I want to start by saying that I try to avoid calling out fellow Israel advocates by name where possible. It brings me no joy. But in this case, the damage done is so great, I cannot stand by and remain silent.
The Israel-haters and Jew-haters (usually the same thing) are having a field day over a sound byte by some Israeli podcast called Two Nice Jewish Boys:
And that’s just a sample.
Even though these guys claim to be the “the longest-running Israeli podcast in English since 2016”, most* had never even heard of them until now. Yet many of the haters (including media) have latched on to this boast to somehow insinuate that they are hugely popular and speak the truth. While I have no idea as to their audience numbers, their social media presence is relatively small, and their YouTube channel has 7.5K subscribers, which although decent hardly points to a huge audience. Their videos usually garner between a few hundred to a few thousand views, with the odd exception (like this video, which has 16K views on YouTube and a whole lot more elsewhere now that the haters are sharing it like crazy).
In short: These two, largely unknown podcasters have finally gone viral – for all the wrong reasons.
Now while I understand these guys are extremely angered and frustrated by all that is going on; by Hamas’ evil and the support it is receiving by way too many who should know better; by the fact too many Gazans have happily aided Hamas; by the IDF seemingly have its hands tied thanks to Hamas’ strategy of hiding behind human shields; by the wave of antisemitism we are enduring; and a whole lot more, to express their feelings in this way was wrong and dumb.
Moreso, to claim “most Israelis” feel the same way as them is a really damaging lie. Sure, we are all hurting, frustrated, and angry. But the vast majority of us do not wish any harm on truly innocent people that live in Gaza (i.e. children and those who do not willingly aid and abet Hamas nor want us murdered), and see ending Hamas as a way to help the innocents there have a better life. If what these podcasters claim was actually the case, we’d be seeing protests of millions of Israelis asking for Gaza to be razed to the ground (instead of the protests we are seeing calling for a ceasefire with the genocidal terrorist organization).
We live in a day and age when anyone with a microphone can easily disseminate their opinions. But, to quote Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility.
The Two Nice Jewish Boys YouTube channel describes as part of its purpose:
“gain a deeper understanding of Israel and its people, and be exposed to Israeli society like never before”
so they clearly intend to positively influence people about Israel and her people, a noble cause I consider myself part of.
Yet they are doing it all wrong.
And they are not alone. Far too many people with strong opinions and way-less-strong commonsense think expressing everything they feel in the heat of the moment is the way to make a positive difference.
Now, having said all of this, as angry as I am at these guys, the real villains of this episode are those who are pointing to their opinions to buttress claims we are all evil, genocidal maniacs. These are the same people who, at worst, support the real genocidal maniacs (Hamas), or, at best, ignore their genocide-y speech and behavior. In other words, Jew-haters.
*Truth be told, this is not the first time I have been left shaking my head by something they have said. Three years ago, I took exception to them suggesting besides one dude called Rudy Rochman, there were not really any other Israel advocates doing anything.
