A Call For Peace Between Israel and Hamas

     While there is much contention about it, and there are claims of antisemitism every time anyone mentions it, historically, Ashkenazi Jews from Europe had their own country over 1,000 years ago called Khazaria in what is now Kazakhstan, Southern Russia, and Crimea, but all of the important cities in their country were in what is now Crimea. The Khazarians ruled the area from 650 AD to around 965 AD until the Kievan Rus came to ascendancy and conquered the Crimean peninsula. The Kievan Rus descended to become the Czars of Russia.

     Then when the Golden Horde of Mongols arrived in the 1220s they pushed the Royal family of Khazaria out of Crimea and they moved to Italy, while most of the Ashkenazi Jews with the ability to migrate traveled west into the rest of Europe, primarily to Poland where intermarrage with local leaders formed the Schlachta Nobility, who established The Jagiellonian University about 100 years later. 

     Jews have been documented in the Crimean peninsula since 100 AD where there is a story that they offered to free some slaves if they would convert to Judaism, which they did. By 740 AD the leader of Khazaria had also converted to Judaism, and so did his family, and by 860 AD all of the Khazarian Nobility had converted and most of the general population had as well, even though there was no actual requirement to convert. Khazaria became a magnet for all Jews everywhere around the Middle East because for hundreds of years after adopting the Jewish religion the royal family of Khazaria sponsored rabbis to come and set up synagogues, and many Jews fled to Khazaria to avoid persecution by the Byzantine empire.

     To this day the Crimea still has 2 forms of Judaism: the Karaites and the Krymchaks, the Karaites were deemed ethnically Tartar by the Nazis and therefore exempt from extermination, while the Krymchaks who are unique to the Crimean peninsula were not, and around half of all Krymchaks in Crimea were murdered by the Nazis during World War 2.

     After World War 2 the United States and the United Nations gave the Ashkenazi Jews Israel, even though the last time the Jews had controlled Israel was maybe 2,600 years ago, and about 90% of all Jews today are Ashkenazi, so Crimea would have made more sense. But the United Nations was created by the United States and Western Europe specifically to oppose the Soviet Union, and the Crimea was behind the Iron Curtain and under Soviet control, so instead Israel was created in the Middle East.

     But long before the Jews were given Israel by anti-Russian countries both Russian and Soviet leaders had experimented with the idea of recreating the Khazarian homeland for Jews in Crimea. Catherine the Great kicked the Ottomans out in 1783 and due to historic ties of Jews to the area and existing Jewish populations, she opened Crimea up to Jewish settlement. Then later during the Soviet era in the 1920s and 1930s they created a Jewish Autonomous Zone in Crimea, and while they later banned Jews from living in cities, this was another example of acknowledging that Crimea is in fact the Ashkenazi Jewish homeland. Russian Jews were encouraged to reclaim Crimea as their homeland for over 150 years in both Russia and then the Soviet Union, right up until World War 2, after which the state of Israel was created by anti-Russian western powers.

     So what does that have to do with today? Well sadly, today there are wars going on in both Israel and Crimea that are really just proxy wars between the United States and Russia, continuations of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. And they are both locations considered for Jewish homelands within the last 100 years. Strange. But there is one simple solution that could end the wars in both places.

     The war going on at the border of Crimea is because Russia annexed it from the Ukraine after the United States backed a pro-western Ukrainian coup, and now western (really US) backed Ukrainian forces keep trying to take the Crimea and all of the land that Russia took after they invaded the Ukraine, even though Russia still has an important naval base in Sebastopol.

     The war going on between Hamas in the Gaza strip and Israel is because the United States and United Nations created Israel more than 75 years ago, and after 75 years almost none of Israel's neighbors are willing to acknowledge that they even have a right to exist. As of Jan 24th 2024 Israel has now been bombing the Gaza strip as well as Lebanon and Syria, and in support of Israel the United States has bombed Yemen, Iraq and Syria, all in response to the October 7th 2023 terror attacks by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 Israeli citizens. And everyone claims that Iran is ultimately paying for and strategizing all of the attacks on Israel. So that now involves Gaza and at least 6 countries in the Middle East, all dragged into the Hamas vs Israel war.

     Almost all Muslims, neighboring countries, and in general everyone in the Middle East thinks that Israel does not have a right to exist. After more than 75 years maybe it is time to admit that Israel is a failed western experiment that will never succeed. Since Israel will never be accepted by their neighbors they probably shouldn't be there at all, but you know where the Israelis should be? In Crimea.

     All they have to do is fly every person in the state of Israel up to Crimea, call it Israel 2.0 and that would create peace in the Middle East. This is not a 1 state solution or a 2 state solution, this is a no state solution. So what is the problem with this simple solution for peace? President Putin of Russia apparently doesn't want to allow the Israelis to move to Crimea, perhaps because he needs the Black Sea port of Sebastopol to stay solidly in Russian hands, or simply because Israel is good friends with the United States and the United States is the main aggressor in backing the Ukraine to keep attacking Russian forces.

     Either way the Crimea is apparently not available. Could it be available through concerted international efforts and goodwill? What if we asked nicely? Could we do it to create lasting peace in the Middle East? Could Putin give the Israelis Crimea, but keep Sebastopol as a separate Russian Autonomous Zone? He could stop the fighting over Crimea and end all wars against Israel in the Middle East in one fell swoop. Sounds good, right? I mean, isn't peace always a better solution than war? That is, unless you sell bullets and ammunition like the United States does, then I suppose war is always better for profits.

     So the warmongers in the United States are no good, you can't appeal to them because they are heartless. They're all about selling bullets and ammunition and funding foreign wars. So here is my appeal to the only man that matters in the entire world. The only man that could single handedly bring peace to the Middle East. President Putin of Russia, can you please open up the Crimea for the Israelis and let them all move there to make it their true uncontested homeland? Please? You could be seen as the one man that was able to bring lasting peace to the Middle East, and you would make the Israelis your buddies and steal them away from the United States, which would be a major win and a counter to the United States, since the US has been trying to take the Ukraine and Crimea from Russia, and I think the United States would stop trying to attack Crimea if it was the new Jewish homeland.

     Pros and cons for Israel to pick up and move to Crimea (mainly all pros). Crimea has a lot of coastline and is famous for beautiful beaches, and it has a much larger land mass and lots of available good agricultural land compared to Israel. Being adjacent to both the Ukraine and Russia they could grow enough grain to be self-sufficient and even export grain to the world. And being the historic homeland of the Askenazi Jews they could feel as much or more pride for Crimea as they do for Israel, being separated by only around 800 years, rather than by 2,600 years from the last time they had a nation in the territory. And of course it would end all wars between Israel and their current neighbors in the Middle East. I can see no cons, other than admitting defeat. But if President Putin offered Crimea to Israel they could all move there and call it Israel 2.0 or just call it Israel if they wanted, or they could call it Crimea, or they could call it Khazaria, whatever they want, it would be their homeland, and for the 1.2 million ethnically Russian Jews currently living in Israel it would be a truly joyous homecoming.