I Stand with Israel, But that Doesn't Mean I Agree with Their Policies

So, I haven’t said anything on this topic yet and didn’t intend to at first. Not for fear of what others think of my opinion, as it appears we are very much in the realm of “if you have the wrong opinion on this topic, you are a terrible human”. But

more so because I needed some time to sit with it all and really take in everything to form my own opinion. Also a close friend urged me to speak up on this. While I am loathe to go down the “No true scotsman” fallacy or “If you’re not with us, you’re against us”, I do in fact see the reasoning of Jewish Americans speaking up their views in the light of the growing anti-semitism we are seeing in this country and of course, globally.

Not Anti Zionism, as some may want to conflate the two points. But unfortunately, I acknowledge the reality that Pro Palestinian/Anti Zionist protests will be co-opted by the far corners of the anti semitic right, and already has in many sectors. People who could not have given a shit about Palestine for the past few decades are now suddenly all too happy to spread anti-Israeli posts and offer their support. If it means more hate towards Jews then they’re all for it. There are peaceful protestors out there rejecting the policies of Israel without directly attacking Jewish people, and that’s fine. Many people, even Israelis, would agree that the policies of their government and Netanyahu in the West Bank over the past few decades have been wrong. But it is a hard line not to blur when there are many groups out there foaming at the mouth to come in and radicalize it to something much more twisted and hateful. And of course, the more controversial and rage baiting the opinion, the more likely it is to spread on social media and many news organizations. They are selling hate and outrage, and it’s widely available now to both sides of this to gobble up.

But let me back up and state plainly what these past few days of internal debate I have had has led to. Israel has the right to defend itself. And Israel is in the right to attack Gaza right now. It’s not pretty, and yes there are civilian casualties and there are large humanitarian issues brewing as a direct result of Israeli bombardment into Gaza. But war is not pretty and I simply don’t see another option at this point. The attack Hamas did on Israel earlier this month is truly unspeakable. Indiscriminate targeting of civilians. Women raped, children beheaded. This isn’t conjecture, it happened. There are videos. I wouldn’t look them up if I were you. Many have compared this to the 9/11 attacks on America and honestly, these are worse. At least those attacks didn’t have specific targeting of women and children and mutilating and defiling them. Let’s not forget the hostages taken which most surely will be killed or at the very least, heavily mistreated.

You can argue decades of the policies of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza have been brewing to this point where no other options now exist, and that's fair. But you also must take the context of the past 80 years into account. That Israel has, at many points in its history, tried for a two state solution. And has taken land once provoked and attacked. And the radical movements in control of government on the Palestinian side have torpedoed those talks. Netanyahu and his government’s policies have done nothing to help the situation, and he clearly has not been interested in a two state solution either. But we cannot hold Israel in a vacuum here. We can point to many points in the past decades where the obstacle to peace was and still is very much in the other camp. The simple fact of the matter is it's complicated and the world and especially the middle east is shades of gray, not black and white. You can’t talk about anything there without factoring in the decades or centuries of conflict. And that’s of course, not even bringing into the debate the issue of religion.

Because, make no mistake, religion is a key part of this. Hamas and other radical organizations within the region specifically state their goal is to kill and expel all Jews from their lands. Their lands being the middle east and all of Israel. But they also preach heavily for everyone to attack and kill the Jews globally. They see the Jews as infidels and less than human and they are fighting a holy war. My views on religion in general are pretty negative, and this is a prime example of why. That any religion can be twisted and formed into this extreme example for radicals to use as justification for all their crimes. They can rape women, behead children, and kill civilians indiscriminantly because God wills it, Jews aren’t real people, and that when they die they will be rewarded for their actions in the afterlife. I won’t say Islam is particularly unique in this regard. You can take all kinds of passages from the Bible to justify terrible acts. And many Christians have done so throughout history in the name of God. That’s the point, these holy texts are a Rorscharhs test of morality. Take the bits you want to justify your acts, leave the rest at the door. They are a tool of great destruction and hate in the wrong hands, and I firmly believe humanity would be better off without them altogether.

Now, note that I say Hamas and other radicals. I am careful not to suggest the entire population of Gaza or other Muslim nations shares these viewpoints. Just like I am careful not to suggest every Israeli agrees with the policies of their country’s leadership or policies or that they hold equally anti Muslim views. But the problem is, Hamas and these other radicals are the de facto leadership of Gaza. You can argue the people of Gaza haven’t had a voice or election in nearly twenty years, but that’s still the fact of the matter. If a neighboring country raided the US and did what Hamas did to us, would we be debating whether that country’s people had the ability to elect their leadership recently so that we could accurately determine if those citizens deserved war and death and destruction before we responded to the attack?

