Every atrocity in history begins with someone deciding who counts as a human. Marcus AureliusFor an almost incalculable number of years spanning centuries (including more modern times), tensions between Arabs and Jews have spilled over from the Middle East into the streets and onto college and university campuses in the United States and throughout the world. Related Lets end the blaming and break the Palestinian-Israeli impasse as We the People Heres a plan for getting past the blame and starting an era of peace based on fairness and humanity. This overt tension has been most particularly profound since Hamas attacked and invaded southern Israel during a youth concert for peace on October 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 people of several nationalities, wounding many more, and kidnapping an estimated 250 hostages.Since the incursion, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have reportedly killed over 65,000 Palestinians and starved many more within the Gaza Strip and on the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River territory, including mainly innocent civilians who were not involved in the October 7 attack. The bombing of medical facilities, homes, and other shelters has caused severe conditions, including the depletion of food, drinking water, and fuel, as well as rampant disease. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Do Netanyahu and his governments policies and actions toward the Palestinian people mirror the oppressive treatment Jews have suffered for literally 3,000 years? Are these policies actually self-defeating for the nation of Israel?The history of the Middle East, and especially between Palestinians and Jews, abounds with blame, recrimination, retaliation, and a perpetual, escalating cycle of mistrust and violence. And there is indeed plenty of justifiable blame to go around on multiple levels and sides.But as we blame and blame and blame and then expect different results we are certainly left with insanity resulting in increasing tensions, violence, death, and the possibility of an ever-widening breakout of war and destruction.If one views the conflict, however, as a binary with either the Palestinians or the Israelis as either the victims only or the oppressors only, then one does not fully understand the histories or the issues. We must, instead, think in more nuanced and non-binary ways. Benjamin Netanyahu, a warlord with no interest in peaceBenjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, addresses the U.S. Congress on July 24, 2024 in Washington. | Josh Morgan / USA TODAY NETWORK via iMAGN imagesIn 2015, only hours after the Likud Partys won the most seats in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) 30 seats, compared to the 24 seats won by the partys closest competitor, the Zionist Union Party (formerly the Labor Party) the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the U.S. sent an email message to millions of U.S. residents congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the outcome, which would result in his re-election for a fourth term. The announcement included a congratulatory petition for people to sign, and stated in part, The people of Israel have spoken: Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu was just reelected to office, in a sweeping victory for those who value freedom and democracy around the world.In 2022, the Republican Party issued a similar response after Netanyahu, the Likud partys continuing leader, secured a clear parliamentary majority with his right-wing and religious allies, ending a period of political stalemate and allowing him to return to the premiership for an unprecedented sixth term. Republicans celebrated the victory, and many of them had consistently expressed strong support for Netanyahu and the state of Israel.Yes, the 2015 election was a sweeping victory, but not for those of us who truly value freedom and democracy around the world. Right-wing politicians who run and rule by fear and division stand as the only winners in this travesty: those hardliners who promote intolerance, hatred, xenophobia, and racism those deciding who counts as a human, as to Marcus Aurelius would say. Israels policies still embolden the terrorist state of Iran and its proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis) to further threaten and attack Israel and Western countries in Europe and the United States.Only four days prior to the 2015 election, Netanyahu and his Likud Party were trailing in the polls. Just 48 hours before the election, Netanyahu, as a last-ditch desperate effort, finally told his truth: that he would never support the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch, while supporting the increase of Israelis so-called settlements on the West Bank.Netanyahu-watchers had long suspected his disingenuous interest in a two-state solution.In his campaign, Netanyahu turned Israeli democracy into a platform of hate and suspicion by warning his right-wing supporters that the opposition parties had been busing legally registered and politically left-leaning Israeli Arabs to the polls in droves.Over the entirety of Netanyahus rule, we have seen that his brand of extremism is based on divisions, which is a terrible thing for Israel, for the Middle East, and for the world. Netanyahu speaks directly in racist terms about Palestinians. He rarely uses the dog whistle of talking in coded language.Members of Netanyahus ruling coalition promoteno real alternatives to negotiated settlements other than war. To remain in power, Netanyahu talks tough to exert his brand of hyper-masculine bravado, just like every other warlord going back through time. One does not have to ride a horse shirtless and order the invasion of Ukraine like Russian President Vladimir Putin to fall into this category.Benjamin Netanyahu does not seek peaceful means to resolve conflict. What was true from ancient times remains true today, from the ancient Persians, Assyrians, Canaanites, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, Celts, Scandinavians, Christian Crusaders, Ottomans, Islamic Jihadists, Fascists, Nazis, nationalists and neo-nationalists of every stripe: Warlords dont have use for peace because peace doesnt have use for warlords.Has the abused child become the child abuser?Displaced Palestinians inspect their tents, which were hit from an Israeli airstrike, inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Sep 27, 2024 | Shutterstock Scan the psychological literature and youll find numerous case studies of abused children who grow to become child abusers those tormented children eventually become tormentors themselves.On the other hand, other studies document abused children who eventually stopped the cycle of abuse as adults some who work to make the world physically and psychologically safer for everyone. I have to ask myself, Have some of us taken on the characteristics of our abusers by perpetuating the abuse? And what role does internalized oppression play in this equation?Do Netanyahu and his governments policies and actions toward the Palestinian people mirror the oppressive treatment Jews have suffered for literally 3,000 years? Are these policies actually self-defeating for the nation of Israel?Israels murder of innocent civilians and humanitarian atrocities has turned Israel into a pariah nation around the world!Netanyahu and his governments current course have threatened the viability of the release of Hamass Israeli hostages. The current course could further destroy the possibility of enacting theAbraham Accords, a treaty for mutual cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors.Although recently weakened by Israeli attacks, Israels policies still embolden the terrorist state of Iran and its proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis) to further threaten and attack Israel and Western countries in Europe and the United States. And Israels policies could push the more moderate Arab states such as Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others to move closer politically and ideologically into Irans arms.Israels policies have furthered Netanyahus goal of killing, at least for the near future, the possible creation of a safe and stable Palestinian homeland, which, ironically, if implemented, could help to guarantee Israels security needs too.The resulting humanitarian crisis has further distanced the remainder of the world from supporting Israel, while ensuring even more mass protests around the world against the mass casualties inflicted by the Israel Defense Forces on civilian populations in Gaze and the West Bank even larger than the ones we saw during the past few years on college and university campuses and in cities.Israels murder of innocent civilians and humanitarian atrocities has turned Israel into a pariah nation around the world! A concentration camp by any other nameDisplaced Palestinians in Al-Mawasi crowd to get rice meals from (Al-Takiya) due to the lack of flour and also the lack of entry of aid, in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 29, 2024 | ShutterstockA concentration camp is a camp in which people are imprisoned or confined, commonly in large groups, without trial. Usually, those people belong to groups the government does not like.Throughout the collective history of concentration camps, we can identity some general conditions: brutal working conditions, insufficient supplies of food, clean water, sanitation, rampant disease, inadequate medical services and medications, lack of freedom of movement outside the limits imposed by occupying forces, rescinded human and civil rights, and in many instances, military incursions, armaments, bombardments, and death.When the topic of concentration camps arises, most people think of the series of armed encampments constructed and maintained under the Nazi regime in Germany and throughout its conquered territories during the 1930s until the end of World War II in 1945.The establishment of concentration camps constructed to constrain the Palestinian people has been a complex process.Some were designated as forced hard labor encampments, while the Nazis constructed others as massive death factories for the murder of those the regime considered undesirable. The first of these was Camp Dachau, set up in March 1933 on the heels of Hitlers ascension to power.Here, the Nazi authorities and military personnel searched for, arrested, and imprisoned individuals and groups that the regime regarded as enemies of the state and as antithetical to the goals of Nazism people such as communists, socialists, and Jehovahs Witnesses, and those it defined as racially impure, non-Aryan, subhuman, including Jews, male homosexuals, Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, and others.While these are arguably the most widely known concentration camps, the history of concentration camps is much more extensive than we might think. Governments set up encampments in differing forms and configurations, calling them different names for example, reeducation camps, internment camps, ghettos, prison campus, work camps, death camps, relocation camps, gulags, detention camps, and many others.To paraphrase The Bard, A concentration camp by any other name is still as horrific. Are there any hopes for peace inside Gaza and the West Bank? | ShutterstockAs a queer person and primarily as a Jew it hurts me to feel compelled and justified in listing the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan River not as virtual concentration camps, but instead as actual ones, because these areas meet most of the conditions for concentration camps listed above.As Jews with our long and tortured history of forced conversion, expulsion from our lands, and eventual murder we should by now understand the concept of oppression by committing to a moral mandate of never treating people as we were so cruelly and brutally treated.Never again must also apply to Israels murder of civilians in the Gaza Strip and to the theft of land in the West Bank by so-called setters, which is simply a sanitized name for Jewish extremist land thieves.The United States and other Western nations have, for the most part, provided Israel with unconditional support through their shipments of armaments, other goods, and funds during times of peace and war. The establishment of concentration camps constructed to constrain the Palestinian people has been a complex process. As the various forms of camps established by several governments through time, each one remains somewhat distinct, but all are in so many ways and forms very similar.There is an unlimited amount of blame to go around. The process in the establishment of the modern state of Israel by the western powers with the United Nation was tilted against the best interests and needs of the Palestinian people.Israeli governments, past and present, created tight quarters for the millions of Palestinians. The Israeli government has severely restricted essential goods, services, and humanitarian aid from entering the Strip, has blockaded coastal ports, and has bombed and destroyed residential areas, killing thousands of innocents during hostile times. The Hamas governing body has remained intransigent by refusing to recognize the state of Israel. Hamas has continued to lob missiles into Israeli territories, killing and injuring many over the years. Hamas has also refused to negotiate in good faith with Israeli officials to attain a sustained peace settlement.Hamas has manipulated its own civilians as human shields from Israeli bullets and bombs. It has squandered incoming aid for its own uses by building underground tunnel shelters for its fighters and diverting funds intended for humanitarian relief for the purchase of armaments rather than food, shelter, and medicine.Most other Arab nations have subsequently abandoned the plight of the Palestinian people over the many years of struggle. The United States and other Western nations have, for the most part, provided Israel with unconditional support through their shipments of armaments, other goods, and funds during times of peace and war. These governments have placed insufficient pressure on Israel to proceed both with restraint and plans to negotiate for the eventual freedom for the Palestinian people, in either a one-state democratically free country or a two-state solution.When the peoples of three monotheistic religious groups claim these highly contested territories astheirown God-given inheritance, it seems the only thing holy that can possibly come from the so-called Holy Lands is that throughout millennia, warring factions have created holy hell there.And as the cycle continues, so too does the killing on every side, with each side evoking the name of their God.For, in the insightful words of the great Mark Twain, History doesnt repeat itself, but It often rhymes.A central tenet of Jewish tradition isTikkun Olam, meaning the transformation, healing, and repairing of the world so that it becomes a more just, peaceful, nurturing, and perfect place. I ask us, then, to join and go out into our lives, and work forTikkun Olam. Let the abuse stop here.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.