(Highly recommend the first video in the resources)
Game theory, a mathematical model used to understand strategic interactions among rational decision-makers, can offer insights into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly when examining the actions of Zionist extremists and their potential long-term impact. In the context of this enduring conflict, game theory suggests that if one player, in this case, Israel, continues with a strategy of aggressive actions such as the occupation, destruction, and collective punishment of Palestinians, it may lead to a ‘game’ where there are no winners, only losers [[1]].
When one side adopts a strategy of extreme measures, it often prompts a cycle of retaliation and escalation, which can become a race to the bottom. Israel’s offensive actions, including the destruction of Gaza, the continued occupation of the West Bank, and policies that have been described as leading to the starvation of Palestinians, can be seen as moves in a high-stakes game where the goal is to force the other player to submit or collapse. However, these actions have significant repercussions, including the potential for international isolation and condemnation [[1]].
The strategic defeat for Israel, in this case, doesn’t necessarily mean a military defeat, but rather a moral and diplomatic one. The continued policies of what some label as oppression and apartheid have led to a growing perception of Israel as a pariah state, which could result in diplomatic isolation and a loss of support, even from traditional allies [[1]]. This isolation can be exacerbated by the internal divisions and erosion of national unity within Israel, a situation that game theory predicts as detrimental to the coherence of a player’s strategy [[3]].
Furthermore, game theory suggests that an extremist government that ignores peaceful resolutions and opts for oppressive tactics may ultimately experience a backlash not only from the international community but also from its own citizens. This has been suggested by voices such as David Hearst, who argue that Israel’s current trajectory could lead to a strategic defeat in Gaza and beyond [[2]][[4]].
The situation is further complicated by the potential for a shift in the US’s unwavering support. If the US, influenced by its own internal political dynamics or changes in the international arena, decides to halt weapons sales or withdraw support, Israel might be forced to reconsider its approach [[1]][[3]]. Such a scenario can be understood through game theory as a change in the payoff matrix, where the costs of maintaining the current strategy become unsustainable.
In conclusion, through the lens of game theory, the actions of Zionist extremists in Israel can be seen as a high-risk strategy that might secure short-term gains but potentially leads to a long-term strategic defeat. This defeat will not only be military but also moral, diplomatic, and societal, affecting the fabric of both Israeli and Palestinian communities and reshaping the geopolitical landscape of the region.
Resources:
– What Game Theory Reveals About Life, The Universe, and Everything – YouTube
– John Mearsheimer: What’s Behind Biden’s Blank Check Support for Israel? | Endgame #179 (Luminaries) – YouTube
– Why Israel faces a strategic defeat in Gaza | David Hearst – YouTube
– Mehdi Hasan Debunks 7 Israeli Myths About UNRWA – YouTube
– Ilan Pappe – how he became an Israeli dissident and on why Zionism will fail soon | UNAPOLOGETIC – YouTube
– The Zionist project is coming to an end, with Ilan Pappé – YouTube
This is my first attempt to use a ChatBot with RAG system (fed by my previous 38 articles) and other information to come up with an informative article. You can interact with my previous articles and knowledge base by using the Chatbot https://poe.com/PeaceInTheHolyLand
In an age where information is as influential as military might, intellectuals bear a significant responsibility in shaping the narratives and perceptions that underpin global conflicts. Nowhere is this more pertinent than in the protracted conflict between Palestine and Israel. As the asymmetry of power looms large, the role of intellectuals, activists, and informed citizens in addressing the injustices faced by Palestinians and applying pressure on Zionist policies becomes not just relevant but imperative.
The onslaught in Gaza and the plight of Palestinians under occupation have brought to the fore the urgency for intellectuals to recognize and challenge the support systems that underlie the actions of the Israeli state. This is not simply a call to awareness but a call to action, as the perpetuation of violence and the denial of Palestinian self-determination demand a moral and ethical response from those who wield influence through knowledge and discourse [1].
