This article was written by Sharon Tobias, Nan DiBello, and Karsten Struhl. They are members of SBN's Secular Dharma and Political Activism group. This article presents their perspective on this issue and does not represent the position of SBN as an organization. As noted by the authors, we hope the article encourages debate and discussion on how Buddhists could respond to this crucial issue.
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As secular Buddhists we are moved to respond to the enormous suffering, starvation, and violence inflicted on the Palestinians in Gaza by Israel’s genocidal policies. The Israeli government, with the complicity of the United States, is destroying the very lifeline of the Palestinian people with the purpose of making Gaza uninhabitable for the Palestinians. It has become obvious that their intent is to force all Palestinians out of Gaza. While we condemn Hamas’ horrific actions on October 7, 2023 and feel compassion for the suffering of the hostages and their families, we refuse to turn away from Israel’s ongoing efforts to brutalize the Palestinian people and “ethnically cleanse” Gaza.
The Israeli government’s actions have been deemed illegal and condemned as genocide by top UN officials and world leaders, by international human rights and aid organizations, by the major Israeli human rights organization, B’tselem , and by medical and physician organizations. In addition to the murder and maiming of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians by guns and bombs, to the deliberate attacks on hospitals, medical workers, and journalists in Gaza, mass starvation has been and continues to be used as a weapon of war.
Gaza’s population has been systematically denied food, water, medicine, fuel and other basic supplies needed for survival. Humanitarian aid groups such as UNRWA have been prevented from delivering needed supplies while systematic attacks on the health system in Gaza have deprived life-saving care to severely ill and malnourished children and babies. Meanwhile, Palestinians face continued displacement from their homes to supposed “safe” areas which are then subsequently bombed. And those Palestinians trying to get the meager amount of aid that is allowed often have to face the bullets of the Israeli army. All this amounts to the destruction of the infrastructure of Gaza and the obliteration of the Palestinian land and people.
Our response to the destruction of Gaza and the Palestinian people is informed by our compassion for the suffering of all people involved and a recognition of their common humanity - both Palestinians and Israelis. Several core principles of the Buddha’s teaching contribute to our response: the interdependence of all beings; the teachings of non-harming; and the ethical values of care and compassion. Based on these principles and values, we have an obligation to actualize Buddhism’s ethics of wisdom and compassion in today’s world. Therefore, we join with other humanitarians and activists in speaking out and condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza. At the same time, we must do all that we can to provide Palestinians with humanitarian assistance (food, water, medicine, shelter, etc.) in conditions of safety and security and to resist the complicity of the United States.
We join with others such as the United Nations special rapporteur (Francesca Albanese), the United Nations Special Committee, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Center For Constitutional Rights, the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars to urge the United States to stop supplying weapons to Israel and to condemn this genocide and illegal occupation of Gaza. Our hope is that this statement will encourage a larger discussion among secular Buddhists and other Buddhist groups about how to respond to suffering in Gaza, in Israel, and in the world.
40 Replies to “A Secular Buddhist Response to Gaza”
Congratulations to the authors for their courage in speaking clearly. I do not believe that in the history of humanity there has ever been a genocide supported by so many lies, so much propaganda, so many powers, so many economic interests. And yet, if in the West we cannot call things by their name, does it mean that we have completely lost every trace of morality and ethics? And if, as Buddhists, we accept this criminal ignominy, then what kind of Buddhists are we? Perhaps Buddhists centered only on our own egotistical ways of thinking, disregarding the suffering of the world.
In essence, all genocides are the same: the intent to destroy a people, a culture, a history. In this sense, this genocide is just as criminal as the Jewish Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the genocide in Rwanda, and others less known. In the face of genocide, we cannot and must not look the other way. Silence is always complicit. Silence was complicit in Nazi Germany, just as now it is complicity not to raise our voices against this terrible and monstrous genocide, where the most fanatical and immoral already dare to speak of building a tourist resort on what was once Gaza.
We must not let the genocidal monster consume our humanity
Thanks Sharon, Nan and Karsten for your most welcome statement.
Thanks Jesus for your very helpful reply and I will comment below on your points: “so much propaganda”, “consume our humanity” and the danger of “silence.”
For me, the bottom line is that I must say and do all that I can to call out, and call for a stop to, genocide – otherwise, I would lose my humanity. If any ideology prevents me from doing that, then I must critique and only selectively draw from it.
Various ideologies have caused many people to do seriously mad and bad things – and so I find it necessary to humanity-check ideologies with questions like – is this view really humane/ethical/moral?
The fact that many Buddhist leaders and practitioners remain silent about genocide means that I can no longer identify as a Buddhist (although my contemplative practice is supported by learning from the mindfulness traditions, as well as other traditions). This is compounded by the fact that some Buddhist leaders have been reported by the media for their abuses.
Personally, I have encountered Buddhist leaders declining to call out genocide – and I have encountered sangha members refusing to criticise and one even calling the Gaza Genocide “propaganda”. I left the sangha as a matter of principle and I now practice by myself.
And yes, as you say: “Silence is always complicit.” Silence is seriously dangerous for Gaza but it is also very dangerous for other countries, given Netanyahu’s ‘Greater Israel’ remark: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/16/arab-islamic-countries-condemn-netanyahus-greater-israel-remark
Reflecting on how Buddhist leaders have been complicit in violence and war in countries like Japan (the Rape of Nanking), I remind myself that Buddhism has passively or actively supported war (e.g. see ‘Zen at War’ by Victoria, Brian Daizen, 2006). See also:
https://inquiringmind.com/article/3002_17_purser-the-militarization-of-mindfulness/#:~:text=Perhaps%20in%20the%20circumscribed%20world,from%20which%20MBSR%20was%20rooted.
If Buddhism is hesitant to criticise even the most heinous of crimes against humanity – genocide – is this really right thinking, right speech, right action?
What is wrong – is it ideology, its interpretation, its practice, or all of these?
