I will begin this by stating at the outset that there is absolutely no justification for the slaughter and carnage that occurred Oct. 7th in Israel. I will also state that I am not an expert by any means on the age-old conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Lastly, I am extremely skeptical of anyone whose argument to justify their actions are based upon some kind of directive, directly or indirectly, from ‘God.’ I am writing this simply as an outside observer trying to make some sense out of the chaos, carnage, and vitriol that surrounds the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel, as with any other country, has a right to defend itself. However, the death toll and destruction the Israelis have wreaked upon the Palestinian people seems grossly out of proportion according to almost any metric I can conjure up. A non-Jewish person like me would think that given what the Germans did to the Jews during World War II, they might be a little less willing to engage in what certainly seems like genocide in the name of protecting Israel. Hitler was ‘protecting’ Germany from the Jews. Trump has claimed that immigrants are poisoning the blood of America. And now the Israelis seem to be headed down the same path.
Netanyahu and his right-wing supporters have totally dismissed a two-state solution which would result in the Palestinians having their own country. Even worse, Netanyahu has continued to push for even more settlements in Gaza and the West Bank which are against international law. Such actions clearly seem to indicate there is no room for Palestinians anywhere. Do they expect to create reservations like we in America created when we invaded and stole lands from the Indigenous people here? That hasn’t worked out very well, particularly for the Native Americans who have been subjected to these atrocities.
To me, it seems as if Netanyahu and his cadre of supporters have the mindset that if thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children are killed in the pursuit of one Hamas leader, that is a perfectly acceptable calculus. It’s almost as if Palestinian civilians are expendable and simply a price that must be paid in order to satisfy Israel’s lust for revenge and the annihilation of Hamas. The initial attack on Israel was completely devoid of humanity and the counterattack on Hamas is equally devoid of humanity. The egregious acts committed by Hamas on Oct. 7th were beyond horrible but what Israel is doing now is like pouring gasoline on a bonfire.
The extremely sad thing about this whole conflict is that there will be no winner. Everyone involved will lose. It just depends upon the metric you use. Hamas will lose. Israel will lose. The Palestinian people will lose. The United States will lose. And if you are religious, whatever god you worship has lost as well. There will be no winner and any belief that Israel will be safer in the future as a result of this human carnage is a myth.
Until there is a clear path forward to recognize a true Palestinian state which is governed by an organization that recognizes Israel’s right to exist and Israel stops illegal settlements, there will be no peace. Tens of thousands of lives have been needlessly lost. Billions of dollars of property damage has occurred which will take years to rebuild. Animosities have grown deeper. Nothing positive has been accomplished.
And, yes, I am an outsider and there is no way that I can fully understand what either the Israelis or the Palestinians have gone through. However, I am astute enough to understand that nothing good will come of all this carnage. In the words of Rodney King, the man who was brutally beaten by the LAPD which then triggered the LA riots of 1992, “Can we all get along.” I guess not! This war is just another example showing how it is far easier to engage in hate, violence and killing than it is to sit down across the table, treat each other with respect and work to find a solution that all can live with. The former just requires weapons whereas the latter requires true courage which seems to be sorely lacking the world over.
