In his Youtube video “The Empire did nothing wrong” Walter Masterson goes to a protest about Israel and Palestine. Instead of supporting one side as a person would traditionally do, Walter instead talks about Star Wars, making a fairly clever analogy in the process

Now to understand the analogy Walter is making, it is first necessary to understand the plot of Star Wars. In Star Wars, there are 2 main factions, the Empire, which is the dictatorship that rules over the entire galaxy, and the Rebel Alliance, who seek to overthrow the Empire, and restore democracy to the galaxy. Alderaan is a key planet to the Rebel Alliance, and has provided them with a lot of backing and support. As a result of this, the Empire decides to completely destroy it with their new superweapon, the Death Star.

Now what Walter is talking about, is that the Empire did nothing wrong when it blew up Alderaan, as it was harboring terrorists (The Rebel Alliance). This is analogous to Israel and its actions in Gaza, where they have destroyed or damaged much of the infrastructure there in order to root out the terrorist group Hamas. 

This is really interesting because if the Empire did the wrong thing when they blew up Alderaan to destroy the Rebels, and if the analogy is true, then Israel is doing the wrong thing as they destroy most of Gaza to destroy Hamas.

Now of course, reality is not always as clear cut as a movie. An example of this is that if Israel did cut back on the amount of destruction it was causing in Gaza, they would be running the risk that they fail to wipe out Hamas. If that happens, other terrorist groups could become more emboldened to launch attacks that resemble Hamas’ October 7th surprise attack, which would lead to more destruction, and more loss of innocent life.

Israel and Palestine is an incredibly complex and nuanced topic that people will always be arguing and fighting about. However, at the very least, Walter’s analogy does present an interesting way to look at the conflict.