The past two weeks have been tragic, but they have also clarified the situation for the Israeli government and for us as American Jews.
I am a committed social liberal and believe in civil rights, gay rights, a woman’s right to choose, etc. But no one should confuse being a social liberal with tolerance for murder. The actions of Hamas were barbarous and criminal. They were an act of war. The Israeli government is well within its rights to take action.
For years, I’ve heard supposed progressives attack Israel as an apartheid state. They think Israel should give the Palestinians their “freedom.” These same folks just are letting their self-image as do-gooders get in the way of the real history.
While it is certainly true that the Palestinians have a right to be upset that they no longer control the land that is now Israel, it is also true that they have been waging war on Israel for 75 years. Israel has a right to exist. To deny Israel’s right to exist is equivalent to suggesting all Americans need to give the land back to the original Indian tribes. Populations move and new nations come into being.
After the Holocaust, the United Nations decided to establish a Jewish state. The land was chosen. Holocaust survivors moved to the new state. The British, assuming the Arabs would win, left Israel and washed their hands. The Arab states attacked and intended to kill every Jew in the area. The Arabs lost the war. Several other wars ensued. Israel kept winning.
The Palestinian grievances can’t be ignored, but they also can’t insist on a solution that is impossible for Israel to ever agree to. Hamas refuses to compromise. They refuse to consider a two-state solution. They refuse to find a middle ground. They believe that every Jew in Israel and every Jew elsewhere needs to be killed. There is no solution in the Middle East when the leadership of the Palestinians has an all-or-none demand. The world simply doesn’t work that way.
The Palestinians have been bombing and murdering Jews for 75 years. The Israelis have had to respond in kind and try to isolate the Palestinians. The Palestinians have shown over and over that they will intentionally incite to avoid any semblance of a peace that doesn’t result in the total elimination of Israel and the Israelis. The timing of this event has interrupted a likely normalization with Saudi Arabia and the Sunni world.
I’ve heard the racket from groups protesting about Israel this past week or so. Where were they protesting murders by Hamas and other terror groups? I’m especially appalled by Jews accusing Israel of being the only cause for the current problems.
For what it’s worth, the vast majority of Americans support Israel. And despite the venom from the Republican party and Orthodox Jews that has been directed at Joe Biden and the Democrats for years, it’s the Democrats that have stood strong with Israel. Joe Biden has been 100% with Israel. The leadership of the party has stood for Israel. Our Navy is positioned to support Israel and discourage other enemies of the nation from joining the fray.
And please, Republicans, stop pointing at “The Squad” as mattering. Those five Congress members are only important to Fox news as a tool to divide Jews and convince us that only Republicans will save us. The Democratic leadership has never let its radicals run the party. They don’t chair committees. They don’t drive the agenda. They don’t have a say in leadership.
The Republicans have made the mistake of letting their radicals drive their agenda and leadership, and you can see the damage that has been done. The Republican radicals are against funding the wars in Israel and Ukraine. Their “America First” agenda is driven by Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, etc.
Our former President has called Hezbollah “smart.” He has attacked Israel’s leadership. You will recall he also called neo-Nazis “good people too.”
Please stop being useful idiots when you say that the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is the reason to support these folks. Or that the Iran nuclear deal means that Dems hate Israel.
The right wing in this country wants a strongman, a dictator, who sidles up to folks who hate us. They want the Congress to be unable to govern. They want to de-fund the FBI, Justice Department, schools, etc. They want to scare you into hating immigrants that look like our people just 75 years ago.
So let me make a few points. First, the Israelis really have no choice but to fight a war in Gaza. I fully realize that many Gazans hate Hamas. They would have to. Unfortunately, many also support the terrorists and their activity.
More unfortunate is that Hamas operates from residential neighborhoods and high-civilian areas. They do this intentionally so that when Israel acts, they can cry that Israel is barbarous and criminal. They intentionally put their own people in harm’s way.
A sub-population outside the Middle East is taken in by this tactic. These “progressives” are well-intended. Some do hate Jews, but many probably don’t. They have been taken in by the visuals of war. It’s ugly. It’s terrible, but unfortunately it’s also required sometimes. College-age students are full of hope and ideals, and that is good. But it also makes them vulnerable to these tactics. We need to do a better job on the college campuses and with our own kids.
To not fight a war solves nothing. The deaths and terrorism will continue. Israel will live without peace. The Gazans will also know no peace and security. It’s time to defeat the terrorists and then try to find a solution. However, with Hamas at the helm of Gaza, there will never be a party to negotiate an end to the violence with.
Maybe, just maybe, if Hamas is gone there will be a path to a solution that likely involves two states. It’s OK for the Palestinians to have their own state. It’s just not OK for Hamas to want all-or-none.
Second, the deaths of civilians is terrible. The deaths of the Israeli citizens was beyond criminal. Civilians on both sides will die. There has never been a war where this didn’t happen. In World War II, we firebombed Dresden and nuked Hiroshima. These moves were horrible, but they were also calculated military decisions to save Allied lives and demoralize the enemy. The Axis had to be defeated. Had we been overly-worried about collateral civilian deaths, we could still have a Nazi Europe.
Israel needs to try to limit civilian deaths. Of course they do. But they can’t control what Hamas does to use civilians as shields. You simply can’t let terror and evil win. Whole Gazan neighborhoods need to be given time to evacuate, but then the military needs to target those locations.
I personally doubt the survival of very many of the current hostages, but I will maintain hope. But I also believe the Israeli government can’t let the presence of the hostages give undue power to Hamas.
Third, we need to stop caring so much about negative press and protests. Polling shows that 75% of Americans support Israel. The world respects a winner. In war, you just have to win.
Jews need to unite. We need to support Israel. A few need to stop being naive about the Palestinian cause. We need to equate not being appalled by the Hamas murders with hating Jews.
We need to actively repudiate folks who are blaming Israel. We have a local bakery, Motzi Bread, that has taken a pro-Palestinian stand. They have that right. I have the right to discourage buying from them.
Finally, let’s pray for peace and a permanent solution to the problem. But let’s also pray for the lives of the Israeli soldiers, and civilians on both sides. Let’s even pray for the souls of the terrorists. There is no solution that spares their lives, but it is still unfortunate. They are still humans, and we must not let anyone, not even murderers, steal our humanity.
Scott Rifkin, MD, Publisher
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