If Buddhism is deficient in the face of genocide, can I learn from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible to discover my own inner prophetic voice? The prophets of Israel drew strength from the wilderness and spoke out with dynamism and zeal for the marginalised and vulnerable. I can learn from the prophets of Israel by listening to my own inner voice, in order to foster critical thinking. Prophets operate across the boundaries of the desert and society, telling truths that must be spoken. So I can learn from them to form my own prophetic voice in speaking truth to power (I have paraphrased this paragraph from – https://www.thecatholicnetwork.co.uk/11950).
There is Jewish blood in my family – but that in no way stops me from speaking truth to power, in the same way as many Jews do in the US, UK, EU, and Israel (see the BBC News report “Protesters pack Tel Aviv square to demand Gaza ceasefire”: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cgq7qpqz27qo). Indeed, the campaign group ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ campaigns to save Palestinian lives.
Israeli activists have marched to the Gaza fence: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/19/world/video/israeli-jews-gaza-fence-march-digvid-vrtc
It is heartening now to hear more and more voices calling to stop the Gaza Genocide and ethnic cleansing – including an Israeli ex-PM and a senior US military commander. Jewish faculty at Oxford have released a statement on the University’s response to student protests against the genocide in Gaza”. They argued that “the characterisation of Jews as a uniform mass with a single viewpoint is itself a common and insidious antisemitic trope” – and moreover they state “the rising tide of rhetoric conflating criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza with antisemitism, and by the use of this rhetoric to justify government interference and repression of student protest—all under the pretext of ‘protecting’ Jews” (https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/an-open-letter-from-concerned-jewish-faculty-at-the-university-of-oxford/). See also: ‘Jewish staff oppose uni’s Gaza protest proceedings’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly3jld7gnyo).
Israeli rights groups have accused Israel of genocide in Gaza: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c776xkvz6vno
Historically, the most vehement of Israel’s moral critics have been from within Israel: see my previous post referring to the prophets of Israel.
Some jews argue that the Gaza Genocide is “A total violation of Judaism”: https://prismreports.org/2024/09/23/orthodox-jews-anti-genocide/
The Jewish and Christian scriptures state: “You shall not kill” – and “You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet your neighbour’s goods”. These are not options – they are commandments.
In stark contrast, the silence of Buddhist groups is of the utmost concern. The arguments usually put forward relate to being peaceful – but this is to mistake pacifism with passivity. Another argument relates to non-discrimination. However, I protest without discrimination, just as I would have protested the Jewish Holocaust if I had been alive during WWII.
Right mindfulness is not a simple focus on individual enlightenment and therapy or interpersonal relationships. It is not enough to be peace but to make peace in order to address “structural violence”, a term first coined by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Right mindfulness and right action is not passive in such situations as genocide nor does it simply and solely focus on the meditator’s feelings about the war: this is Disengaged Buddhism. Right mindfulness and right action actively campaigns for peace in a peaceful manner: an Engaged Buddhism that reduces the suffering of others, including those in the greatest need of our help. Such engagement is not only liberating for others – it is also liberation for the meditator.
Thich Nhat Hanh stated: “Sometimes non-action is violence. If you allow others to kill and destroy, although you are not doing anything, you are also implicit in that violence. So, violence can be action or non-action.”
Thich Nhat Hanh said that when bombs are falling and people are crying, you cannot stay in the meditation hall. He coined the term “Engaged Buddhism” during the Vietnam War, as a way to respond to the suffering he witnessed. He emphasised that true Buddhism involves engaging with the world’s problems and working to alleviate suffering, yes within oneself, but also in those around you, which includes Gazans experiencing genocide.
Thich Nhat Hanh said that while meditation is a vital practice, it shouldn’t be the only response to suffering. He advocated for compassionate action, including helping those wounded by bombs and working towards peace. We can see how Thich Nhat Hanh would have acted on the Gaza genocide:-
“Peace is not simply the absence of violence; it is the cultivation of understanding, insight and compassion, combined with action.”
In 1966 Thich Nhat Hanh left Vietnam for the US to call for peace. He persuaded Martin Luther King to come out against the War, shifting the tide of public opinion…Thich Nhat Hanh went on to lead the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation at the Paris Peace Talks.
He brought his message of peace to US Congress during the bombing of Iraq, and to parliaments in India, the UK, and Northern Ireland. He has led peace walks for gatherings of thousands in Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Hanoi, Macau and New Delhi. In these walks, he says, “Each step is a realisation of peace. Each step is a prayer for peace…
…It is possible for us to do something now. Don’t despair. There is something we can all do. There is still a chance. Recognise that, and do it, and you will find peace.”
(https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/key-teachings).
As Thich Nhat Hanh says, once there is seeing, there must be acting. One follows the other: there is no choice.
Best regards,
Jeff
Disengaged Buddhism is a very fitting term to understand the non-compassionate vision of Buddhism, one into which too many Buddhists fall (not only secular Buddhists). For some it may be a divisive term, but I believe it effectively expresses a kind of Buddhism that has adapted, that has succumbed to the great ruler of our age: the ‘self’.” But then the question soon comes up: is this kind of Disengaged Buddhism really Buddhism
Yes. And what can we actually do? My dominant response, alongside outrage & anguish, is a deep feeling of utter powerlessness.
Such a ill informed biased article. Don’t let any facts interfere with your narrative!
The mere fact that you chose to cite the folowing demonstrate the obvious!
We join with others such as the United Nations special rapporteur (Francesca Albanese), the United Nations Special Committee, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Center For Constitutional Rights, the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars to urge the United States to stop supplying weapons to Israel and to condemn this genocide and illegal occupation of Gaza. Our hope is that this statement will encourage a larger discussion among secular Buddhists and other Buddhist groups about how to respond to suffering in Gaza, in Israel, and in the world.
Totally agree, M. I have written a whole post in reply to this article, which I won’t post, just writing it was cathartic. Someone once wrote that anti-Semitism is a very light sleeper. I’m not Jewish, I’m not right wing, very very far from it, I like to follow the path of the historical Buddha, he wasn’t hateful, did not judge, or cast aspersions of any group during a fractious period of time on the Indian subcontinent. Unfortunately, the above article is anti-Semitic.
