If it’s a matter of choosing the sin of omission over the sin of commission, it’s worth noting that there are really only two categories of behaviors this cycle: those that contribute to the election of Donald Trump and those that won’t.
Even if you feel that working through government is a dead end, allowing Trump to take power can - and in this case almost certainly will - limit our ability to otherwise make a meaningful difference.
A conservative Supreme Court - particularly one so brazenly partisan - would be highly unlikely to invalidate Anti-BDS laws. In 2021, Republicans passed a spate of anti-protest laws in reaction to BLM and police reform activism. Given the chance, they will do the same to inhibit campus protests:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/republicans-campus-protest-law-order.html
A Republican-controlled Senate and Justice Department would likely result in the passage and enforcement of a bill similar to
H.R. 6090, which would classify criticism of Zionism as a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Trump even went so far as to promise that, if elected,
he'd deport pro-Palestinian protesters.
We can either prevent him from taking office or help him.
As much as we may not like it, THAT is the choice.
The “trolley problem” is a poor metaphor in this instance, as it’s a utilitarian thought experiment that requires people to actively condemn someone to death to save a larger number of different people.
That might be analogous to this situation if voters were being asked to sacrifice the people of Gaza for some collective “greater good”
and act as their executioner - hardly a moral choice.
We shouldn’t treat genocide as some inevitability that we all need to “get over” to make a calculated decision about the incalculable value of life.
Fundamentally, there are not two different tracks here, as might be the case if one candidate were better on this issue, but worse on one that affects more people, like climate change, and voters are being asked which group to sacrifice.
When it comes to Palestine, Trump is worse. It is that simple.
Benjamin Netanyahu does not believe “both sides are the same.”
West Bank annexation financier
Miriam Adelson does not believe “both sides are the same.”
The choice isn’t to sacrifice Palestinian people to save some other, larger group of people because “all lives matter,” it’s about whether you’re actually serious about “by any means necessary” or if you’re all talk and prefer symbolism over substance, pride over principle.
The unpleasant reality is that one of two people will take office in January.
Netanyahu has a preference.
I’m not going to be duped into helping him realize that ambition out of spite.