Intellectuals, especially in the United States, are situated in a unique position to question the moral incongruities of their nation’s foreign policies, which have historically sided with Israel, often at the expense of international law and human rights. The U.S. administration’s unwavering support for Israel raises questions about the underlying reasons for such an alliance, which often isolates the U.S. on the international stage and aligns it with actions that contradict its professed values [2].
By engaging in deep research and understanding the power dynamics at play, intellectuals can advocate for just policies and lobby for crucial actions such as ceasefires and the recognition of Palestinian rights. The willingness of professionals, investors, and thought leaders to emerge from their comfort zones and speak out against the occupation and systemic injustices reflects the potential for intellectual advocacy to influence public opinion and policy [2].
Indeed, the efforts of Israeli intellectuals like Ilan Pappe and Gideon Levy, who strive to enlighten their society about the realities of the occupation, are commendable. The formidable task of countering widespread media propaganda and deeply ingrained prejudices requires courage and persistence. Their hope for change is often pinned on the United States, where shifts in public perception and policy can have far-reaching effects [3].
Moreover, the resilience of the Palestinian people serves as an inspiration to global citizens. The diverse array of international activists and scholars who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian cause demonstrates the universal appeal of the struggle for justice and human dignity. This is a testament to the power of shared human values that transcend borders and politics [3].
Intellectuals must also confront the hypocrisy and corruption that can pervade their own societies. The dissonance between the lofty values preached by governments and their complicit actions in the face of injustice necessitates a strong intellectual response. There is a profound need for intellectuals to expose lies, promote truth, and encourage the election of officials who genuinely prioritize the well-being of people over political expediency [5].
As the informed elite, intellectuals have the moral imperative to challenge biased narratives, empathize with the oppressed, and maintain high ethical standards in their advocacy. The dissemination of truth and the exposure of falsehoods not only aid in the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also serve to protect the integrity of intellectual discourse and democratic processes [6].
In conclusion, the role of intellectuals in addressing the conflict in Palestine and Israel and applying pressure on Zionist policies is multifaceted. It involves research, advocacy, moral courage, and an unyielding commitment to justice. The path to peace may be fraught with obstacles, but through informed and principled engagement, intellectuals can help pave the way towards a just and equitable resolution for all parties involved.
Many individuals remain undecided or indifferent about their stance on Israel’s actions. Even in light of International Court of Justice rulings, the presence of bullies leading Israel and the proliferation of vile hate speech is evident.
For the duration of this article, let’s set aside the situation in Gaza. Instead, let’s focus on another region of occupied Palestine known as the West Bank to explore the harsh and inhuman treatment Palestinians endure at the hands of Israel.
The narrative of the West Bank is one Israeli officials would rather keep hidden. Numerous human rights organizations and some media outlets, such as Haaretz, have reported on the egregious and inhumane acts committed by Israelis in the West Bank. Yet, this coverage is often absent from our hypocritical mainstream media, as I have previously noted in my post about “the occupation of the American mind.”
Here is an outline of the critical points:
✴️ The international community universally recognizes the West Bank as Palestinian land, yet Israel continues to occupy and exert control over it.
✴️ A growing number of Israeli extremists, including members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, dream of annexing the West Bank to form a “greater” Israel. Imagine any conceivable atrocity: building settlements, detaining Palestinians, killing civilians, etc. — these are just a few examples of their brutality, documented in numerous documentaries and archives. One recent example is the Jewish-produced documentary “Israelism.”
✴️ Israel’s ultimate objective is to annex both the West Bank and Gaza, and they are not secretive about these plans.
Each of these points could be expanded into full articles, but let’s pivot to some actionable steps that those still on the fence can take, particularly those who hold morals and ethics in high regard:
✴️ Knowledge is power. Read reports and support American and Israeli human rights organizations. These individuals study, understand, and decide to take a stand against the cruel actions of their governments.