I would be interested in seeing it posted as long as it is not overtly cruel and it would not be too much trouble to edit it for posting.
I am also neither Jewish nor conservative. I’m one of the homeless progressives who agreed (and still agrees) with many of their values. But I disagree with their methods (which lead to hate), and the selective application of their purported values.
I am unsure if the post itself is antisemitic, but do indeed think the post exhibits very poor scholarship, which is especially concerning given the gravity of their claims and the fact that some of the co-authors have an academic background. Some examples of the authors’ poor reasoning include:
– Citing the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which anyone with a credit card can join and which is a clearly problematic organization (source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/pro-israel-activists-join-genocide-scholars-group-highlighting-open-entry-for-non-experts/)
– Citing a special rapporteur with a decade-long history of antisemitism, who thought that the sexual violence and slaughter of Jews on October 7th could be justified by “context”, and who is the only special rapporteur to be condemned as antisemitic by multiple countries
– Citing the ICC warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant as evidence of Israel’s “genocide”, when the warrants explicitly do not charge either with genocide since the evidentiary bar for that crime was assessed as not being met
The fact that the authors of the original post have been silent about the recent peace deal is also concerning. As is the fact that their criticism of Hamas at October 7th — instead of calling Hamas out on their long history of genocidal intent, war crimes, and harm of the Palestinian people (such as the children that died building their terror tunnels and their recent summary executions of Gazans). If they care about Gazans, they should also care about disarming Hamas.
But I do strongly suspect some of the commenters’ views here are antisemitic and may be more pro-Hamas than anti-suffering.
Hearty thanks and congratulations to Sharon, Nan and Karsten for their powerful statement on the Gaza genocide, and to Jesus and Jeff for their contributing comments. I agree with them all without reservation. Not just with what they’ve written, but their choice to publish their responses in the clear, uncompromising terms that befit serious dharma practitioners faced with the suffering, horror, and gross criminality being visited on Palestinians in Gaza in particular, but also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
I’m not just a senior dharma teacher but I’ve also long been a university scholar and teacher in the discipline of genocide and Holocaust studies. Each genocide has a stock set of ‘characters’: the perpetrators, their enablers, denialists, by-standers, rescuers, and (of course) victims. They’ve all reported for duty once again in the current genocide, and it helps us to clarify our own individual and collective ethical relationship to what is unfolding in Gaza. The identity of some of these characters are obvious. The perpetrators are the Israeli government and armed forces; the enablers are the US and German governments who arm and encourage the perpetrators; the denialists comprise the bulk of the western media; the rescuers are the medical staff who’ve thereby become the perpetrators’ priority targets; the victims are the Palestinian people.
But who are the bystanders in the present case? It’s all of us who don’t go on protest demonstrations and who carefully avoid mentioning the Gaza genocide. Or who misdescribe it in sorrowful terms as if it’s just another war, just another expression of human nature at work that we can’t really do anything about, so our indifference is ok. We baulk at taking the word ‘genocide’ – ‘the g-word’ – into our mouths, not just because it denotes something specific and especially evil, but because that word demands an active response. Abraham Lincoln wrote: ‘We – even we here – hold the power, and bear the responsibility.’ One of the best books I came across in my research was Samantha Power’s 2003 ‘”A problem from hell”: America and the age of genocide’. She opens with Lincoln’s words, then spends the next 619 pages showing how by-standerism has been the official but unannounced policy of the US government in the face of all genocides since the UN genocide convention came into force in 1948. Many other governments have followed suit. They’ve all given their citizens permission to duck moral responsibility in the same way.
But by-standerism is utterly alien to dharma practice.
Thanks Winton. Great insights about the stock set of ‘characters’ – and a problem from hell – both of which I would like to comment on.
At an ideological level, the actors include 2 political ideologies: capitalism, which is making its way with the plan to turn Gaza into a Mediterranean resort. The ideology of Western settler colonialism is another political actor in Gaza (and elsewhere, with threats to the Greenlandic Inuit, for example).
The other ideological actors are 3 ‘religions’ that have lost their way…
As I mentioned previously, Thich Nhat Hanh stated: “Sometimes non-action is violence. If you allow others to kill and destroy, although you are not doing anything, you are also implicit in that violence. So, violence can be action or non-action.” However, SBN has rightly raised concerns over silence from many (but not all) Buddhist leaders and practitioners.
Orthodox Jews argue that the Gaza Genocide is “A total violation of Judaism”: https://prismreports.org/2024/09/23/orthodox-jews-anti-genocide/
The Jewish and Christian scriptures state: “You shall not kill” – and “You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet your neighbour’s goods”. These are not options – they are commandments. These tablets of stone from Moses have been broken and lie shattered amongst the ruins of Gaza.
The Israeli/Jewish and Christian ideologies are now wedded together in a marriage made in hell, with Netanyahu, Trump (a Christian who uses his beliefs to support his policies), and Tony Blair (a Catholic convert) continuing to work together towards a future transitional governance for Gaza. You know the record of the first two. Tony Blair is from my country, the UK. Tony Blair and his Labour Party neither apologised nor recompensed Iraq for the UK-US genocide of the Iraqi people. More recently, the “Tony Blair thinktank worked with a project developing the ‘Trump Riviera’ Gaza plan” – and this thinktank has been embroiled in a separate controversy over its connection to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial Israeli- and US-backed delivery group” who have been exterminating starving Palestinian children and their families queueing for food, water, and medicines.
Alarmingly, now, one proposal is for Tony Blair to lead a Palestinian transitional authority. The fox is being tasked with caring for the chickens. Moreover, the last nation/national representative that should be running Palestine is an ex-PM from the UK after its role in the ongoing destruction of Palestine for over a century and to this day, still selling arms and supplying intelligence to Israel. The world has many good countries that could provide genuine help – and Britain (and the rest of the Western world) – is not one of them.
See “Tony Blair in discussions to run transitional Gaza authority” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3drmk95xlzo
Ireland and South Africa have both suffered oppressive regimes and have had some (limited) success in shaking off this oppression – and so they would be good candidates for helping Palestine. Moreover, as reported in the media, the Palestinians should not have a single representative in any transitional arrangement, as that would be just another example of racist western colonialism pretending that indigenous people from non-western countries cannot govern themselves, providing a rationale for them to step in with their own covert self interests.
