What to Feel, What to Do

 

As the grotesque tragedy in Israel-Palestine unfolds, all means of engaging it from afar disintegrate. Those of us who imagined we had seen the ultimate existential nausea postmodernity could induce have been handed a hard lesson. Worse still, it is impossible to know how much harder the lesson will become before it ends, if it ever does.

            Whether it is from cunning or lucky intuition, Hamas has read the moment correctly.  A world in which a man who tortures children can pretend to be President of the United States, and another man who engages in completely unprovoked aggression can talk of “de-Nazification,” is one in which a group of reprobates can, heedless of what it will cost their own neighbors and family in death and destruction, decapitate infants and elders, shout “God is Great,” and call it “anti-colonialism.” We have gone beyond a world in which it is impossible to understand what anything means, and entered a universe in which it is impossible to make anything mean anything at all.

            The cynicism, boorishness, and sheer malevolent stupidity of the current moment make the atrocities that innocent human beings are experiencing even worse. From the perspective of parents (whether Jews, Palestinians, or anyone else) it is always absurd to ask what the death of their children “means.” But both the Netanyahu government and Hamas, in their own ways and to different degrees, have worked tirelessly to achieve an utter void of anything but brutal horror.

            The cynicism of Benjamin Netanyahu has been on display for decades. Nothing he did or did not do justifies the obscenities of October 7^th, but he knowingly and deliberately used his power and pursued a political agenda designed to keep the Palestinian people permanently stateless, humiliated, and bereft of hope. He fostered what was not only a vacuum of power, but of decency, and in a space emptied of decency it can be no surprise that a malignancy like Hamas festered.

            Hamas, for its part, has kept the wheel of farcical cruelty and nihilistic chaos at full spin. The utter justness of the Palestinian cause makes the malicious, deliberate futility of Hamas’s tactics vastly more evil than they would be in the murderous abstract. Anyone who is celebrating Hamas as a ragtag band of “anti-colonialists” has misread the message written on the ground in blood.  Hamas would not have committed such monstrosities if they wanted an end to “colonialism” or anything else. Strife and destruction are their own ends for Hamas. What happens as a result of the carnage is not their concern. They trust that God will dispose. He is great, after all.

That is why Hamas has taken so many hostages. Cheap video technology ensures that if there is a pause in the horror, Hamas can set the wheel spinning again, by uploading to the web a video of hostages being tortured, raped, or murdered. I can feel the eyes of some of my fellow leftists rolling at this assertion. I of course hope I am wrong. I suspect I am not.

It is difficult to know what to feel. Perhaps it is a wonder to feel anything at all. Sorrow and fear are of course understandable, but can lead too easily to demoralization and passivity. Disgust is certainly apt.

I find it impossible to envision how this crisis will end, if it ever does. The Israelis have no constructive options, and even if they did their current leaders could not be trusted to pursue them. What Hamas will do is impossible to predict, except to be sure that whatever they do next will lead to more death and suffering for everyone in Israel-Palestine.

In the face of such utterly senseless tragedy all each person can do is to follow her conscience. I know that the citizens of Israel have a right to live free, secure lives. I know that all the Palestinian people have a right to be full citizens of a sovereign nation. I know that to kill innocent people, in any cause, no matter how just, is wrong. I will continue to speak these truths and work (expending thought, effort and money, donated to the organizations who are engaged on the ground) to see them realized.

The only course of action that is not acceptable now is to give up. That must be said, because the temptation to give up is going to become almost irresistible. As this horror continues, and its sheer pointlessness becomes ever more painful, it will be difficulty not to collapse in despair. Strife and destruction are easy to conjure, cynicism and callousness are easy to perpetuate. But even evil has its limits. If we adamantly refuse to capitulate to the cynics and the thugs, and act as if we have hope, hope can prevail.

An Open Letter to Ambassador Michael Herzog, Israeli Envoy to the United States

 Dear Ambassador Herzog,

 

        I am an American citizen, but I write to you as a Jew, a Zionist, and a human being.

        Like all my family and friends and the vast majority of my compatriots (and virtually all decent people everywhere) I was horrified and heartbroken by the news of the obscene atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7^th. I understand that Israel has a right to defend itself, and is thus obligated to seek the destruction of Hamas to deter such heinous acts being perpetrated by any group in the future. I also understand that the use of human shields by Hamas and the tactical conditions of Gaza make the grim task of responding to the attacks of October 7 in accordance with the laws of war excruciatingly difficult.

