I am a Jew. I have relatives in Israel, many of whom have served in the Israeli Defense forces. I am horrified by the loss of innocent life in the last 14 days. Hamas massacred and kidnapped unarmed civilians. Israeli bombs have killed hundreds of civilians including children in Gaza. I am also at a loss of what to do as an American. Do I wholeheartedly support the Biden Administration’s sending of more arms and munitions to Israel? Do I join President Biden in urging Israel to respect the rules of international conflict? I remain at a total loss in having anything useful to say or do.
Yet speak I must. Perhaps an American perspective on what happened after 9–11 might help. I was in my 50s working at a college when the planes hit the towers and the Pentagon. I shared the anguish of my students and colleagues --- and closer to home, I shared the anguish of my sister-in-law who lost a close friend on one of the planes.
And for a time, I was strong in the desire for revenge. Go get the bastards. Well, with 20-20 hindsight we know how that turned out. Yes, we killed Osama Bin Laden and for 20 years kept the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. But we ended up killing more Afghan and Iraqi civilians over that period than died on 9 – 11.
[I found one estimate of 50,000 Afghan civilians killed over the 20 years since we drove out the Taliban. According to the Watson Institute at Brown University – “The U.S. post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Pakistan have taken a tremendous human toll on those countries. As of September 2021, an estimated 432,093 civilians in these countries have died violent deaths as a result of the wars.” The entire report from which I took this quote is available here.]
In addition to dislodging the Taliban from Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden, we started a completely unnecessary war in Iraq, basically because Saddam Hussein the ruler of that country had allegedly tried to have the father of President George W. Bush assassinated. The only beneficiary of our invasion of Iraq was the government of Iran. And recently, we left Afghanistan and the Taliban took over again.
The moral of the story is the urge to instantaneous revenge might not be the best instinct to follow.
Or consider the difference between how the United States government treated South Africa in the 1980s and our government’s blank check approach to Israel, whatever its policies since 1967.
In South Africa, the opposition African National Congress did not resort to terrorism. I would argue that one of the reasons was the widespread support they enjoyed from the international community. The US never gave the South African government a blank check. On the other hand, our government’s uncritical support for all Israeli government actions has made it harder for Palestinians to behave as did the ANC.
The journalist Peter Beinart published an extremely detailed opinion piece on line in the New York Times on October 14. It is available at here. In it he writes: “Hamas — and no one else — bears the blame for its sadistic violence. But it can carry out such violence more easily, and with less backlash from ordinary Palestinians, because even many Palestinians who loathe the organization have lost hope that moral strategies can succeed. By treating Israel radically differently from how the United States treated South Africa in the 1980s, American politicians have made it harder for Palestinians to follow the A.N.C.’s ethical path. The Americans who claim to hate Hamas the most have empowered it again and again.”
In the face of this unspeakable violence and little hope for goodwill to prevail, the question remains. What the Hell can I do? YEAH, I signed a petition to President Biden with the heading AMERICAN JEWS CALL ON THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO DE-ESCALATE VIOLENCE. That seems so tiny a contribution it can hardly be called taking action
Then I saw an emergency request for funds from save the children. They are actually on the ground in GAZA trying to help even as the bombs are falling and their workers are themselves in danger. Here is language I totally support:
Save the Children condemns the killing of civilians – especially children – in the strongest possible terms. Children are always the most vulnerable in every conflict and must be protected. Children have the right to a life free from violence and to live in peace – no matter where they are born, or where they live.
The number of casualties – far too many of them children – continues to rise. Kidnapping, killing and maiming. Destroying homes, hospitals and other infrastructure essential to the livelihood of children. These are all grave violations of children’s rights.
Enough is enough. We urgently call for the violence to stop.
Emergency aid must be delivered, unimpeded. Children and their families must be allowed to seek safety. Humanitarian assistance must be scaled up to meet the demands of the crisis. Lifesaving aid must not be withheld from children.
Children must be protected. Stop the war on children." End quote
So I gave them a contribution. But I have to admit to still feeling pretty helpless.
Nevertheless, speak I must. I want to assure Jews who do not know what to say and what to do that they are not alone. This is a horrible time for all of us. I support a secure Israel but tit for tat killing can go on forever and does NOT increase Israel’s security --- Israel will never be secure without a lasting peace agreement.
Just the other day, I was heartened to hear that Josh Paul, an official in the State Department, had resigned and publicly chastised the Biden Administration for opening up the spigot of our tax dollars to send more arms and ammunition to Israel. Yes, President Biden has talked eloquently about the need to protect civilian life but he has never (and no American President ever has) put American money in support of such decent rhetoric.
(Though I was heartened to read he had pledged $100 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians.)
Paul argued in his resignation letter that the Biden administration’s “blind support for one side” [Israel] was leading to policy decisions that were “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse.” He went on to say, “The response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people,” he wrote, adding, “I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.” [the entire article about Paul’s resignation is available at here.]
It will require a tremendous amount of courage on the part of the Biden Administration to attempt to persuade Israel that she should not follow Hamas down the rabbit hole of murder and mayhem in revenge. It will take a tremendous amount of courage from American Jews to recognize that Israel will never be safe if all it does is continue to use its military might to destroy enemies like Hamas. The only real way to destroy Hamas is to give the Palestinian people some hope.
The fact that such a change seems impossible fills me with despair. But in the end, it is the ONLY change that will ultimately break the cycle of violence.
Michael Meeropol is professor emeritus of Economics at Western New England University. He is the author with Howard and Paul Sherman of the recently published second edition of Principles of Macroeconomics: Activist vs. Austerity Policies
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.