A Political Casualty of October 7th
The possibility of a two-state solution for this generation was a casualty of October 7. I don’t mean to say that my own convictions about this have changed but I have noticed shifts over time in what feels like the general consensus of the Jewish public.
I remember before 2023 feeling that things had shifted over the years from my youth. As a child, I grew up through so many territorial concessions when Israel would be attacked, win the war and gain more territory only to return it, as a way of ensuring peace. But, we learned again and again, that it was not peace that was desired but any piece of Israel that would be offered.
In the mid-90’s Arafat represented the Palestinian Authority and negotiated as if he wanted a solution that included land for both Israeli Jews and land for Palestinian Arabs but the reality of horrible terrorist attacks on buses, cafes and other civilian locations made a compelling case that the Palestinian Authority was either totally powerless or completely unwilling to ensure that Jews would be safe in their own land.
President Clinton in more recent years has bitterly reflected that part of Arafat’s rejection of the proposed peace plan he promised to accept (which he characterizes as when Arafat “lied to [him]”) as follows: “I think part of it is that Hamas did not care about a homeland for the Palestinians. They wanted to kill Israelis and make Israel uninhabitable[1].” It was clear to most of my generation (largely before Clinton figured it out) that there was no one on the other side of the table to negotiate with. Israel would be left to figure out how to ensure that suicide bombers did not cross into Israel to kill and maim.
Even today, many of the complained-about checkpoints, walls and restriction of Palestinian movement all stems from this painful reality. There are more than a few Palestinians who, given the opportunity, will rape, kill and maim as many Jews (and as we learned on 10/7 even non-Jews) as possible. It is hard for me to understand how anyone can honestly say that they would not protect themselves if their neighbor had already killed one of their children and threatened to do it again as soon as they had the opportunity. Would they allow this neighbor in their house? Would they not build a fence between the properties? It is sad to me that self-preservation has become something Israel, and increasingly Jews, seem to have to argue for. But I digress.
In my young adult years I continued to feel that although there were real people on the extremes, the majority of Israelis and Jews did not feel that there was enough interest in world powers to protect Israel and there was not a true partner who wanted peace across the table. Cutting the tiny Israel down further to satisfy a radically uninformed public opinion was dangerous to its citizens and foolhardy. We had tried and wanted to believe each time more land was given back and each time there was just more death and bitter disappointment. One of the first funerals I attended as a teenager was Alisa Flatow hy”d. Aliza was killed by a suicide bomber on a bus when she was a 20 year old student in Israel in 1995. The pain of these losses felt relentless and, as terror is meant to, we felt powerless to stop it. Very few had any confidence that more land concessions would make any type of dent in the realities.
But as an adult, prior to 2023, I felt that the tide of opinion of Jews had been changing. I don’t refer to the “as a Jew” self-hating Jew variety who are ashamed of their heritage and identity – those opinions do not register for me. Not quasi-public figures who pander to cameras and whatever the latest political or entertainment trend had decided is oh so intelligent and cultured. I mean the regular proud Jews who truly want to see Israel flourish and are also painfully aware of the terrible predicament that much of the Arab world has very intentionally created. There are suffering Palestinians, under the cruel and calculated leadership of Hamas. People who for generations now have been kept as refugees to further a political agenda that was never likely to help them or their children. The majority of Jews and Israelis would like to see them helped in a way that does not further imperil the citizens of Israel. And in the years before Oct 7 I felt there were enough young people who did not grow up seeing the failed “land for peace” deals I did and who truly felt we might have neighbors who did not want us dead. I thought that within a few year, it might actually happen. The right leaders on both sides might really come to an agreement that would work.
Then October 7th came and the young people of Israel rose up and came to the aid of their county in a way that surpassed what anyone could have expected. They searched for hostages, killed terrorist before they were able to rape, kill and maim even more people, and collected the blood and remains of so many dead so they could be buried and their families could have graves to visit and mourn. Once you’ve seen the videos taken on GoPros by the terrorists on October 7th or hear the glee in the recorded conversations where they tell family about what they are doing. Once you’ve seen the horrific scenes and participated in the cleanup of massacres like the Nova festival, can you support allowing a border state to Israel that would be governed, or even occupied, by the group that planed and committed this atrocity? Even hearing about the work that was done from people whose eyes are haunted and dead is enough for most people to know that so many were killed on 10/7 and the two-state solution was also a casualty. This generation will never support such an approach.
For so many years, Israelis on bordering towns in both the North and South just lived with rockets raining down on them constantly. Raised their children with an uncertainty borne of constantly needing to run to a bomb shelter. But this seemed to be the price to pay – the necessary reality of having neighbors who wanted us killed and world opinion who wanted Israel to exercise never-ending restraint. This too broke after 10/7. It was as if many woke up from a slumber and rubbed their eyes, seeing that accepting such a life was impossible going forward. That Israel could not fail to protect their citizens again. That this was the most important consideration. Not public opinion, not double-talking world leaders and not even the desires of Israel’s great ally, the USA. It feels like Israel and this generation is done hoping and conceding. This generation of lions will continue to build Israel and become even more powerful and self-sufficient. Countries that continue to shun Israel will be the losers and those who recognize that Jews are indigenous to the land and deserve to flourish in their ancestral homeland will be embraced as partners. I believe we will continue to remembers the lessons of Oct 7 well into the future and while it may not be the future I initially anticipated, it is a bright future for Israel indeed!
[1] CNN transcript including a clip of the video of Clinton: https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ctw/date/2024-10-31/segment/01?utm_source=chatgpt.com
