John Spencer
Disgusting. The attempt to compare the brutal murder of two Israeli Jews outside a Jewish institution—with a knife attack on a Muslim boy by a mentally unstable landlord—is not just a false equivalence, it’s whataboutism meant to deflect from antisemitism. One was incited by a global campaign to vilify Israel, the IDF, and Jews. It happened outside a Jewish center, targeting Israeli diplomats. That’s political, targeted antisemitic violence and terrorism. The other—horrific as it was—was immediately condemned across the U.S. political spectrum, prosecuted as a hate crime, and met with an outpouring of national sympathy. It was not celebrated or justified. We must condemn all hate-fueled violence. But don’t twist one tragedy to erase another.
Mehdi Hasan
The pro-Israel folks are quick to use the horrific, awful murders in DC to push Israel’s agenda, but does this argument about ‘licensing violence’ apply to their side too, given the brutal murder of 6-year-old Palestinian American child Wadea al-Fayoume in Illinois in Oct 2023?