I Don't Know

Some loose thoughts on the mess in Israel

Woke up this morning to the awful news out of Israel. I generally don’t talk much about Israel because I don’t understand the situation well enough to have any idea how to resolve the tensions there. Increasingly, I’m feeling like nobody else does, either, so I might as well talk about it.

First things first: yes, I am a Jew. That gives me a natural sympathy towards Israel, but my sympathies do not extend to allegiance, and they certainly don’t give me allegiance towards the corrupt Netanyahu and the cabal of extremists with whom he has aligned himself in order to avoid criminal prosecution.

Fuck him.

Nor do I support Israel’s brutal treatment of the Palestinians.

Nor do I support Hamas or terrorist reprisals.

Nor am I convinced Israel can survive as a Jewish, democratic state.

The problem is demographics. Palestinians have more kids than Israeli Jews which makes Israel’s survival a numbers game. If they want to preserve their democracy, they’ve got to make more space for Palestinians; if they want to preserve themselves as a Jewish state, they’ve got to limit Palestinian participation in Israel. The two-state solution is the only way for Israel to preserve both its Jewish identity and its democracy. But how do you carve two nations out of one the size of New Jersey? How do you agree on borders when the Palestinians themselves are geographically split between Gaza and the West Bank? How do you stand up a new Palestine in a way that gives them the best possible chance for success? What do you do about reparations for the homes/property/lives Palestinians have lost since Israel’s modern founding? How do you ameliorate the hatred between the two groups?

I have no idea.

Which leads me to the larger, more awful question: is forever war worth the cost of a Jewish homeland? After mulling this over for years, I don’t think it is. What is the purpose of a Jewish state if we betray Jewish values on the daily? If the defining feature of Israel is its Jewishness, then shouldn’t a nation predicated on Jewishness uphold the best of our traditions: peace, love of learning, and chicken soup?

The best book I’ve ever read about this subject is a graphic novel called Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City, by Guy Delisle, which does a great job of explaining the situation and showing daily life for Palestinians.

Israel has every right to defend itself against attacks; Judaism teaches that war is sometimes ethically justified. What isn’t justified is the oppression of your neighbors. I remember the shocked reactions when Jimmy Carter first said that Israel was committing apartheid. I even remember being shocked. But Carter was correct. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians does amount to apartheid, as Amnesty International has found. The crimes and excesses committed by the IDF against Palestinians are the crimes and excesses of apartheid. Herding people into ghettos is wrong whether it happens in Warsaw or Gaza City. I don’t think it’s possible to honor my own understanding of Judaism and to support apartheid. Ironically, as a Jew, my sympathies will always be with the oppressed. In this case, it’s the Palestinians.

America’s involvement with Israel is also a thorny-ass issue. On the one hand, they’re our closest ally in the shittiest region. They’re a democracy in name. They support and promote “Western values,” whatever that means (increasingly, I’m not sure it means much good). They’re a bulwark against even more repressive regimes. On the other hand, the Israeli government is awful, too. Netanyahu and his goons have spent the last twenty years dehumanizing their own Palestinian citizens, making life evermore miserable for them, subjecting them to constant humiliation, violence, and intimidation, building new settlements where Palestinian property once stood. America does nothing but wring our hands and issue rebukes. But nothing changes.

Do I want America to cut off Israel? No. Do I want American aid to be conditioned on figuring this shit out once and for all? You betcha. Do I think that will happen? Not at all.

So where does that leave us? As I said at the outset, I don’t know. What I do know is that the blood will continue to flow as long as the dollars continue to flow. Whether those dollars come from Iran or the Saudis, or from us, it’s obviously in somebody’s interests to keep the two sides locked in forever war. For Netanyahu, it’s a way of consolidating power. For Hamas, it’s a way of consolidating power. So what’s to be done when you have two parties fighting who have little interest in ending the fighting because they both gain from it? Arafat found out that leading a rebellion requires different skills than leading a people. Maybe the current Palestinian leadership looked at his example and concluded that they’re better off remaining in rebellion.

I don’t know.

I can’t help but root for Israel but I can’t root for this Israel. Nor can I root for Hamas. I can only hope that better people than currently inhabit the ministries in that blood-soaked land eventually come to power and figure this out. Maybe it’s two states. Maybe it’s one. Maybe Jews in Israel eventually become a minority. If that’s the case, so be it. We cannot preserve what we claim to believe if we betray those beliefs at every opportunity. Nor can Israelis ignore rocket attacks, bombings, and shootings. Nor can Palestinians get everything they want. Nor can the Israelis. Nor can any of us, but we still figure out our lives without causing this kind of hell.

As I said, I don’t usually write about this because it’s so thorny and awful and I don’t understand it well enough to know the nuances of the situation. I don’t need to today. My heart goes out all the innocents caught up in this horrific situation. I hope Netanyahu burns in Hell and I hope whoever participated in this attack joins him there.