People love to label things, and they also love to generalize. When passions run high, there is a rash of heated name-calling and sloganeering. The current war scenario in the Middle East is creating just this type of environment.
In my view there is no credible way to justify glorifying what Hamas did. Indiscriminate violence targeting civilians and children is morally bankrupt no matter what the cause or conditions. While it is true that terrorist events have been utilized by subjugated and oppressed people throughout the ages, these horrible acts must never be glorified.
The world was deeply moved and rightfully horrified by the Hamas massacres. The initial responses were almost universally sympathetic to the grief and anguish that Israel experienced. Tragically, there were no good options for an Israeli response that would satisfy an understandably enraged constituency without killing large numbers of Palestinian civilians. So Israel did what every nation seems destined to do in such a time – overreact and end up disproportionately killing those ‘on the side’ of the enemy.
The Jewish history weighs heavily here. Even the slightest appearance of weakness or lack of resolve is anathema to the Jewish state. And in the past, most of the Western world has been supportive of this hyper-vigilance and aggressive action.
But as the situation in Gaza has deteriorated to a cataclysmic state and the civilian deaths have grown to five times the casualties in Israel, the support has begun to waver in some areas. Few deny Israel’s right to punish Hamas, but many find it hard to condone a punishment that is visited on a helpless and desperate population.
Now, two weeks after the massacres, a significant part of the world has begun to express support for the Palestinian people. That does not always mean that people condone what Hamas did, but many believe that Israel at least partly brought this onto itself by the many years of neglect of further peace efforts and the continual extension of West Bank settlements and stranglehold on Gaza.
Is this response anti-Israel or antisemitic? The fact that Israel is a Jewish state makes the distinction hard to discern. When people are angry and vengeful, they use whatever nasty descriptions of an enemy that they can find. Every war American has fought has seen our propaganda and public expression go into high gear slandering every aspect of the enemy – race, cultural stereotypes, physical attributes.
Jewish leaders who speak of the massacre in terms of antisemitism, modern day pogroms and holocaust comparisons are at risk of crying wolf too often. Israel is undeniably the most powerful and sophisticated state in the Middle East, and the only one with a nuclear capability. The world will cry for the innocents killed, but they will not buy the idea of a victimized, vulnerable Israel.
Even with its current extreme right government, Israel is by far the most democratic and stable country in the region. America is right to unconditionally support its existence and its right to defend itself. However, we have also turned a blind eye to the underlying problems that years of political neglect have created in the region. As Israel’s strongest ally, we had the opportunity to influence a course correction in Israeli policy and we failed. We put our money (literally) on the economically-motivated détente with more friendly regional regimes and failed to see the potential for the socio-political landmines along that path.
Israel has only to look at the post 9/11 debacle that the USA raced into to get a sense of what awaits them if they forge ahead now without careful consideration of the likely consequences. There are no easy alternatives, but the road they are on now is not likely to lead to a good place.
No comments:
Post a Comment