Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Sam Harris and His Reasoning on Israel: Analysis of fallacies

Well. It might be a little bit odd to start your blog with something like this. But who knows, maybe it will lead to something more pleasant at the end.
Sam Harris, known by many of us as one of the four horsemen of atheism and the founder of the Project: Reason has recently wrote a piece with the title : Why I don't criticize Israel?
What I am gonna do is to analyze the piece for fallacies and their effect on his overall reasoning. I will quote each part and analyze it separately. I am not going to point to every possible fallacy in the piece but I only single out the most prominent ones. My reference for the fallacies is the thinker's guide to fallacies By Richard Paul and Linda Elder, both of whom are among the founders of critical thinking movement. You can download the book here for free.

Let's start
"I  was going to do a podcast on a series of questions, but I got so many questions on the same topic that I think I’m just going to do a single response here, and we’ll do an #AskMeAnything podcast next time.
The question I’ve now received in many forms goes something like this: Why is it that you never criticize Israel? Why is it that you never criticize Judaism? Why is it that you always take the side of the Israelis over that of the Palestinians?
Now, this is an incredibly boring and depressing question for a variety of reasons. The first, is that I have criticized both Israel and Judaism. What seems to have upset many people is that I’ve kept some sense of proportion. There are something like 15 million Jews on earth at this moment; there are a hundred times as many Muslims.  I’ve debated rabbis who, when I have assumed that they believe in a God that can hear our prayers, they stop me mid-sentence and say, “Why would you think that I believe in a God who can hear prayers?” So there are rabbis—conservative rabbis—who believe in a God so elastic as to exclude every concrete claim about Him—and therefore, nearly every concrete demand upon human behavior. And there are millions of Jews, literally millions among the few million who exist, for whom Judaism is very important, and yet they are atheists. They don’t believe in God at all. This is actually a position you can hold in Judaism, but it’s a total non sequitur in Islam or Christianity."

Well, I prefer to accept this part as just an opinion. But if we want to accept it as reasoning, we might found some inconsistencies in his reasoning across the passage and in his total stance on particularly the issue of Islam. "I've kept some sense of proportion". this in my opinion means that He believes that per capita criticism of religion should be balanced between all religions, so because Judaism involves several millions and for example Islam more than one billion people, Islam is naturally exposed more to his criticism. I might say that why such proportion is needed, and shouldn't this per capita criticism also involve actions? For example if Israel as a representative of most of the Judaism kills one hundredth of what Muslims kill, shouldn't it be blamed similarly? this part is not really important in my opinion, so I am going to the next point. 
How can one be atheist and at the same time Jew? isn't it a little bit paradoxical? Let's assume he means many people has cultural bonds to Judaism but do not believe in God, that's okay. So do Muslims and Christians. I am a culturally Muslim, and many of my friends are, but we do not believe in God. For example we have a sense of nostalgia whenever we are in the environment in which Muslim Azan (prayer) is heard. We eat Halal meat and our mourning ceremonies are completely Islamic. But we are free thinkers, we drink alcohol occasionally, we oppose our governments when  they want to impose Islamic laws on us. I really see no difference. But if he means something more than cultural bond, then his claim of atheism is a little bit weird or even hypocritical. 

"So, when we’re talking about the consequences of irrational beliefs based on scripture, the Jews are the least of the least offenders. But I have said many critical things about Judaism. Let me remind you that parts of Hebrew Bible—books like Leviticus and Exodus and Deuteronomy—are the most repellent, the most sickeningly unethical documents to be found in any religion. They’re worse than the Koran. They’re worse than any part of the New Testament. But the truth is, most Jews recognize this and don’t take these texts seriously. It’s simply a fact that most Jews and most Israelis are not guided by scripture—and that’s a very good thing. "

Again based on the previous part, you supposed A (Judaism is compatible with atheism, but Islam or Christianity isn't), you are concluding B (less offense). A as I gave you my example is incorrect, therefore B cannot be concluded from it. 
Then comes this  "It’s simply a fact that most Jews and most Israelis are not guided by scripture—and that’s a very good thing. "
Well this is not a Fact. The notion of state of Israel is based on the concepts of King David, the Promised Land, The right of Return of Jews to the Israel all of which have strong religious basis and in fact are the reason for the Palestine-Israel conflict. (If there was no religious basis--> no state of Israel--> no return to the homeland--> no conflict). Pay attention of how he reached another false conclusion from a false reason. 
But let's assume for the sake of discussion, that state of Israel is not religiously based. So the question arises that why Israelis have right in the land of Palestine? (the religious basis is absurd in my opinion). I can find no answer to this question. Accordingly, the State of Israel is founded based on use of force to expel the indigenous people from where they lived and to colonize with people. This cannot in anyway be a moral thing (you are using force to expel somebody from his homeland, be it a country, region, whatever). And an immoral thing is a bad thing.

"Of course, there are some who are. There are religious extremists among Jews. Now, I consider these people to be truly dangerous, and their religious beliefs are as divisive and as unwarranted as the beliefs of devout Muslims. But there are far fewer such people."

These are all facts. Being fewer does not mean being more righteous though, because of the same concept of proportionality (similar percentage in both groups means larger number in the Muslim community). And, maybe he has noticed that Israel is now run by one of the far right governments, in which those dangerous people are in charge of destroying the other side. There are also few Muslims who are far right and who are in control of key posts in some of the Islamic governments. These people can be dangerous, although there are few of them. I am not saying that the two are similar completely, I am just trying to say that place of these extremist people is important in the power hierarchy. 

