I’m a Zionist. I Oppose the War in Gaza — Part 2
Some of the responses I received
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I’m a Zionist. I Oppose the War in Gaza — Part 2
By
Recently, I wrote an article called “I am a Zionist. I Oppose the War in Gaza.” Most of the comments on it came from fellow Zionists disagreeing with me, though I suppose that was to be expected. I found it telling that the usual Jew-haters skipped right over it.
I argued that I could not continue to support an indefinite war with no end game and no plan to free the remaining hostages. The leaders of Israel and the numerous other countries from which the hostages claimed nationalities should have worked day and night to secure their release; that needed to be #1 from the start. That didn’t happen, and I believe the main reason it didn’t was because Western leaders are currently fueled by a narcissistic desire to stay in power over the well-being of the people they govern. The goal of eliminating Hamas may be possible in theory. But the longer the war drags on, the more it undermines us as a people.
Another claim that I have been asked to expound on is my belief that one of Hamas’s goals on October 7th was the total destruction of the global left. Here are my reasons:
On October 7th, Hamas specifically targeted kibbutzniks and young people — folks who traditionally lean left. In other words, most of the civilians killed or injured that day were Israelis who probably wanted peace with them. That particular feature of Hamas’s savagery was not random or accidental.
Hamas has a very strong PR arm. PR is one of Israel’s weakest areas, and all of Iran’s proxies exploit this weakness. Hamas knew that as soon as they attacked on October 7th, the “pro-Palestinian” types around the world would come to their defense. But that activist class doesn’t represent the entire Western left, just a very specific (and loud) slice of it. Hamas also deliberately created a situation in Gaza where the militant infrastructure is indistinguishable from the civilian one, ensuring that any war would result in a disproportionate number of Palestinian fatalities and that it would be difficult to distinguish between the civilians and militants in the death count as a result. They also knew that the international media would happily report any fatality numbers that their ‘Health Ministry’ produced without analyzing them too critically, the “pro-Palestinian” types would then use the Hamas-reported data to fuel public outrage in the West towards Israel, and Israel wouldn’t respond to those smears effectively. Rinse and repeat.
In the United States, the Israel-Hamas War has brought negative attention to Democratic leadership and has torn Democrats apart during a critical election year. The organized anti-Israel demonstrations out on public streets and college campuses are extremely anti-American and anti-western, yet they continue as long as this war does. This put Democrats of every stripe in an impossible position. If they condemned the demonstrators, they would risk losing a critical slice of the electorate. If they condemned Israel’s handling of the war, they would face ire from their ally as that ally confronted the terrorist organizations of Iranian-backed enemy countries. The timing of this war basically ensured that whatever decisions current leadership made to address it were going to be “wrong.” Allow me to point something else out: when is the last time you’ve seen a pro-Hamas mob at a Trump rally, despite the fact that he’s definitively “worse” on this issue than Harris if you’re upset with Israel?
This is not to say there haven’t been any wins on Israel’s part. The recent elimination of Sinwar was a major one. But as of this writing, no hostages have been released since (though I hope that changes soon). Assuming any are still alive, they have now been in captivity for over 13 months.
The arguments against me tended to fall into the following categories:
“You’re wrong about Bibi. Bibi is the best leader ever and Israel’s only hope for a future.”
I don’t need to dignify this one with an answer.
“It’s not Israel’s choice when the war ends, it’s completely up to Hamas to decide that when they surrender and release the hostages.”
Interesting view to say that the IDF exiting from Gaza is not Israel’s problem. Sorry, but this argument is just as ludicrous as the other side’s variation of “Palestinians’ lives are completely subject to what their Israeli oppressors decide to do.” Learned helplessness is never a good look, especially when you’re the one with the good weapons.
This last one to me is the heaviest:
“Of course Hamas can be eliminated from Gaza! World War II took the Nazis out of power, Germany got rebuilt, and the future generations of Germans didn’t become Nazis.”
This is probably the most interesting and relevant argument of all. Yes, rebuilding a de-radicalized Gaza is wonderful in theory. Has anyone seen a draft of what such an initiative specific to Gaza would entail and who will be shouldering the costs? Maybe Trump can get Mexico to pay for it.
If I remember my World War II history correctly, the post-war plans in Europe and Japan included the following:
A multi-year military occupation courtesy of the previous enemy forces. I actually have a personal connection to this: my grandfather served in Japan for 2 years after the atomic bombs dropped. Today some might call him an evil occupier.
A massive infusion of foreign aid (mostly from the United States) to rebuild. Oh and FYI: the Marshall Plan that everyone says can be a model for Gaza was for Europe only, not Japan. Japan recovered after General MacArthur told the Japanese what to do for over 5 years.
After over 30 years of the international NGO community funneling billions into Gaza to fund terrorism, what do you think the “colonialism/imperialism is evil” generation will have to say about a plan modeled by the one above? Anyone want to volunteer to be the General MacArthur of this scenario? I’m sure Alan Doucheowitz would be thrilled to.
The Build Back Gaza Better Marshall Post-World War III Plan is basically the ‘two-state solution’ of the other side: great in theory, but not likely to happen any time soon.
Do I claim to know the way forward? Hardly. I just know that this war has gone on for 13 months too long.
I guess my mantra can be summarized as the following:
GET BACK THE HOSTAGES, AND END THE WAR!
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"Do I claim to know the way forward? Hardly. I just know that this war has gone on for 13 months too long."
Everyone I know who opposes this war has a long list of all the things they dislike and want stopped, but goes quickly shtum when I ask them what they would do differently.
And the "GET BACK THE HOSTAGES, AND END THE WAR!" argument seems to me an oversimplification, as if Netanyahu could get someone in Hamas on the phone who would be happy to negotiate in good faith and send home the hostages on the next bus. I don't think you can honestly face this issue without grappling with the Gilad Shalit precedent—any successful negotation would involve hundreds of terrorists released from Israel prisons, who will immediately go back to jihad, and it would also mean Hamas lives to fight another day. The Netanyahu govt has decided this is unacceptable.
I think the world changed on 10/7 and it's hard for Western liberals to wake up and live in a post (but really pre-) liberal situation, where appeals to peace, negotiation, investment, obligations to rebuild enemy territory etc fall on deaf ears. After 10/7 nothing matters except that everyone involved in that terrible crime faces justice. Social Justice has been replaced by biblical justice.
Oh .. and war is the only answer.. it’s a terrible answer but it is often the only answer ..