The Coexistence of Multiple Truths

Last night, I broke a rule that I’m usually pretty good about keeping.

I checked my phone when I woke up at 3 a.m. Which, surprise, surprise, was a huge mistake.

I’ve mostly been awake since then. And the same thought keeps going through my head:

Two truths can exist at once.

Coexisting Truths Side By Side

True: Hamas has created a living hell for Gazans, Israelis, and all of our neighbors. Hamas and any Gazan civilians who support Hamas must be stripped of their power. Gaza needs to be run by a government that will keep Gazans and all of us living in Israel (Jews, Muslims, Christians) safe and have our best interests at heart. Immediately. For the sake of all of us, regardless of ethnicity. I experienced my first Hamas missile attack in November of 2012 and, like so many of us, have lived through multiple ceasefires, including the one that was in place on October 6th, 2023. And I am so done.

Also True: Trump’s plan for the US to annex Gaza is reckless, insane, deranged, inhumane, and just plain stupid.

True: Trump’s threat of “hell to pay” (likely) helped lead to the release of some hostages.

Also true: Making that threat was a huge risk and we are lucky that it seems to have worked. This sudden manic declaration puts us all – especially the 79 hostages still in captivity – at risk and puts this fragile sandcastle of a deal in danger of crumbling.

True: In 2005, before Hamas was somehow elected, there were five functional crossings between Israel and Gaza. Israel left an infrastructure that could have allowed the people of Gaza to have a thriving agriculture industry (for example, they could have exported *coughs* watermelons *coughs*). And they could have built resorts. We’ve all seen that stunning twenty-five mile stretch of beach? Imagine this scenario: Hamas had not been elected, allowing the crossings to remain open. Meaning that the peaceniks living in the communities on the Gaza border, and lots of other Israelis, would have been free to go into Gaza to buy produce and stay in Palestinian run hotels on the beach.

Also true: Without Hamas in power, Gaza has so much potential. There are so many wonderful possibilities. However, those possibilities should not include “Mar-a-Gaza.”

True: We could very well be safer with the US in control of Gaza. It’s not hard to be safer than Hamas (talk about the lowest bar ever). There is some comfort in that idea (because again, lowest bar ever).

Also true: Hamas is not going to willingly give up control of Gaza. No way. Trump’s plan can not happen without a major war. And we are already in one and have been for almost 500 days. Longer if you count the past twenty-something years. No thank you. There has to be a better way. Reminder: This war has already started to creep into the United States. Case in point, Columbia. Fellow Americans, believe me when I say you don’t want this to escalate.

True: The world hates us already. Most of the world has no comprehension (largely due to willful ignorance) of what Jews everywhere are going through. People all over the world are literally calling for our death. By the hundreds of thousands. (We know what “globalize the Intifada” and “Intifada revolution” mean.) So what do we care what the world thinks of us? At this point, we have to do what will keep us alive.

Also true: In countless ways, we have the moral high ground. The world may not know that, but we do. We left Gaza. We left Gaza so much we dug up graves and moved our dead.

We experienced a massacre on October 7th and we took weeks to fully retaliate.

We have never tried to get Gaza back. Even now, in the midst of war, we are not trying to conquer Gaza. Our main goals are to get our hostages back and to take away Hamas’ ability to carry out another massacre. The IDF has painstakingly taken steps to minimize civilian casualties, in spite of Hamas using its people as human shields.

Hamas’ main goal, as stated in their charter in black and white, is to fully obliterate us. In spite of their multi-billion dollar budget that allows its leaders to live in luxury hotels in Qatar and buy $32,000 Birkin bags for their wives (true story, by the way), they let their people starve.

But our moral high ground will no longer matter if we allow Trump to carry out his threats.

A Few More Thoughts

There is only one reason and one reason only there’s a Jewish diaspora. We have never, ever known a time when some enemy, from somewhere, was trying to kick us out of our homeland. Why did Jews end up in Europe? North and South America? Ethiopia? All over the Middle East and North Africa (though the vast majority of that last group have had to be rescued and brought back to Israel)? Because we have been kicked out of everywhere we go and then turned away from everywhere we try to go (remember the tragedy of the St Louis and Roosevelt’s wild plan to relocate Europe’s Jews to places humans aren’t really meant to live?).

Please. Let’s do everything we can to prevent this insanity from creating a stain on our history.

We’re all sick and tired of having terrorists as neighbors. Clearly, I’m not the only one. Look at the terrorists just released from Israeli prison who are stuck in Egypt because nobody wants them.

However.

There are plenty of Gazans who have suffered at the hands of Hamas, and they have risked and sacrificed their lives to tell us so.

Refugees? Not refugees? Indigenous? Not indigenous? Does it matter? They’re here. We’re here.

We have no choice but to figure this out.

We must. We can. We will.