolization of discourse on gay, trans, etc. issues by two opposing camps, one of people who cannot accept that sexualities outside of their personal norms exist, and any who violate these norms must be driven out of society or at least back into the closet, and another camp of people who cannot accept that social norms and structures of any kind exist, and want to "queer" (as a verb) every single social institution until it loses its form entirely. These two camps will never stop fighting and will never let anyone outside of the dichotomy get a word in.
I'm sitting in a staff-room in Tel-Aviv. As I was reading this a Palestinian-Israeli teacher came and sat on the sofa next to me. I managed to myself dragging her into my thoughts.
I agree with everything you write here. I too would qualify this (and go even further) by saying that I'm bitterly opposed to the current Israeli government, which has no democratic mandate for any of its major actions since it was elected.
It's good to see someone point out that Jews and Palestinians are both descended from Canaanites who became Israel and Judah and withstood the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Arab Conquest, Crusaders... The Jews were displaced by Babylonians and Romans. Many Palestinians were displaced by Jews. I've often felt that no-one can understand the Palestinians better than Zionist Jews; perhaps that goes the other way too.
We had the Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Romans which led to utter disaster. Sinwar repeated that for the Gazans. The destruction bright about by the Roman response led to 1800 years of keeping away from any thought of Sovereignty in the Land.
Now both Jews and Palestinians need a home in this land and to be safe here, with at least some form of sovereignty. Rather than Ghandi, perhaps you need your Ben Gurion. We need our Yitzhak Rabin.
As I wrote now two teachers were taking in Arabic here while two others were talking in Hebrew, all while I was writing in English. I was a kid born in Israel/Palestine (in Tzfat/Safed) and bright up mostly in England. Being pulled from your roots is traumatic. But perhaps growing in a different air and reconnecting with your roots bring can make you stronger, your roots deeper, your branches reaching further.
People are literally mesmerized by the Hamas propaganda and the west definitely infantilizes the Palestinians. I understand how normal Palestinians would be insulted by this while Hamas takes advantage of it. Plus, She should be embarrassed by her ignorance of the Jewish people. Thank you for trying to correct her ignorance.
I'd be surprised if actual "Hamas propaganda" had real appeal to non-Muslim Western leftists.
The politics of the Western pro-Palestine movement (combining secular leftism with uncompromising anti-Zionism) corresponds more closely with that of the PFLP, but that tendency has been marginal among actual Palestinians for a long time.
The October 17, 2001 assassination of Rehavam Ze'evi was really the PFLP's last hurrah.
Caitlin needs to attend a few Israeli weddings, shivas, and passovers so she feels like Israelis are real people, too. This idea of us as AI-driven weirdos lacking personal warmth and no connection to the land speaking a dead language is just too, too weird.
Excellent essay, down to the word. You nailed the essence of these people with no personal stake in the conflict but who have made their careers on it. That she blocked your perfectly reasonable critical response to her screed proves your point. By being so utterly vile and genocidal in their rhetoric, people like her do not help Palestinians in the slightest. If there is any hope for peace it’s because of people like you, and in spite of people like her.
Her second sentence is so ahistorical and false it’s hard to know where to begin with this useful idiot.
I agree with the rest of your post and wished 90+% of Palestinians had your wisdom and perspective.
PS - you are the first Palestinian I’ve ever heard who recognizes the Jewish connection to the land and their legitimate desire for self determination. Are there more? Maybe I just don’t get out enough.
There are some of us, yes. It is a controversial thing to do, and it attracts a lot of abuse, but I don't really care so much.
You say that Palestinians are connected to the land as Canaanites. But I've heard most people, including other Palestinians, say that Palestinians are Arabs. I don't say that as a reason for not having a connection with the land. Arabs colonized the land a thousand years ago - the people who've lived there since have known no other home. And of course there were other cultures besides Jews living there before the Arabs colonized it and the Romans and all the others as you said. I would just appreciate understanding why you connect Palestinians to Canaanites rather than Arabs.
This is a really great article, balanced, thoughtful, and well-written.
