There is only one armed force in the world upon which celebrities and activists openly wish for death. Op-ed.
No one calls for the deaths of Russian soldiers, despite the atrocities committed during the invasion of Ukraine—the bombing of hospitals, the abduction of children, and the campaign to erase a sovereign nation. The world recognizes that many of these young men are victims of Vladimir Putin’s war, not villains in their own right.
Similarly, there are no viral protest chants targeting those behind the documented genocide of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, nor the mass killings in Sudan. No mobs gather to call for the deaths of Hamas fighters who carried out the October 7 massacre, despite the horrific nature of those crimes—including the murder of babies and the deliberate targeting of civilians.
There is no global uproar on behalf of the countless Christians slaughtered across parts of the Congo, nor mass demonstrations demanding retribution against the IRGC, despite its extensive record of orchestrating terror attacks and assassinations around the world.
The entertainment world has even found room to empathize with a fictional former Japanese soldier in a recent Oscar-winning film, despite the very real, harrowing history of Imperial Japan’s wartime brutality.
Yet when it comes to Israel, the global tone shifts dramatically.
The Israeli military—the only Jewish army in the world, and one that acts as a shield against a second Holocaust—is uniquely vilified. Celebrities, musicians, and activists feel emboldened to call for its destruction. Unlike in any other conflict, the young men and women in the IDF are not viewed with nuance or empathy, even when their mission includes rescuing kidnapped children or defending their homeland from genocidal threats.
It is a sobering reflection of our times: where sympathy is selectively granted, and where the only army whose soldiers are openly wished dead is the one defending the Jewish people from existential threat.