It is worth noting than an earlier opinion piece carried by SBN, full of racist tropes and occupation talking points, did not carry a statement disavowing any connection with the views expressed in it but this piece against the genocide of Palestinians seems to have prompted the Editor(s) to include a disclaimer. I leave it to each of you (in the event this letter is not censored!) to make of it what you will!
I commend the writers for willing to stand up and call out the atrocities being committed against an entire people, their culture, and the means of survival with the full diplomatic, financial and military support of major western countries. This is all the more significant in the face of majority western buddhist teachers and institutions keeping quiet and thereby siding with the powerful colonial aggressors. I suspect those who claim to follow the path of the Buddha and who appear to conflate acquiescence with equanimity will have much to answer for in the fullness of time.
For those interested, please see/sign up for:
https://buddhistsagainstgenocide.org/
and
https://liberationcircle.org/
Thank you, Arif, for your insightful posting and this link (https://buddhistsagainstgenocide.org/) – which makes me realise that there is another occupation waging war right now, namely the occupation of Buddhism and its silencing.
Many reasons have been put forward as to why Buddhism is largely silent about the Gaza Genocide. Personally, I believe there is another reason, in fact the fundamental cause, of this silence, which is McCarthyism.
Eight decades ago, McCarthyism was campaigning against “MARXISM, UNESCO and
ONE-WORLDISM” allegedly promulgated by “our Screen, Radio and TV” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anticommunist_Literature_1950s.png).
McCarthyism opposed vaccinations and medicines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unholy_three.png).
Other manifestations of McCarthyism included unsubstantiated accusations of far-left extremism; personal attacks; firings; actions against government employees, prominent figures in the entertainment industry, academics, comedians, presenters, thinkers, writers, left-wing politicians, lawyers and courts, and the UN.
Actions included blacklists and revocations of passports and visas,
There were also attacks on principles: of democracy (the voting process for elections), truth, reason, logic, diversity, law, equality, inclusion, social justice, public welfare, the right to criticise and protest, internationalism, civil liberties, liberalism, leftism, democracy and free speech.
Sound familiar?
That is why there is a new movement to resist the resurgence of repression and McCarthyism, as reported by CNN today:
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/01/entertainment/jane-fonda-relaunches-committee-first-amendment
Thanks to both the editors and authors for an invitation to respond to this issue. I think we can all agree that actions which reduce suffering in the long run is what we should strive for.
The solution which minimizes suffering is clear: the hostages should be released, Hamas should lay down their arms, receive amnesty, and Gaza should be rebuilt as a demilitarized state ultimately under Palestinian civil control. This would minimize the suffering of Israelis (since they will no longer be terrorized), of Gazan civilians (since Hamas will no longer be using them as human shields), and even of Hamas members (whose lives and wellbeing should matter to Buddhists as well). This model worked to end the siege of Beirut in 1982. It is part of the peace plan whose first phase was just accepted by Israel and Hamas as of October 8th.
However, I fear that the type of activism being advocated by Sharon Tobias, Nan DiBello, and Karsten Struhl may make this path to peace harder, not easier.
While the authors acknowledge Israeli suffering and October 7th, they then launch into accusations of genocide while not admitting the clear genocidal intent of Hamas and Islamic Jihad before, during, and after October 7th. The genocide accusation levied at Israel is contested by serious scholars such as Norman J.W. Goda and Jeffrey Herf, who argue that Israel’s actions — including evacuation warnings, texts, and leaflets urging civilians to leave combat zones — demonstrate the opposite of genocidal intent. A government intentionally seeking genocide would keep civilians in harm’s way, which is precisely what Hamas does. Additionally, the Institute for National Security Studies has documented that UN famine reports rely on incomplete data from unverified Gaza sources, creating what they call a “distorted picture of the situation.”
Should Buddhist activism really be elevating disputed claims while ignoring Hamas’ documented strategy?
Hamas is a cruel organization whose entire strategy relies on using Western activists with their hearts in the right place but their heads in the wrong place. They have spent years using child labor to build an extensive tunnel system running by and under civilian infrastructure, built in large part through diverted humanitarian aid. Yet not a single civilian (besides Yahya Sinwar’s wife, who was filmed entering the tunnels just before the attacks carrying a ~$30,000 designer bag while regular Gazans lived in poverty) was allowed shelter there. The tunnels’ sole purpose is to hide terrorists and their captives, where they are tortured and starved. The entrance to the terror tunnel where Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were summarily executed was in a child’s bedroom.
Hamas has also restricted women’s rights and criminalized homosexuality. I hope SBN’s activism does not wind up supporting a state where women must be accompanied by male chaperones or face arrest, or where homosexuality can be punished by imprisonment or death.
Buddhism is about compassion for all beings, not just non-Jewish beings. The Buddha warned us against becoming entangled in “a thicket of views.” There is indeed such a thicket amongst today’s progressive left, driven by questionable theories that other-ize real, living, suffering people.
The Hilltop Youth do this to suffering Arabs in the West Bank. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich do this to Palestinians as a whole. As Buddhists, let us not follow in their footsteps by engaging in activism that promotes more human suffering down the road.
I don’t know what the proper reaction to the Israel-Gaza conflict is, just as there may not be nice, neat answers for the genocide in Sudan’s civil war or the starvation of close to 100,000 children estimated by Save the Children in Yemen due to Houthi activity — a group sharing Hamas’s ideology. But I’m fairly certain that there is an inappropriate reaction: enabling Hamas’s narrative through uncritically citing problematic sources.
For example, the authors cite United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who as early as 2014 posted that America is “subjugated by the Jewish lobby” and that Europe is controlled by “a sense of guilt about the Holocaust.” On October 7th, as the massacre was still unfolding, she posted that the violence “must be put in context.” France and Germany both condemned her for antisemitism — the first time in UN history both countries condemned a UN rapporteur. What context is needed to understand the sexual violence documented by the UN itself? Of sons calling mothers boasting of how many Jews they killed? Of murdering parents in front of children and then mocking them while they eat out of the family’s fridge?