And yes, there’s a lot of fetishization of non-Western in the west in that vein, by people who don’t quite see that it feels dehumanizing to be on the receiving end.
“Fetishizing” is the perfect word. They do the same with Israelis but on the other end of the spectrum. Demonize, but with a special kind of foaming at the mouth hatred that is obviously not actually about Israelis. The demonizing, the fetishizing-it is all about THEMSELVES, and that’s why it feels so gross. CJ is dehumanizing you just as much as Israelis, but you are angels even if you mass murder, and Israelis are evil occupiers, even if you’re a toddler. CJ and her racist ilk just overlay what they feel guilty about personally. Israel is South Africa, African Americans, the IRA, the Native Americans, British colonialism. Name where a “pro-Palestine” protester is from and I’ll tell you what they say about “Zionists.” It is the most obvious scapegoating/projection.
Today, they took to social media to rant angrily about Edan Alexander’s release. They “protested” a Nova survivor for going to a singing competition. There is no new low to which they won’t sink. They do not care about Palestinians any more than a man cares about a trophy wife.
Honest question:
Not to take away from your specific points, but do you think it’s just the pro-Palestinian global left that has a fetish in this conflict?
Evangelical Christians, militant national security hawks, anti-Muslim xenophobes, neo-crusader western chauvinists, and right-wing nationalists the world over, but especially in the United States, seem to have a cult-like pro-Israel obsession that seems unmoored from any sincere philo-semitism or deep interest in the conflict or the people who actually experience it.
It’s become ideological cosplay for both sides in ways that weren’t so 30-40 years ago when I was first acquainted with the history and current events of the P/I conflict.
I'm not Israeli so their fetishisation isn't really my problem to carry, but I agree with you. Fetishising Israel is weird and problematic too. Especially those who see Israel as their opportunity to spur the end of the world, the return of Christ, etc, ie the most radical Christian Zionists. They see Jews as a tool for their own religious aspirations.
Great article John!
Cheers Drew
I just subscribed. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and depth of knowledge. I've read through a few of your other pieces and look forward to fully reading them all soon.
I looked for this in the few other pieces of yours I read, but didn't find it. Apologies if you've already answered this and I missed it. My question is what do you think the solution is, practically speaking? Who should live in the holy land? Should we pursue the classical two-state solution? Should we try for a one-state multicultural liberal democracy? It seems to me peace is your goal, but what does that mean on the ground? Again, if you've already laid that out, I'll read what you already wrote with thanks; you can just point me to it.
Incidentally, Caitlin Johnstone is one of the only public figures who interacted with me during my time on Twitter. I was respectful toward her and she was nice enough to me, but I'm not a fan of her analysis of international politics.
Hi there—
I really like your question, so much that I'm going to write a post about it, and weirdly enough I was thinking about this kind of question independently myself just 5 minutes ago and thinking about writing a post today or tomorrow on it.
Long story short I support whatever political solution will lead to peace and to the end of inter-ethnic violence and maximising freedom and equal rights. I generally would say that the classical 2 state solution (hopefully with both states being multicultural liberal democracies) is the most likely to achieve this, and there is a desire I think for some separation simply because of how bad things have got between Palestinians and Israelis.
However I'm not necessarily against a 1-state multicultural liberal democracy if that is what we can agree. I'm willing to compromise to get a solution that people can agree to, and I don't want to dictate my views to other people. But the key is the violence has to stop, and we have to treat each other like equal human beings.
Great answer. I look forward to reading this piece and your others.
I saw her tweet, and was immediately reminded of Edward Said’s book Orientalism. It is impossibly easy for people with no personal stakes to give their black-and-white takes on a situation whose people involved are going through immense pain and grief. Fetishization of that pain, and people’s history, helps absolutely nobody and actively harms in its spread of misinformation.
Great piece, and hopefully gets wider exposure. I look forward to reading more of your writing. Fetishizing an "oppressed" other seems to be in vogue in so many places and situations. I think it's a substitute for not being able to glorify in your own "oppression". Oppressed by proxy?