"For those of you who worry that I never say anything critical about Israel:  My position on Israel is somewhat paradoxical. There are questions about which I’m genuinely undecided. And there’s something in my position, I think, to offend everyone. So, acknowledging how reckless it is to say anything on this topic, I’m nevertheless going to think out loud about it for a few minutes.
I don’t think Israel should exist as a Jewish state. I think it is obscene, irrational and unjustifiable to have a state organized around a religion. So I don’t celebrate the idea that there’s a Jewish homeland in the Middle East. I certainly don’t support any Jewish claims to real estate based on the Bible. [Note: Read this paragraph again.]"

Fine, let's go to the next paragraph.

"Though I just said that I don’t think Israel should exist as a Jewish state, the justification for such a state is rather easy to find. We need look no further than the fact that the rest of the world has shown itself eager to murder the Jews at almost every opportunity. So, if there were going to be a state organized around protecting members of a single religion, it certainly should be a Jewish state. Now, friends of Israel might consider this a rather tepid defense, but it’s the strongest one I’ve got. I think the idea of a religious state is ultimately untenable. [Note: It is worth observing, however, that Israel isn’t “Jewish” in the sense that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are “Muslim.” As my friend Jerry Coyne points out, Israel is actually less religious than the U.S., and it guarantees freedom of religion to its citizens. Israel is not a theocracy, and one could easily argue that its Jewish identity is more cultural than religious. However, if we ask why the Jews wouldn’t move to British Columbia if offered a home there, we can see the role that religion still plays in their thinking.]"

So Sam offers a nonreligious basis for the Jewish state, but in reality it has religious basis, as he himself points out. As I mentioned above, in the nonreligious case you took someone's land who has little to do with the murder of Jews in the 20th century and probably because they were the weakest, and make it your own homeland. Can I please call this immoral? which means the base for state of Israel is immoral? which means the country is based on an immoral idea? The second one is based on religious basis that is totally incomprehensible for me.
This is a very clear inconsistency in my opinion. Now you might say Sam is separating himself from the religious basis, but at the same time is saying that the nonreligious basis is not the real reason for the foundation of Israel. So what is the value of his reasoning of a nonreligious basis for Israel in Reality? Nothing. 
In addition, you usually have a reason and then act based on it. What he is doing is to find a  reason after something has happened. This is not only incorrect but also unethical. 

So let's have a brief overview . The state of Israel is based on an immoral (in the case of nonreligious) or absurd (religious) idea, both of which are indefensible. And No one is going to argue that if there was no Israel, there was no conflict, and no resistance or terrorism or whatever of any kind at least with relation to this issue. 

"Needless to say, in defending its territory as a Jewish state, the Israeli government and Israelis themselves have had to do terrible things. They have, as they are now, fought wars against the Palestinians that have caused massive losses of innocent life. More civilians have been killed in Gaza in the last few weeks than militants. That’s not a surprise because Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Occupying it, fighting wars in it, is guaranteed to get woman and children and other noncombatants killed. And there’s probably little question over the course of fighting multiple wars that the Israelis have done things that amount to war crimes. They have been brutalized by this process—that is, made brutal by it. But that is largely the due to the character of their enemies . [Note: I was not giving Israel a pass to commit war crimes. I was making a point about the realities of living under the continuous threat of terrorism and of fighting multiple wars in a confined space.]"

It looks fine until here: " They have been brutalized by this process—that is, made brutal by it. But that is largely the due to the character of their enemies ." I simply cannot comprehend this part. Let's take a deep breath and start with reasoning again. You immorally occupy somewhere, you then want to defend your occupation, you do immoral things, and this is because of your enemies? (read this ten times ). Let's restart, you occupied somewhere which in the process killed many, created many refugees, destroyed hundreds of villages and towns, and you were not brutal enough, so someone was there to brutalize you? 
Do we at least some consensus that Not being brutal probably means not killing, destroying.... ? in which condition is it possible to not brutalize an occupier in Sam's mind? The only thing in my mind is that the occupied must remain silent and leave his/her home without any resistance. God forbid he resist, because this "nature" is going to brutalize your occupier. 
This is a fallacy. He is accusing the opponent of Israel of what Israel itself is.
Sam probably assumed that Jews were largely good people until they were brutalized by their "enemies" whose land they occupied. This is a prime example of black and white thinking, or demonizing them /sanitizing yourself reasoning. It can be refuted -as I mentioned above- by the fact that the act of occupation and its belonging (massacres, destruction,...) are brutal enough to make the founders of Israel eligible for the "brutal" label without the need for a "enemy" with a special nature to be there. If even this is not enough for you, you might want to read a little bit about the actions of militias who founded Israel

"Whatever terrible things the Israelis have done, it is also true to say that they have used more restraint in their fighting against the Palestinians than we—the Americans, or Western Europeans—have used in any of our wars. They have endured more worldwide public scrutiny than any other society has ever had to while defending itself against aggressors . The Israelis simply are held to a different standard. And the condemnation leveled at them by the rest of the world is completely out of proportion to what they have actually done.  [Note: I was not saying that because they are more careful than we have been at our most careless, the Israelis are above criticism. War crimes are war crimes.]"


Before we go further, I want to say the rest of discussion are side issues. The state of Israel and its occupation, which are the main causes of conflict are immoral and indefensible. So is anything that justifies their continuation in the status quo. What Harris is doing here, is dedicating his attention to the issues that are NOT the main reason of the conflict. This is a fallacy in the sense that it deviates the audience attention from the main point.
"Whatever terrible things the Israelis have done, it is also true to say that they have used more restraint in their fighting against the Palestinians than we—the Americans, or Western Europeans—have used in any of our wars. " First what is the meaning of the word restraint? For example in the current conflict: They bombed UN schools (without any rockets in them), there are reports of killing fleeing civilians, there is evidence of indiscriminate shelling and bombing civilian structures, they is evidence of bombing energy and water sources. Moreover, maybe Harris is unaware that the occupier is legally more obliged to ensure the safety of the people whose land they occupy. And again bear in mind the main issue which is Occupation. You cannot morally defend it in anyway. 
In the recent 50 years, how many occupations have been done by the Europe or US with population transfer, illegal settlements,...This is a classic example of false analogy, when you want to treat two things similarly which are different in many areas. Israel/Palestine war is very different from other wars in the sense that it is a accompanied by a permanent occupation. 

