The Anti-Rebels

Has there ever been a time in history when the reaction to tragedies is nearly as bad as the tragedy itself?

That’s certainly been the norm for the past decade, especially regarding Israel. But the scenes out of Israel this past week did manage to horrify even the most status-craven leftists. They wouldn’t dare go public with their horror — what would their friends think? — but some did manage to privately message videos of Hamas’s unfathomable barbarism.

One could take issue with their fears of public ostracism and the fact that it took Hamas dragging naked Israeli women through Gaza and chopping up Israeli kids with axes for them to even react. But for those who require social acceptance to live, this was a big step. Their souls may be blackened from daily virtue-signaling, but at least they still have one.

The same could not be said about the millennials involved with groups like IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace. They’re not looking for dinner party invitations; they want to be seen as rebels: Cool, sexy, anti-establishment. Like ‘60s rock stars. I would say that this desire for “rebel fame” applies to the millennials involved with nearly every aspect of today’s woke movements.

There’s just this minor detail. They’re nothing like ‘60s rebels; in fact, they could easily be called anti-rebels.

Let’s start with the most basic aspect of true rebellion: truth. Whether they were fighting for civil rights, feminism, or gay rights, the rebels of the ‘60s didn’t have to lie, but probably wouldn’t have if they did. They were fighting for justice, and how does one fight for justice with lies?

By contrast, take a look at this Oct. 7th tweet by Simone Zimmerman, co-founder of IfNotNow:

“Israel makes every day under apartheid a living hell for Palestinians. Human beings can’t live like this … Blood is on the hands of Israel’s fascist government, army, and everyone who has aided their crimes against Palestinians.”

According to Zimmerman, if you happened to have missed all of those non-existent videos of the IDF dragging naked Arab women through the mud, chopping up the elderly and disabled, that’s on you. You’re just not as cool as Zimmerman thinks she is.

One could argue that people like Zimmerman don’t know they’re lying: They were taught to hate Jews and Israel by their neo-Marxist professors, so they naturally gravitate to “facts” that support that hate. Given their incessant use of Twitter, this argument is hard to believe but regardless: real rebels do their own research.

Not one member of this cult thinks for themselves. If they did, they would immediately be shunned and dumped into cancellation. 

Which leads to the second aspect of true rebellion: Non-conformity. Anti-Israel Jews today can tell themselves that they’re non-conformists, but the lies they believe about Israel come from the most conformist collective since the Soviet Union: Woke Neo-Marxist intersectionality. Not one member of this cult thinks for themselves. If they did, they would immediately be shunned and dumped into cancellation. 

In stark contrast to the ‘60s, there’s also been a glaring lack of new art and music during this period. It’s not a coincidence. To create art, one must think of oneself as an individual — the most basic aspect of classical liberalism. But these anti-rebels crave nothing more than fitting in to these fiercely unjust movements, even if that means inspiring violence.

Creativity also necessitates digging deep into one’s soul. That’s kind of a problem when you don’t have one: The third aspect of anti-rebellion. Who am I to say that Zimmerman and her buddies are soulless? Well, how else can you view these horrific videos and then blame the victims?

At the end of my book, “Passage to Israel,” I wrote: “Israel is a mirror to one’s soul. Those who see the beauty, who stand up for the truth, who understand the meaning, will never regret where they stood in this moment in history, when silence is not an option.” That was in 2016. Everything has gotten biblically worse since then.

And so we are now congratulating status leftists for allowing themselves to get a tiny bit upset — not publicly! — about one of the worst nightmares in Israel’s history. 

Is there any hope for the uneducated and soulless? In Judaism, we’re taught to always have hope. But hope, like rebellion, rests on truth. So I ask these shameless millennials: Want to be a rebel? Stop lying.

Karen Lehrman Bloch is editor in chief of White Rose Magazine.