In Reply to Walter Block: Relocation Must Be Off the Table

“It is not particularly interesting that I disagree with Block’s argument. I am a bleeding-heart left-winger who thinks every human being has a right to healthcare, housing, education, and much more…The interesting part is that [his arguments] fly in the face of the values he cares about.”

I debated Walter Block four years ago on my podcast, and I have watched some of his debates with others over the years. He is someone with a worldview I find deeply alien in many ways. We will get to that. But, for now, I want to note that—in the past—I have always understood the pattern of his beliefs. Given the basic premises of that deeply alien worldview, I have always understood how and why he arrives at his conclusions.

This is no longer true. In a recent article for Merion West, Block argues that Palestinians who live in the territories Israel has occupied since 1967 should be permanently stateless and rightless non-citizen subjects of the occupying power—or at least that is the most charitable interpretation of his point. Several of his formulations more than hint at support for outright ethnic cleansing of this population.

That these are morally indefensible conclusions should, I hope, be clear even to much of the “Stand With Israel” crowd. When I was first invited to respond in Merion West, I was tempted to reply by saying the article responds to itself. But the more I think about what Block’s written, the more I think there is something interesting to be said here.

It is not particularly interesting that I disagree with Block’s argument. I am a bleeding-heart left-winger who thinks every human being has a right to healthcare, housing, education, and much more. Block is, as I understand him, such an extreme libertarian he does not think there should be such a thing as public sidewalks. It goes without saying that Block’s conclusions about the Palestinians are odious if one starts from the values I care about. The interesting part is that they fly in the face of the values he cares about.