The authors also cite the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Anyone can join IAGS for a low fee. No credentials required. Multiple journalists proved this by joining and instantly becoming “genocide experts.” The organization includes members with names like “Mo Cookie” and “Emperor Palpatine.” When IAGS passed their Gaza genocide resolution, only 218 of their ~600 members voted. This is the “expert consensus” being cited.
The SBN should strive not to add to this hate by selectively promulgating questionable narratives. As a secular Buddhist myself, I think no genocide is the best solution. And that requires Hamas laying down their arms and releasing the hostages.
This is what the authors should be calling for.
I hope they will express support for the surrender and disarmament of Hamas, publicly wish for the full peace plan to take effect, and publicly advocate for the release of all hostages, living and deceased. This includes Israel not violating terms like they did during an earlier phased ceasefire (Israel is indeed worthy of criticism!). But it also means Hamas not violating them either, and laying down their arms so that a peaceful, demilitarized, non-genocidal Palestinian state can flourish alongside a peaceful, non-violent, non-genocidal Jewish state of Israel.
“‘He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me.’ Those who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.” -Dhp 1.3
May all beings be free from hatred.
In August 2025, UNICEF estimated that more than 50,000 children had been killed or injured in Gaza.[13] In late September 2024, Oxfam and Action on Armed Violence reported that the number of children killed in Gaza over the past year was the highest recorded in a single year for any conflict worldwide in the last 20 years. Denying the evidence that from the very beginning there was a genocidal and exterminatory intent in Israeli policies in Gaza doesn’t seem very Buddhist. Buddhism should never be used to legitimize genocides or to downplay their gravity.
I agree that Buddhism should never be used to legitimize genocides. This is why I am advocating that Buddhists not downplay the genocide committed by Hamas, or the genocide they’ve sworn to continue to commit.
I notice you left a bracketed numbered citation in your reply, which indicates that your response was mostly copy and pasted from Wikipedia without citing your original source. Wikipedia is untrustworthy; serious antisemetic biases have been identified by the Anti-Defamation League, given that it was a target of antisemetic activism: https://www.adl.org/resources/report/editing-hate-how-anti-israel-and-anti-jewish-bias-undermines-wikipedias-neutrality
Additionally, following reference 13 in Wikipedia links to a BBC article that does not cite the claim made by UNICEF; thus, the basis and justification for the claim is unclear. This is typical of Wikipedia’s coverage of the conflict. Furthermore, the BBC itself has a well-documented history of biased and antisemetic reporting concerning the conflict: https://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/bbc-anti-israel-bias/
Uncritically copying-and-pasting an antisemetic source to support preconceived views while ignoring the clear genocidal acts and intent of Hamas reinforces the urgency of my original plea that “[t]he SBN should strive not to add to … hate by selectively promulgating questionable narratives.”
I am not at all denying that there is immense suffering in Gaza. But tragic civilian casualties in war do not automatically constitute genocide. Genocide requires specific intent to destroy a people as such. Israel’s actions like evacuation warnings, humanitarian corridors, aid delivery have been extensively documented and establish the opposite of genocidal intent. Meanwhile, Hamas’s actual genocidal intent against Jews is explicitly stated in their charter and was manifested on October 7th, 2023.
Ignoring Hamas’ genocide while accusing Israel of one seems to reveal a selective — and possibly antisemetic — moral lens.
There is abundant evidence documenting acts that could be described as genocidal committed in Gaza, according to various international reports and legal experts. In many cases, the information comes from Israeli soldiers who have publicly acknowledged participating in operations that caused the deaths of defenseless civilians. This phenomenon of justification or even pride in violence may have ideological or religious roots, such as the notion of herem in the biblical tradition —the idea of total destruction as a divine command— reinterpreted in a modern political context.
It is evident that those directly responsible for these crimes, and their defenders, will not easily acknowledge the existence of genocide, partly because decades of dehumanizing propaganda have eroded the perception of Palestinians as fully human. Accusations of antisemitism directed at those who denounce these facts are absurd, especially considering that the Palestinian population is, from an ethnic and linguistic standpoint, as Semitic as —or even more than— the majority of the current Israeli population.
It should be remembered that these policies of occupation, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid long predate the creation of Hamas. Focusing all attention on Hamas amounts to refusing to understand the roots of the conflict. Such policies —of dispossession, occupation, and dehumanization— are incompatible with Buddhist values and with any universal ethics.
The idea that someone with no historical roots in the region has more right to live in Palestine than those whose ancestors have inhabited it for millennia is morally indefensible and sustained only by military force. Ultimately, the logic that underlies this violence is that of power —the right of the strongest. It is the same logic that enabled the crimes of Nazism. Today, the Israeli army has acted from a similar position of power, with devastating consequences for the Palestinian population.
Anything “could be described” as genocide, and much is — even when the description is false. I hope what the SBN considers is not “what could be described” as genocide, but what actually *is* genocide.
I have already mentioned counterevidence to the accusation of genocide, such as evacuation warnings, texts, and leaflets urging civilians to leave combat zones. Such evidence has been entirely ignored.
As for evidence in favor of Israel committing genocide, I am open to seeing and analyzing some of the strongest examples with honest interlocutors. But the details of the supposed evidence matters, since much of what’s been presented so far is lacking.
The evidence that has been cited so far include a pseudo-society of “scholars” where anyone with a credit card can join, a special rapporteur who has promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories for over a decade and who thinks that the sexual violence committed by Hamas “requires context”, and a plagiarized copy-and-paste from Wikipedia — a source that has been manipulated in an antisemitic manner, as documented by the Anti-Defamation League.
As for the use of “antisemitism”: if the main defense against being accused of antisemitism is a pedantic etymological one — instead of the obvious one of showing a modicum of compassion and caring for Israeli Jews — then no counterargument is needed. Such a defense speaks for itself.
