The Zionist factions that were foundational to the establishment of the Israeli state saw the Holocaust as proof of two things: first, that the Jewish people would never truly be safe in the world without a country of their own, and second, that the horrors visited on Jews by the Nazis, and European antisemites before them, and the Cossacks before them, demonstrated that no extreme was unjustified in the establishment and protection of that state. Those attitudes have been at the bedrock of modern day Israel from its founding. To those who adhere to them, “Never again” is short for “Never again to us,” and damn anybody who doesn’t fit their narrow (conservative, religiously observant, largely white Ashkenazi) vision of Jewishness.

To these folks, ethnic cleansing of Palestine was always the goal, and they’ve been waiting decades for an international order that would look the other way while they purged, displaced, and slaughtered their way to complete Israeli control of the land they saw as theirs to take. Now they’ve got it, and they’re not wasting any time.

Given how buddy-buddy he is with Erdogan and Modi, I don’t think that’s strictly true – but no, with a name like Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (really!), perhaps there are some prejudices at play…

Last I checked, Turkmenistan’s entire economy had been turned towards the project of sucking off their former president (who is the dad of the current president) by building lots of garish statues, museums, hotels with his name and face on them. One would think that sort of thing would be right up Donny’s alley.