As we enter the ninth day of the war started by the well-coordinated attack by Hamas out of the Gaza Strip into Israel, there are many questions to ask.
Was the war unprovoked? No, as Caitlin Johnstone pointed out in an excellent analysis, Israel (and frankly, the United States) did much to provoke a massive renewal of violence by so-called Palestinians and the various never-Israel groups. At the same time, the vicious nature of the attacks by Hamas (as we’ve pointed out before) seems designed to escalate the levels of hatred and violence to greater and greater levels. The vicious attacks remind us historically of the evils committed by two sides of our own family in Texas in the 1850s and 1860s. Not the War Between The States, but the constant raids of Comanche war parties on Anglo settlers, and vice versa.
But in that case, the hate resulted from the fighting, the rape and enslavement, the killings. This seems to be the opposite: the hate is what provokes the violence. As a TPOL commenter noted: they all hate one another. But the hate predates the last 80 years of conflict.
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The Price of Liberty 
“The hit dog barks”
This is an old Texian saying: when you are throwing rocks at a pack of dogs, it is the dog that is hit that barks the loudest – and maybe the only one to howl.
It applies very much in politics.
Consider a recent series of events in New Jersey. An honest (at least in this matter) but perhaps less than tactful State senator – 3 years ago! – was blunt about the always popular issue of “women’s choice.” As recently reported, this guy Durr wrote “A woman does have a choice! Keep her legs closed,” in a 2020 Facebook post. He opposes abortion – killing babies before (or while) they are born.
Of course, the pro-abortion forces howled loudly then. And now, with more elections looming, they are howling again. That is to be expected.
But the real point is that Republicans in New Jersey are also barking about it. As the story above reports: “Republicans in New Jersey are crying foul, claiming that this is oh, so unfair. State Sen. Vince Polistina, who’s named in the Democratic ads, called them ‘political hack jobs’ and claimed they’re ‘lying to voters.’ Another group of Republicans issued a joint statement saying that Durr’s statements were ‘offensive and unacceptable’ and ‘don’t represent us or what we believe in any way.'”
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