Good morning,
Nothing has gotten people as fired up in recent weeks as the Israel/Gaza conflict. I’d like to share some of the observations I’ve received from correspondents who are among the smartest, most thoughtful people I know. But before I do, a few statements of my position on the current conflict, which no doubt will find those on all sides of the debate willing to disagree with me:
1. Nothing will ever justify the October 7th murders and rapes. There was no military justification. What Hamas planned and executed was not an effort to liberate Palestine, engage Israeli troops, or conduct some sort of measured violent protest. It was criminal. Hamas cannot be allowed to continue controlling Gaza.
2. There is little question that combatants in Gaza hide behind noncombatants and utilize “off-limits” civilian facilities, like hospitals, schools, and homes, as staging grounds for rocket and guerilla warfare. Representations of some released hostages disclose that noncombatants were actively engaged in the imprisonment of hostages. Hamas clearly is complicit in the deaths of civilians at these facilities. But Israeli attacks at these facilities raise the question of how many deaths are justified if it leads to progress in decapitating Hamas leadership.
3. The occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza are unsustainable long-term. A nation cannot occupy land for decades, subjecting the residents to daily indignities of checkpoints, as well as accumulation of land and expansion of settlements, without granting the right to self-determination and freedom of movement.
4. Provocative visits to the Temple Mount and continued building of settlements intended, at least in part, to leave any future Palestinian state without contiguity and reasonable travel between communities is unproductive and inconsistent either with a democratic single state or a two-state solution.
5. Israel cannot reoccupy or govern Gaza when this war is over. Neither can Hamas.
6. Israel’s war aims are unrealistic and offer too much latitude to pursue a shock and awe campaign without a clear defining end point. The level of civilian deaths in Gaza, together with the minimal support of humanitarian aid, suggest an excessiveness of the Israeli response. It is hard to imagine that there is not a more humane way of conducting this war.
7. Israel’s fighting of a war against Gaza, even with the high civilian casualty numbers, does not, irrespective of what protestors might suggest, constitute “genocide.”
8. Given the statements of ministers in the Israeli government, it is hard not to see the current campaign as containing some aspect of “ethnic cleansing” (removal) of Palestinians from Gaza, at least in the eyes of some.
9. None of this began with the recent settlement activity and vile sentiment expressed from some in Israel’s governing coalition. Nor did it begin with the founding of the State of Israel. Jews have been ethnically cleansed from the Arab world for generations.
A couple of thoughts about the long-standing nature of the enmity between Arabs and Jews, one personal and one historical. My great-grandfather was murdered by Arabs in Basra shortly after the turn of the 20th century. His family and the balance of the “Baghdadi Jews” (living in Mesopotamia at the time) were forced to leave, often in harrowing circumstances. This ethnic cleansing was played out around the Arab world. In the meantime, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem supported Hitler’s effort to exterminate the Jews. History, resentments, tempers, and narratives run deep.
Now that that’s out of the way…tomorrow I’ll provide friends’ thoughts and my responses.
Have a great week,
Glenn
PS: This Musing is coming at a particularly ungodly hour, because I am in East Asia, leaving for the airport, and want to make sure this gets out when I’m in the air! Loved the trip—looking forward to returning California!
Genocide requires intent. I do not believe the intent of the dangerously wrongheaded war, executed with seeming disregard for civilian life, rises to the level of intentional obliteration of a people. Ethic cleansing, perhaps, particularly when taking public statements of some ministers into account. But not genocide.
I actually listened to this after I commented on your comments... before you comment further.. I believe you should listen to this interview