How far away is Israel from becoming a terrorist country? (draft)
Ever since Israel’s assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, a question arose in my conscience: How far away is Israel from terrorism. This doubt kept haunting me until the pager explosion attack, when I finally was convinced that Israel had evolved into a state of terrorism. It is both painful and life-threatening for me to write this post, but I think there must be someone to stand out and say it before Israel crosses the moral event horizon and treads on the path of no return.
This post comprises several sections, which are recommended to be read in sequence. Each section provides a different perspective on Israel or the Gaza-Israel conflict, by which I hope to vitalize readers’ brain cells and hence trigger a reevaluation of the current war situation.
Assassination of Haniyeh
Ismail Haniyeh was a leader of Hamas, a terrorist group labeled by the United States. As an intellectual “poisoned” by American values, I should have felt excitement about the death of Haniyeh. Oddly enough, his death evoked a feeling of terror in me: Israel killed another nation’s leader without ever issuing a warning first!
In novels and movies, when a bad guy wants to stop a good guy from doing something, he always sends the good guy a threatening letter first. If possible, the bad guy always chooses not to take anyone’s life. The goal is not killing but stopping the good guy from being involved.
In this case, however, Israel did not send any warning to Haniyeh for him to either negotiate with Israel or prepare himself for the assassination. Israel decided to take his life and just went for it. For them, it was like buying a roast chicken from the supermarket and then eating it. Will you ask for the United Nation’s permission before eating a chicken? If you pray before eating, you are already better than the majority.
There is no honor in this assassination, only caprice and disrespect for human life. Did Israel consider them to be the “good guy”, so their killing of the “bad guy” did not need to follow procedural justice? Is the war against Palestine a Jihad? If so, Netanyahu, say it.
Besides the caprice, Israel’s assassination method is also horrifying me. I know that Israel masters some secret technology and that this technology allows them to hunt down anyone in this world. However, this technology does not seem to be 100% reliable: the killing of 7 aid workers from the non-profit World Central Kitchen is the best indication. For Israel, it was just an accident for which they were eager to turn the page, but for the family and lovers of these dead heroes, how should they face the loss and where should they find again such noble souls in this corrupted world?
NSO Group
Most Chinese know that Huawei is on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s entity list, and the Chinese government is furious about it, but few Chinese know that, on the same entity list, there is an Israeli company called NSO Group.
This company developed the notorious Pegasus malware, which infected many iPhones a few years ago. Although the backdoor for Pegasus has been patched, NSO Group must have developed more advanced malware by now. Recently, Apple abandoned a three-year-old lawsuit against NSO Group for fear of revealing the trade secret. From this case, we can observe that Apple, arguably the most advanced company in this world, has been pinched into a corner by NSO Group and that in a few years Apple will no longer be able to protect user privacy from Israeli hackers.
It is reasonable to believe that the Israeli government is practicing some sort of Military-Civil Fusion strategy just like the Chinese government, so Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, is capable of pulling off similar hacks if not even more. If you are an iPhone user, I would advise caution, though I don’t think Android users are any safer.
I should mercilessly point out that this technology dystopia was already seeded long ago when the NSA secretly spied on the entire world by planting malware in everyone’s cell phone, including the leaders of every nation. Seeing the U.S. brandishing this mighty hammer, every state wants to have a taste of such power. The leak of this technology is thus only a matter of time, just like nuclear bombs and coronavirus.
The hero of freedom, Edward Snowden, pointed out the danger of misuse of spying technology many years ago. Nevertheless, our hero was insulted and called a traitor by the then U.S. government, for the latter refused to admit that they had committed a crime against humanity. Edward Snowden, a great fighter for freedom and democracy, lives in Russia currently and cannot return to his motherland which claims to be the greatest country in the world.
Chinese Doctor, and whistleblower, Li Wenliang was on a similar boat. He warned the society of the emergence of COVID-19 at the very beginning of the Wuhan epidemic and was thus bullied by Chinese police for “spreading gossip”. He died of COVID-19.
We see here how a wrong historical choice led the world to the wrong path, a lesson both the U.S. and China should learn. The easy path is often not the correct path.