"They have endured more worldwide public scrutiny than any other society has ever had to while defending itself against aggressors . The Israelis simply are held to a different standard. And the condemnation leveled at them by the rest of the world is completely out of proportion to what they have actually done."
I see no reasoning here. There is even double standard in favor of Israel. Just compare it with Iran for example. Israel is the only country who occupies the somebody else's land and at the same time has complete support of US. Israel is one of the countries that have highest number of UN resolution against it, because of continuous violation of international law and yet did not give a damn about them. Just have a look at the long list. Nobody has imposed sanctions against  it and it even enjoys free trade and support from world powers. It is not a member of non-proliferation treaty and is the only power in the ME with nuclear weapons. It also is not a member of ICC. If with all of these its treatment seems unfair, then maybe we should know the meaning of fair in Harris mind.

"It is clear that Israel is losing the PR war and has been for years now.  One of the most galling things for outside observers about the current war in Gaza is the disproportionate loss of life on the Palestinian side. This doesn’t make a lot of moral sense. Israel built bomb shelters to protect its citizens. The Palestinians built tunnels through which they could carry out terror attacks and kidnap Israelis. Should Israel be blamed for successfully protecting its population in a defensive war? I don’t think so.  [Note: I was not suggesting that the deaths of Palestinian noncombatants are anything less than tragic. But if retaliating against Hamas is bound to get innocents killed, and the Israelis manage to protect their own civilians in the meantime, the loss of innocent life on the Palestinian side is guaranteed to be disproportionate.]"

Again you occupy--> somebody resists (even with violent means)---> you bomb them and kill them--> we condemn the killing of the occupied --> this does not make any moral sense? 
It does because Israel started it with occupation. We are not talking about a cross-section in time. This is a dynamic process Mr Harris. This is an ongoing conflict with thousands of intricate factors in it. You are ignoring the evidence of what has led to this conflict. And it is long-standing occupation. Yes I am saying it over and over again so that we do not get lost in arguments of minor or even unrelated issues. Besides the occupation, what is the cause of these "terror tunnels"? How many people were killed by these tunnels or kidnapped by them? What is the cause of Hamas creation? what has led to this type of resistance? This "defensive war" is inherently wrong, because you are defending a nation who has occupied someone else' land, built walls, has imposed blockades because of political reasons, discriminated against them, built settlements where it clearly should not, and controlled their everyday life. He ignores all of these in his reasoning to reach to the tunnels? This is classic cherry picking.
Again, he is simply ignoring the fact that, even in the most recent conflict, killing of three Israeli's was responded by an  indiscriminate attack to arrest hundreds of people (how can hundreds of people have killed three persons), by burning of a Palestinian child, and after these the rockets started raining. He simply chooses not to give a damn about these evidence, because it contradicts his story of defense. And Israel did this regularly, there is evidence from Israeli authorities to do it regularly to strangulate the Gaza population to enrage them against Hamas. Every time a new excuse is created. Even in the recent conflict, first it was the children, then it was the rockets, then it was the tunnels. Does he see any inconsistencies here? I do 
Then comes his twist of argument, nobody is condemning Israel for defending its own population, but we are condemning it of indiscriminate killing of civilians. How on earth killing children on the beach, or killing fleeing civilians which was caught on video is bound to killing Hamas militants. How can we justify several incidence of shelling and bombing UN schools, hospitals, or Gaza's sole power plant? 

"But there is no way to look at the images coming out Gaza—especially of infants and toddlers riddled by shrapnel—and think that this is anything other than a monstrous evil. Insofar as the Israelis are the agents of this evil, it seems impossible to support them. And there is no question that the Palestinians have suffered terribly for decades under the occupation. This is where most critics of Israel appear to be stuck. They see these images, and they blame Israel for killing and maiming babies. They see the occupation, and they blame Israel for making Gaza a prison camp. I would argue that this is a kind of moral illusion, borne of a failure to look at the actual causes of this conflict, as well as of a failure to understand the intentions of the people on either side of it.[Note: I was not saying that the horror of slain children is a moral illusion; nor was I minimizing the suffering of the Palestinians under the occupation. I was claiming that Israel is not primarily to blame for all this suffering.]"

"I would argue that this is a kind of moral illusion, borne of a failure to look at the actual causes of this conflict, as well as of a failure to understand the intentions of the people on either side of it."
This is another classic fallacy of projecting what in fact you are to your opponent. From "moral illusion" to " failure to look at the the actual cause" and " failure to understand the intentions of the people on either side of it". 
Let's have a closer look. What can possibly be an actual cause of a conflict where somebody occupies somebody else's land, and the other people tries to resist with any means possible? is it resistance? is it violent resistance? is it tunnels? is it genocidal ideas of Hamas? can't we simply have a look at the temporal relationship between cause and effect? How on earth can a cause come after an effect? is it logically possible? 
Second, the intention of the people on the other side does not have any pretexts? any backgrounds? isn't occupation by any chance the reason of that intention? and if you are "arguing" it is not please give evidence and not just speculations. 
Third, have you looked closer to the intentions of the side you are defending to have a balanced view? have you for example looked at the Likud charter that does not give a damn about the Palestinian's right to have a state? 
Fourth, is the intention of killing more important than the action? in the world that I lives in an intention to a commit a certain behavior just occasionally leads to action, because of several external limiting factors. 