I started off my comments here with the hope that Hamas will be disarmed and given amnesty, because their lives and lack of suffering matters too. I have also named several examples of Israeli cruelty such as the terrorism of the Hilltop Youth — sometimes with support of the IDF — and the awful ideologies of some current Israeli cabinet ministers. I have also explicitly stated that — genocide or not — the suffering of Gazans is indeed immense.
Israel has a lot to be criticized for. But Hamas has even more.
While Israel is full of bomb shelters built for civilians, Hamas built tunnels roughly the size of New York City’s subway system using child labor and diverted humanitarian aid. Hamas allowed no civilians to take shelter; the tunnels served solely to protect Hamas while they torture and execute their captives. The entrances to these tunnels are often built by and in civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and even a child’s bedroom. Israel evacuated their citizens from the north when they were threatened by Hezbollah. Hamas blocked fleeing Gazans by force to serve as human shields after IDF evacuation warnings. While Tel Aviv is one the most LGBTQ-friendly cities in the Middle East and perhaps the world, homosexuality is a crime in Gaza, sometimes punished with torture and execution. Israel is a democracy. Hamas ended democracy after Israel completely withdrew from Gaza by throwing their political opposition off rooftops and never holding an election again. While Israel has a justice system (which is highly flawed and indeed problematic, as many are), Hamas’ system of justice was seen today in the summary public execution of multiple Gazans in the street.
If the IDF bound several Gazans, pulled their shirts over their heads, kicked them to their knees, and shot them in the back of their heads in public, I’m sure pro-Hamas activists would mention it. But when Hamas does it? Silence.
Those who actually care about Gazan lives would be critical of Hamas, because they are culpable for much of Gaza’s suffering. But those whose true goal is the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Jews in Israel would be silent.
I hope the SBN notes the voluminous silence of such factions now that the first phase of a peace deal has been implemented.
I also hope the SBN longs for peace in the region. If so, what must be understood is that Hamas — and their apologists — do not. As Article 13 of their charter states: “so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of Hamas”. Article 32 condemns Egypt for agreeing to one of the most momentous peace places of the 20th century, calling the Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt “treacherous’. Article 7 of Hamas’ charter states: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims kill the Jews.” As long as Hamas rules Gaza, there will be no peace. Only suffering. Only death.
Peace has taken a tentative foothold. Much can throw it off, from the foolish current saber-rattling of Netanyahu to the refusal of Hamas to disarm and play no role in the peaceful, prosperous society that will hopefully flourish in a Gaza under Palestinian control.
Much of the Muslim world wants this peace deal to hold. The 22 members of the Arab League signed a declaration early this year stating that “Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State.” The current peace deal is backed by the UAE, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, France, Germany, the UK, and the US. And the peace plan requires the disarmament of Hamas.
Hopefully the SBN’s Political Activism group agrees with this compassionate, clear solution. If they do, they should say so publicly.
Thanks Jesus and I agree. I should add that many countries have laws against genocide denialism (which includes trivialisation and condoning). In Germany, for example, it is a criminal offence punishable with 5 years in prison – for good reason. It is already horrific enough that Palestinian children and families have been killed but any form of trivialisation or denial on top of that is of the utmost concern. Nevertheless, genocides have been denied and trivialised – for example, of Indians in Canada and the USA, of Chinese in the Rape of Nanjing,…unfortunately, the list goes on. I guess it is unsurprising as few murderers confess in court: most of them deny. I have already left one Buddhist group due to denialism and I now leave this one for the same reason. Jeff
Germany is an interesting case. Their VStGB extends beyond genocide, and covers other international humanitarian crimes which are on equal legal footing under international law, including crimes against humanity and war crimes. But the law applies only to internationally recognized instances.
Under these definitions, neither Hamas’s acts on October 7th not Israel’s acts in Gaza qualify, nor does Omar al-Bashar’s allegedly genocidal acts in Sudan since he has not been tried by the ICC.
Germany wisely waits for the facts to be determined and genocidal intent to be clearly established before denialism is prosecuted and full facts to be determined. My main plea is that SBN’s Secular Dharma and Political Activism exhibit the same wisdom.
Genocide is a serious accusation which should be explored and tried through rigorous analysis based on all the facts and just processes. Not the kangaroo court of public opinion. Not pseudo-consensuses from International Association of Genocide Scholars where anyone can sign up and whose esteemed ranks include the likes of “Emperor Palpatine” and “Mo Cookie” and where only a minority of members voted. And not plagiarized copy-pastes from WIkipedia.
Germany is also an interesting case in that while Hamas’s acts on October 7th aren’t prosecutable under Germany’s VStGB, denying or minimizing Hamas’s heinous terrorism may be prosecutable under other German laws. Germany prohibits supporting banned terrorist organizations — and Hamas is a designated terrorist organization in Germany. It also has laws against incitement to hatred or glorifying terrorist acts, like those Hamas committed on October 7th. Thus, denialism and minimization of the intentional slaughter of the most Jews since the Holocaust may very well be a crime in Germany.
My hope is that the SBN not enable October 7th denialism or incite and enable antisemitism or terrorism through future activism. I take the authors at their word that they are motivated out of “compassion for the suffering of all people involved and a recognition of their common humanity – both Palestinians and Israelis.” My wish is that these kind, compassionate words comport with any potential activism SBN’s Secular Dharma and Political Activism group decides to undertake, and that all lives past, present, and future be valued in both word and deed — not just non-Jewish ones.
Only fanaticism can make you close your eyes to the estimated 60,000 child victims …many due to starvation. Dialogue like this is absolutely impossible.
I’m sorry you feel that I’m a fanatic. I have called out Israel a few times in my posts here, which is evidence to the contrary. But in the spirit of potential reconciliation, let me call out yet another cruelty of Israel: the stoppage of food aid in March 2025 was cruel and purposeless.
In the spirit of dialog, hope you’re willing to reciprocate.
Sharon Tobias, Nan DiBello, and Karsten Struhl had the decency to call out Hamas’ horrific acts on October 7th and voiced compassion for both Israelis and Palestinians. I’ve noticed of the course of our conversation that you have neither expressed a modicum of compassion for Israelis nor condemned Hamas.
