Since Petti showed up in my feed, I want to take the opportunity to note that every single article he writes for @reason on anything to do with Jews and Israel is consistently terrible, the kind of stuff you might find @mises. I even wrote up a critique of one article: 1/

https://twitter.com/matthew_petti/status/1974797450935484421

It was about supposed hysteria when Hamas declared a "Day of Rage" for 10/13/2023:
(1) You would never know from this article that there have, in fact, been attacks on Jews in the US from Islamists. The most recent one before 10/7 was in 2022, when Malik Faisal Akram took worshippers hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel of Colleyville, a Jewish synagogue. The history of such violence, again never mentioned by Petty, makes the hysteria look a lot less hysterical. As would a mention of vandalism and threats against Jewish institutions and individuals since 10/7, including the killing of a Jewish man at a pro-Israel rally by an anti-Israel protestor less than a month later. 2/

For new Washington Post poll on Jewish opinion, it includes 24% "with no religious affiliation but Jewish ethnically, culturally or through their family background — and either were raised Jewish or have a parent who is Jewish." Some of this group are legit "secular" Jews. But someone with one Jewish parent, wasn't raised in anything, doesn't do anything Jewish but says, "yeah I'm half-Jewish" (and thus identifies as Jewish ethnically)--nope, they aren't part of the Jewish community, they shouldn't be part of a survey on Jewish opinion. 1/ The not-really-Jewish Jews are concentrated among younger people. So that. how you get statistics like this: "While 56 percent of Jewish Americans overall say they are emotionally attached to Israel, among those ages 18 to 34, that drops to 36 percent." Well, that and 2/

There is a tremendous amount of ideologically motivated/distorted scholarship by academic historians, and it's funny, but also very much not unfunny. Because it's when normies learn that you can't trust "mainstream" history that they become susceptible to conspiracy theory, Holocaust denial, and so on. 1/ Consider the debate I participated in over Nancy MacLean's ridiculous book on economist James Buchanan, filled with speculation, invention, tendentiousness, and incorrect statements of fact. 2/

More on Iraqi-British historian Avi Shlaim: One of his major contributions to Israeli history was to question the notion that Israel always faced implacable hostility from its Arab neighbors. Shlaim showed that various players in the Arab world showed some willingness 1/ to accommodate first Zionism than Israel, and in his opinion Israel often blew these opportunities by being overly suspicious or otherwise uninterested in peace overtures from the other side. 2/

The most influential libertarians of mid-century when libertarianism took off were Ayn Rand (Jewish), Ludwig von Mises (Jewish), Milton Friedman (Jewish), and FA Hayek (not Jewish). None of them called himself a libertarian. 1/

https://twitter.com/Sam_Schulman/status/1971613188438507662

The primary organizers of what became the libertarian movement were Nathaniel Branden (Jewish, via his work spreading Objectivism) and Murray Rothbard (Jewish, though something of an antisemite). 2/

A historical lesson for those who want Israel to be less "belligerent": Why did Israel risk Oslo in 1993? Because (a) the USSR was dead; and (b) The PLO had lost much of its support in the world after backing Saddam Hussein in 1991.
The combination made Israel feel secure. A secure Israel is an Israel willing to "take risks" (including foolish ones like Oslo). 1/ A threatened Israel, however, is going to be less accommodating. You have to remember that almost every Israeli adult is just one to three generations removed from genocidal violence against Jews in their homeland, plus have been subject to genocidal rhetoric from Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc. 2/

Libertarianism as a political movement strikes me as defunct.
One faction has reverted to the conspiratorial anti-governmentism of the old far right, like the old Liberty Lobby, which comes as the LL did with a big heap of antisemitism. Ron Paul and Tom Massie are the soft-core versions. 1/ The other has basically thrown its lot in with a different sort of reactionaries on the far left, promoting every nonsensical notion that has a bit of libertarian cache, like "Defund the police." They are also infected with their own version of far-left antisemitism. I admit to having a particular interest in antisemitism, but it's also true that adopting antisemitism is the sign of the intellectual decay of any movement. 2/

If people expected this, they were being ridiculous: "For many around the world, [Oct. 7] was proof that the Palestinian issue won’t be buried, that the oppressed will eventually burst with rage. They expected Israel to retaliate but then for it to negotiate a joint future." 1/ Who was Israel going to negotiate a joint future with? Hamas, which on Oct. 7 tried to launch a war of total destruction, and then vowed to do it again and again, with the help of the "Shi'ite axis?" 2/

Re the current wave of conservative censoriousness and attempts to cancel people for their comments on Charlie Kirk’s murder, the right use of tactics previously more associated with the was not only predictable, I predicted it. 1/ A big theme of my 2003 book “you can’t say that” was that one reason you have neutral pro-free speech principles even if censorship is perceived to be benefiting your cause the other side will use the same tactics when they get power. 2/

I have no special insight into what's going on in Netanyahu's head, but here's the strategic case for fighting to until Hamas surrenders in Gaza. 1/ The argument given, including by high-level members of the security establishment in Israel, is that if Israel makes a deal that leaves Hamas in place, Israel could always go back in if Hamas violates a ceasefire or otherwise poses a threat. 2/

Abortion, trans, & refugee rights are endangered, we have a militarized response to the undocumented & local crime, affirmative action is gone, and ... a wildly disproportionate amount of the left's attention has been focused on supporting a foreign Islamist terrorist group. 1/ One can add that other recent issues favored by the left--BLM/criminal justice reform, climate change, Me Too--are also being overshadowed. Maybe someone who understands the sociology of the activist left better than I do can explain to me: 2/

Judge Guido Calabresi, when he was dean of Yale Law and I was a first-year, said something profound at orientation. He told us that a lot of us are going to be unhappy while in law school, and that we will be tempted to blame outside forces for our unhappiness. 1/ In particular, he was referring to people who would blame their unhappiness on racism, sexism, and other isms. He of course acknowledged that in particular cases, that could be true. But he added that one's twenties, when one is navigating separating from one's family, 2/

Ranking of fertility rate by country for countries with nominal GDP of 10k a year or more. Israel is first with 2.9 1/ 2/

UPDATE: Assurant, @Chase Sapphire Reserve Card's travel insurance provider, is still refusing to cover a trip to Israel. Assurant's response upon inquiry from a prominent travel blogger was that "Israel is Level 3 for terrorism" and that's why it's not covered. My response: 1/ 1) There's no such thing as "Level 3 for terrorism." There is "Level 3--Avoid travel" which in Israel's case does include a warning about terrorism, but not only terrorism. (2) The terms and conditions don't say anything about not covering countries that are at a Level 3 State Department warning. If it did, that would be a clear rule that customers could known in advance, and also regulators could make sure that it was being applied evenly.

People are so pathological about Israel that they can’t acknowledge that it rescued 100k Ethiopian Jews, instead insisting that Israel engaged in expensive and dangerous rescue missions just so they could sterilize them... 1/ the origin of this lie is the allegation, uncovered by Israeli officials to begin with, that Israeli health officials had given some Ethiopian women Depo Provera, a long acting contraceptive, without their consent. 2/

I used to be inclined to think that flag-burning laws were a slam-dunk First Amendment issue. I'm not as sure any more, at least at the state level (not sure where in the enumerated powers the feds get the power to ban it.)
1/ Can a state decide that certain symbols are sacred, and can't be messed with, so long as (a) people are warned clearly and in advance by the law; and (b) there are many alternative ways of expressing the same point of view without touching the sacred symbol? 2/

I find Trump's blanket pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, well, unpardonable. But I also can't forget that while the Biden Justice Dept. had a very different attitude toward prosecuting Jan. 6-ers and lawbreaking Hamasniks. 1/ The Biden Justice Dept. prosecuted every individual who entered the Capitol Building on 1/6, even if they just moseyed in late, and just stood around and gaped, no violence, no property destruction. By contrast, again, Hamasniks were a low priority. 2/

The Guardian claims to have done an analysis showing that only 8K of the Palestinian casualties in Gaza have been combatants. There are lots of problems with the analysis, but let's start with the fact that around February 19, 2024, Hamas itself acknowledged losing 6K fighters. 1/ This was widely reported at the time. Here, eg, is Reuters. 2/

I'd have more sympathy with the Smithsonian here if I hadn't visited the National Museum of the American Indian, and seen ridiculous woke claptrap presented as fact. 1/

https://twitter.com/Hebro_Steele/status/1958004252087091572

In particular, there was an exhibit on Native American soldiers. It asked why Native Americans served in the military despite the severe discrimination they faced. 2/

The anti-Israel IHL people can't have it both ways, to wit: (1) Screaming Israel is committing GENOCIDE! and (2) when you question them about how Gaza is a "genocide" they come up with a definition of genocide so broad that genocide is mundane. For example, 1/ In Ezra Klein's recent interview with Phillippe Sands, Sands wants to rehabilitate what he considers Lemkin's conception of genocide. He gives an example: 6 Villagers from B and C get together and kill 3 people from a different group who live in village B. GENOCIDE! 2/

Re my post below about whether Sephardic Jews are "Hispanic" in the American context, one thing that undermined affirmative action was that it came to be seen by many as an Elizabeth Warren-esque scam. It wasn't always. 1/ First, w/r/t race it almost exclusively benefited African Americans, by design. Back in the 60s and 70s, there was typically little doubt about who "counted." 2/