"The truth is that there is an obvious, undeniable, and hugely consequential moral difference between Israel and her enemies. The Israelis are surrounded by people who have explicitly genocidal intentions towards them. The charter of Hamas is explicitly genocidal. It looks forward to a time, based on Koranic prophesy, when the earth itself will cry out for Jewish blood, where the trees and the stones will say “O Muslim, there’s a Jew hiding behind me.  Come and kill him.” This is a political document. We are talking about a government that was voted into power by a majority of Palestinians.  [Note: Yes, I know that not every Palestinian supports Hamas, but enough do to have brought them to power. Hamas is not a fringe group.]"

"The truth is that there is an obvious, undeniable, and hugely consequential moral difference between Israel and her enemies. The Israelis are surrounded by people who have explicitly genocidal intentions towards them." 
There are several fallacies in here. First one is oversimplification. From a dynamic issue, Harris chose to stick to just one point: Hamas charter. Nothing about how Hamas was created, how even resistance was created, how people chose Hamas over Fatah, and most importantly how the whole conflict was created. And it is simple to refute this argument with just one sentence. Why was Israel doing the same thing before Hamas was created?
The second one is making morality status of Israel to sound righteous using four words: truth, obvious, undeniable, hugely. These are not reasoning and I am not going to object them. They are devoid of any meaning. Indeed, Occupation and building settlements and  killing and destroying thousands in the process without giving a damn about the international community is both immoral and mostly before Hamas was created. 
About Hamas charter, if he really believes what Hamas said he then should believe their subsequent stances on this matter which are NOT genocidal. If he does not, he should not cherry pick.

"We are talking about a government that was voted into power by a majority of Palestinians.  [Note: Yes, I know that not every Palestinian supports Hamas, but enough do to have brought them to power. Hamas is not a fringe group.]"

The reason of why Hamas is created  with the help of Israel has been discussed in details elsewhere. But supporting someone cannot be a reason to be killed when you are a civilian. It is illegal according to international law. 

Again I want to consider how Harris is deliberately or unintentionally twisting the argument, ignoring many facts, and sticking to the points that only support him. He goes from a general point which is the conflict to a specific issue which is Hamas and then is basing his argument only on Hamas, without considering the whole situation which is occupation.

"The discourse in the Muslim world about Jews is utterly shocking. Not only is there Holocaust denial—there’s Holocaust denial that then asserts that we will do it for real if given the chance. The only thing more obnoxious than denying the Holocaust is to say that it should have happened; it didn’t happen, but if we get the chance, we will accomplish it. There are children’s shows in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere that teach five-year-olds about the glories of martyrdom and about the necessity of killing Jews"

Aside from being overgeneralized and dramatized, I do not see a point here of how this justifies the occupation?
But let's assume Harris is solely speaking about some of his concerns. These questions should be answered:
1. How many Muslims do not believe in holocaust? how do you know that? Why then many Muslims are comparing Holocaust to Israeli action in the recent conflict. Doesn't this mean that they believe in holocaust?
2." If we get the chance we will accomplish it." Well, in Harris mind, the Israeli side very rarely has these guys, but in the Muslim world many Muslims want to do this. He probably does have some real representative statistics for these. Let's hope he will publish them one day. 
3. How many children are taught to do this? for what reason? are the other side not doing the same thing? I have seen many pictures of both sides of this brainwashing process. Why should we only condemn one side? and why shouldn't we mention the background for such  actions? Why for example prior to creation of the State of Israel Jews and Muslims lived together in Palestine? Does this give you any hint to some reason other than Koranic prophecy? 
4. Have you seen the response of some Israelis to condemnation of Israel's action by some holocaust survivors? they wished they should have died in gas chambers. Yes they are some fanatics, but the same is true about the other side, bearing in mind that the other side is the oppressed side and react to oppression. What is Israel reacting to?
5. Appeal to fear is another example of fallacious reasoning. Fear-mongering words without little evidence or suitable context is what is being used to change the reader's mind about the conflict. This notion that they want to kill us whenever they can is flourishing in the whole piece, but has little evidence and little attention to the cause rather than the effect.

"And this gets to the heart of the moral difference between Israel and her enemies. And this is something I discussed in The End of Faith. To see this moral difference, you have to ask what each side would do if they had the power to do it"

He is generalizing an entity of national resistance to the whole Muslim world to justify his argument. Can I ask him before Hamas was created, how was resistance in the Palestine? was it based on Koranic prophecy? or was it a secular movement? Then why should I believe Israel's brutality is something more moral than resistance?
And Yet another classic example of black and white thinking. Rather than his fairy tail reasoning , I would rather to see the reality. In reality Israel has occupied the Palestinian homeland by force, killed them or expelled many, and colonize their lands. You cannot justify this action by a rhetoric of nonexistent action. Again never ever you can claim intention equals action, because it is not. Only a proportion of intention leads to action. Also Harris should respond to this question that why despite "Koranic prophecy" of killing Jews, Palestine was a place for all religions before the creation of the state of Israel? that single reality can refute his argument of presence of a general tendency of genocidal idea toward the Jews in the Muslim world. 

"What would the Jews do to the Palestinians if they could do anything they wanted? Well, we know the answer to that question, because they can do more or less anything they want. The Israeli army could kill everyone in Gaza tomorrow. So what does that mean? Well, it means that, when they drop a bomb on a beach and kill four Palestinian children, as happened last week, this is almost certainly an accident . They’re not targeting children. They could target as many children as they want. Every time a Palestinian child dies, Israel edges ever closer to becoming an international pariah. So the Israelis take great pains not to kill children and other noncombatants.  [Note: The word “so” in the previous sentence was regrettable and misleading. I didn’t mean to suggest that safeguarding its reputation abroad would be the only (or even primary) reason for Israel to avoid killing children. However, the point stands: Even if you want to attribute the basest motives to Israel, it is clearly in her self-interest not to kill Palestinian children.]"