Pager attack
In the middle of September, thousands of pagers exploded in Lebanon. 32 people were killed, and 3,250 were injured. Although no countries or organizations claim responsibility for this attack, everyone knows that this attack was issued by Israel. They have been poisoning the supply chain since 15+ years ago and planted 3 grams of explosives in the battery of each of 5,000 pagers. By sending a signal to these pagers, they can detonate them remotely.
I do not think Israel has pleasure in killing civilians; they detonated all pagers without distinction simply because their ruse was being discovered. Thus, they detonated all the pagers in a hurry so as not to waste all the money and effort spent. Compared to the glory of an Israeli general, the innocent civilians of Lebanon are worthless. Or these civilians might not be innocent, after all, since all non-Jews are heretics?
The death and injuries of so many civilians are terrifying, but even more terrifying is the idea that the seemingly innocuous device in your hand can explode. This attack blurred the line between the military world and the civil world, a terror only the atomic bomb can achieve so far. Israel crossed an important line.
“What Israel has just done is, via any method, reckless. They blew up countless numbers of people who were driving (meaning cars out of control), shopping (your children are in the stroller standing behind him in the checkout line), et cetera. Indistinguishable from terrorism.” —Edward Snowden
Pope Francis said last month that religions were invented for peace and love, not to be used as an excuse for war. Similarly, communication devices were invented for promoting dialogue and building understanding, not to be used to take people’s lives. Israel’s fearmongering unrestricted warfare seeded mistrust among people and detained hope at the bottom of Pandora’s box.
Not understanding the misdeed they committed, the Israel authority diverted the public’s attention by quickly releasing the news of the killing of Hassan Nasrallah. They still didn’t realize that the point was not to kill Hassan Nasrallah but to build a future for Israel. They can kill every last one on the Earth, which is a sure way to kill Hassan Nasrallah, but is it the future that they want to see?
Compared to Israel’s caprice, even more frustrating is the American authority’s foolishness. Instead of condemning Israel’s misdeed, they claimed that they already developed the same technology many years ago but did not adopt it because of the risk of hurting innocent people. The American government was aware of Israel’s maneuver but said nothing to stop it, and now they had the heartlessness to brag about their technology supremacy! Is this still the lighthouse that we once knew?
The U.S. must sanction Israel. If Israel is unpunished, all nations will start to mimic Israel. You all know that China is good at plagiarism and that the majority of iPhones are assembled in China, right? I would recommend Apple rename the iPhone 18 as iPhone Boom, the iPhone XX as iPhone Doom, and the iPhone SE5 as iPhone Reaper. I have also prepared the Unique Selling Point, borrowing from William Blake: From a Grain of Silicon, See the World Explode.
Well, I exaggerated a bit. I don’t truly believe peace-loving Chinese people would ever commit such a crime. However, the poverty and poor education of Chinese people, which is caused by the Chinese government’s low human rights strategy, may well result in Chinese people being manipulated and hence becoming cat’s paw.
Reject the peace deal
It has been one year since the Gaza-Israel war. Not only does this war fail to come to an end, but also the flame has expanded to Lebanon.
The goal of this war was to eliminate Hamas. Although Israel significantly damaged Hamas, they still have not succeeded in completely eradicating Hamas. The war seems to enter a stalemate, which shows that Israel does not yet have the strength to achieve this military goal.
Normally, this is good timing for a diplomatic solution, for it is a waste of energy to be intoxicated in a fruitless war (if power can solve all problems, why would Biden need Blinken). On the contrary, Netanyahu refused all peace deals proposed by various countries. He claimed that Israel would fight the war to the end even if no other countries were to support them.
Well, it was indeed Hamas who first did the misdeed, and that it was not wrong to practice tic-for-tac, but it is also true that hatred and vengeance cannot bring the future. Netanyahu’s relentless vengeance is pitting Israel against the entire region and even the whole world. This strategy will not bring Israel a future but only enemies.
In addition, if Hamas was guilty of killing thousands of Israelis, then was the Israeli government innocent? According to the New York Times, Israeli officials obtained Hamas’ battle plan more than one year in advance, but they dismissed it and deemed it too complex for Hamas to carry out (just like how the Chinese government ignored the early signs of the epidemic). The Israeli government should shoulder part of the responsibility.
