Sam Harris on jihadist extremism: ‘When you have a group of people or a wider culture that speaks casually of genocide, we should take them seriously. We should never assume that people are bluffing when they say they want to eradicate a whole population. The original charter of Hamas was explicitly genocidal. The talk about Jews throughout the Muslim world frankly has been genocidal for quite a long time. The Palestinians effectively teach a genocidal hatred of Jews to children in schools - many of these schools are UN funded. There is a…culture here of religiously inspired hatred…there is no way this can be maintained and we can expect to arrive at anything like a lasting peace in the Middle East…we have to take this seriously because now we know (in the aftermath of Oct 7) that (these) people are quite capable of it.’

He’s bang on.

I do not think Israel is beyond criticism, by any measure. Since very early on I’ve been open to, and on balance just about supported, calls for a ceasefire. I entirely understand that I may be wrong on this (I have no idea, I’m not a military expert), and the idea of Jews being asked to back down in the face of such unforgivable aggression and hatred makes me very uncomfortable. But I guess I am just not cut out for war - I can’t stand the idea of innocent kids getting killed, it makes me too sick.

Nevertheless, the idiocy and sheer bias of the commentary on the issue of Islamic fanaticism, and the ideological games being played by ‘activists’, must not be allowed to obscure the most fundamental CAUSE of this nightmarish conflict. Namely, the existence of a truly genocidal, truly Nazi-level deadly culture of openly racist, death-worshiping Jew-hate (and wider fanaticism) in Palestine and across other parts of the Muslim world. The gaslighting around this is so intense, it’s not surprising that many find it hard to retain clarity of thought.

Israel is on the front lines of the battle against this deadly religious cultism right now, but it’s a worldview that does not only affect Jews or Israelis. We’ve seen Brits, African Christians, moderate Muslims, gay people, ‘apostates’, Hindus, Yazidis, and many others slaughtered and subjugated in its name in recent years.

Equally nauseatingly, woke progressives are often to be found flying flags and chanting in support of the groups espousing this radicalism (see pic below, of a Hezbollah flag being flown in Princeton). Muslim activists cry genocide when Israel responds to the mass murder and expansionist supremacism of Hamas, but largely remain silent about the tens and hundreds of thousands of lives lost to lunatics claiming to be acting in accordance with Islamic scriptural commandments.

None of this should be happening in the 21st century.

End note: I’ve had a lot of new followers in recent days. Thanks very much, I appreciate it. I write essays and articles on this topic often, please check them out on my page. If you enjoy my posts, please consider upgrading to paid. For around the price of a coffee a month you can help me push back against the type of illiberalism, fanaticism and general idiocy that has been so evident in recent months.