""What would the Jews do to the Palestinians if they could do anything they wanted? Well, we know the answer to that question, because they can do more or less anything they want. The Israeli army could kill everyone in Gaza tomorrow. So what does that mean? Well, it means that, when they drop a bomb on a beach and kill four Palestinian children, as happened last week, this is almost certainly an accident . "
In Harris's view, when we are analyzing this issue, we must see it as the only entity. And he does it over and over again.  This oversimplification is a fallacy. He simply does not see the whole context in which this is happening. One reason for killing children can be accident, but to believe this we should ignore the testimonies of several Israeli soldiers, we should ignore the report of several human rights organizations, and to do this we should ignore the fact that there has always been international and internal pressure on Israel. No Israel cannot do this even if it wants to, because it is totally insane. Having power is just one factor out of many factors to do something. Again his "intention"="action" argument. 
"However, the point stands: Even if you want to attribute the basest motives to Israel, it is clearly in her self-interest not to kill Palestinian children." This is just one of many possible explanations and in fact a very remote one. Doesn't it make sense to kill children to break the resistance of the people, to make them enrage and then respond to their rage? doesn't it make sense to kill children and then say it was by accident, particularly if you have done so before in many situations from USS liberty "accident" to bombing of multiple UN facilities to deliberately targeting civilians and medical staff

"Now, is it possible that some Israeli soldiers go berserk under pressure and wind up shooting into crowds of rock-throwing children? Of course. You will always find some soldiers acting this way in the middle of a war. But we know that this isn’t the general intent of Israel. We know the Israelis do not want to kill non-combatants, because they could kill as many as they want, and they’re not doing it."

Fallacy: ignoring evidence to the contrary. If we want to believe him, Israel army is nothing but a gang of lunatics. Here there are some evidence that this is indeed a systematic action:
www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/04/gaza-israeli-soldiers-shoot-and-kill-fleeing-civilians
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/04/gaza-israeli-soldiers-shoot-and-kill-fleeing-civilians
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/08/proof-israel-targeting-civilians-gaza.html
http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/08/idf-whistleblower-who-posted-israeli-troops-killed-gaza-civilians-in-revenge-now-under-arrest/
breakingthesilence.org.il

"What do we know of the Palestinians? What would the Palestinians do to the Jews in Israel if the power imbalance were reversed? Well, they have told us what they would do. For some reason, Israel’s critics just don’t want to believe the worst about a group like Hamas, even when it declares the worst of itself.  We’ve already had a Holocaust and several other genocides in the 20th century. People are capable of committing genocide. When they tell us they intend to commit genocide, we should listen. There is every reason to believe that the Palestinians would kill all the Jews in Israel if they could. Would every Palestinian support genocide? Of course not. But vast numbers of them—and of Muslims throughout the world—would . Needless to say, the Palestinians in general, not just Hamas, have a history of targeting innocent noncombatants in the most shocking ways possible. They’ve blown themselves up on buses and in restaurants. They’ve massacred teenagers. They’ve murdered Olympic athletes. They now shoot rockets indiscriminately into civilian areas. And again, the charter of their government in Gaza explicitly tells us that they want to annihilate the Jews—not just in Israel but everywhere. [Note: Again, I realize that not all Palestinians support Hamas. Nor am I discounting the degree to which the occupation, along with collateral damage suffered in war, has fueled Palestinian rage. But Palestinian terrorism (and Muslim anti-Semitism) is what has made peaceful coexistence thus far impossible.]"

I point to fallacies that are being repeated over and over again: 
overgeneralization (most Muslim would: How many? why? ), ignoring evidence (we should listen to them: but only to their charter, not to other things they said), cherry picking (loosing the context of occupation as the root cause  of the conflict), ....
"But Palestinian terrorism (and Muslim anti-Semitism) is what has made peaceful coexistence thus far impossible.
This is a "A caused B" argument. Let's see how much it is true. First of all the root cause of all these is occupation as Jews were living with Muslims in Palestine before Israel creation. Second, this reasoning needs some evidence. How did he conclude it? Why should I stick to the reason which is followed rather than to precede occupation? Why should I believe that Israel land grabbing policy and settlements have nothing to do with the peace process? why should I believe that Rabin's assassination by an Israeli has nothing to do with the peace process? why should I believe that Israel that never defined its real borders has any intention to peace? Are these a response to "terrorist" acts? 
Is it really incomprehensible for Sam Harris that Palestinian have the right to resist against their occupiers? and when they are no match for a complete army they use guerrilla warfare and terrorism. It is interesting that similar terrorist actions leads to the creation of state of Israel and same terrorists became the IDF and the Israeli authority (link is provided above). This has a meaning for me that is when you cannot fight like an army, you will use other means. The reason rather than the means are important here. Jews did so to colonize a land,  while Palestinians did so to fight back. If you look at the issue like this which is real, the Palestinians have "the moral high ground". 

"The truth is that everything you need to know about the moral imbalance between Israel and her enemies can be understood on the topic of human shields. Who uses human shields? Well, Hamas certainly does. They shoot their rockets from residential neighborhoods, from beside schools, and hospitals, and mosques. Muslims in other recent conflicts, in Iraq and elsewhere, have also used human shields. They have laid their rifles on the shoulders of their own children and shot from behind their bodies."

