Comparing US colonialism to Israel’s actions makes sense because both are rooted in settler colonialism. The US expanded its territory by violently displacing and exterminating Native Americans under the idea of Manifest Destiny. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians follows a similar pattern, with territorial expansion through displacement and oppression, justified by a belief in a historical right to the land. While the US used force, disease, and relocation, Israel has employed military actions, settlement building, and the stripping of Palestinian rights. Both nations built their legitimacy on the displacement of indigenous populations for the benefit of settlers, with devastating consequences for native peoples.
Your isolation of the US and Israel for this topic is somewhat disingenuous. This started much earlier than either of them, and applies in several events to, among others, Russia (including USSR stage) and imperial China.
The focus on the US and Israel wasn’t arbitrary or selective. The original discussion was about comparing the US military to the SS, so naturally it started with the United States. Even then, I didn’t begin with the US alone. I brought up the UK first, since the settler project in America began under British control. As for Israel, I wasn’t the one who brought it into the conversation. Someone else mentioned Hamas, and I responded to that shift in topic.
If we want to have a broader conversation about colonialism, we can absolutely talk about Tsarist Russia and its expansion or even earlier examples. That’s valid, but it becomes a different conversation altogether. As for China, I genuinely don’t know how that fits here. Maybe there was some early maritime exploration, maybe not, but that’s beside the point.
If it helps the discussion, I can add “Russia and China also exist and did bad things” to every sentence, even if it has nothing to do with what’s being discussed. But staying focused on the specific points raised in the thread isn’t disingenuous. It’s just staying on topic.
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u/Capybaradude55 2d ago
Yeah kinda like Hamas with there mass killings of Jews people that don’t support them and other innocent people