The Israeli Left is Lost

This is the second time I am breaking my own rule by criticizing Israel (or in this case a segment of Israeli society) publicly (since there are more than enough people to do that, and falsely at that). But the disgraceful Opinion Piece in The New York Times by genocide scholar Omer Bar Tov “I am a Genocide Scholar and I Know it When I See it” broke my silence.

There is a faction within Israeli society comprised of far left academics, “historians,” journalists and politicians whose rhetoric echoes some of the most virulent anti Semitic narratives out there. This ethos is embodied in the newspaper “Haaretz” whose inflammatory and misleading coverage more closely resembles Al Jazeera than an Israeli newspaper with journalistic integrity. Haaretz routinely parrots Hamas “Health Ministry” casualty figures as fact despite the mountains of evidence that they are fabricated. (As an aside, when the war ends I fully expect to learn that actual civilian casualties in Gaza were less than half of those reported by Hamas).[1]

I have watched leftist after leftist Israeli Jew slander their own country on false and malicious charges of genocide, so much so that I am beginning to think the most self-hating of self-hating Jews are Israeli.

There is something particularly abhorrent about watching Israeli Jews indulge in performative groveling to their fellow progressives and academics clearly desperate to prove they still belong in these non-Jewish spaces. Like many progressive thinkers they are so mired in their ideology, they cannot recognize truth when it contradicts their world view.

It is clear to anyone who is not willfully ignorant or downright antisemitic, that whatever Israel is doing in Gaza, it is not genocide. In order to conclude that Israel is committing genocide, one must ignore crucial context, not to mention logic.

Genocide has a specific meaning. It refers to the systematic extermination of a people based on their identity. That’s not what Israel is doing. Israel is responding to the most brutal attack on its population perhaps since the founding of the State. Does Bar Tov not believe that this may be the reason for Israel’s actions?

To listen to the genocide-brigade, one would think the IDF was randomly waging war against Palestinians for no reason. But that’s not the case. The reason for the war is the barbaric assault on October 7, 2023 by Palestinian terrorists aided by civilian collaborators that saw 1,200 people butchered, women raped and families tortured, with upwards of 250 people abducted into Gaza as captives. Some of those people remain in captivity after almost two years.

To enable their false charge of genocide, they ignore Hamas’ war strategy of embedding itself within the civilian population and operating from hospitals, schools, and private homes.

The choice for Israel is to capitulate to Hamas and wait for the next October 7 or do the best they can to avoid civilian casualties, with the overarching goal of rooting out Hamas and removing them from power and locating the hostages. Should it be otherwise?

The Jewish people have still not recovered the loss in population from the Holocaust having numbered 16.6 million in 1939 world-wide and 14.8 million today[2]. On the other hand, the Palestinian population has grown exponentially over the last decades[3]. That is not genocide my friends.

To equate Israel’s counterterrorism campaign with Nazi genocide is obscene. The Nazis rounded up millions based on identity alone and sent them to death camps. Hamas, on the other hand, launched a war of extermination against Israeli civilians. Israel is defending itself, not committing genocide.

Who is Omer Bar Tov to judge Israel? Is he on the ground with the IDF troops to assess their operations? Of course not. His academic title does not make him an arbiter of facts of which he has no first hand knowledge. His arrogance is matched only by his self-importance.

It is offensive enough when non-Jewish commentators stretch the term genocide like a rubber band to score political points. But when Jews do it to prove their moral worth to others it is tragic. How can they indulge so carelessly in genocide rhetoric knowing how Shiri Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir were killed, and after watching the disgusting ceremony mocking their kidnapping and murder? not only by Hamas, but civilians out for a day of family entertainment.

I understand the psychological toll of being a Zionist in the hostile environment that has been forced upon us. It’s awful and lonely to be called vile names and treated as a pariah. Israelis living in the eye of the storm face even more pressure. But that does not excuse the betrayal of the Jewish people in our darkest hour.

The Israeli left needs to find its moral compass. Freedom of speech and a free press are hallmarks of democracy. But slandering your own nation with blood libels to prove your moral worth is disgraceful

It is worth remembering that the kapos were not spared in the end.

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[1] Israel at War Day 547 | Palestinians Report Nine Killed in Israeli Strikes on Southern Gaza (April 5, 2025) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-04-05/ty-article-live/israel-at-war-day-547/00000196-03ad-df89-a39f-97bdf2180000

Haaretz Editor: I’m Anti-Zionist and Yes, Israel=Apartheid https://honestreporting.com/haaretz-editor-im-anti-zionist-and-yes-israel-apartheid/

[2] Campanile C. (July 7, 2025) “World’s Jewish population still hasn’t recovered from the Holocaust, shocking analysis shows: ‘Reminder of how many people we lost’: New York Post https://nypost.com/2025/07/07/us-news/fewer-jews-alive-today-than-before-holocaust-new-study/

[3] https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/palestine