# New discussion thread for Israel/Gaza/West Bank (Hijacks tolerated) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** israel-hamas-war, hijacks-tolerated\ **Created:** [July 12, 2026, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615 "2026-07-12T00:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 41
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/815 "2026-10-19T05:47:45Z")
Mike Huckabee (!) has joined the chorus condemning the settlers. > **[U.S. ambassador to Israel calls for "arrest and prosecution" of Heidi...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-west-bank-heidi-levine-journalist-attack/)** > > The ambassador condemned the attack as "vicious" and called for the prosecution of those involved. God willing and the creek don’t rise, Netenyahu will no longer be PM after the elections, and whoever winds up in charge afterward will be willing to put the screws to the settlers. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/816 "2026-10-19T12:47:27Z")
Good piece on what it means to be Indigenous from a Jewish Quechua writer: > **["Are Jews Indigenous?" A Quechua Jew Weighs In](https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/indigenous/)** > > Guest Post from Daniel Delgado ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/817 "2026-10-19T18:06:39Z")
New interview from the great Isaac Chotiner with an American journalist who is on the ground in the a West Bank. He’s been beaten by settler thugs, and reports on IDF involvement and support for repeated settler pogroms against Palestinian civilians: [https://archive.ph/z00sy](https://archive.ph/z00sy) The Israeli government and military are supporting and aiding ethnic pogroms. They are literally as bad as Hamas, Iran, and the other worst of the worst parties in the region. I don’t see how this can possibly be denied at this point. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/818 "2026-10-20T00:36:34Z")
That was a good piece. For those who don’t like to follow links to long articles, a summary is: No. Small “i” indigenous is used to describe where things are from. “Cactuses are indigenous to Arizona”. But capital “I” Indigenous is used to describe people. And the term was invented in a response to modern (post 1492) colonialism, to unite the colonized. (Who were variously called Indians, natives, savages, etc.) It’s never had a non-political meaning, and only Nazis assert that “Germans are indigenous to Germany”. Jews have occasionally been grouped with the colonized in a few fringe cases, but generally get grouped with the colonizers, and get colonizer privileges, such as in the US. In Israel, the only thing going on that looks like modern colonialism is what’s happening to the Palestinians. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/819 "2026-10-20T18:39:21Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > No. Small “i” indigenous is used to describe where things are from. “Cactuses are indigenous to Arizona”. But capital “I” Indigenous is used to describe people. And the term was invented in a response to modern (post 1492) colonialism, to unite the colonized. (Who were variously called Indians, natives, savages, etc.) It’s never had a non-political meaning, and only Nazis assert that “Germans are indigenous to Germany”. Jews have occasionally been grouped with the colonized in a few fringe cases, but generally get grouped with the colonizers, and get colonizer privileges, such as in the US. You know, when I criticized the term “indigenous” as being meaningless because it doesn’t _actually_ refer to any real property of the people or their history but just to the arbitrary question of who happened to be there when white people showed up, I never thought that someone supposedly on the far Left would just come out and ADMIT that this is EXACTLY how they use the term “indigenous”. Sorry, but if the term just means “whoever was there when white people showed up” it is completely meaningless and worthless. I have to say that I do appreciate the author’s honesty, though. They aren’t trying to pretend that there’s a self consistent definition that actually makes sense; he admits the term is purely a political one. I strongly disagree with the author, but at least they aren’t shitting in my coffee and telling me it’s nutmeg. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > That was a good piece. This, I’ll agree with; it reveals exactly what the author means without the usual doublespeak. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/820 "2026-10-21T09:58:35Z")
Interesting book review by the Guardian: > **[Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History by Benjamin Moser review – the deep roots of a...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/19/anti-zionism-a-jewish-history-by-benjamin-moser-review-the-deep-roots-of-a-contemporary-movement)** > > A biographer’s affecting account of prominent critics of Zionism, from Hannah Arendt to Nan Goldin Will wait for it to come to my local library. But even just from that article, it’s clear there’s quite a lot of pushback on Zionism “coming from inside the house” as it were. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/821 "2026-10-21T12:25:06Z")
Lots of nominative determinism going on nowadays… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/822 "2026-10-21T12:39:25Z")
For all the non-Hebrew speakers wondering what on Earth Babale is talking about (my bolding): > **[What is a ‘moser’? The ugly history of Judaism’s most dangerous accusation |...](https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/what-is-a-moser-the-ugly-history-of-judaisms-most-dangerous-accusation-645769)** > > Moser literally means “one who hands over,” in the sense of one who informs or turns over a Jew to the secular authorities. > By the turn of the 21st century, the **slur** of “moser” served primarily as a rallying cry and justification for those who intend extrajudicial violence and **seek to silence legitimate opposition.** When Yigal Amir, for example, gunned down Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, he called Rabin a moser for his peace efforts with the Palestinians. It’s used as a tool of intimidation against victims of sexual abuse who may be tempted to report their abusers to the authorities. > > **Branding a Jew as a moser is, historically speaking, a dangerous charge with horrific, real-world implications**. A crowd recklessly chanting “moser, moser, moser” is terrifying, especially in our era of cell phones, social media and WhatsApp. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/823 "2026-10-21T12:44:59Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > For all the non-Hebrew speakers wondering what on Earth Babale is talking about (my bolding): Naaah, I was referencing the Yiddish term for a person who collaborates with their oppressors. Which is why it’s quite strange that his grandpa changed his name from _Moses_ to _Moser_ when he emigrated to the United States. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/824 "2026-10-21T12:56:17Z")
