NYTimes Media Columnist Demolishes the Left's Arguments on Gaza With a Little Reality

We hear it constantly from the left, and it's one of their huge talking points this election season: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Yet they never seem to think about the logic of what they are saying, and why that's complete poppycock. Of course, because like everything else with the left, it isn't about whether there's any logic or reality to the latest "outrage" they are protesting - it's always and only about moving things further to the left.

Another Conspiracy Proven: After Years of Denial, UN Condemns Hamas Stealing Aid in Gaza...Sort Of

But it's something when a New York Times columnist lays down a little reality to blow up the left's arguments, as our sister site Townhall reported. Bret Stephens wrecked the left on the Fifth Column podcast.

Here is Bret Stephens talking with @MattWelch @mcmoynihan and @Kmele about the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and related topics.

From the latest @wethefifth members only episodehttps://t.co/mMdPh5fjwQ pic.twitter.com/5BlXSBuTBG
— Andrew Wimsatt 🖐 (@ajwimsatt) July 18, 2026

Stephens pointed out how Israel was a nuclear power, with which they could simply wipe everyone out. If they were trying to commit genocide, why did they distribute polio vaccines, why do they distribute food, why do they drop leaflets warning people to get out of an area when they are going to take on Hamas there?

Stephens drew the comparison to other wars, and how other wars were not treated in the same way as Israel's war in response to being attacked on October 7 has been. Hamas killed more than 1,000 people, raped people, then took more than 200 hostages. It was a brutal attack. It's one thing to talk about whether a tactic or action is justifiable or might be excessive in response. But equating it with "genocide," i.e., the targeted effort to wipe out a people, is nonsensical. A war isn't "genocide" because people die; otherwise, every war is a genocide.

Then there's the comparison to what Iran did to its protesters in January, massacring somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 people. The regime killed those people deliberately to terrorize the population, to stop them from raising their voices. Where are the calls of "genocide" over that? Compare that to civilians in Gaza being killed accidentally in a war (when Hamas is also using them as human shields). Yet who is the left coming out to protest? Hint: it isn't Iran. Democrats don't seem to give a rip about those thousands of people, when there wasn't even an excuse of a "hot war" at that point. The Iranians have continued to execute people, and you don't hear a peep from the left.

Stephens points out how we give money to Turkey, despite Turkey occupying Cyprus, yet the left doesn't seem to have a problem with that. Of course, it isn't about the facts when it comes to the left. It never is. In this case, it's also feeding their anti-Israel bent. If they cared about the people in Gaza, they should care about how Hamas oppresses them. But they don't.

Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

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