I ask that you do so now. I also would like to hear if you support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
The reason why I ask this of you is because there is a small but loud minority of people who are more concerned with Israel being wiped off the map through violence than with alleviating suffering and achieving a lasting peace.
Such people selectively express concern for the children of Gaza using numbers generated by Hamas unquestioningly, but don’t express concern for the 85,000 dead children in Yemen due to Houthi activity. They express concern over US aid to Israel, but not French arms shipments to Sudan.
They claim they care about Gazan children, but are silent when Hamas intentionally murders Gazan children with an RPG, like they did today. (source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/hamas-said-to-kill-wife-children-of-gazan-suspected-of-arming-pa-linked-groups/)
Such people ignore the Israeli vaccine campaign administered to Gazan children during war time, which covered 90% of Gazan children under age 10 (source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-says-gaza-polio-vaccination-campaign-completed-2024-11-06/) while accusing Israel of genocide. And they ignore the fact that Hamas killed child laborers while building their terror tunnels which enabled the most Jews to be slaughtered since the Holocaust. (Source: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/hamas-killed-160-palestinian-children-to-build-terror-tunnels)
Such people are indeed fanatics who share the same aim as Hamas: the violent ethnic cleansing of Jews from the internationally recognized state of Israel. From the river to the sea.
There is a bright line separating people with genuine concern about suffering in Gaza and people whose factitious Gazan sympathies merely serve as a facade for antisemitism.
I land on the former side of the line. I hope you do, too. You can prove it easily. And the SBN’s Political Activism group can as well.
That is why I implore Sharon Tobias, Nan DiBello, and Karsten Struhl to expand upon their initial expression of compassion by explicitly calling out Hamas for their atrocities beyond October 7th, insisting on their complete disarmament, and affirming that Hamas should have no role in governing in Gaza. This is what the peace plan backed by the UAE, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, France, Germany, the UK, and the US call for. This is what compassion for all beings — and not just non-Jewish ones — calls for. And this is what Gazans call for:
— https://www.thejc.com/opinion/if-a-ceasefire-leaves-hamas-in-power-theyll-kill-gazans-like-me-v45wu47w
— https://www.peacecomms.org/gaza
I hope the SBN’s Political Activism group calls for this, too.
Thank you JP, for your calm, vitriol free, unbiased clear thinking, comments.
Genocidal propaganda has done a lot of damage to the ideas of humanism… If they don’t recognize the victims as fully human, they willl hardly recognize a genocide. The most curious thing is that there are many people who call themselves Buddhists who hold this kind of ideas.
I agree with some of the sentiment above. For example, in section 31 of Hamas’ founding charter, they choose to call themselves a humanistic movement.
Yet that same document calls for the genocide of Jews from the internationally recognized state of Israel. Article 32 quotes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as proof of a vast Jewish conspiracy. Article 18 states that a duty of women is to raise children to kill. This is justified in Article 17, citing a bizarre, paranoid link between Rotary Clubs, Freemasons, and Jews.
Hamas’ humanism was in full force while parading kidnapped women bleeding from their privates through Gaza’s streets on October 7th. It is still on evidence today (October 15th, 2025) in Hamas’ brutal public executions of Gazans without trial now that there is a ceasefire. These videos are easily found. For those who have the honesty, integrity, and stomach to look, the evidence for Hamas’ “humanism” is public and apparent.
Hamas’ version of humanism involves murdering Jews, butchering Gazans, oppressing women, and torturing and killing LGBTQ folk. Yahya Sinwar was not called “The Butcher of Khan Younis” for his brutality toward Jews. It was because of his brutality toward fellow Gazans, including murdering a man for the crime of being gay. And Sinwar’s spirit lives on in the hearts of Hamas today.
The most curious thing is that there are many people who quote international humanitarian law only apply these concepts to Jews while not applying the same concepts to those who wish to exterminate them.
I hope the SBN chooses to consider such people’s words cautiously.
There’s a wonderful discussion available on Youtube that might be meaningful here. Gil Fronsdal—through the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies— hosts Dr. Muna Shaheen and Dr. Stephen Fulder in an event titled: Facing Gaza: Leading Palestinian and Israeli Dharma Teachers in Dialogue:
There’s a wonderful discussion available on Youtube that might be meaningful here. Gil Fronsdal—through the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies— hosts Dr. Muna Shaheen and Dr. Stephen Fulder in an event titled: Facing Gaza: Leading Palestinian and Israeli Dharma Teachers in Dialogue.
Thank you, Anne-Laure. It sounds fascinating but I cannot find it on YouTube, and a Google search only reveals the event announcement with no link to the recorded video. If possible, can you please share a link?
Dear JP, it was recorded through The Sati Center on October 11, 2025. this is the address on the youtube video i’ve seen–hope this works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCxpXFs1cM
If link is not working, subscribe to The Sati Center on youtube
Thank you! Strangely, pasting the exact title of the video into YouTube’s search still doesn’t bring it up, but the link works perfectly. I’ll watch later today!
Some brief words of thanks to the comment moderator(s) of the SBN.
The SBN’s guidelines for comments encourage (kind) criticism and robust dialogue. This is great, because a problem I’ve seen in other Buddhist circles I’ve been involved with have an implicit view that kindness must equal agreement and criticism is equivalent to divisive speech.
A brief scan of the comments here would tell any reasonable viewer that this is certainly *not* the case in the SBN’s comment section.
Moderating can be a difficult and thankless job. I would like to attempt to mitigate that mild injustice by explicitly expressing gratitude the moderator(s) for doing an excellent job in my experience.
Thank you.
Drops the mic, I’m out! What about the Rohingya, the Uyghurs, the Yemenis, the Syrians, the Sudanese, the Congolese, the Rwandans, the Ukrainians, the young Russian men. Instead it’s the oldest hatred: “it’s the Jews” mantra. Feel free to add any trope containing the words: control; conspiracy; world banking; blood libel; organ harvesting; Holocaust inversion; need I continue.
After 60,000 palestinian child victims (between deaths and injuries), this victimhood doesn’t work.