Same basic word in Yiddish and Hebrew (one is the root of the other), same ugly context. One minor spelling difference doesn’t make a lot of difference. Not a lot of daylight between “a person who collaborates with their oppressors” and “one who informs or turns over a Jew to the secular authorities”. Especially not to those Jews who believe they’re oppressed everywhere outside israel. > [@Babale](#): > > Which is why it’s quite strange that his grandpa changed his name from _Moses_ to _Moser_ when he emigrated to the United States. Clearly he planned a life of antisemitism for his descendants \s ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/825 "2026-10-21T13:00:40Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > same ugly context. Incidentally, I love seeing an Anarchist call out a term used by a minority group to denounce members of said group who reported on other members to the oppressive authorities as problematic. The pursuit of justification of Anti-Zionism sure makes people take some _creative_ positions. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Not a lot of daylight between “a person who collaborates with their oppressors” and “one who informs or turns over a Jew to the secular authorities”. I agree, there’s not a lot of daylight between those two things in the context of Jews living in ghettos across Europe. Sort of like there isn’t a lot of daylight between “one who informs or turns over a black man to the white authorities in the American South or South Africa” and “one who collaborates with their oppressors”, as I’m sure you’d be pointing out in quite literally any other context. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Clearly he planned a life of antisemitism for his descendants \s Obviously not; but clearly he didn’t mind taking on a name that would be derogatory in his native language in order to become slightly more accepted in his new society. Moser is a common German name, and the Jewish connotation clearly didn’t bother him enough to stop him from adopting it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/826 "2026-10-21T13:01:30Z")
Now I’m curious about the landscaper whose business was right behind my childhood home. His name was “Moser”. I didn’t think he was Jewish, though. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/827 "2026-10-21T13:03:21Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > His name was “Moser”. I didn’t think he was Jewish, though. It’s a common German last name with an unrelated etymology (I think it means “one who lives by a peat bog” or something). Moser’s grandpa was a German Jew fleeing the Holocaust who, when entering America, adopted a name that was derogatory in his native language but common in the tongue of his attempted murderers. I don’t think all that many Jews did that, so most Mosers are not going to be Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/828 "2026-10-21T13:05:13Z")
Thanks. Vague German roots that had little relevance to his daily life was a common “ethnicity” where i grew up. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/829 "2026-10-21T13:06:50Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > in the context of Jews living in ghettos across Europe I’m just going to point out to everyone else that _you_ were not so subtly alluding to it in the context of _a modern-day American Jewish writer_, not some informant in a medieval ghetto, and leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/830 "2026-10-21T13:12:31Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’m just going to point out to everyone else that _you_ were not so subtly alluding to it in the context of _a modern-day American Jewish writer_, not some informant in a medieval ghetto, and leave it at that To be clear, I don’t think the term is _actually_ applicable to him, or that it even _can_ be apllicable to any Jews on the planet outside the few thousand living in Iran or something; the overwhelming majority of Jews simply don’t live in a context where that term remotely computes. You don’t think that my reference to nominative determinism was _serious_, do you? You know what the term refers to, right? It’s the idea that someone’s name can somehow determine the future? It’s obviously a joke. Here’s the last time I used it, literally yesterday: > [@Omnibus Evil MFers in the news thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-evil-mfers-in-the-news-thread/983496/4938): > > I think it was destiny that a man named Brady managed to jump a gap named Brady’s Leap. > [@Omnibus Evil MFers in the news thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-evil-mfers-in-the-news-thread/983496/4939): > > Nominative determinism at its finest. On the off chance that anyone _actually_ needs this spelled out, I don’t think that nominative determinism is a real thing 🤦‍♂️ I am just pointing out the irony of a prominent Jewish Anti-Zionist having that name. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/831 "2026-10-21T13:13:37Z")
“I was only kidding” defense noted. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/832 "2026-10-21T13:15:54Z")
No, you’re correct, you caught me. I literally believe that poor Benjamin had no choice but to write the book; he was literally compelled by his last name to do it. He was a victim of his grandfather’s naming decision 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/833 "2026-10-21T13:21:12Z")
You think the fact that nominative determinism isn’t real\[1\] is the bit that matters here , and not your using your - let’s be charitable - _joke_ about it to call Benjamin Moser a race traitor? That’s the bit I was pointing out to everyone who doesn’t speak Hebrew or Yiddish with that _Jerusalem Post_ article link. * * * 1. which is absolutely the case ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615/834 "2026-10-21T13:24:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > and not your using your - let’s be charitable - _joke_ about it to call him a race traitor? Is there a point to all of this detective work then? If you just wanted to prove that I think that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic, you could have just quoted any of the quite literally dozens of posts I’ve made saying exactly that over the last few years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615.md?page=40) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discussion-thread-for-israel-gaza-west-bank-hijacks-tolerated/1031615.md?page=42)