It is interesting how quick everyone is to identify the tension between identity politics and Zionism, while ignoring the connection between critical race theory and Palestinian victimization. It seems clear that there is a connection between American identity politics and support for Hamas - ie Hamas is the victim, the weaker military power, etc and therefore their actions are simply the predictable result of their victimization and an understandable response against their oppressor. Daniel seems quick to jump to this line of thinking, arguing that because Israel is the stronger military power, Hamas does not present an existential threat and the occasional slaughter of a thousand or so civilians is simply an acceptable cost.
It seems to ignore the past 18 years of history, where Israel left Gaza and billions of dollars of aid has poured in since. One would think if this victimization narrative had any credibility, there would be some progress in Gaza over these 18 years. Instead, the funding has gone toward developing terrorist infrastructure and weaponry. Furthermore, it presupposes that we should discount the intentions of Hamas because of their currently inferior military power - and removes all agency from Hamas given their "oppressed" status.
This bizarre line of logic, where you simply ignore Hamas and tolerate their terrorism because at the moment they are less powerful than Israel, allows Hamas to build their military power to the point that they could pose an existential threat to Israel, at which point it will be too late to point out that Daniel's logic and its conclusions set the stage for the outcome which he originally concluded was impossible. In his words, the "empirical reality on the ground" will shift to one where Hamas is truly an existential threat - conditions made possible by his "oppressor vs oppressed" framework. It seems utterly unreasonable to ask Israel to tolerate that risk given Hamas has been clear about their intentions - and the only obstacle to achieving their goal of Jewish genocide is physical capability.
It is interesting how quick everyone is to identify the tension between identity politics and Zionism, while ignoring the connection between critical race theory and Palestinian victimization. It seems clear that there is a connection between American identity politics and support for Hamas - ie Hamas is the victim, the weaker military power, etc and therefore their actions are simply the predictable result of their victimization and an understandable response against their oppressor. Daniel seems quick to jump to this line of thinking, arguing that because Israel is the stronger military power, Hamas does not present an existential threat and the occasional slaughter of a thousand or so civilians is simply an acceptable cost.
It seems to ignore the past 18 years of history, where Israel left Gaza and billions of dollars of aid has poured in since. One would think if this victimization narrative had any credibility, there would be some progress in Gaza over these 18 years. Instead, the funding has gone toward developing terrorist infrastructure and weaponry. Furthermore, it presupposes that we should discount the intentions of Hamas because of their currently inferior military power - and removes all agency from Hamas given their "oppressed" status.
This bizarre line of logic, where you simply ignore Hamas and tolerate their terrorism because at the moment they are less powerful than Israel, allows Hamas to build their military power to the point that they could pose an existential threat to Israel, at which point it will be too late to point out that Daniel's logic and its conclusions set the stage for the outcome which he originally concluded was impossible. In his words, the "empirical reality on the ground" will shift to one where Hamas is truly an existential threat - conditions made possible by his "oppressor vs oppressed" framework. It seems utterly unreasonable to ask Israel to tolerate that risk given Hamas has been clear about their intentions - and the only obstacle to achieving their goal of Jewish genocide is physical capability.