         Two wrongs, however, can never make one right. Nothing justifies aggression against innocent civilians, especially the more than one million children who live in Gaza. Israel must give innocent Gazans every chance to dissociate from Hamas and remove themselves from harm's way. Moreover, the humanitarian crisis unfolding right now in Gaza is a war crime and must be redressed. The people of Gaza must have access to food, water, medicine, and shelter. Israel is obligated to provide these necessities to Gazan refugees immediately.

          Remarks such as those by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the effect that “an entire nation out there…is responsible” are reprehensible and must be retracted. The Palestinian people are human beings, not animals. They are not and cannot be held collectively responsible for the actions of Hamas, any more than the innocent civilians slaughtered on October 7 could be held collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.

            This terrible war is a tragedy and will spawn more tragedy before it is over. But tragedy does not abnegate any individual's or government’s moral duty. The protection of innocent life is and must always be the first principle of any legitimate state, and that protection is owed to both Israelis and Palestinians by all governments. As a world citizen I expect to see Israel obey international law, and in the aftermath of this war to recommit to a robust peace process that is the only means to prevent the repetition of this tragedy.

            Thank you for your attention on this matter, and for conveying my concerns to your superiors. My prayers are with you and with all the people of Israel-Palestine.

 

 

               Sincerely,

 

               Andrew Seth Meyer

               Professor of History

               Brooklyn College

A War that Cannot Be Won

It will be difficult for those who do not know the history of Israel’s origins to understand why, but within the twisted logic of Hamas’s world view, this attack on Israel is very cunning, even ingenious. The principles underpinning Hamas’s tactics show that they have made a close study of their enemy. They comprehend and know precisely how to exploit the most basic ideals at the heart of Israeli politics and society.

            What are these ideals? They are rooted in the Holocaust, which was the final demonic apotheosis of all the forces that the Zionist movement had been created to defeat. During the Holocaust the Nazis did not merely kill Jews; they desecrated and degraded Jewish bodies so as to totally dehumanize them. For the Nazis a Jew was not even deserving of the respect one would give an animal. One was as free to dig in the mouth of a murdered Jewish child for gold or silver as one was to do so in a pile of dirt.

            When most mainstream Zionists (among whom I count myself) call Israel a “Jewish state,” they do not mean that it is one ruled by Jewish law or that works to fulfill Jewish traditions (most of the founding leaders of Zionism, like David Ben Gurion, were atheists). Rather, what makes Israel “Jewish” is that it is a nation fundamentally committed to the principle that Jews are and must be treated as human beings. “Never again” does not merely mean that Israel stands against genocide. It declares that Israel will not allow any government, including its own, to treat any Jew with less than the full dignity of a person. Other governments may be free to treat their soldiers or citizens as dispensable. Israel is not.

            Hamas knows this, and has acted accordingly. The cruel logic of their attack is clear: blanket Israel with enough rockets to overwhelm the Iron Dome defensive system, so as to inflict enough casualties to demand a military response. At the same time, take so many hostages as human shields that a response is impossible, given Israel’s commitment to absolute respect for the lives and dignity of Jews.

            Israel cannot win this war. Whatever happens, whatever Israeli leaders do, however much intelligence and discipline they bring to bear on this crisis, the dilemma cannot be un-puzzled. The choices that face Israeli leaders are impossible, none of their options can bring anything but pain. Israel was already divided and in turmoil before Friday’s atrocities, whenever the smoke clears and the fighting is done that division and turmoil will be even worse.

            But Hamas cannot win this war either. Israel’s critics, in fashioning apologies for Hamas’s tactics, will focus on the very just grievances of the Palestinian people. The problem with such arguments, of course, is that none of the grievances of the Palestinian people can possibly be redressed by this obscenity. Yes, Israel’s obstruction of Palestinian sovereignty is heinous, and yes, this attack raises the price of that obstruction, but it is a price that in the short term will be paid by the Palestinian people themselves, in suffering and death. There are many ways that one might fight the injustice of Israel’s policies. Hamas has chosen means that are deliberately calculated to exacerbate injustice and undermine any hope of peace.

            The lesson of this tragedy is clear: there is no victory but PEACE. The dignity and humanity of one group of people cannot be affirmed by denying the dignity and humanity of any other. Any group which deliberately inflicts death and suffering on others wins nothing for its pains but more death and suffering. The only sustainable future in Israel-Palestine is one in which Jews and Arabs live together as equals. There are many different ways to arrive at that goal (two states, one state, or some union of joined sovereignties), but anyone who is not working toward the end of peace and shared prosperity is digging a hole in which they themselves are sure to be buried. Both sides have committed terrible cruelties that undermine trust and make peace seem impossible. But the struggle for peace is the only fight that can be won.