“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This postulate was composed and signed by men whose own opportunity to be signatories rested on conduct plainly violating what they proclaimed to be self-evident, but their abusive misconduct doesn’t make it false. In fact it is self-evident: the main word is “just,” and what other exercise of governmental powers would qualify as just? If read, Israel is doing the exact opposite of securing rights for many inhabitants of the territory it controls, it overtly denies them even any opportunity to consent, they do dissent, and it exercises only unjust powers. Israel therefore lacks any right to exist. Now Israel is not distinguishable from many other states in denying self-evident rights, including the United States, but that absence of distinction merely signifies that many other states also forfeit their right to exist, although it is still worth considering whether Israel’s forfeiture is more flagrant. As a practical matter, we must endure injustices that we are unable to change. But our endurance means that they are injustices, we are under no obligation to be silent in the face of injustice, and in fact we are obligated, if we can speak without excess peril, to proclaim that it is injustice. Of course I am merely agreeing with you.
Richard, your comment is brilliant—thank you. You captured so powerfully that governments derive legitimacy through justice and consent, not domination. I deeply agree: enduring injustice does not make it just, and silence is never neutral. We are obligated to speak. Grateful to stand in that truth alongside voices like yours.
This is truth, unadulterated, unbiased truth. The Jewish people populating Israel are, in many cases, descendants of European Jews who were seeking a Jewish homeland. The political decision in 1948 established the “Partition” which led to war in the area in which three quarters of a million Palestinians were displaced, removed, violently from their centuries-old homeland. Just as in what is now the United States where hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were displaced, murdered, and disappeared. We as a country are still displacing indigenous people and Israel is doing the same. My question is: Why can’t the nations of the world do for the Palestinians what they did in 1948… carve out a Palestinian homeland? White people have been drawing borders for centuries so why stop now?
Emil, thank you for this powerful and unflinching truth. You name what so many avoid: the creation of Israel was built on the violent displacement of Palestinians—just as the U.S. was built on Indigenous erasure. Your question cuts to the core: if the world could create a homeland in 1948, why not now for Palestinians? We must keep demanding an answer.
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This postulate was composed and signed by men whose own opportunity to be signatories rested on conduct plainly violating what they proclaimed to be self-evident, but their abusive misconduct doesn’t make it false. In fact it is self-evident: the main word is “just,” and what other exercise of governmental powers would qualify as just? If read, Israel is doing the exact opposite of securing rights for many inhabitants of the territory it controls, it overtly denies them even any opportunity to consent, they do dissent, and it exercises only unjust powers. Israel therefore lacks any right to exist. Now Israel is not distinguishable from many other states in denying self-evident rights, including the United States, but that absence of distinction merely signifies that many other states also forfeit their right to exist, although it is still worth considering whether Israel’s forfeiture is more flagrant. As a practical matter, we must endure injustices that we are unable to change. But our endurance means that they are injustices, we are under no obligation to be silent in the face of injustice, and in fact we are obligated, if we can speak without excess peril, to proclaim that it is injustice. Of course I am merely agreeing with you.
Richard, your comment is brilliant—thank you. You captured so powerfully that governments derive legitimacy through justice and consent, not domination. I deeply agree: enduring injustice does not make it just, and silence is never neutral. We are obligated to speak. Grateful to stand in that truth alongside voices like yours.
Lexi, let me return the endorsement. You comment often, and everything you say hits the mark exactly. I get a lot out of reading you.
This is truth, unadulterated, unbiased truth. The Jewish people populating Israel are, in many cases, descendants of European Jews who were seeking a Jewish homeland. The political decision in 1948 established the “Partition” which led to war in the area in which three quarters of a million Palestinians were displaced, removed, violently from their centuries-old homeland. Just as in what is now the United States where hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were displaced, murdered, and disappeared. We as a country are still displacing indigenous people and Israel is doing the same. My question is: Why can’t the nations of the world do for the Palestinians what they did in 1948… carve out a Palestinian homeland? White people have been drawing borders for centuries so why stop now?
Emil, thank you for this powerful and unflinching truth. You name what so many avoid: the creation of Israel was built on the violent displacement of Palestinians—just as the U.S. was built on Indigenous erasure. Your question cuts to the core: if the world could create a homeland in 1948, why not now for Palestinians? We must keep demanding an answer.