✴️ View this as a moral battle, not merely a political one. This conflict transcends national boundaries and distinguishes between humans with values and those without. If you’re undecided, it’s time to give this serious thought.
✴️ Align yourself with movements that share your values and objectives. While I cannot mention every group, here are a few: CAIR, JVP, B’Tselem, Tech for Palestine, UN, and many others. These organizations are in constant need of volunteers and donors.
✴️ Speak out! Use every opportunity to share your position with your social circles, providing them with thoughtful insights and credible, scientific resources. Only those who are willfully ignorant can deny the obvious, as one might deny the existence of the sun.
✴️ If you’re unable to express your views publicly, support those who can. There are many events, especially in the Bay Area, where your presence, support, and volunteerism are highly valuable.
✴️ Practice patience. The Zionist movement has been at work for decades; it is naive to expect immediate change in public opinion. This is why joining organized movements is crucial, in addition to publishing content or speaking out.
I firmly believe — and know many others share the belief — that most humans are decent. I choose to focus my energy on the majority who may not realize their power, rather than on those few blinded by greed or short-term gains.
While I publish more articles about the West Bank, here are some a sample from two prominent human rights organizations:
Our ultimate goal is to prevent crimes against humanity from being committed and funded using the hard-earned money of individuals like us, through taxes.
Observing the unparalleled US support for Israel in its genocide against Palestine leaves us perplexed. We may delve into the story of the US administration, seeking to understand why this has occurred, only to uncover the pervasive influence of lobbying. Digging deeper, we can grasp the extent to which lobbyists hold control in our democracy, realizing that it can be swayed by monetary power.
✴️ In Our Democracy, Does the Government Represent the People?
Benjamin I. Page (Professor of Decision Making at Northwestern University) and Martin Gilens (Professor of Public Policy at the UCLA) showed the impact of the systematic corruption in the United States and how this led to “exacerbated inequality, enriching corporations and the wealthy while leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves.”
They concluded:
“Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. ”
Check their article in Cambridge press and Book (see resources).
✴️ The legalized corruption: Economic-Elite Domination
If you simply trace the flow of money in American politics, you can expose the sources of power that enable corruption to flourish. The role of campaign contributions, dark money, and Super PACs in influencing elections and policymaking is beyond comprehensive. Military-industrial complex, Corporations and wealthy individuals utilize their financial influence to shape public opinion and control the political narrative, creating vulnerabilities that serve as fertile ground for exploitation by various groups, coalitions, and ideologies, including Zionists, who seek to fulfill their objectives.
And … what can you do if corruption is “legalized” within the country?!
✴️ Key Questions: Givers and Takers
Corruption involves both a giver and a taker, and for the purpose of this series, we will focus on the foreign policies of the United States but this really applies elsewhere. Here are some key questions and answers to consider:
Who determines the policies? The responsibility lies with the president, administration, and the Senate.
What drives their motivations? Their primary goal is to retain power and secure re-election.
How can their hopes be exploited? By making the path to re-election costly, they are forced to engage in extensive fundraising to finance their campaigns. For instance, a House representative has just two years before the next re-election, and due to the high cost of campaigns, they may need to raise more than $5,000 daily. Compare the difficulty of collecting such funds from a crowd to the ease of a businessman offering a $1 million to pass a specific resolution or law. Which option appears more enticing for easy fundraising?
✴️ There is one more key question:
While financial resources and securing power can be utilized to buy temporary loyalty, the long-term costs are likely to be excessive. Thus, I contemplate alternative practices that sustain unwavering loyalty among politicians and others.
Drawing upon psychology, it is evident that people are often motivated by a combination of hope and fear. So, what about feat? Could lobbyists be employing blackmail or other illicit methods, such as capturing incriminating footage of politicians accepting bribes or engaging in similar misconduct?
This leads to one more question …
How to ultimately enslave them? By maintaining meticulous records, inviting them to influential social gatherings, making them feel important and valued, understanding their desires and vulnerabilities, exploiting those vulnerabilities, and documenting any illegal activities they may engage in.
