Random Vandalism Incidents Attract Disproportionate Attention, Fuel New Antisemitic Rhetoric
"A random IDF soldier broke this Jesus Christ statue this, a few random IDF soldier broke solar panels that."
If this is the critical content that news outlets are seeking to report nowadays, I must make a counterpoint: disproportionately focusing on minor, fringe incidents solely because they were carried out by soldiers who happened to be Jewish-Israeli, is antisemitism.
Claims have already begun flying around like headless chickens, because antisemites froth at their mouths at every opportunity to drag Israel through the mud.
The Broken Statue of Jesus Christ
Yes, it's true that an IDF soldier broke a statue of Jesus Christ in Southern Lebanon. However, this is nothing more than an isolated case of vandalism. The IDF have already punished the soldier by removing them from their post and even sentencing them to a month of prison. The IDF have even gone out of their way to replace the statue with a brand new one.
We can all imagine what the world's most dedicated antisemites have begun spouting about Israel and this individual, but a handful of fellow Zionist activists have not been too kind either. Tal Oran's response condemns the act, expressing his total disgust, and comparing the vandal to a terrorist.
I believe this is an overreaction driven by emotional reasoning. My own take as an Arab Zionist is this: what we see is a random idiot doing an idiotic thing. That person is not a terrorist nor an enemy, nor do they begin being comparable to them. Ultimately, it is random nobody who, as expected, was swiftly punished by the IDF.
The IDF's Purity of Arms exist not because they ensure the rules will never be broken - which is objectively impossible for every institution in existence, but because they ensure that in the rare circumstances that they are broken, justice and punishment will be served, and improvements are established.
The Broken Solar Panels
According to an article published by the Jerusalem Post on Instagram, a handful of IDF soldiers bulldozed a handful of solar panels, and filmed the process. This is vandalism - nothing more, nothing less.
Instagram user Kdarwish, whom I have indeed added to a list as part of my legal cases to address antisemitism on social media, posits that this is allegedly the typical conduct of the Israel Defense Forces. However, this couldn't be further from the truth, and I have explained time and time again why that is. No, the IDF don't systematically destroy things. It's not part of their conduct. We are once again looking at a handful of individuals who are personally responsible for themselves, and whom the IDF is already criminally investigating.
This doesn't begin to cover the fact that an army which "systematically destroys things" would never launch a criminal investigation into minor acts of vandalism. That alone is in favor of the IDF as the most ethical army on the planet.
Michael D. Abernathy, who alleges in their bio that they are a "Retired DoD/aerospace major system acquisition & military construction specialist," claims that this is a violation of the Geneva Convention and a war crime. They even went a step further and claimed that Israel's military operations are illegal.
If I go to Greece and grab a bulldozer to destroy a handful of solar panels, does that make me a war criminal, or a vandal? Well, even my own analogy is kind of a category error, because Greece is not Lebanon, for Greece isn't housing a terrorist organization like Hezbollah. That's what my reminder has been to these people - assumptions that these solar panels could power an entire civilian infrastructure are completely ridiculous for a multitude of reasons.
For starters, there's the fact that what we see on the video are maybe up to a dozen solar panels in a very small area, as indicated by the truck and bulldozer themselves, as seen in the footage. That tiny strip of land dedicated to solar panels is never going to begin to power an entire town. Thinking otherwise is a crack fever dream.
Secondly, and this is even more important, the entirety of Southern Lebanon is not only evacuated at present, but is hardly ever filled squarely with innocent civilians. Don't forget Hezbollah - the terrorist organization. In fact, if you ask me - and this is speculative, the number of solar panels is far from sufficient to power a town, but it is suitable for underground terrorist bases.
Finally, if I initiate military operations against a terrorist organization as an act of self-defense, which law will I have broken? None. There is no such law. You see, people absolutely love cosplaying and using the term "international law" for its fancy appearance in speech, but I have honestly never seen anybody actually cite existing laws that were genuinely broken. Hint: it's because Israel never broke any, and because these LARPers have no idea what they even entail to start with.
Neither Incident Is a War Crime
Antisemites are already using emotionally charged rhetoric in light of these insignificant misdemeanors, inflating them into "war crimes." They do this because a war crime includes the destruction of civilian property.
However, two serious mistakes are committed:
- In the case of the solar panels, this assumes they are indeed part of civilian infrastructure, which we have no confirmation of.
