'Iran and Gaza Are ONLY THE BEGINNING' (Chris Hedges at Princeton)

Overview

Chris Hedges argues that the war and atrocities in Gaza are not isolated events, but the opening phase of a broader “new world order” marked by:

• technologically enabled brutality
• weakened international law
• impunity for powerful states

He frames what’s happening in Gaza as occurring alongside escalating violence in southern Lebanon and a widening U.S.-led push against Iran.

Gaza as a “blueprint” and the collapse of international constraints

Hedges presents Gaza as a model for future destruction and a sign that legal and moral constraints are breaking down.

• He calls the Gaza genocide “the beginning” of a global shift toward “barbarism” without rules.
• He cites reporting (including a BBC reference) suggesting Israel is using Gaza as a model for future operations, particularly in Lebanon.
• He emphasizes massive displacement:
  • more than 1 million people displaced in southern Lebanon
  • roughly 2 million displaced in Gaza
  • millions rendered homeless in Iran

War on Iran: motives, U.S.-Israel alignment, and regime change

Hedges argues that the push toward war with Iran reflects long-standing strategic goals and political alignment rather than the publicly stated rationales.

• He claims Netanyahu lobbied the U.S. to attack Iran for decades, and that both Republican and Democratic administrations previously resisted due to Pentagon doubts.
• He argues the Trump administration ultimately “took the bait,” attributing the decision to pro-Israel zealotry within Trump’s circle—specifically mentioning Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
• He reviews shifting justifications for war (nuclear threats, ballistic missiles, preemptive attacks, repression inside Iran, regime change, counterterrorism), while arguing the real aims are political and strategic.
• He asserts Israel’s objective goes beyond deterrence, describing goals such as:
  • fragmenting or dismantling Iran
  • turning it into failed or broken enclaves
  • enabling regional dominance directly or via proxies
  • potentially controlling energy resources

Holocaust memory as political justification (and its moral consequences)

A major portion of Hedges’s argument focuses on how Holocaust remembrance—especially in Israel’s favor—is used to shape policy and suppress accountability.

He argues it is being used to:

• sanctify Israel’s actions as uniquely justified by Jewish suffering and Holocaust parallels
• discourage comparisons or scrutiny of Israeli policy toward Palestinians
• block legal and diplomatic accountability, including UN actions and sanctions

Key claims and examples

• Hedges criticizes what he portrays as the near-total refusal by major Holocaust institutions to draw explicit parallels to Gaza.
• He argues that Holocaust scholars and memorial organizations often help “absolve” Israel and uphold settler-colonial ideology.
• He discusses controversies around “Never again” messaging, arguing it has effectively been weaponized as “Never again for Jews.”
• He quotes and discusses genocide scholarship and colonial history to argue genocide is not a historical anomaly, but a recurring mechanism tied to power.
• He presents Holocaust “uniqueness” as reproducing exclusionary nationalism rather than preventing genocide.

Critique of “Holocaust studies” and suppression of dissenting voices

Hedges argues that Holocaust studies, as practiced in some institutional settings, suppress dissent and become entangled with politics.

• He cites Israeli Holocaust scholar Raz Segal as an example of dissident scholarship—arguing (as Hedges describes it) that Segal characterized Gaza as “textbook” genocide dynamics.
• He claims Segal faced retaliation, including rescinded offers and professional punishment after challenging Israeli/Holocaust memory frameworks that equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
• He suggests the field may be “dead” if it is tied to political ideology, and that more genuinely historical research should replace it.

Zionism, fascism, and the internal logic of expansion

Hedges argues that exterminationist or expulsionist impulses were present from Zionism’s inception and remain central to expansionist politics.

• He claims these impulses were nurtured as part of broader Israeli political currents.
• He recounts reporting history involving Jewish extremist figure Meir Kahane and the Kach movement, describing them as part of an ideological lineage.
• He argues Netanyahu’s political career involved fostering or aligning with far-right extremists, naming multiple political figures he associates with this direction.
• He argues that biblical and religious justifications—along with messianic narratives and sacred-site references—function to rationalize the removal or annihilation of Palestinians.
• He extends the argument to the West, claiming the same forces associated with abroad-genocide abroad are dismantling democratic norms at home.

Media, institutions, and dissent as targets

Hedges argues that institutions and media coverage contribute to normalization and suppression of uncomfortable terms and comparisons.

• He claims media outlets sanitize or euphemize key terms when reporting on Gaza, citing a New York Times internal memo instructing reporters to avoid or alter words such as:
  • “genocide”
  • “occupied territory”
  • “ethnic cleansing”
• He says campus activism and student protests are smeared, punished, or removed.
• He warns that dissent can result in career or licensing consequences, citing a proposed FCC policy under Trump’s leadership (including a reference to Brendan Carr).

Final thesis: Gaza is “only the start,” and there is no reform path

Hedges concludes that:

• the moral and legal order built after World War II has effectively imploded
• elites behind these policies cannot be trusted and show patterns he characterizes as “psychopathic”
• there are no real internal mechanisms for reform; people must choose between obstruction or surrender

He frames Gaza as the beginning of a wider authoritarian project that could lead to even larger wars and potentially a catastrophic racial conflict.

Presenters / contributors mentioned

• Chris Hedges (speaker)
• Joe Sacco (cartoonist; referenced for Palestine: Footnotes in Gaza)
• Benjamin Netanyahu (mentioned)
• Donald Trump (mentioned)
• Jared Kushner (mentioned)
• Steve Witkoff (mentioned)
• Joseph Kent (mentioned; U.S. National Counterterrorism Center)
• Marco Rubio (mentioned)
• Lucy Williamson (BBC reporter mentioned)
• Aimé Césaire (quoted; referenced)
• Langston Hughes (quoted; referenced)
• Winston Churchill (quoted; referenced)
• Victor Klemperer (referenced; quoted from diary)
• Meir Kahane (referenced)
• Baruch Goldstein (referenced)
• Yitzhak Rabin (referenced)
• Mordecai Chaim Rumkowski (“King Chaim”) (referenced)
• Primo Levi (referenced; quoted)
• Charles Maier (referenced)
• Raz Segal (referenced)
• Eric Fromm (referenced)
• James Baldwin (quoted; referenced)
• Pankaj Mishra (referenced)
• Arjun Appadurai (quoted; referenced)
• Brendan Carr (FCC chair; mentioned)

Institutional references

• The BBC
• The United Nations
• The International Court of Justice
• The New York Times
• University of Minnesota / Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
• IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance)