If that's true, then Palestinians are parallel to the white slave owners. But, I don't think that holds up either, because
1) Palestinians aren't enslaving or occupying Israel (it seems to be the other way around) and
2) The slaves were not indigenous to the Americas - they were brought to the Americas against their will by slave traders. Are you suggesting that Israelis are not indigenous to Israel, and were brought there against their will by Palestinians?
But perhaps you're right. Perhaps that's a poor analogy to the current situation regardless of which way you flip it to look at it. I think the examples of Jews rebelling against their occupiers in WW2 (like the Warsaw Ghetto uprising which I mentioned earlier) are likely far better examples of cases where Jews have rebelled against a much stronger oppressing force.
I think it's a bit of a stretch to insinuate that the Palestinians are in no way facing any sort of oppression at Israeli hands, especially in places like Hebron (or Gaza) where Palestinian freedoms and movement is severely curtailed by the Israeli occupation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEdGcej-6D0&t=197s
As far as Israel being weak, yet strong at the same time, I was merely channeling the sentiments you expressed in your article about 'de-victimization', which seemed to claim that Israel is weak and vulnerable, and that attempts to paint it as strong is 'de-victimizing' them.
Here's what I think: I think Israel is very strong, because it has the political and military backing of the USA. However, it would be much weaker without this support.
Yes, Iran and Qatar back Palestinians. Maybe they are more wealthy and powerful than Israel. I'm not sure. But I am sure of this: Neither is as powerful as the US. Iran and Qatar do not possess the nuclear arsenal, the aircraft carrier fleets, the ability to project force worldwide, and the budget that the US possesses.
So, when you look at the full picture of Iran and its proxies backing Hamas vs the US + Israel, Israel is on the vastly more powerful side - as long as it has US support.
So yes, Israel is very strong. Just because it got hit with a terrorist attack does not change that power dynamic. The US was struck by terrorists too on 9/11, but that does not mean that the US empire is any weaker, or immediately ceased being the most powerful empire in the world, with a hegemony on political, economic, and military power.
So yes, Israel is very strong, because it is backed by the forces of US imperialism (as I explained previously). But, this is also a weakness, as it would be much more vulnerable on its own if the US were ever to rescind this support.
It's like Ukraine. Is Ukraine weak or strong? Well, it is weak, but it is much stronger than it would be and can punch above its weight with US military aid. But without that, it is much weaker than Russia, and Russia has the demographic advantage.
Israel is at a demographic disadvantage as well. There are far more Arabs in the region than Jews. It is extremely dependent on American aid for its survival, which makes me question the wisdom in its claimed legitimacy considering that it would not be able to react as violently and aggressively and with such disproportionate force if the US was not supplying it with routine arms shipments.
Israel's own leadership admits this. They could only sustain the war in Gaza at its current pace for a couple of months without US military aid, and Israel's own leaders are warning that this dependency and reliance on US firepower (at the US taxpayers expense) is a problem:
As far as being a 'useful idiot' and falling victim to propaganda, I would posit that it is the propaganda of the US empire and the West that is far more insidious and dangerous, because we are so much more vulnerable to it. We don't even realize it's propaganda, whereas the propaganda that comes out of Iran is comically amateurish. Who has the larger propaganda budget and controls the Western narrative? The military/intelligence apparatus of the most powerful empire in the world + Israel and all it's perception management assets and psychological warfare expertise..... or Jihadist terrorists?
I'm more wary of the deluge of pro-Western, pro-Israelis, pro-American propaganda I experience on a daily (even hourly) basis, because that is what I'm being constantly bombarded with as an American. It's also the side my tax dollars fund, to a much greater extent than any token humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
And yes, the US backs other truly horrific regimes (like Saudi Arabia), ISIS in Syria, The Mujahadeen in Afghanistan (which morphed into the Taliban)... I'm critical of this too. A lot of the enemies the US and the West have in the region are products of our own making - especially Iran. The instability in the region can largely be attributed to US and other Western meddling in the region for decades, propping up this or that regime in an effort to promote - not humanity or human rights - but predominately US business interests.
As far as fighting on the side of Jihadi terrorist regimes, the US backs those too. Netenyahu supported Hamas years ago, thinking it was a good hedge against Fatah at the time. Who do you think is backing the ISIS rebels who just toppled Assad? Turkey and the US. Do you think these are 'good' guys to be backing? Do you really think that US aid and meddling in the region has made it more peaceful?
I don't.
