Thursday, May 9, 2024
Israel's Mistake
I remain a strong supporter of Israel’s right to exist, but that country is now going in the wrong direction. I am not addressing the moral question underlying the current war in Gaza. My plea stems from fear and a desire for pragmatism
What Israel is doing right now is not going to work. The country is going the wrong way. I’m not speaking morally. The moral objection to what Israel is doing has been stated clearly by the thousands of marching students all over the US and elsewhere as well as by a majority of the world’s public opinion.
What I’m talking about here is the future of Israel, and how to make sure that the country HAS a future. Part of the problem is that in this war, both parties’ objective is the total destruction of the enemy. But what Israel seeks is the destruction of a militant group, whereas Hamas’ objective is the destruction of an entire country.
The question is: How do we assure that there will be an Israel in the future? That is really what is at stake. Israel’s current policy does not appear to promise greater security for the country’s future. To the contrary, it promises greater support for Hamas, Hetzbollah and the populations of the surrounding countries. It has already caused worldwide hostility to the Jewish state and the revival of anti-Semitism in many parts of the world. Most frighteningly, it may lead to escalation into a regional war in the Middle East, or even a global war that could engulf Europe and the US. The permanent occupation and administration of Gaza in addition to the West Bank is beyond Israel’s resources and capabilities. Israel will choke on its expansionist policies. They are a disaster for both the Palestinians and for Israel itself. The country’s government, whether under Netanyahu or a more reasonable team, must change course. Its current objectives - a greater Israel, no independent Palestinian neighbor state - are not only unachievable, but their pursuit is also ruinous for Israel itself. All former European colonial powers understood this after World War Two, and they all got rid of their colonies.
In order for this simple and common-sensical truth to be understood, the Netanyahu government must be replaced. But even before that, the war has to stop. There must be a return somehow to negotiations about a two-states solution, to the much more promising place where diplomacy was during the Carter and Clinton years.
The probable consequences of Israel’s current course of action are frightening, most of all for Israel itself. I loathe Hamas, but the forces aligned in the world today are such that Israel cannot continue to do what it’s currently doing. It is too risky. It has to stop, and not only on moral grounds.
I’m speaking about Israel’s survival, given the way the forces in the world are aligned at this time. The vast majority of public opinion is hostile, support is scant. Israel cannot take on the world and survive as a small pariah state. This is what bothers me the most.
When you face an unbeatable, invincible force, you try to work your way out of the situation through other means than brute physical resistance. Israel is facing such an irresistible force, namely legitimate Palestinian claims supported by a billion Muslims in the world and the majority of the rest of the world. Israel cannot continue to ignore those claims and trample them under and continue to kill Palestinians indiscriminately. It is the road to perdition for Israel itself. That is my focus.
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15 comments:
Excellently stated. If only the parties at the table would compromise as you're suggesting. Sadly, military contracts and the (blood) lust for power that men have perpetrated over the world for millennia will continue to prevail, and more than likely we will see an escalating disaster. Judging from the history of injustices and the grudges those have perpetuated, and the tenor of current discussions, this looks to get much worse before it gets better.
Signed,
A Realistic Pessimist
I so much agree with the way you have framed the current world situation... and how it can only lead to further alienation and retaliation.
Israel has crossed the Rubicon; they must not stop now. Quitting with one fourth of HAMAS still in existence is the worst possible alternative. Anything that leads to a permanent cease fire where Israel releases 5,000 terrorists to free 100+ hostages is utter foolishness. Other Arab states will not participate in peace keeping in Gaza if HAMAS remains. 20 years from now whether 34,000 or 50,000 Gazans are dead will make no difference. Whether HAMAS still exists will!
Tom: Nice thoughtful piece. I might have added that the current war is undermining Israel's existence as a democracy.
Scott
Hi Tom,
yes it is a very scary situation. Killing 1200 jews overnight was so terrible.