In a time when most world powers (e.g., the US, the UK, China, and Japan) are carrying out domestic anti-corruption operations to prevent World War III from breaking out, Netanyahu chooses to point domestic sorrow and hatred to foreign countries and sets fire to the entire Middle East. He is not being a responsible leader.
Biden’s Zionism, or spoilism?
Although most of Biden’s policies are well-thought and effective, I disagree with some of them, including legalizing marijuana. Another thing that I am to challenge in this section is the fact that Biden showered Israel with favor.
Biden affectionately calls Netanyahu Bibi, as if Netanyahu were a daughter he accidentally got at a very old age. For some mysterious reasons I have yet to have the chance to understand, old men love to spoil young daughters. Alas, good intentions do not always lead to good consequences.
Netanyahu did not let this opportunity pass, and he preyed on Biden’s Zionism. He got from Biden whatever he asked for, so much so that he would no longer take no from Biden for an answer. After several recent bitter quarrels between father and daughter, Netanyahu decided to get himself a sugar daddy, which is essentially a form of triangulation.
I feel sorry for you, Joe. If I were the leader of Israel, your kindness would have worked wonders for Jews. Netanyahu is just not the kind of leader you expected, and your generosity stopped at him and did not trickle down to the Jewish people.
Biden’s favor toward Israel did not bring Israel to the correct path of history. Instead, it feeds Netanyahu’s greed and makes him believe he can cheese his victory through ruses and shortcuts.
There is some similarity between Israel and China, which are/were both important partners with the United States. Ironically, since 2018, China has become the biggest threat to the U.S., and soon Israel will step on the same path, which marks the failure of Nixon’s engagement and Biden’s Zionism, respectively. The U.S. taught China and Israel how to fight but not for what to fight.
Rightfulness of this war
In this section, let us have a final analysis of the war between Israel and the opposing powers in the region. In particular, I will evaluate the rightfulness of this war.
Netanyahu launched the war to eradicate Hamas. In his narrative, only the total annihilation of Hamas can guarantee Jew’s security. This claim contains multiple psychological traps.
First, the annihilation of Hamas is not a necessary condition for Jew’s security. Hamas was founded in 1987, and they had never succeeded in giving Israel much trouble until last year. I believe that Israel’s revenge has made them learn an important lesson, and a peace deal today can guarantee Israel’s security at least for the next decade. Do not underestimate a 10-year peace: a marriage nowadays lasts for 7 years on average.
Second, the annihilation of Hamas is not a sufficient condition for Jew’s security. Even if Hamas is annihilated, there will be other opposing forces threatening Israel, which is exactly why Israel is now invading Lebanon and denouncing Iran. Is Netanyahu going to formulate the slightest rejection and opposition in this world as a threat to Israel, and will he order the assassination of Macron because the latter proposed an arms embargo?
Third, the exterior opposing force is not the only threat to Israel. The tragedy of last year is partly due to Hamas and partly due to Israeli government’s interior corruption. Netanyahu is using Hamas and Hezbollah as a red herring to divert people’s attention.
Israel’s revenge already severely damaged Hamas, demonstrated Israeli’s rage, and brought them relative security. It is pointless to pursue absolute security, which does not exist in this world. Israel can choose immediate peace now or throw them into a perpetual war pursuing the mirage of absolute security.
If Netanyahu’s warfare cannot be based on absolute security, could it be based on justice? If so, Netanyahu should apply for the endorsement of the United Nations, without which Netanyahu’s operation is just cross-border tyranny.
If the UN does not give endorsement, Netanyahu of course can still declare the war in the name of the Israeli counterpart of Jihad or Intifada. In this case, Israel should use their own weapons and not involve any other countries so as not to ignite a World War III. Especially, Israel should decouple from the U.S. because the involvement of the U.S. will make everything more complicated.
A leader with big dick energy would have thanked the world’s century-long kindness and honorably cut the tie with all support. On the contrary, Netanyahu chose to emotionally blackmail Macron (because of the arms embargo) and called him “a disgrace”, totally disregarding France’s long-lasting support to Israel. Only pussies use this sort of technique.
