Every single presidential candidate I’ve heard, outside of the Libertarian Party, has been bad on the conflict in Israel/ Gaza. That includes RFK Jr., who has probably destroyed his campaign for taking the establishment position. Since October 7th, I haven’t seen or heard much from RFK Jr., probably because he hasn’t been making appearances on the podcasts/ shows that I listen to. I have had far less enthusiasm for his campaign since that time.
Vivek is the least bad on Israel. He won’t admit that the Israeli state has done some bad things to innocent people in Gaza, but at least he says that the U.S. government should remain neutral. He doesn’t want to stray too far from the establishment narrative on this one because he is running for Trump’s VP in 2024.
I heard five presidential candidates from the Libertarian Party speak last month. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, but I can say that they were all good, at least from what I heard, on the subject of foreign policy. And this was after the October 7th attacks in Israel.
Trump’s nickname for Ron DeSanctimonious was never that good. He should just go with Neocon Ron.
I recently learned that there are only about 16.1 million Jews in the entire world. Israel and the United States make up about 14 million of the Jewish population, although estimates vary. It is incredible that there is so much controversy regarding a group of people that makes up just 0.2% of the world population.
I understand that last comment can be taken in different ways. It is incredible that such a small percentage can have such a big influence, especially in the political realm. It is also incredible that Jews can exist given how much hatred there is towards them.
I grew up in New York and had several Jewish friends. I was a kid, so it meant little to me other than the fact that they celebrated different holidays. I was mostly ignorant of happenings in the world, which is probably good. I enjoyed playing sports and having fun. I have little bias for or against Jewish people. As with any other group of people, there are good ones and bad ones. I do have a bias against government, so I can recognize the crimes of the Israeli state.
Public opinion is turning against Israel in a lot of ways. More people are learning about the “open air prison” that is Gaza and the mistreatment of the Palestinians. Even if you are the biggest fan of Israel and the Israeli state, you should be warning the Israeli state to tread lightly.
Anyone who uses political arguments based on Scripture should be ignored or ostracized. Saying that the Bible entitles a Jewish state is not a good argument. It is even worse when it’s used to justify killing. That means that there will never be peace when people use religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or anything else) as justification for political acts.
In Israel, Jews make up about 7 million people. There are a little more than 2 million non-Jews in Israel. The Palestinians include Christians. Unfortunately, all three religions place high value on this little piece of land. If religion weren’t involved, it should be easy to resolve all conflict. The U.S. alone takes in about a million legal immigrants every year. The number of illegal immigrants is even greater. You would think that one group or another could find just about any place in the world to settle and live in relative peace. The problem is that there are religious and cultural reasons for the conflict.
I wonder how much the land itself means to Palestinians. They feel that the property of their ancestors was unjustly taken. Some of the Palestinians today have had property taken from them, and they are largely under the control of the Israeli state. If Palestinians were given the opportunity to immigrate to the U.S. or some other first-world country, I wonder how many would take it. Does the land itself mean that much to them? Do they just want revenge against their oppressors? Or would they be willing to essentially “let it go” if they were given an opportunity to live somewhere else with property and relative freedom? I genuinely don’t know the answer to these questions. Maybe it differs greatly for different people. I suppose one could ask the same last question of Israeli Jews.
As a libertarian, I am not advocating this, but the U.S. government could relocate every single Palestinian and give each one $10,000 as a one-time payment. 2 million people times $10,000 is $20 billion. That’s the equivalent of less than 5 days of the U.S. deficit (not spending). The government spends close to $20 billion every single day. That one-time payment would be a lot cheaper than continually sending money to Israel and other countries to promote ongoing conflicts. But the people spending the money aren’t trying to achieve peace, so this will never happen anyway.
Regardless of where your sympathies lie, nothing good can come from more U.S. government intervention.
Ron DeSantis wants to ban pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. I guess DeSantis only stands up for free speech when it is anti “woke” speech. Aside from the free speech aspect, what is wrong with being pro Palestinian? Surely not everyone at these protests are anti Jewish.
I am pro Palestinian and pro Jews, at least for the innocent people. In order to achieve peace, we need to criticize all who want violence.
It is still hard to believe that the Israeli state did not know what was going to happen on October 7th. The “intelligence” there is completely inept, or else there were elements within the government that knew the attacks were going to happen. Either way, it is a not a good look.