Letter

In response to From hubris to holy war – the dangerous logic behind the Iran conflict

The moral error of exceptionalism

In 2007 a groundbreaking work by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt burst onto the world. The Israel Lobby was the book’s title, and for the first time the fact of an overpowering force at work behind the scenes in US foreign policy became mainstream.

Underpinning that force is the moral error of exceptionalism. It means we do not all stand equal before the law. Historically it means we study the Holocaust but memory hole the Nakba. In the present it gives us Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Iran. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity, perhaps quaint notions to some but real nonetheless.

Donald Trump gives every appearance of having made a Faustian bargain to gain the Presidency. There are also the Epstein Files hovering in his background. That’s his excuse, Albo. What’s yours?

— Hal Duell from Alice Springs