Shaun King has graced us with his latest manifesto over at The North Star, titled “How we must end this genocide :: after 538 days we must consider doing what we’ve never done before.” In his typical fashion, King builds a 3,000-word house of cards that somehow manages to omit the most basic facts about the conflict while calling for what amounts to a holy war against Israel.
For those fortunate enough to have missed King’s opus, allow me to summarize: After 538 days of what he calls “genocide,” King has decided that social media activism, protests, and international courts aren’t enough. The only solution, according to this self-proclaimed “strategic planner,” is for Muslim nations to form a military coalition and invade Israel. Yes, you read that correctly – his peace plan involves starting World War III.
What’s particularly striking about King’s article isn’t just what he says – it’s what he strategically omits. In 3,000+ words about Gaza, King never once mentions Hamas. Not once. He never mentions the October 7th massacre that started this conflict. Not once. He never mentions the hostages still held in tunnels beneath Gaza. Not once. It’s like writing a history of World War II without mentioning Pearl Harbor, Nazi Germany, or the Holocaust.
Shaun King has blessed us with 15 “action steps” to end what he calls a “genocide” in Gaza. Conspicuously missing from his 3,000+ word manifesto is one simple solution: Return the hostages and stop trying to annihilate Israel.
Because nothing says “peace activist” quite like demanding a multinational military invasion while forgetting to mention the 250 innocents kidnapped by Hamas (59 still held in Gaza) – including the elderly, the disabled, and babies – that sparked this conflict in the first place.
For 538 days, King has been documenting this “genocide” – coincidentally the exact number of days since October 7th, 2023. Yet somehow, in his exhaustive timeline, he managed to skip Day One entirely. You know, the day when Hamas terrorists slaughtered over 1,200 people, including 39 children, while they slept in their beds or danced at a music festival. The day they took 250 hostages, 59 of whom still remain in underground tunnels 18 months later – if they’re still alive at all.
King begins with “Peace be unto you” before advocating for what amounts to holy war. It’s like starting a boxing match with a gentle handshake before suggesting your opponent be dragged into the street and beaten by a mob. The cognitive dissonance is stunning, but not surprising.
The Reality King Conveniently Ignores
Here’s what King’s “15 Action Steps” magically omit:
- Hamas, not Israel, started this war by launching the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
- Hamas, not Israel, uses Palestinian civilians as human shields while their leaders hide in luxury hotels in Qatar.
- Hamas, not Israel, diverts humanitarian aid to build terror tunnels and manufacture weapons.
- Hamas, not Israel, has vowed to repeat October 7th “again and again.”
But these inconvenient truths don’t fit King’s narrative of Israel as a “genocidal nation” that has no “right to exist.” He’d rather call for a global Muslim military force to invade Israel – because nothing prevents genocide quite like launching a holy war against the world’s only Jewish state.
The “Steps” of Madness
Let’s examine a few of King’s “steps” more closely.
King suggests Israel must be declared a “state sponsor of terrorism” – by the same global community that includes such human rights champions as Iran (where women are beaten for showing their hair), China (currently running concentration camps for Uyghur Muslims), and Syria (now controlled by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, whose forces have committed well-documented atrocities). What a perfectly balanced jury!
He calls for “a brand new international body” to hunt down Israelis who are defending their country against terrorism. Meanwhile, he has no interest in prosecuting the actual war criminals – Hamas terrorists who proudly livestreamed their murders of Israeli civilians on October 7th. King’s moral compass seems calibrated to excuse the perpetrators while criminalizing the victims defending themselves.
King demands Egypt open its border with Gaza – conveniently forgetting that Egypt built its own wall with Gaza years ago because Hamas kept attacking Egyptian security forces and smuggling weapons.
The most revealing part? King demands nations “block all war criminals from entering or exiting” Israel – effectively advocating for the forced imprisonment of 10 million people, including 2 million Israeli Arabs. This from the man who supposedly fights against collective punishment.
A 16th Step That Would Actually Work
For all his strategic planning prowess, King seems to have overlooked the most obvious solution: Hamas could release all hostages and surrender.
Of course, King’s fantasy of a multinational Arab military force invading Israel conveniently ignores history. Arab nations already tried this approach – in 1948, 1967, and 1973 – and we all know how that turned out. Israel not only survived but emerged stronger after each attempt to destroy it.
In fact, had Arab leaders simply accepted the UN Partition Plan in 1947 instead of launching a war to destroy the nascent Jewish state, Palestinians would have had their own country for 77 years now. The current suffering in Gaza is the direct result of that original rejection and the subsequent decisions to choose war over peace, destruction over construction, and hatred over coexistence.
This single action would:
- End the war immediately
- Save countless Palestinian lives
- Allow humanitarian aid to flow freely
- Start the process of rebuilding Gaza
- Prevent the “physical intervention” King seems so eager to witness
But King isn’t really interested in peace. He’s interested in Facebook followers and donations. If he truly cared about Palestinian lives, he’d be directing his righteous anger at Hamas for using civilians as human shields, for rejecting multiple ceasefire offers, and for stealing humanitarian aid meant for starving Gazans.
Instead, he’s calling for a global holy war – because nothing prevents genocide quite like… more violence?
The Hostages King Forgot
Perhaps most revealing is King’s complete silence about the hostages. No mention of Kfir Bibas, kidnapped when he was just 9 months old. No mention of the elderly Holocaust survivors taken while they were still in their pajamas. No mention of the Thai farm workers – Buddhists with no connection to the conflict – who were kidnapped for the crime of picking tomatoes while non-Muslim.
While King weeps for Gaza, these hostages have spent 538 days in dark tunnels, denied Red Cross visits, medical care, or contact with their families. Some have already been murdered in captivity. Others have been tortured, sexually assaulted, or starved.
Their suffering doesn’t merit even a footnote in King’s manifesto.
Truth and Consequences
The truth is uncomfortable but simple:
If Hamas had never attacked on October 7th, this war wouldn’t exist.
If Hamas released the hostages tomorrow, this war would end.
If Hamas spent the last 18 years building schools instead of terror tunnels, Gaza could have been the “Singapore of the Middle East.”
If Hamas cared about Palestinian civilians even a fraction as much as Israel does (which warns civilians before strikes and cancels operations that risk too many civilian lives), far fewer Palestinians would have died.
But acknowledging these truths doesn’t generate clicks or donations. It doesn’t feed the righteous anger that powers King’s social media empire. It doesn’t allow him to position himself as the savior of Gaza while calling for violence that would kill thousands more Palestinians.
King’s manifesto isn’t a peace plan. It’s a fundraising strategy dressed up as moral outrage.
Here’s a Real Solution
Instead of King’s 15 steps to more bloodshed, here’s one step to peace:
Pressure Hamas to release all hostages and surrender.
Israel has repeatedly stated it would end the war if the hostages were released and Hamas was removed from power. Not because Israel wants to “commit genocide,” but because a terrorist organization that has vowed to repeat October 7th “again and again” cannot be allowed to remain on its border.
King doesn’t mention this because it would require holding Palestinians accountable for their leadership choices. It’s easier to infantilize them, to treat them as helpless victims with no agency or responsibility, to ignore the inconvenient truth that Hamas enjoys widespread support among Palestinians despite (or because of) its genocidal charter.
But this patronizing approach hasn’t helped Palestinians for 75 years. It’s time for a new path – one that demands accountability from Palestinian leadership, that recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and that builds a future based on coexistence rather than endless war.
That path starts with a simple demand: Release the hostages. End the war. Choose life.
But I doubt King will be posting about that anytime soon. It doesn’t get enough likes.
