Possession is Nine-tenths of the Law

The Israelis know that possession is 9/10ths of the law; if they can stay put long enough, build enough settlements, and kill, imprison, or place in camps anyone who tries to resist -- if they can do all this long enough -- eventually their longevity will lead to legitimacy.

After all, is this any different from the ways in which the USA expanded? Indians are now safely ensconced on reservations, while collective national guilt is used to award them the occasional tax-free gas station or casino license. But no one is going to suggest giving the country back to them. Nor would an invasion of Texas by Mexico be tolerated. The USA has gained the legitimacy awarded by longevity.

On message boards attached to articles about Israel's current genocide in Gaza, many angry pro-Israel posts use examples based on the US situation -- but without reference to the bloody US history of expansion -- to justify what Israel is doing in Gaza. A common theme is "what if the Mexicans started lobbing rockets into Texas -- would we allow that?" The answer is that, of course, we would not.

But, what if we were alive during the original acquisition of US territory by use of war, bloodshed, genocide? What would our moral obligations be?

That is my argument vis Israel -- 100 years from now, when Israel has killed, driven out, reduced to subhuman status all the people who used to live in their land before it was taken for the founding of Israel, Israel will be legitimate. But we are living NOW, when we as moral human beings can have an influence on the kind of actions taken by Israel. We as fellow human beings have a moral duty to condemn what is being done NOW, simply because we are here and we can see and hear the misery being vistited on the Palestinians by Israel.