The neuroscientist, philosopher, and podcaster Sam Harris has built his reputation—and a loyal following—on his integrity, moral clarity, and devotion to reasoned argument. Those traits were on display in an essay Sam published over the weekend. It is a manifesto, disguised as a note to his readers and listeners about why he will not debate people whose monomaniacal obsession with Israel has persuaded them, without evidence they are capable of producing, that a single small country represents a unique form of cosmic and terrestrial evil. He is not speaking about critics of Israel; he has plenty of criticisms himself. Rather, he is referring to those who refuse to acknowledge present reality, pretending away Israel’s jihadist enemies and their avowedly genocidal goals. He is speaking about people who will not honestly answer the question: “What would each side do if it had the power to do whatever it wanted?” Jonathan Swift memorably observed that you cannot reason people out of a position they have not been reasoned into. Far from denying the value of debate, Sam’s essay is an affirmation of “the moral and institutional architecture that free societies require.” – The Editors
Many readers and podcast listeners have been dismayed by my enduring support for Israel and now urge me to debate someone—really, anyone—drawn from a growing cast of scholars, grifters, and moral lunatics who have made that beleaguered country their professional or psychiatric obsession. I’ve explained my position on Israel across several podcasts and in my public talks, but it might help to summarize it here.
First, my general attitude: I’m not interested in exploring all the ways that Israel has missed the mark—from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corrupt alliance with the far right, to the many crimes committed by settlers in the West Bank, to the deaths of innocent noncombatants in several wars—because none of these failings, however grave, will alter my sense that (1) the ethical difference between Israel and her enemies remains vast, and (2) the global preoccupation with the Jewish state, as though it were the worst villain among nations, is contemptible, being the product of perennial lies and delusions.