Up to know, I saw no "moral imbalance" in favor of Israel in his argument. Terrorism was used by both parties one for colonization and land grabbing the other for resistance. Both parties have deliberately targeted civilian areas. Israel with its precision weapons and Hamas with its non-discriminant rockets. In addition Israel is the root cause of the situation by its occupation, settlements, walls, blockades, and discrimination against Arabs.
But about the human shield. First of all, what Muslims do or not do in other conflicts has nothing to do with this situation. This is an overgeneralizing fallacy.
Second, using emotionally charged words with little meaning, the truth is, who uses human shields? well Hamas certainly does. Okay that's it we are done!. A very nice argument. 
Nope Mr Harris, Human shield is not shooting from residential areas, it has a specific meaning in war and this meaning only has been documented to be committed by Israel. Only Israel places the people in front of its firearms. There is no single evidence (read this ten times) for use of human shields by Hamas. Firing rockets from residential areas are certainly to be condemned, but human shield is morally far worse in my opinion.

A statement by Amnesty International on Human Shield: Amnesty International is monitoring and investigating such reports, but does not have evidence at this point that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to “shield” specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks. In previous conflicts Amnesty International has documented that Palestinian armed groups have stored munitions in and fired indiscriminate rockets from residential areas in the Gaza Strip in violation of international humanitarian law. Reports have also emerged during the current conflict of Hamas urging residents to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate. However, these calls may have been motivated by a desire to minimize panic and displacement, in any case, such statements are not the same as directing specific civilians to remain in their homes as “human shields” for fighters, munitions, or military equipment. Under international humanitarian law even if “human shields” are being used Israel’s obligations to protect these civilians would still apply.


"Consider the moral difference between using human shields and being deterred by them. That is the difference we’re talking about. The Israelis and other Western powers are deterred, however imperfectly, by the Muslim use of human shields in these conflicts, as we should be. It is morally abhorrent to kill noncombatants if you can avoid it. It’s certainly abhorrent to shoot through the bodies of children to get at your adversary. But take a moment to reflect on how contemptible this behavior is. And understand how cynical it is. The Muslims are acting on the assumption—the knowledge, in fact—that the infidels with whom they fight, the very people whom their religion does nothing but vilify, will be deterred by their use of Muslim human shields. They consider the Jews the spawn of apes and pigs—and yet they rely on the fact that they don’t want to kill Muslim noncombatants. [Note: The term “Muslims” in this paragraph means “Muslim combatants” of the sort that Western forces have encountered in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The term “jihadists” would have been too narrow, but I was not suggesting that allMuslims support the use of human shields or are anti-Semitic, at war with the West, etc.]"

 What Harris does here is basing his argument on his false allegations to reach a correct conclusion which of course is impossible.We already spoke of human shields, so the whole thing is nonsense with regard to this conflict. Let's see his other arguments. Generalizing a national liberation movement to the whole Jihadist movement is yet another fallacy. The reason of this particular conflict  is OCCUPATION. When you occupy someone's land you should expect heavy violent resistance. I argue that Hamas is a resistance movement rather than a Jihadist movement. Prior to Hamas PLO did so which was a secular movement. The argument is simple.
We have occupation--> We need resistance: resistance came in several forms (secular, Islamic, whatever). The form changes but the core content remains the same.
Considering Jews as apes and pigs is of course disgusting and evil but is a side issue even in the Muslim world and has nothing to do with the main problem of Israel/Palestine conflict.This kind of appealing to fear or pity for the Jews is another fallacy at least when Israel is one of the most powerful armies in the world.


"Now imagine reversing the roles here. Imagine how fatuous—indeed comical it would be—for the Israelis to attempt to use human shields to deter the Palestinians. Some claim that they have already done this. There are reports that Israeli soldiers have occasionally put Palestinian civilians in front of them as they’ve advanced into dangerous areas. That’s not the use of human shields we’re talking about. It’s egregious behavior. No doubt it constitutes a war crime. But Imagine the Israelis holding up their own women and children as human shields. Of course, that would be ridiculous. The Palestinians are trying to kill everyone. Killing women and children is part of the plan. Reversing the roles here produces a grotesque Monty Python skit."

Human shield argument does not work Mr Harris. Human shield is human shield and it has a definition in the war. You cannot use it however you want. When did Hamas hold their children as shields? there is no evidence whatsoever. 
"The Palestinians are trying to kill everyone. Killing women and children is part of the plan. Reversing the roles here produces a grotesque Monty Python skit" One of the things that Sam Harris does frequently in his arguments is creating cross-sections of unimaginable situations and drawing conclusions from them. This of course is good for improvement of creativity but has little to do with real life situations. For example in this instance, he is simply imagining that the situation would be reverse. But what about the world stance? what about the form of Palestinian resistance? What about the situations in which this is created?  If there was no occupation, there was no Palestinian resistance in any kind. There could be Hamas as a totalitarian regime, but why they should have killed Jews? Simply sticking to one point while ignoring the others and the background is rarely successful in drawing a reasonable conclusion.

"If you’re going to talk about the conflict in the Middle East, you have to acknowledge this difference. I don’t think there’s any ethical disparity to be found anywhere that is more shocking or consequential than this"

What can I say? If you still see any difference in favor of Israel, reread my discussion


"And the truth is, this isn’t even the worst that jihadists do. Hamas is practically a moderate organization, compared to other jihadist groups. There are Muslims who have blown themselves up in crowds of children—again, Muslim children—just to get at the American soldiers who were handing out candy to them. They have committed suicide bombings, only to send another bomber to the hospital to await the casualities—where they then blow up all the injured along with the doctors and nurses trying to save their lives"

This is not about the conflict anymore., although he wants it to be. But just some points to mention
"children—again, Muslim children—just to get at the American soldiers who were handing out candy to them." Not to mention that what the heck American soldiers were doing there. Why on the earth every US attempt to spread democracy and freedom have almost always lead to destabilization, dictatorship, and more Jihadism. I can not read minds, but these seem to be heterogenesis in  Harris's view. 

