Having been ousted last month from The Daily Wire for criticizing Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which intellectually dishonest and cowardly media outlets like CNN have stupidly equated to “antisemitic rhetoric” (the usual accusation aimed at silencing legitimate criticism of the self-described “Jewish state”), Candace Owens on Twitter last week challenged the Daily Wire’s founder, Ben Shapiro, to a debate “on Israel and the *current* definition of antisemitism”. Shapiro responded by accepting the challenge on the condition he would host it himself on his own platform. Owens replied by proposing “a neutral, trustworthy platform.” Shapiro’s telling response was to accuse Owens of wanting “to hide behind a moderator”.
So Candace Owens reasonably suggests a neutral platform, and Ben Shapiro insists on his own platform while describing the neutrality proposal as "hiding behind a moderator".
We can see why Shapiro would not want there to be a neutral moderator. https://t.co/QFMoQIClmN
— Jeremy R. Hammond (@jeremyrhammond) April 6, 2024
This morning in my Twitter feed (yeah, I know we’re supposed to call it “X” now, but it’s still Twitter to me), I saw this response of Dave Smith’s to someone accusing him of having discredited and “beclowned” himself:
Oh shut up. Saying “Hamas is now in control of the Biden administration.” Is George W level dumb. Just another BS lie because that’s all you guys have. You would flip out if someone said Israel is in control of our government, even though that’s 1000x closer to reality. https://t.co/K4QZucowS1
— Dave Smith (@ComicDaveSmith) April 9, 2024
Curious as to who would say something as stupid as “Hamas is now in control of the Biden administration,” I clicked through the thread to find that it was none other than Ben Shapiro, in a tweet to which Smith had responded with the sarcastic remark, “Aid to Israel must be unconditional otherwise you’re a terrorist!!!”
Which is what Shapiro is essentially saying, by any reasonable interpretation given the whole context of the situation.
See, what the Biden administration did that Shapiro is so upset about is to “demand” in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel take “meaningful” action to limit harms to civilians after Israel’s targeted strike on a vehicle carrying relief workers from the humanitarian aid organization World Central Kitchen, which killed seven aid workers.
When asked by a reporter whether he had told Netanyahu that the US, if Israel did not comply with the “demand”, would cut off the US military aid that has facilitated Israel’s systematic war crimes in Gaza, Biden’s revealing response was, “I asked them to do what they’re doing.”
File that one away (along with Biden’s earlier admission that Israel is engaged in “indiscriminate” bombing) for possible future reference if prosecutions are ever initiated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against US government officials for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by facilitating Israel’s crimes against humanity in Gaza.
As reported by ABC News, Biden administration officials “continued to decline to state what specific consequences Israel would face if it doesn’t meet U.S. requests, like whether the U.S. would consider conditioning military aid to Israel.”
So, Dave Smith’s sarcastic quip in response to Shapiro’s brainless comment about the Biden administration being controlled by Hamas is spot on. Shapiro is indeed effectively saying that anyone who does not think that military aid to Israel should be unconditional must support terrorism, and he expects us all to take him seriously. Which just goes to show why he cannot be taken seriously.
A perfect illustration of why Shapiro cannot be taken seriously. The reason consequences of Israeli refusal to meaningfully address the humanitarian crisis were "unspecified" is precisely because of the Biden admin's commitment to continued complicity in Israel's genocide. https://t.co/KKuThnKCqJ
— Jeremy R. Hammond (@jeremyrhammond) April 9, 2024
For a detailed examination of how the Biden administration has been absolutely complicit in Israel’s genocide, see my article for The Libertarian Institute “U.S. Humanitarian Aid to Gaza Is a Cynical PR Ploy”.
(And, no, the Biden administration’s decision to abstain rather than veto the legally binding UN Security Council resolution on March 25 calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza also does not absolve the US government of its continued complicity in Israel’s atrocity crimes.)