✴️ Corruption drivers – The military-industrial complex (MIC)
There are multiple interconnected components and influencers that boost the size and impact of corruption. The biggest by far is MIC.
MIC was popularized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1961, and refers to the relationship between a country’s military, defense industry, and political establishment.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Eisenhower warned.
Concerns exist that the military-industrial complex may promote policies detrimental to national interests and democracy, potentially fueling an arms race.
In the United States, the military-industrial complex comprises individuals and organizations that significantly influence defense policies and military spending.
Some key individuals and organizations involved in the military-industrial complex in the US are:
Defense contractors: Companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are major players in the US military-industrial complex. They are responsible for designing, manufacturing, and selling weapons and military equipment to the US government.
Government officials: High-ranking officials in the Department of Defense, the military, and the White House play a crucial role in shaping defense policies and deciding on military spending.
Lobbyists: other organizations employ lobbyists to influence government decisions on defense policies and spending. These lobbyists often have close relationships with government officials and can significantly impact policy decisions. Here fits the zionists.
Congress: Members of Congress, particularly those on defense-related committees, are responsible for approving the defense budget and overseeing the Department of Defense. They can also influence defense policies and spending through legislation.
Think tanks and research organizations: Their work can influence government decisions on military spending and defense policies.
✴️ Just imagine for a minute:
A world where lobbyists focused on certain ideologies knew that the greatest country in the world can be hijacked through an open gate of corruption; aka MIC. As immune and mighty the US can seem to the outside world, this corruption gate makes it infinitely vulnerable to the control of insiders and outsiders without any voice from its population whatsoever.
✴️ Think like a Zionist
Stepping into the mindset of Zionists and colonizers, let’s explore how corruption becomes a means to achieve ambitious goals. We have enough information out there (check resources) to help analyze their strategies of leveraging power, manipulating narratives, and exploiting vulnerabilities to further their interests. By understanding their tactics, we can better comprehend how corruption is exploited to serve their agenda, and in turn, work towards dismantling these systems of exploitation to our best abilities, our voice and vote.
Now let’s play the role of zionists:
We have a colonialism mindset. So, we should work tirelessly over long periods to start a mission of controlling or greatly influencing the arms of MIC. If we don’t do it, someone else is going to. Let’s help the US in the middle east as their biggest ally and let’s bring their army to fight our fights and enrich our MIC partners, it is a win-win for the elite. To organize this effort, we will put our intelligence services into this mission and establish action committees to fulfill our mission. (check articles on that in resources)
Additionally, let’s also do something about the public, so when our name is mentioned people look at us with sympathy and love. What can we do about that?
Media: let’s use propaganda and control the narrative. Anyone criticizing us we will use our power and our organized work to attack publishers until they submit to our narrative.
Universities: establish solid students groups effort and align them to the mission. Empower them with tools and narratives to defeat any opposition.
Corporations: build ties, we need those at our side. Be strategic so they can lobby with us when needed.
Let’s make sure we generously fund our intelligence and ensure they hire people across walks of life to fulfill our mission of propaganda. Sometimes we will need to partner with those who can help us get records of the elite committing crimes, so we can blackmail them if they ever think about opposing us.
This is a lot of work, but with a mission and focus we can achieve it. Let’s always remember that goals justify the means. Let’s utilize the corruption and loopholes to enslave them.
✴️ PACs
You can find a wealth of information about super PACs (Political Action Committee. There are multiple Pro-Israel ones such as AIPAC. See their activities and read about their influence. Check even some of their tweets where they publicly announce funding to take down some of their opposition. It is not just a hidden corruption, it is public and legalized!
Check the resources, there you will see numerous literatures and documentaries to start educating yourself and others.
✴️ Actions to combat the mother of all evil – corruption!
