daniel pipes
A lot of people are passing around rightwing Zionist Daniel Pipes's op-ed in the New York Times yesterday "strongly" opposing Israel's plans to annex portions of the West Bank.

The marvel here is that the paper of record granted prestige newsprint to an explicitly racist argument. Pipes:
[A]nnexation would be likely to make more Palestinians eligible to become citizens of Israel. That would be a profound mistake, since its Arab citizens constitute what I believe is the ultimate enemy of Israel's status as a Jewish state, the one that will still be standing after the threats posed by Iran and Gaza have been dealt with. Citizens of Israel, unlike external enemies, cannot be defeated. Their allegiance must be won over, and the larger their number, the harder that becomes.
Yes you read that right: "Arab citizens constitute what I believe is the ultimate enemy of Israel's status as a Jewish state." Can you imagine such an argument being made about Muslims in the U.S., or blacks, or any other minority? Impossible, in the New York Times.

Just substitute the idea — Jews are our ultimate enemies because it is hard to win over Jewish allegiance to a Christian state - and you are inside Pipes's mental space.

Why are Palestinians hard to win over to the Jewish state? There is not an ounce of concern on the part of this American writer for Palestinians as human beings with human rights in the land they have long lived in. No, they "lost" the conflict, so they must accept that, and having no rights under occupation is no concern to Pipes. "I am not someone who frets over the Israeli 'occupation' of the West Bank."


Comment: That's because he doesn't have a soul.


Pipes's six reasons to oppose annexation all revolve around the "Jewish state" maintaining its status in western capitals. His concern is that by taking this step Israel will advance its own delegitimization, in people's minds. To wit,
[A]nnexation would alienate and weaken Israel's diminishing number of friends in the Democratic Party and in Europe...

[A]nnexation would most likely lead to Palestinian fury... Residents of the West Bank could start a new intifada — uprising — costing Israeli lives and harming its international standing...

[A]nnexation is sure to alienate Israel's Left... [leading] probably to a contingent of Israeli Zionists turning anti-Zionist...
These selfish brutal argument reflects the fact that the Times op-ed page belongs to Bari Weiss, a rightwing Zionist, who will try to keep the brand alive among elite influencers by any means necessary.

Though this article is an own-goal, for it confirms the longstanding leftwing critique, that Zionism is racist.

Scott Roth savagely captures the role of the newspaper here.