"Every day that you could read about an Israeli rocket gone astray or Israeli soldiers beating up an innocent teenager, you could have read about ISIS in Iraq crucifying people on the side of the road, Christians and Muslims. Where is the outrage in the Muslim world and on the Left over these crimes? Where are the demonstrations, 10,000 or 100,000 deep, in the capitals of Europe against ISIS?  If Israel kills a dozen Palestinians by accident, the entire Muslim world is inflamed. God forbid you burn a Koran, or write a novel vaguely critical of the faith . And yet Muslims can destroy their own societies—and seek to destroy the West—and you don’t hear a peep. [Note: Of course, I’m aware that many Muslims condemn groups like ISIS. My point is that we don’t see massive protests against global jihadism—even though it targets Muslims more than anyone else—and we do see such protests over things like the Danish cartoons.] "

Harris is focusing more and more on side issues and apart from the conflict to justify his view. Because we do not see massive protest against global Jihadism we shouldn't condemn Israel's action? A is bad, B is worse, because nobody condemns B (which is not true, and Muslims and their leaders did so), A should not be condemned? 
Yes, the extent is not similar, but this is not only because "some Muslims love beheading others"
This is another prime example of false analogy. Israel is a state, is "democratic", and has many many Western values at least at the level of rhetoric. It has someone like Sam Harris that justifies its actions, US supports it directly, it committed the only state-based occupation in the recent decades, and no Western state give a damn about its illegal actions. In Harris view this situation is similar to a nonstate fanatic organization without any democratic values that no sane person endorses and is not hypocritical while killing nonbelievers. Nobody at this time is supporting it among the world powers and few if any people show hypocrisy when it is turn of ISIS. 


"So, it seems to me, that you have to side with Israel here. You have one side which if it really could accomplish its aims would simply live peacefully with its neighbors, and you have another side which is seeking to implement a seventh century theocracy in the Holy Land. There’s no peace to be found between those incompatible ideas.  That doesn’t mean you can’t condemn specific actions on the part of the Israelis. And, of course, acknowledging the moral disparity between Israel and her enemies doesn’t give us any solution to the problem of Israel’s existence in the Middle East. [Note: I was not suggesting that Israel’s actions are above criticism or that their recent incursion into Gaza was necessarily justified. Nor was I saying that the status quo, wherein the Palestinians remain stateless, should be maintained. And I certainly wasn’t expressing support for the building of settlements on contested land (as I made clear below). By “siding with Israel,” I am simply recognizing that they are not the primary aggressors in this conflict. They are, rather, responding to aggression—and at a terrible cost.]  "

So let me get it straight. After basing his argument on several fallacious reasons, he is now drawing conclusion based on those reasoning, which of course is nothing but false. Just I want to focus on one statement: "By “siding with Israel,” I am simply recognizing that they are not the primary aggressors in this conflict. They are, rather, responding to aggression—and at a terrible cost. " I have problem with his word "aggression" here . First of all when you occupy someone's land, you should naturally expect violence. And you cannot condemn the other side for its resistance while you are the perpetrator. When Harris says he is not supporting settlements etc etc, he indeed cannot separate these issues, because they are closely interconnected. "Aggression" is not happening as a sole sudden entity, but as a result of Israeli policies. So when you are going to do a moral judgement you cannot separate these two, because they are in a clear cause and effect relationship.

"Again, granted, there’s some percentage of Jews who are animated by their own religious hysteria and their own prophesies. Some are awaiting the Messiah on contested land. Yes, these people are willing to sacrifice the blood of their own children for the glory of God. But, for the most part, they are not representative of the current state of Judaism or the actions of the Israeli government. And it is how Israel deals with these people—their own religious lunatics—that will determine whether they can truly hold the moral high ground. And Israel can do a lot more than it has to disempower them. It can cease to subsidize the delusions of the Ultra-Orthodox, and it can stop building settlements on contested land.  [Note: Read that again. And, yes, I understand that not all settlers are Ultra-Orthodox.]"

Again this is just rhetoric. What is factual is that Israel empowered them, they have key positions in the governments, and they are doing terrible things.
More than 80% of people supported assault on Gaza in OPE which means there is the majority behind these attacks. And These attacks are illegal and immoral as I provided evidence before.
There is also another error here: ultra-orthodox Jews oppose the idea of the State of Israel and have nothing to do with it. He probably meant ultra-Zionists. 


"These incompatible religious attachments to this land have made it impossible for Muslims and Jews to negotiate like rational human beings, and they have made it impossible for them to live in peace. But the onus is still more on the side of the Muslims here. Even on their worst day, the Israelis act with greater care and compassion and self-criticism than Muslim combatants have anywhere, ever.
And again, you have to ask yourself, what do these groups want? What would they accomplish if they could accomplish anything? What would the Israelis do if they could do what they want? They would live in peace with their neighbors, if they had neighbors who would live in peace with them. They would simply continue to build out their high tech sector and thrive. [Note:Some might argue that they would do more than this—e.g. steal more Palestinian land. But apart from the influence of Jewish extremism (which I condemn), Israel’s continued appropriation of land has more than a little to do with her security concerns. Absent Palestinian terrorism and Muslim anti-Semitism, we could be talking about a “one-state solution,” and the settlements would be moot."

""These incompatible religious attachments to this land have made it impossible for Muslims and Jews to negotiate like rational human beings, and they have made it impossible for them to live in peace. "--> no they are not incompatible. Reason: Before the creation of Israel all of them lived together in the holy land. So what is the reason? The Israel needs the land that belongs to all of them. The Israel despite international law, announced Jerusalem as their eternal capital. So how is onus is still more on the side of Muslim here? 
"Even on their worst day, the Israelis act with greater care and compassion and self-criticism than Muslim combatants have anywhere, ever." They actually just showed a political gesture and then forgot about it. Not to mention that greater compassion and self-criticism is a duty for Israel as an occupier.

