Documentaries and discussions of the war in West Asia

What is the difference between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and Syria?

In both cases, a country has taken action to establish what it calls a “buffer zone” in a neighboring country that it finds threatening, out of what it considers to be legitimate “security concerns”. Security concerns arise whenever there is animosity between neighbors.

By dint of their respective overwhelming military advantage, Russia and Israel can force their neighbors to the table, to renegotiate an already existing agreement because new circumstances have affected the stability of that agreement. From its point of view, Russia not unreasonably views its immediate neighbor having enthusiastically expressed the interest of not only joining, but also pledging to improve the armed stance of, an alliance that has declared Russia a sworn enemy to be discomfiting. From its point of view, Israel not unreasonably views the destabilization of its immediate neighbors to be an increased security problem.

It is only when there is a far stronger member of the pair of neighbors that the weaker must even begin to consider capitulating to the other’s demands for more security. In both of these cases, the beleaguered nations are forced to consider doing something they’d rather not do, in order to buy a more stable peace.

One difference between Israel’s and Russia’s invasions is that Israel is the one responsible for the instability that makes them think they need a security buffer, while, in Russia’s case, it is NATO that is responsible for the instability that makes Russia think it needs a security buffer. Israel’s insecurity is a fevered imagining that they bring into being by provoking their neighbors. In the case of Russia/Ukraine, it is Russia which was and continues to be provoked. There is every reason to believe that there would have been no invasion without NATO and, in particular, the U.S. constantly fomenting unrest in bordering countries.

On the subject of Israel, the following two videos are useful for context.

Peter Beinart’s path to empathy

Peter Beinart on protest, Zionism & Gaza @ UMass-Amherst 11/19/24 by Media Education Foundation (YouTube)

This was a very good discussion—it was mostly a talk by Beinart—that starts off a bit slowly, and seems like it might teeter in a mediocre direction, but is quite rewarding if you stick with it. Beinart starts off by explaining that he couldn’t find empathy until he really saw the suffering for himself. That is, in the abstract, he wasn’t able to understand. I suppose it’s brave for him to admit to that, because it doesn’t reflect well on what used to be his morality.

However, it’s extremely important to show other people suffering from the same moral lapse—and the inability to empathize with people who aren’t in your situation is a moral lapse bordering on sociopathy—that it is possible to emerge from that shell, leave that silo, shed that cocoon to become a more enlightened and empathetic person.

He explains how he was blissfully unaware that his privilege was built on a hill of skulls. In that, he is very like most of us, so he’s a good messenger. Beinart (now) has his head on straight and I fervently hope that he, as a very prominent American Jew who used to think quite differently, can show people the path that he chose to bring himself to the right side of history. He is very well-read and very eloquent and expresses the necessary ideas well.

Life in the West Bank

25 years of resisting Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank | Witness Documentary by Al Jazeera (YouTube)

This ~45-minute documentary about people living in the West Bank is sad and touching. So much mainstream media portrays Palestinians as ravening revolutionaries. This documentary shows them as they are, nearly pathetically resigned to their fate and willing to make nearly any compromise. The balk only at the suggestion that they not exist at all. Unfortunately for them, that seems to be the only solution that the settlers who have declared war on them would be willing to accept.

There are some absolutely ghoulish scenes of settlers surrounding a farmer’s house and taunting them that their house will be destroyed soon. In other segments, we see the IDF show up and defend these settlers, throwing Palestinians off of their land.

This is pure plunder. Dress it up however you like, it’s plunder.

There is nothing refined or moral or high-minded about this. This is just mugging. It’s just taking someone’s stuff because you’re stronger. There is no more detail to add that will change this basic underpinning.

The settlers are taking that which is not theirs and that which they have not earned as a shortcut to their own personal safety, security, well-being, and success, all at the expense of people far weaker. There is nothing to be supported in this. It’s absolutely ghoulish to watch the settler children grinning and smiling as they watch their fathers torment poor farmers.

“98% of the permits that the Palestinians apply for is turned down.”

Well, of course they are. The permit system is just a way of wasting time. Permits only work in a system of equals, where there are conditions to be met that don’t have anything to do with who you are. Like, if you want a permit to build a shed, you should have to show that there would be room for snow to slide off of your new shed’s roof without destroying your neighbor’s bushes but you shouldn’t have to prove that your the last five generations on your mother’s side were Jewish.

Much of the video is in Arabic and Hebrew, but it’s subtitled in what I am forced to assume is a faithful manner.

When English was spoken, I heard very few (no?) NYC accents. In many other videos, the Israeli soldiers and other interviewees speak in what are, for me, very blatantly broad Brooklyn or otherwise NYC accents. It always makes me to wonder what the hell they’re all doing there and where their fervor for occupation and destruction of another people comes from? I guess it comes from being U.S.-American?

Craig Mokhiber talks to Ralph Nader

Israel’s Wall of Impunity by Ralph Nader et al. (Ralph Nader's Radio Hour)

This was overall an excellent show. Craig Mokhiber is eloquent, precise and nearly poetic in his description of the world.

Stick around for the wrapup, where you’ll be treated to “In Case You Haven’t Heard,” by Francesco DeSantis, who delivers a concise, no-nonsense, and information-rich reportage with masterful elocution and nearly unheard-of pronunciation of foreign names.