Although there is a widespread perception that Jews are clever, sometimes they can be extremely stupid.
Consider Hamas, and all the others who seek the destruction of the State of Israel (which necessarily includes the massacre of countless Jews). You'd think that Jews would make every effort not to assist them in this goal. And yet, there are countless Jews who unwittingly benefit their cause.
One such case is with Rabbi Yaron Reuven, a.k.a. "Hitler's rabbi." In one of his apocalyptic teshuva rants, he notoriously spoke about how Hitler had good reason to hate the Jews, who were corrupting German society. Now, as it happens, his claims about Jewish life in Germany and Nazi antisemitism are false. But even if it were to be true, as Reuven believes, what he doesn't seem to grasp or care about is that by producing such a YouTube video, he's not just stimulating Jews to improve their ways; he's also licensing antisemitism of massive proportions, with this video being shared and viewed by antisemites literally hundreds of thousands of times.Another case of this occurred during Operation Guardian of the Walls. A number of Jews (or as Natan Sharansky called them, un-Jews), scholars in academic Jewish studies, signed a public statement. They decided to condemn Israel for using "state violence" to try to stop Hamas from firing rockets. Of course, this is innately foolish in that they didn't actually present any explanation of how Israel is supposed to stop thousands of rockets without engaging in military action. But an additional layer of folly is that although at least some of them believed that they were equally condemning Israel and Hamas, the bottom line that they were clearly effectively strengthening Hamas. After all, their criticism of Hamas was only obliquely mentioned at the end of the second paragraph, where they referred to the rockets being "unjustifiable and indiscriminate," whereas their condemnation of Israel was touted explicitly and strongly in the very first sentence of the very first paragraph. They might not believe that they are out to strengthen Hamas and those who seek to destroy Israel, but that's unquestionably the effect of their actions.
The most recent case of useful idiots for those who seek to destroy Israel is, of course, the Ben & Jerry's affair. A number of Jews, sincere supporters of Israel, also quite reasonably believe that controlling Judea & Samaria, with its huge number of Palestinians that are not being accepted as citizens of Israel, is an enormous problem. Rather less reasonably, they also believe that Israel is primarily to blame for this, and that pressure on Israel will lead to a solution (of course, they never explain what this solution entails and how it would play out). And very foolishly, they do not realize that joining the Ben & Jerry's campaign has the effect of strengthening those who are trying to destroy Israel entirely.
It's all about the context. If you believe that Israel should be making greater efforts to achieve a withdrawal from the West Bank, then there are ways to fight for that; you could support Meretz or something like that. Joining a global effort led by, and supporting, those who wish to destroy Israel entirely is not the way to do it. The distinction between Israel and the West Bank might be very significant to you, but it is of absolutely trivial significance to the haters of Israel, the BDS activists who want to destroy the country, all of whom are welcoming the Ben & Jerry's decision.
The most blatant display of such folly is by none other than Ben and Jerry themselves. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield declared that they are fully in favor of the action, and that there's clearly nothing antisemitic about opposing Israel's settlement policy in this way, because they are strong supporters of Israel. Apparently they know nothing at all about the director of the board of the company that they founded, who is opposed to Israel's very existence. While Cohen and Greenfield themselves state that they support the State of Israel, their company is not saying any such thing. The company did not put out a statement saying "We support Israel against those haters and activists who seek its destruction, but we do not support the control of Judea & Samaria."
The Haniyahs and Nasrallahs and Omars and Sarsours of this world must be laughing with incredulity when they see how well-meaning Jews latch on to efforts to destroy Israel, piping up with their little spiel about they oppose the '67 occupation and thinking that they are part of the same fight. When will these Jews wake up from their little bubble and see what their actions are doing in the larger context?
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