The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has once again boiled over. As of this writing, there has just been a cease-fire announced, and hopefully it will hold. Be that as it may, the internet has been ablaze with many loud proclamations. Being Jewish, it would be wrong to stay silent, considering how much is at stake. But I refuse to reduce it to simplistic slogans. To explain the conflict would take something much longer than a blog post. But a few bullet points follow to at least get my thoughts on the current situation down.
· I’ll start with the easy part. There has been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States. While this is not exactly surprising, it never ceases to shock. Must it be said? Never! Attacking or harassing anyone for their ethnicity, religion, creed, or any other group one belongs to is never acceptable. Period. No exceptions. The rise of white supremacy is disturbing enough, but it never ceases to amaze me when these attacks come from those who purport to support the rights of minorities. So did you mean all minorities except Jews?
· This is a complex conflict, and accepting one side’s narratives uncritically helps nothing. Israel is neither the light unto the nations nor the Nazi colonialist apartheid pariah of either narrative. It’s a country in the real world with a government (like all others) run by politicians who look after their own self interests. For that matter, Palestine is neither a blameless captive of apartheid colonialists nor an instrument of anti-Semitic terror. It’s also a place with many different actors with conflicting interests.
· I should also state in very general terms on my position on the Israel-Palestine conflict, though it doesn’t provide a whole lot of clarity on the specifics of the recent events. But as the solution I advocate, ideally I’m for the two state solution. What makes this incredibly difficult is that this is not ultimately about a portion of the land but all of it. All of it is Israel and all of it is Palestine. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand the conflict. If this thing is ever going to be resolved, both sides are going to have to deal with the harsh reality that they aren’t getting all of their country, and that the other side is never going to buy their narrative. That might not seem so bad here in the west, but to either people, it’s a tremendously hard pill to swallow. Still, there is no better way to solve this. These two peoples need a divorce!
· Be that as it may, this tells little about the current round of violence. Firstly there is East Jerusalem and the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Now it’s worth understanding that the properties under dispute have claims by Jews dating from before 1949, when Jordan occupied the eastern half of Jerusalem and expelled all the Jews. These may be legitimate, but I urge caution. Are we pulling that card now? This is far from the only place where either side can pull out a title deed. The first modern Israeli settlers of Hebron arrived in 1967 on the claim of their ancestors, who were massacred in 1929, a legitimate grievance, but one that helped to spawn the radical settler movement. More to the point, there’s also the 700,000 or so Palestinians who lost their homes in Israel’s War of Independence, which they call the Nakba. Pulling out old land claims is no way to solve this conflict! Let’s concern ourselves instead with facts on the ground, the Palestinians who face eviction, and the Israelis and Palestinians who now face daily violence.
· Enter Hamas. Not for one second do I believe that they are acting in the interest of the residents of Sheikh Jarrah by firing rockets into Israel. Their stated goal is to destroy Israel completely. They believe that Jews—all Jews—are evil, subhuman devils. Be that as it may, I suspect that their main goal is simply to perpetuate the conflict. They need it to survive. An ugly confrontation in the heart of Jerusalem is just the opportunity they need. There’s another thing though. There is a particular Israeli enemy whom I believe Hamas finds useful, and would hate to see go. That brings me to someone else…
· Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. Oh yes. Now the longest serving Israeli prime minister, though “serving” is a word I use loosely. Palestinians call him a butcher, but he is also a curse on Israel. This man is corrupt as hell. He has been indicted—not just suspected, but indicted--on fraud, bribery, and breach of trust, and was forced to resign all of his ministerial positions except (so far, but amazingly nonetheless) Prime Minister. Meanwhile, he has all-but completely upended Israeli democracy, gaming the system to keep himself in power seemingly indefinitely. This seemed to be coming to an end in the recent spat of elections. Likud and its allies did not secure enough seats to secure a governing coalition. This last month though, a national unity government was formed led by Likud and Kakhol ve-Lavon (Blue and White,) with Netanyahu holding on to the Premiership until October. There were a number of factors here, but it can hardly be doubted that the current violence has helped him.
Anyway,
you see why this is a tangle. It’s dangerous to speak out. Gal Gadot came out
with what had to be the most harmless “Peace for All” statement, and was
lambasted for it, by Yair Netanyahu (Bibi’s son) for being allegedly “Swiss”
then by the pro-Palestinian side for not despising her own country. In fact, her
Wonder Woman ’84 costar Pedro Pascal was harassed just for hitting the
like button on her social media post!
Still,
it’s worse to say nothing.
I
ask anyone who does speak though to try and be informed. Accepting one side’s narrative
uncritically is not productive. This conflict is a nightmare of complications,
and no less tragic for it. There’s plenty of blame to go around. Both Israel
and Palestine are also places and peoples who deserve better. And Jews and
Arabs in the west are not to blame.
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