Thank you for this. What a strange, confused Australian chick. She could spend time enriching herself culturally instead of feeling so sorry for herself. She's bought into the cultural Marxist lie that "white people have no culture" when there's plenty. She's too lazy to study her own history, and find meaning in her nation and community.
Suddenly, without having fully delved into her own personal history, she has fully cracked out Jewish/Arab relations and culture. Everyone's an expert on this internet since October 7. God help this generation. Thank you for breaking it down so well. 🙏🏻
I can't help but see strong parallels between white guilt mongers, "indigeneity" theorists, and noble savage moralists and some of their putative enemies, namely the "trad" reactionaries who worship a nostalgic image of a supposed past Western world while denigrating the one that actually exists as "globohomo". But beyond that, I think Caitlin Johnstone is a particularly vivid example of a folly that transcends all formal ideologies, which is the imagining of the world as a giant morality play and the psychological need to have a hero to root for in that play. There is no room for tragedy or even disappointment in such a worldview; if anything bad happens it must be the Evil People doing eeeeeevil. The hero cannot have any flaws and the villain cannot have any noble qualities.
Since I cannot edit comments below an article I will add an addendum: this whole dynamic also reminds me of the monopolization of discourse on gay, trans, etc. issues by two opposing camps, one of people who cannot accept that sexualities outside of their personal norms exist, and any who violate these norms must be driven out of society or at least back into the closet, and another camp of people who cannot accept that social norms and structures of any kind exist, and want to "queer" (as a verb) every single social institution until it loses its form entirely. These two camps will never stop fighting and will never let anyone outside of the dichotomy get a word in.
I'm sitting in a staff-room in Tel-Aviv. As I was reading this a Palestinian-Israeli teacher came and sat on the sofa next to me. I managed to myself dragging her into my thoughts.
I agree with everything you write here. I too would qualify this (and go even further) by saying that I'm bitterly opposed to the current Israeli government, which has no democratic mandate for any of its major actions since it was elected.
It's good to see someone point out that Jews and Palestinians are both descended from Canaanites who became Israel and Judah and withstood the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Arab Conquest, Crusaders... The Jews were displaced by Babylonians and Romans. Many Palestinians were displaced by Jews. I've often felt that no-one can understand the Palestinians better than Zionist Jews; perhaps that goes the other way too.
We had the Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Romans which led to utter disaster. Sinwar repeated that for the Gazans. The destruction bright about by the Roman response led to 1800 years of keeping away from any thought of Sovereignty in the Land.
Now both Jews and Palestinians need a home in this land and to be safe here, with at least some form of sovereignty. Rather than Ghandi, perhaps you need your Ben Gurion. We need our Yitzhak Rabin.
As I wrote now two teachers were taking in Arabic here while two others were talking in Hebrew, all while I was writing in English. I was a kid born in Israel/Palestine (in Tzfat/Safed) and bright up mostly in England. Being pulled from your roots is traumatic. But perhaps growing in a different air and reconnecting with your roots bring can make you stronger, your roots deeper, your branches reaching further.
Ma'a salam
Great article, thank you. Grateful you attempted at least to respond to Caitlin Johnstone.
Don't overthink it. Caitlin Johnstone is mental illness in real time.
People are literally mesmerized by the Hamas propaganda and the west definitely infantilizes the Palestinians. I understand how normal Palestinians would be insulted by this while Hamas takes advantage of it. Plus, She should be embarrassed by her ignorance of the Jewish people. Thank you for trying to correct her ignorance.
I'd be surprised if actual "Hamas propaganda" had real appeal to non-Muslim Western leftists.
The politics of the Western pro-Palestine movement (combining secular leftism with uncompromising anti-Zionism) corresponds more closely with that of the PFLP, but that tendency has been marginal among actual Palestinians for a long time.
The October 17, 2001 assassination of Rehavam Ze'evi was really the PFLP's last hurrah.
True. The western leftist would be turned off by the religious aspects of jihad or the hamas openly genocidal intentions.
Caitlin needs to attend a few Israeli weddings, shivas, and passovers so she feels like Israelis are real people, too. This idea of us as AI-driven weirdos lacking personal warmth and no connection to the land speaking a dead language is just too, too weird.