In summary, Netanyahu no longer has the rightfulness of this war, and the continuation of the war will only damage Israel’s achievements so far and drag them into a bottomless abyss.
Zionism and Exodus
Jews are prideful, which can be observed from the following three pieces of evidence. NSO Group dared to name their malware Pegasus, a beautiful and pure mystical creature often associated with positive characteristics, in a world where most companies give their products ugly names (e.g., Ding Ding, Kan Kan). Jewish girls are forbidden to marry foreigners for fear of polluting their blood. When I was in France and visiting a synagogue, a Jewish young man of nobody forcefully put a kippah on my head.
Coincidentally, like Jews, I also think very highly of myself. Quite a few French girls called me prétentieux because this Asian refused to succumb to their skirt. I don’t think being prideful is a bad thing. On the contrary, pride stops me from using dishonored and disgraceful ruses, such as the pager attack. If Jews are truly a prideful race, do something to stop this pointless and fruitless warfare.
Pride is not the only thing I share with Jews: I am also a wanderer, having difficulty finding a place in this world. Teammates never passed me the ball, I was always eliminated at the first round of The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow whether I was the werewolf or not, and people around me always formed alliances and tried to find faults in me. The whole world seems to reject me.
At first, I tried to please everyone, but after countless fruitless attempts, I gradually understood that they feared and were jealous of my talent. As an old Chinese saying goes, a man is not born sinful, but owning a piece of priceless jade makes him sinful; a woman is not born sinful, but bearing a matchless beauty makes her sinful (e.g., Esmeralda). My talent alone makes me sinful! The world wants to kill me and redistribute this talent as much as the world wants to kill Jews and redistribute their fortune.
I wanted to escape from this world through FIRE (Financially Independent; Retire Early), but eventually, I realized that this fashionable slogan was merely a mirage: The world will never let me FIRE! As Blinken said, if you are not at the table, then you are on the menu. If I am not at the table of good guys, then I am on the menu of bad guys. I cannot save myself without first saving the world! The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
More generally, I started to reject the Western concept of individualism and of degenerating human-human relation to financial transactions. Influenced by Michael Sandel, who convinced me that not all things could be bought with money, I started to understand the importance of purposefully building genuine human relationships. No man is an island. I am glad that I am joined by Emmanuel Macron, who intends to restore the EU’s leadership, and Keir Starmer, who intends to restore the UK’s leadership.
Jewish people may believe that they are better equipped than me to practice nation-scale individualism, aka nationalism, given the size of their population and the capital they control. They may buy out an isolated land and cut all ties with the rest of the world.
I wish them success, but I am skeptical about this endeavor. Will Jewish girls be content to be confined in this narrow land? We can observe Jewish female soldiers posting their photos on Instagram, and I have met Jewish girls traveling in Hungary and France. It seems that Jews are not a species willing to be confined.
Here goes the paradox. To sustain Jews’ pride, there needs a comparison with the other nations and races. Once the comparison is established, the other nations and races start to get jealous of Jews. Jealousy leads to hatred, hatred leads to war, and then Jews can no longer live in isolation. Jews have to either give up their pride or their Zionism.
Therefore, Jewish people, let us keep this species-defining pride and use this pride to make wonders for this world. Let us take the slings and arrows shot to us as the ordeal that God gives us. Let us make great contributions to this world and let the rest of the world be jealous of our talents. Let the other races take advantage of us so that we can show pity and contempt to them.
Maybe we will never find the promised land belonging to us. Or maybe this promised land is the very slope where Sisyphus repeatedly pushed up the down-rolling boulder or the very wasteland of the Caucasus Mountains where Prometheus repeatedly got his liver eaten by the eagle. Wherever it is, let us be a legend of this world.
Postface
Being more familiar with Europe and East Asia, I admit that the Middle East is not my forte and that this is my first time ever talking about Middle East issues. This post only represents my understanding at the current moment. I will continue my learning effort, and hopefully, one day I can find a meaningful solution to mitigate the world’s sorrow and hatred.