I notice the 60,000 is inflated from your earlier 50,000 number that you posted a mere few days ago. May I ask what your source for this number is?
I ask because the Wikipedia page that contained the plagiarized quote you originally used to support the 50,000 number has since been edited and no longer makes that claim.
I agree. It’s a hallmark of antisemites who care more about killing Jews than saving children to ignore larger conflicts with larger causalities.
They are silent about the 85,000 dead children in Yemen, and the 40,000 dead children and 200,000 wounded in Syria.
Nevermind the 6,000 children killed or wounded (in addition to child kidnapping and forced recruitment) in Somalia, the 5,000 children in Sudan, the 10,000 in Afghanistan, 20,000 kidnapped from Ukraine, the 15,000 displaced children from Northern Israel.
They are silent when Hamas shoots an RPG intentionally into a family home, killing children intentionally.
They are silent about Hamas using child labor in building their tunnel network. Almost 200 children died in the process, with more injured.
They are silent about the fact that Hamas didn’t let a single civilian child into the ~500 kilometers of tunnels Hamas built over the course of a war that Hamas started.
They are silent that Hamas started this war through intentionally slaughtering civilians, including multiple acts of documented sexual violence.
They are silent about the intentional trauma Hamas inflicted on Jewish children did on October 7th, such as killing parents in front of them and then eating from the family’s fridge while mocking the children.
They are silent about Hamas regularly turning around families heeding Israeli evacuation orders — given in advance of airstrikes — because Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields for propaganda purposes.
They then unquestioningly pull numbers like “60,000” out of thin air or — at best — plagiarize sources whose numbers come directly from Hamas, who has a vested interest in inflating numbers, and which has been caught in the act of manipulating them. Just one egregious example: the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, where Hamas claimed 500 deaths from Israeli fire mere minutes after it occurred, which is strong evidence that the number was simply fabricated. Later investigation revealed a much lower casualty count, and that the rocket was a misfire from Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The people who use these fabricated, unverified numbers while closing their eyes to the hundreds of thousands of children suffering worldwide care more about increasing the number of dead Jews than reducing the number of dead children.
The only reason Israel did not suffer as high a casualty rate during the war Hamas started — where they fired thousands of unguided missiles toward civilian areas in Israel (not to mention the Iranian attacks that followed) — was because Israel actually cares about their citizens and allows them to take shelter and protects them with missile defense systems.
Hamas does not.
As communications from Yahya Sinwar published in June 2024 stated, he was happy about Gazan civilian casualties because dead Palestinians would “infuse life into the veins of this nation” and called thousands of civilian deaths “necessary sacrifices.” Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh “thank[ed] God for this honor” upon learning that some of his children and grandchildren died during the war Hamas started.
Hamas values destroying Israel much more than it values the lives of Gazan citizens. And so do some commenters here.
Onlookers should take this all into account when reading some of the comments here. Sometimes, the comments are from well-intentioned but ill-informed progressives. But some comments are from antisemites who will say anything to incite hatred against Jews.
Everything revolves around trying to make the dehumanizing, genocidal, and criminal purpose of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians seem smaller than it is — something that Palestinians have endured for decades. All that dehumanizing propaganda resonates strongly with those who are morally weak or harbor racist prejudices.This kind of argument on a Buddhist website reminds me that Buddhism without compassion isn’t Buddhism at all — it’s simply entertainment, a technology of the ego.
To the antisemite, everything revolves around minimizing the dehumanizing, genocidal, and criminal purpose of Hamas toward Jews while completely ignoring the well documented violations of international law and intentional cruelty of Hamas.
These kinds of arguments remind me that not all on the internet are honest actors. One example: those who speak about Buddhist morality while violating the second precept through plagiarism and the third precept by inventing numbers out of thin air.
____
An article from the NY Times just dropped today revealing some of Yahya Sinwar’s intent for October 7th. Here is the full article to see what some posters support: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-plans.html
Here are select quotes:
“The Israeli officials say the memo shows that Mr. Sinwar wanted his fighters to target civilians from the outset, contradicting what the group’s leadership has publicly claimed.”
“When a militant asked if he should confront people on the road, a commander from a Jabaliya battalion referred to as Abu Muath responded in the affirmative: “Kill everyone on the road,” he said. “Kill everyone you encounter.”
“Now we are at the beginning of the kibbutz,” said one combatant. “We have wiped out those in it. There are settlers whom we killed.”
“Guys, take a lot of hostages,” said the commander, Abu Muath, according to the intercepts. “Take a lot of hostages.”
“Under international law, armies and armed groups must not deliberately target civilians or inflict disproportionate harm on them to achieve military goals. In particular, killing and taking as hostages those who are uninvolved in hostilities are serious violations of the Geneva Conventions.”
___
It is unfortunate that some have closed their hearts so much as to support genocide, kidnapping, murder, and sexual violence as long as it is directed at Jews.
Committing genocide, the relentless theft of land over decades, apartheid, depriving millions of people of their rights, absolute dehumanization, criminal impunity… and the perpetrators of such heinous crimes are turned into victims by the magic of words.
Reading your comments, one can be sure that any evidence which contradicts your personal belief (tribal affinity) will be dismissed as the ravings of an anti semite, but hey, one lives in hope…
“Recent analysis by public health experts suggests that the number of fatalities reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which faces many obstacles to making a full account of the deaths, maybe a significant undercount of the number of violent deaths”
https://costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/sites/default/files/2025-10/Human-Toll-in-Gaza_Costs-of-War_Crawford_7-October-2025.pdf
Jesus, your marshalling of facts will do nothing to convince those whose strategy it is to weaponise the memory of the Holocaust of WWII and anti-semitism, more generally, to silence and vilify those who speak up against Israel – a cruel, vicious, and brutal settler colonial state – and its 75 years long history of crimes against an occupied people.
Arif Pervaiz, unfortunaly western society has something truly sick about it, for the genocidal mindset to have been accepted by so many people.
To call his comments “unbiased” says everything one needs to know about your bias. This person’s post is full of half truths, deflections and outright denial and lies, but that does not seem to bother you much.