"And again, you have to ask yourself, what do these groups want? What would they accomplish if they could accomplish anything? What would the Israelis do if they could do what they want? They would live in peace with their neighbors, if they had neighbors who would live in peace with them. They would simply continue to build out their high tech sector and thrive." 
What Harris is saying here: let's forget about the occupation, the settlements and so on when we are arguing over this issue, and now let's base our argument on what everybody accomplishes here. Arabs will probably remain in their low-tech life spreading the Koranic prophecy but Israel develops high tech industry and live in peace. This is again black and white thinking, but let's debunk it a little. First, no impartial legal authority will judge the occupation based on what will be accomplished by each side. This is completely irrelevant. The occupation is illegal, the settlements are illegal, and they are the core cause of the conflict which means if they were not here, we did not have this conflict. Second, Who said that High tech industry is an accomplishment more than preserving a human life in the first place? Why should we hold such assumption when everything we develop (hopefully) is to preserve human life and not the other way around? third, why should we believe that Israel wanted peace while it continuously stole land and built settlements? Are these a way to the peace? are these a way to fight "terrorists"?
Muslim anti-semitism and terrorism are secondary to the problem of occupation as I said hundred times before.


"What do groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda and even Hamas want? They want to impose their religious views on the rest of humanity. They want stifle every freedom that decent, educated, secular people care about. This is not a trivial difference. And yet judging from the level of condemnation that Israel now receives, you would think the difference ran the other way"

Harris is again using his fallacious reasoning to reach to his desired conclusion. First, The cause of  Israel/ Palestine conflict is far from Muslim anti-semitism, imposing of religious beliefs, and other things he is mentioning here. Second, we cannot justify the occupation and Israel's action based on being more secular or educated. The people of Palestine are deprived of any decent way of life exactly because they are deprived by Israel. When Israel was founded on a religious belief, PLO a largely secular organization fought it back. Hamas creation is a direct result of undermining PLO by Israel and preventing any secular political discourse to take place. Hamas was created because only Mosques were free enough to become a basis for resistance (link is provided above). Resistance took a new form because Israel deviated the situation to be so.  Now Harris is ignoring the whole context, as often he did in this piece to reach his conclusion which is fallacious. 

"They want stifle every freedom that decent, educated, secular people care about. This is not a trivial difference. " In my opinion also being educated is much better than being Koranic. But, this has nothing to do with justification of Israel's brutal and immoral action. You can build a bomb and you are probably more educated than a guy who cannot, but are you more moral? ethical? human? justified in having more land?
"And yet judging from the level of condemnation that Israel now receives, you would think the difference ran the other way" Mr Harris, this is because the judgment is not based on irrelevant issues such as education. You cannot take somebody's land based on higher education status, you cannot defend this stance based on being more intellectual or secular. Being a professor does not change your status as a human, does not make you more human, does not make you moral, does not justify your immoral actions, and so on.


"This kind of confusion puts all of us in danger. This is the great story of our time. For the rest of our lives, and the lives of our children, we are going to be confronted by people who don’t want to live peacefully in a secular, pluralistic world, because they are desperate to get to Paradise, and they are willing to destroy the very possibility of human happiness along the way. The truth is, we are all living in Israel. It’s just that some of us haven’t realized it yet."

Let's go to the title: Why I don't criticize Israel, now come back and read this again. 
There are several fallacies here: overgeneralizing a national conflict to the whole world, shifting the ground of the argument "to the great story of our time", black and white thinking (we are good, they are evil), ignoring the main point (which is the conflict), appeal to emotions (they want to destroy the very possibility of human happiness), assuming a posture of righteousness (we are good, [forget about destabilizing the whole Middle East in the last several decades]), Appeal to fear (confusion puts all of us in danger),...
I just want to debunk one point here "This kind of confusion puts all of us in danger." Based on my arguments I want to say that indeed Harris is the one who is confusing the whole issue. His -probably unintentional- spinning of the argument converted an occupier/occupied conflict into the dangers of Jihadist movements. If you really have read any of his pieces this can be seen in many of them. He constantly reduces many argument with even a bit of Islam  in it to a fear-mongering Jihad-related issues. This has been the basis for many of his "moral stances" such as supporting torture or racial profiling. At first I wanted to place this part at the beginning, but to avoid affecting the reader judgment, I did not do so. My last word is, unfortunately Harris -due to any reason that he should explore himself- is insistent on an existential threat from global Jihadist Islam and is insistent to include this in many of his arguments that are hardly related to it. Harris's reasoning in such instances (as also has been shown by others) is hardly reasoning, and mainly reality distortion. He distorts reality to reach his goals. This not only is far from being intellectual, but also is unethical. To use reason as a tool to reach your goals, rather than defining your goals based on reasoning is what Harris is doing with respect to these issues. I am not refuting his other areas of work, but in this particular case and with respect to the Middle East in general, he has often shown this lack of ability of appropriate reasoning. 
And I am wondering what will be the fate of his "Project: Reason" based on these kind of arguments.
At last here are some other good arguments that I saw with respect to this issue: 
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/31/why-i-criticize-israel/
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/07/31/why-sam-harris-wont-criticize-israel/
http://freethoughtblogs.com/amilliongods/2014/07/29/a-response-to-sam-harris-so-why-dont-you-criticise-israel-and-palestine/
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/defends-silence-slaughter.html


Confession: I tried to write this several weeks ago, but I did not because the piece was emotionally charged and I was really emotionally affected by it. This does not mean that the current writing is flawless, but it definitely has less emotional arguments than it could have weeks ago.