The sad fact of the matter is that war is shit, and innocent people die. At this point in time, I don’t see what else Israel could do in response. You can argue all you want about vying for peace and a two state solution. Any appeasement in the face of such a magnitude of this attack will be seen as a victory for Hamas and other radical groups. The people of Palestine won’t win, these groups will. They will be emboldened to plan and execute more attacks. Because make no mistake, the goal of these groups that are in power is not peace and equitable land. It is the destruction of Israel and the Jews within it entirely. I feel for the innocent people of Palestine. I can see that the blockading and restricting of trade within Gaza has crippled their ability to have an economy. But Hamas is in control and their views about Israel and lack of ability to come to any type of peace talks is readily apparent.

I am hopeful Israel does all it can to mitigate civilian casualties. I also hope that Israel is able to oust Netanyahu and his ilk, as he has proved to not only be bad for pushing for peaceful policies, but also incompetent at defending Israel’s borders. This happened on his watch, and he is ultimately responsible for being asleep at the wheel. I hope that Israel will continue to work with allied nations in combating the humanitarian crisis and offer aid and support to those in need. I am pleased that they turned the water to Gaza back on, thanks to urging from President Biden. I hope that Israel has a long term plan for the region beyond complete indiscriminate leveling of all infrastructure. They have millions of people without a home, food, water, or power to deal with. Simply telling them to go south, where there is not enough infrastructure for that many people, isn’t enough. I hope that they will take every precaution they can to mitigate the civilian deaths and to aid the people. But with Hamas offering no such concessions for Israel or for their own citizens as they are more than happy to use them as human shields, I understand the issues present and that it is hard to deliver aid and help to these people with Hamas simply stealing any resources for their own war efforts.

War is terrible. We in the 21st century in the western nations have been mostly sheltered from it for our lifetime. If you simply look at the statistics of death from wars, this period of humanity has easily been the most peaceful and prosperous period in all of history. It’s hard for us now to go from that to watch a nation bomb a civilian population. It’s easier to root for Ukraine as they have been defending themselves from the aggressor and have, as far as I know, barely bombed any Russian cities, if at all.

But with the nature of asymmetrical warfare present here, it is hard to keep in mind the context of the situation. Hamas does not want a two state solution. They do not want to coexist with any Jews anywhere on the planet. They are the group that is in power in Gaza. And they carried out a brutal and very public attack on innocent civilians. Raiding their homes, indiscriminately murdering, raping, and beheading women and children. We can sit around and point to this policy or that policy that Israel has done all day, but that is where we stand today. For all those vying for peace and for a two state solution, the only way to that path is the destruction of Hamas and other radical groups. And I don’t see that happening without a takeover of Gaza. Hamas is perfectly happy to hide in hospitals and schools and in tunnels. They want Israel to bomb their citizens and to air it out on the media to have backing of their cause. They are happy at the destruction and the war and the hate. They invited it with their brutal assault of citizens. They could have attacked military targets, but they chose specifically not to. They chose to specifically go after the innocent and unarmed, and they did it very publicly. Their soldiers wore cameras to record their deeds for all to see. Again, the women and children. Israel is doing everything it can to avoid civilian casualties. They knock on buildings before bombing, they gather as much intel as possible and do targeted strikes. They agree to supply water, they warn the citizens to leave the area, they are working with the US and other allies for aid packages to be sent in. Can you picture Hamas doing any of that? If the positions were reversed, Hamas would send every nuke they have to Israel the first chance they got.

I have previously compared this attack on Israel to the terror attack on 9/11. While there are some comparisons and I can see how the immediate aftermath is offering up similar tones of “war on terror”, I do think there are differences other than the sheer horror of the attack itself, which I have mentioned earlier. Some being that the US wasn’t and isn’t in immediate danger from hostile nations all around it. We had to go across the planet to find people to fight. Israel has enemies at every border, many of them funding Hamas directly. And all within striking distance of bombing and rocketing most of Israel. Also, while Al Qeada and the Taliban in Afghanistan were involved in the attacks on 9/11, Iraq clearly was not. So, let's hope Israel learns from the US mistakes, and focuses on the region that is the threat. I also hope that they learn they will need a plan for the future of the region for the two million plus civilians living there. I pray that all this death and destruction will not lead to further radicalization. But I also cannot say if I were in control of Israel right after these attacks, and I saw my friends and family murdered in their homes, that I would not be doing the same and trying to root out the evil that is the group responsible. War is hell, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t sometimes necessary.