- And, much more importantly, that's not how the Geneva Convention actually works. A war crime is defined by institutional Mens Rea (intentionality) and endorsement, not by rogue individuals' misconduct.
If a police officer steals a candy bar while on duty, did the "Police Department commit a Grand Larceny heist"? No - a rogue individual performed a petty crime. End of discussion.
A war crime requires the act to be part of a systematic military objective or a result of command policy. Since the IDF arrested the vandals immediately, banned them from serving the IDF, and even imprisoned them, the institution proved this was a violation of IDF conduct, not a manifestation of its strategy. This explicit lack of Mens Rea is what undoubtedly categorizes the act as individual misdemeanor and vandalism, and not a war crime.
The Broken Society
Fuck statues, and fuck solar panels. This entire planet has become an elaborate piece of satire. I think that's honestly far more important than a few minor insignificant incidents that have nothing to do with the IDF's Purity of Arms and overall ethical military conduct.
If a Muslim had desecrated a Jewish symbol by breaking it, how many headlines would that have made? And how many people would've discussed it to an absurd degree? Or do Muslims get a pass because "Meh, it's just what Muslims do anyway"?
It's just ridiculous that a person's national, ethnic and religious identity dictate how much attention something as meaningless as minor vandalism is going to get. The only reason I am addressing it is because I find all responses like these disproportionate. And what's worse is that they are coming from all sides, not just the propallies.
I condemn vandalism, but I don't dedicate this much rage about it. Whether it's a teenager or a middle-aged person, that former soldier did dumb shit, a few other guys did dumb shit. There's millions of people going through the IDF all the time through mandatory conscription.
The IDF's Purity of Arms and Rules of Engagement exist not to guarantee they will never-ever be broken, but to guarantee that in the rare circumstances they are, they will be enforced and strengthened, and the culprits punished accordingly. That's the purpose of any institution's rules. You cannot reasonably expect any institution to be omnipresent and omniscient and know what every single individual is up to at any given moment. No soul is all-seeing nor all-knowing.
No human system - not surgery, not aviation, not military, not even the legal system itself - operates at a 0.00000% error rate. By demanding it only from the IDF, antisemites reveal their Special Pleading Fallacy - holding one group to a standard that applies to no one else.
A commander or another higher-up was certainly dispatched at that location as well; they likely had to look away for 5 minutes, entrusting the area to the former soldier(s). And they recorded that video. That's usually how these incidents happen - and they are incredibly rare. I can count such incidents on my two hands. That's why global outrage over a fucking statue that the IDF later replaced anyway is just a ridiculous concept that should never be treated as something normal.
"But it's the symbolism!" What symbolism? You may want to stop making assumptions about Judaism. I know full-well what many people claim: "Oh, but Jews hate Christians, Jews killed Jesus, Jews this Jews that." Jews did nothing wrong to anyone, and that Jesus claim is absurd for a multitude of reasons:
- Jesus Christ was Jewish himself.
- "Jews" as a broad collective did not kill Jesus; a small group of traitors did. A handful of Jewish traitors handed a Jew over to the Romans, while other Jews sought to protect Jesus.
- There is no mandate against Christianity in Judaism.
Why is the world not focusing on the millions of people the IRGC has killed instead? Or the innocent Israelis that died on the Nova Festival? Why are Instagram users writing vile comments about us Zionists, and telling Jews to "go to the chambers"? Why are Israelis and Jews called "filth that has not been taught anything else than to speak this terrorist language [Hebrew]"? And why are those comments not causing global outrage?
Let me tell you why - because nobody cares. Nobody cares about any "dead children" in Gaza whether real or fake (there aren't any, not from IDF conduct anyway). Nobody cares how much humanitarian aid Israel distributes in the Gaza Strip. Antisemites only care that there is a socially acceptable opportunity to bash Jews, harass them, murder them, and assassinate their allies. That's what it has always been about. If these posturing pricks gave a shit about dead innocent people's lives, they wouldn't be supporting the IRGC.
When people exaggerate these incidents to a ridiculously absurd degree only because "Israelis/Jews/IDF Soldiers did it," it says everything you need to know about our cursed timeline. Someday, historians will look back and wonder what sort of mental depravity it was that conquered such a large portion of the world.
Sufian M'Barki
serious politics analysis journalism israel antisemitism westerncult
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