Numerous activists and organizations are well aware of these vulnerabilities and are actively working towards passing resolutions to close the legal loopholes that enable corruption. However, it is obvious that they do not have the power of media propaganda the corruption machine has, so many of us have never heard of these efforts, let alone comprehended how we can contribute to supporting them.
Knowledge is power – Therefore, a crucial component of this article and series is to provide the necessary information and resources to combat corruption. Check some organizations in the resources.
✴️ Do not be complicit
We should always reflect on our complicity and its role in sustaining corrupt systems. We should reflect on the reasons behind our inaction. We need to TRULY believe in the importance of collective action and the role of individuals in challenging the status quo.
By raising awareness, advocating for systemic changes, and holding those in power accountable, we can strive towards a more equitable and just society that is less susceptible to exploitation by Zionists and other vested interests.
This post barely scratched the surface and provided references to delve into the vulnerabilities created by legalized corruption in the US and how Zionists exploit these vulnerabilities to achieve their goals.
It is crucial to continue the dialogue, take action, and advocate for systemic changes to address these vulnerabilities and create a society that is more resistant to corruption and exploitation.
Back to where we started:
“To repair our democracy, Page and Gilens argue, we must change the way we choose candidates and conduct our elections, reform our governing institutions, and curb the power of money in politics. By doing so, we can reduce polarization and gridlock, address pressing challenges, and enact policies that truly reflect the interests of average Americans.”
Get involved and don’t be complicit! Learn more to change the future!
The war on Gaza resumed killing more civilians and I hope many intellectuals had the chance to watch and read and realize the amount of damage and bullying the Israel did and still doing with the full support of the US not just to Palestine, but to the whole humanity. I’m not exaggerating here. What happened has put to the surface the hypocrisy and corruption of values we have in our country and in western countries overall. It is getting us back to the thoughts that those in power can bully and get what they want and don’t dare to challenge them.
Is this sustainable? Do we feel comfortable using weapons to emphasize hate between nations instead of diplomacy? Is the settlers colonialism still running in the blood of those who believe they are more supreme that other humans?
Something is wrong and needs to be fixed. It does not help that everyone stick to their desk and tasks and feel better about their careers while millions of people are not able to find clean water, being bombarded by bullies or being surrounded by people in denial.
At the end of the day I see this as a deep and big war between politicians who run high level national/international decisions vs intellectuals who have smart critical minds and immune to propaganda.
You can rely on intellectuals to use their analytical tools outside work to participate in a meaningful impact.
You can rely on intellectuals to have the courage of speaking up and raising awareness to those who are less immune to propaganda and those in denial; the majority of populations.
Intellectuals are physicians, scientists, engineers, lawyers, political scientists … etc
Politicians are supposed to be intellectuals, some of them are. However, the corruption and lobbying we have turns most politicians into focusing on actions that helps them get re-elected, regardless of the long term goals. As an example, you may have heard Obama couple of weeks ago talking about the rights of Palestinians to have their independent country. However, you question why he did nothing on that when he was in power. Many similar examples.
The irrational support that US provides to Israel no matter how much bullying it does should trigger intellectuals to think more: what else does not make sense? Where does our tax money go? Why in Silicon Valley we have terrible roads and pavements although we pay the most amount of taxes to the federal government? Why the public education is bad? Why housing is not affordable here for most people?
After asking those questions (or many more) just take one problem and use your skills to dig and analyze, then raise awareness – expose lies and promote truth.
We have enough intellectuals to defeat propaganda. Where are just lazy or careless although deep in our minds we know that if we took no action we will be deceiving and dishonest to the rising generations. Being active on the other hand leaves a legacy and impact the lasts even after we get buried.
Be an activist today. You won’t regret. On the contrary it helps you know and lobby with more intellectuals who decided to take their skills to the next level and see the world for what it really is. The bigger picture as we like to call it.
Intellectuals in politics play roles like no others. Just Google “intellectuals in politics” and enjoy thought provoking history and papers. I will add more in future posts.
Khaled Alashmouny 