You did not mention in your article that over 34.000 Palestine mostly mothers with children been killed. These people have nothing to come home to... I have seen the grotesque pictures of the destroyed citys. How on earth can you fight the Hamas group when these monsters working under ground. I hope this war will end soon. Africa declared genocide what is going on. It will be hard to ignore this in history.
Bravo, Tom!
Well spoken and understood!
I have been waiting for this.
Thank you
I thank everyone for teir largely supportive comments. I disagree with anonymous #3. He does mention one of the many ways in which Israel’s behavior is still commendable: Whenever the Jewish nation and Palestinians have exchanged prisoners over the years, the numbers have been enormously skewed in favor of the Palestinians, who often received ten times as many prisoners back in exchange for the Israelis they released.
But I’ll repeat my main point: My concern, here, is not the cavalier attitude towards the massive violence against the citizens of Gaza (although that is appalling, also), but whether or not this is in Israel’s best self-interest.
Anonymous #2 (Hutch) reminds me of Tevye’s response to the saying “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” in Fiddler on the Roof:“Very good, that way the whole world will be blind and toothless.
After two and a half millennia of persecution culminating in the Holocaust, there was the formal creation of Israel (1948). During most of my life, many of us have looked at Israel as a promising project, based on hope that in time peaceful solutions and mutual accommodation would be arrived at.
Several of you express pessimism. Totally understandable. Hope is now in short supply. That is part of the tragedy.
The Palestinians have been used as pawns since Israel's creation. The Arab nations do not want them in their countries, just as tools against Israel. other nations want them to be free people, but don't want them in inside their borders either. And if they are to have their country, who will give up the real estate for that? My history may be wrong, but I think Jordan was supposed to be the Palestinian homeland after the mandate in 1948. The problem exists because the palestinians are too useful as tools against Israel.
I highly recommend you read the Foreign Affairs article “What Hamas Wants in Postwar Gaza:
The Power to Fight Without the Burden of Governing”
By Matthew Levitt May 10, 2024
Which concludes with
“So as Hamas sees it, it must first secure a Hezbollah-style victory, simply by surviving. Then, it must adopt a Hezbollah model in its relation to the postwar governance structure that emerges—joining with the PLO and changing the Palestinian movement from within while maintaining Hamas as an independent fighting force. For Hamas, this would be a return to first principles: it could pursue its fundamental commitment to destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamist Palestinian state in all of what it considers historic Palestine.
To arrest this plan before it is set in motion, it will be paramount for Israel, the United States, and their Arab and Western allies to keep Hamas out of whatever Palestinian governance structure is built. If they do not, the group could soon create a situation that is far more dangerous and destabilizing than the one that allowed it to launch the October 7 attack. The peril lies in the fact that both Hamas and Hezbollah truly believe that Israel’s destruction is inevitable, and that October 7 is simply the beginning of an irreversible process that will ultimately achieve just that. Anyone who truly supports the idea of securing a durable settlement to this conflict must oppose including Hamas in Palestinian governance for the simple reason that Hamas’s fundamental goals are incompatible with peace.”
Sharon and Anonymous make important points.
“Keeping Hamas out of whatever Palestinian governance structure is built,” is a well-stated and important objective. Does bombing and invading Rafah bring this closer? (We hear that there are four Hamas battalions in Rafah). At the cost of “collateral damage” that kills several more thousand Palestinian children, women and other non-combatants? The world demands a better way.
Israel’s goal is to weaken Hamas so that it wont be able to repeat October 7th. It knows oh well that it cannot totally destroy it. It tries to create the situation where it can bargain for a m peace that will benefit Israel. Beyond that there are questions of a two state or one state solution, but that is not what Israel is concerned with right now. Whether public opinion is for or against Israel, is actually beside the point from Israel’s point of view. It does what any country would do when it is faced with annihilation.
Ps. If the roles were reversed and hamas were causing casualties in israel, it wouldnt just be civilisiand casualties but they would go the extra distance to mutilate and abuse their victims. Nobody is talking about the kind of fighters are on both sides: one that defends their country the other that wants to destroy by gruesome means.
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