Goodbye sabra

When I lived in Israel in the 1960s there were deep political and social differences. I remember someone remarking that if it were not for the Arabs we might have a civil war.

At that time, the Arabs meant the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. These armies were an existential threat to Israel. 

Despite all the political and social disagreements there was no real danger of a civil war, because of the underlying feeling of solidarity and kinship in the country.

Israeli society was like the sabra, the fruit of the cactus: prickly on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside.

Then, the very idea that someone would assassinate a prime minister and others would rejoice, was beyond the realms of my vivid imagination.
Yet it did happen later and the people who supported that are poised to become part of the government.

Now there are comparable deep political and social differences in the country. However, without the underlying feeling of solidarity and kinship.
Say goodbye to the sabra, only the cactus is left.

The sect of revolutionary climate zealots

The strategist behind Just Stop Oil is Roger Hallam. He is a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion.
Just Stop Oil is meant to be a youth-lead campaign that is more aggressive than earlier campaigns.

Before the new campaign started, Hallam and other supporters toured universities calling on students to sign up.
In January, Hallam told students at Glasgow University they “had to become revolutionaries” to avert climate disaster. (The Guardian)

In November 2019, Hallam was interviewed by the German newspaper Die Zeit. During the interview he said the Holocaust was "just another fuckery in human history".
Actually not that big a deal, according to Hallam, because the "fact of the matter is, millions of people have been killed in vicious circumstances on a regular basis throughout history", and genocides are "like a regular event" in history.
He added that the Germans' attitude towards the Holocaust is holding them back.

In the fallout from his remarks, Extinction Rebellion UK stated that he “no longer has any formal role” with their organisation.

Why did Hallam minimalize the Holocaust?
In recent years there has been a growth of groups who declare that the evil they are fighting is comparable to the Holocaust. They often also compare themselves to the Jews who were slaughtered.
They do this because the Holocaust is still considered to be the benchmark of the worst evil.
Therefore, they are comparing the evil they are fighting to the worst crime in history.

Hallam is a strategist and goes a step further. He minimalizes the Holocaust because his disciples have to believe the evil they are fighting is the worst possible crime, the "ultimate" crime, in history.

Two young supporters of Just Stop Oil went to Downing Street in February, where they delivered an ultimatum to ministers calling for an immediate end to new fossil fuel investments.
“If you do not provide such assurance by 14 March 2022 it will be our duty to intervene – to prevent the ultimate crime against our country, humanity and life on earth,” said the letter, read out at the gates and delivered by hand. (The Guardian)

Just Stop Oil is a sect of revolutionary climate zealots. All zealots are similar, they just have different causes and different enemies.
Hallam's young zealots are fighting the "ultimate crime against our country, humanity and life on earth".
How far are they willing to go?