Lebanon
We have to talk about what's happening in Lebanon and how it relates to the Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.
For a quick background on the 7th of April, Donald Trump accepted Iran's 10 point proposal as the basis1 for ending the war that started on the 28th of February when the US attacked Iran during negotiations2, both Iran and mediator Pakistan insist those 10 points included a stop to violence in Lebanon3, a clarification made necessary as, right after Trump's post, Israel started horrific air strikes in Lebanon murdering hundreds and making a mockery of the ceasefire4.
So, what does this have to do with our great Leftist hope Zohran Mamdani? Well he's been consistently providing the final justification left for Israel's horrors with comments such as this back on the 9th of January where he said "chants in support of a terrorist organization have no place in our city"5. Which was in relation to the most prominent Palestinian resistance group. Please note I am going to be calling it tea and tea o ism to try and avoid social media bans as well as not naming the groups in question to avoid algorithmic censure, which is the whole problem.
Because that word is as powerful as it is meaningless. It is powerful as, once applied to a group, all actions, including atrocities against civilians, become justified to combat it in the Western mind because of Western media. And so to turn resistance against the worst kinds of tyranny and oppression into a bad thing instead of good all that needs to be done is apply the tea label. And that's the trick Israel is using against the most prominent Lebanese resistance group to justify the horrors in Lebanon6. For anyone who accepts this bad faith framing, the issue goes from incredibly clear, that destroying a ceasefire by murdering civilians is wrong, to muddled, because doing it to combat tea-o-ism makes it complicated, somehow. Which is why what Mamdani said is such a problem. His words strengthen the rhetorical shield that prevents pressure from being applied to Israel, because tea o ism is just that bad.
And that's where the meaningless part comes in. Because there is no international legal definition for tea-o-ism7, which makes it a purely political label, that can be applied by anybody to anything for any reason and so while Mamdani is technically correct in that the USA considers the most effective Lebanese resistance to the horrors perpetrated by Israel to be teaoist, it only takes a moment of reflection to realize the absurdity of America of all places having any moral authority over the application of that label, whether it be in Lebanon, or Palestine, or Yemen, or Iran. It's a disgusting bit of rhetoric that needs to be called out.
Which is one of the two things that we can do today, first continue to normalize the very obvious idea that groups resisting tyranny are to be supported, and not vilified, including calling out those, like Mamdani, who undercut this. And, second, send support to the people on the ground in Lebanon with whatever you can spare. One such organization is the Lebanese Red Cross/Red Crescent8. We do not have the luxury of hopelessness when so many men and women are on the front lines either bringing aid to those harmed by the Zionists, or fighting to bring an end to their tyranny.
All opinions my own, in the end only God knows best.