ISRAEL'S PROBLEM IS NEVER REALLY WHAT IT DOES ... IT'S WHAT IT IS, THE JEWISH STATE

The Jews intervened to stop a genocide in Syria; cue the outrage

Instead of gratitude, the world erupts in fury—not at the child-raping savages, but at the one country that dared to stop them. 

 

By Jeff Ballabon 

 

JNS

Jul 20, 2025

 

Druze residents protest near the Israeli-Syrian border fence in solidarity with their community in Syria, in Majdal Shams, July 16, 2025.

 

It was a textbook atrocity—if, of course, schools still allowed textbooks that teach the truth about the Middle East. Villages were overrun. Families were burned alive. Young girls were gang-raped while their parents were forced to watch.

Syria’s terrorist warlord-in-chief—currently being feted thanks to his Western-suited charm offensive—is a Salafi-jihadi alum of both al-Qaeda and ISIS. Naturally, progressive fanboys—and gals—hold him up as a savior. Meanwhile, his jihadi stormtroopers went right back to their old tricks: massacring Druze, Christians, Alawites, Kurds—anyone who doesn’t fit the caliphate’s approved demographic.

The world responded as it always does: with apathy and silence. Not even a hashtag. Arabs slaughtering Arabs? Who cares?

And then Israel acted. Precision strikes. Rapid deterrence. Moral—and operational—clarity.

The result? A ceasefire. A grudging, fragile halt to the sectarian slaughter. Suddenly, other nations take note, and the Syrian regime decides—how quaint!—that perhaps massacring minorities isn’t worth the fallout. A few targeted attacks from the IDF and Damascus rediscovers its ability to say, “Enough!”

Now, if this were a Hollywood movie, the credits would roll right there: Jews save the innocents; cue swelling strings; Bradley Cooper plays Benjamin Netanyahu and the Academy applauds.

But this isn’t Hollywood. This is reality—where Jews acting morally, heroically, is the one plotline no one dares to pitch. Come to think of it, no one dares pitch it in Hollywood either.

So instead of gratitude, the world erupts in fury—not at the child-raping savages, but at the one country that dared to stop them.

Because here’s the rule: when Arabs rape, burn and butcher other Arabs, it’s “sectarian violence”—if it’s noticed at all, that is. But when Israel steps in to stop the slaughter, it’s a war crime. Why?

Because Israel’s problem is never really what it does. It’s what it is. The Jewish state. Living, breathing, armed Jews. The world is full of people waging their holy wars against Israel; meanwhile, Israel stands alone as a holy people waging war.

And that’s what really offends. 

The modern left—a curious mix of Marxists, bureaucrats, and trust-fund anarchists—claims to love minorities, oppressed peoples, the marginalized, the forgotten. And when it’s Muslims killing Muslims—or anyone else—the left always seems distracted by other priorities. After all, Islamists hate the West, just like the left does.

Hence the keffiyeh fashion trend: symbol of colonialist genocide, worn without irony by petulant children—of all ages—denouncing the one country that does anything to stop genocides—Israel—while having tantrums that the jihadi genocide against Israel is being resisted—by Israel.

But last week, as soon as Israel stepped in to stop the genocide of ethnic and religious minorities, the left suddenly focused its ire on Syria with laser-like intensity. Not on the rape, torture and murder—but on Israel.

The oppressed Arabs disappeared altogether. The Jewish saviors became “aggressors” and the BBC scrambled to book emergency panels of Qatar-funded Middle East “experts” to explain how Israel’s actions are war crimes, and how Jews are somehow responsible for jihadist sexual slavery in rural Syria.

To condemn Israel for preventing genocide is not misguided; it’s monstrous. But then, moral monstrosity is having quite the renaissance in the West.

This isn’t geopolitics. It’s not even diplomacy. It’s civilization versus savagery—and the only ones bothering to show up on the side of civilization are wearing Stars of David on their uniforms.

And maybe that’s the problem. Maybe the world prefers Jews to stay in our role: powerless and persecuted. Useful victims. Poetic martyrs. As they say, the world loves dead Jews, not so much living ones. Not rescuers. Not heroes. Not sovereigns. Not armed.

And it’s driving them meshuga (crazy). Israel doesn’t just defy its enemies—it humiliates its moral critics.

Every time Israel acts to protect life, it exposes the moral vacuity of its detractors. It lays bare the perverse malevolence of the “human rights” industry, the corruption of academia and the global conspiracy promoting evil that is the United Nations.

Israel holds a mirror up to the monstrosity of the chattering class. Israel raises the bar for all nations and for all humanity. And that is why they hate Israel.

You see, despite the naive delusion of the original Zionist notion that a Westphalian nation-state would render Jews “normal” and accepted among the nations, Israel—as a Jewish collective—has turned out, surprise, to be sui generis. It remains Ivri—Hebrew—the one who stands on the other side. Alone.

Israel stubbornly refuses to conform to the norms of “humanity” and “civilization”—misnomers if ever there were any. Instead—G-d bless her—Israel plays the role begun by the first Jew, Abraham, who set a new standard for human decency and goodness.

Most Israelis of this generation were not born into host cultures and neither were their parents. And the more organically and fully Jewish Israel becomes, the more distinct it becomes, the stronger and more resilient it discovers itself to be. 

Reminding the world that there is such a thing as good versus evil—that has always been the Jews’ mission. And that, apparently, is the real war crime. Because, you see, the Jews remember.

We remember when the world watched Jews burn and did nothing. We remember the polite excuses. The Red Cross silence. The bureaucratic neutrality. Of course, we remember—from Kristallnacht to Oct. 7, 2023, nothing has changed.

And so, last week, Israel refused to be apathetic, silent, passive—even though the victims this time were not its own citizens, but its neighbors. Not Jews, but Arabs—related by blood and faith to one of Israel’s most loyal and prominent minorities.

And that’s the real sin. The Jew in exile was the conscience of the world—and was hounded, tortured, expelled, and murdered for it. Now the Jewish state has become the conscience of the world—and the world can’t bear it.

It can’t bear that the people it consigned to the role of eternal victim are not only defending themselves but rescuing others. It can’t bear that those it tried—and still tries—to eradicate are growing in military prowess and moral power. 

And it’s not just the world. There is a large American assimilationist Jewish identity that abhors anything that reminds the world that Jews are different—and always have been. They cling to the fantasy that the left’s utopias—progressivism, socialism, academia—are their Promised Land. They bear a special hatred for the Jewish state and for anyone who dares stand with it.

So they lash out. They project. They seethe. They cry “genocide!” every time Israel refuses to sit down and shut up.

Well—too bad. Because last week, while the West was tweeting, Israel was saving lives. The ceasefire—the halt to the slaughter of innocents—didn’t come from Geneva or The Hague. It came from Jerusalem.

So let the world rage. Let the podcasters bloviate. Let the UN condemn. Let Bernie Sanders, AOC and Zohran Mamdani blubber into their Ben & Jerry’s.

Israel rose. Israel acted. Israel saved. Not just like a lion; like a Lion of Judah. And if that offends you, ask yourself why.

But know this: the Jews—at least the Jews with a future—no longer care. History is watching. And, thousands of years later, the Jews—once again—are writing it. Am Yisrael Chai!