The Masada-Complex (3)

Part 1 of this essay can be found here, Part 2 here.

One does not need to have studied the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas professionally to at least guess what terrible consequences these decades of policy by these “committed” individuals have had for Israel, for Judaism and Jewish ethics, and for Zionism:

This represents a profound betrayal of Jewish ethical teachings. We are commanded to be “rachamim b’nei rachamim” – compassionate children of compassionate ancestors. We are taught that saving a single life is like saving the entire world. We learn from our sages that “the way of the Torah is to feed even our enemies when they are hungry.” And the lessons of the Holocaust, of “never again,” must be placed in the broader teaching of Rabbi Hillel, and his second famous question: “If I am only for myself, who am I?” Yet Israel today systematically violates each of these principles, committing war crimes and violating international humanitarian law, while claiming to act in our names.

That is why this war must end now. The hostages must be released immediately. Hamas must no longer play a political role, but to believe that it can be completely eliminated as a guerrilla force is completely ludicrous and absurd. The IDF leadership knows this too, if it is honest.

But there is much more at stake, as Michael Schiffer emphasizes in his outstanding article.

It is also about the settlement policy in the West Bank, about public calls for “ethnic cleansing,” which cause neither shock waves nor concern among friends of Israel in the US or Germany, but rather a shrug of the shoulders. And this has been the case for at least 25 years, since this new and audible solidarity with Israel emerged in Germany.

The Masada complex has really been visible everywhere for many years.

Anti-Zionist agitators are rightly criticized, but other equally reprehensible tendencies, such as Jewish religious fanatics or right-wing extremist politicians, are never taken into account.

Most people genuinely believe—and many with a clear conscience or out of naivety—that it is pro-Israel enough to support Israel through town twinning or exchange programs, pins, scarves, chains, texts, rallies, stickers, memes, and so on. They don’t realize that without criticism of Israeli right-wing extremism, IDF warfare, religious fanaticism, and criticism of the obvious war crimes in Gaza, peace will never come. It’s not just because of the Islamofascists of Hamas. Period.

These people from the Israeli scene often don’t even realize what it means that the Arab states now want to get rid of Hamas, seriously and for the first time, and have condemned October 7. And what is Israel doing? It is expanding the war, abandoning the hostages, and continuing to settle obsessively in the West Bank, which many people gleefully refer to as Judea and Samaria, including secular crackpots who don’t even realize how anti-Israeli that is.

There are a huge number of antisemites in Germany. Many showed their anti-Jewish face for the first time on Oct. 8. Others were already active againt the one and only Jewish state long before Oct. 7 and celebrated on that day.

Many anti-racist, left-wing or mainstream activists celebrated or remained silent on October 7. We have all lost acquaintances, friends, and colleagues, that is, those we may not have lost during Corona and during the war in Ukraine. In other words, of the very few who were still there, even fewer remain.

Many who opposed the coronavirus measures have shown themselves to be antisemitic. Many who are in favor of a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine think a one-state solution for Israel is great.

But even if we ignore the fact that large parts of the Israeli scene have completely failed intellectually, politically, and humanely during the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, not even the traditional solidarity with Israel remains.

Therefore, it is important to take note of Michael Schiffer’s text, which certainly speaks for many, at least American-Jewish-Zionist Jews, to take it seriously and to discuss it.

Because to act now, as Netanyahu and all his fans in Germany or the US do, as if all pro-Israel Western governments from Paris to London to Rome and Canberra were antisemitic, is absurd and once again indicates a loss of touch with reality.

It also shows, and this is dramatic, that Israel and its “fans” have really not understood at all what is at stake.

Michael Schiffer, who has dedicated his life to Zionism and supporting Israel, sees these abysses:

Israel stands at the edge of an abyss, and American Jews stand with it. The question is whether we will finally find the courage to pull back from the brink, or whether we will follow the logic of Masada to its inevitable conclusion: a murder-suicide pact in the name of hollow victory.

Very much in line with Zionism, a Palestinian state is the basis for Israel to be able to live in peace. It would be a state without tanks and an army, and of course it would be better if there were no Islamo-fascist regime in Iran that could, in case of doubt, try to arm a Palestinian state. But that has been clear for 25 years and even longer.

Israel also had time to signal a rapprochement with the Palestinians while simultaneously fighting Tehran. But Israel has built settlements and wants to continue building; E1 is enough of a keyword. It wants to resettle Gaza.

All of this must be criticized and not just glossed over with the hasty (hasty? After almost 60 years of occupation? Hmm…) recognition of Palestine by France, England, and others at the United Nations in September 2025. But to focus solely on this recognition and shout “no” without fundamentally questioning many aspects of Israel’s policies over the last 25 years – especially from a Zionist perspective, which is the point – is too cheap, too simplistic, too short-sighted, too reductionist, and dangerous.

This is the Masada complex. We are surrounded, and we would rather kill ourselves than enter into negotiations, admit mistakes, or seek compromises.

That, in my opinion, is what Michael Schiffer means.

When should the process of state formation begin, after almost 60 years of occupation? The overly clever and de facto enemies of Israel immediately scream that there has never been a state of Palestine. So what? There is a UN resolution that Israel wanted to adhere to, officially. And it says there should be an Arab (=Palestinian) and a Jewish state.

Ilan Goldenberg from J-Street, by the way, who worked three years in the Pentagon and about Iran, says that the recent and ‘great’ strikes against Iran by the US and Israel made Israel more vulnerable – why? Becasue we still do not know about the 400 kg enriched uranium and now no NGO and watchdog is anymore in the country …. Very troubling.

Where is the revolution from inside Iran, finally?

Millions of Israelis want Netanyahu gone, the war to end, and all hostages freed. And all at the same time. Tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, demonstrate for this every week and sometimes every few days across the country. A small number of them also demonstrate against waging war with hunger, as Israel is doing.

It was not unintentional that the IDF fired on this hospital and murdered several journalists, not to forget a few hundere more journalists who have already been killed and we do not know if they truly were all hidden terrorists as the IDF claims – we simply cannot believe the IDF anymore..

This recent attack on Nasser hospital in Gaza was no coincidence. Anyone who has read eyewitness accounts from IDF soldiers over the past few months knows this. Haaretz reported about these IDF soldiers, for example.

The German Israel scene does not know this and defames anyone who speaks out as a traitor or antisemite. Their world is that simple. It is an obsessive philosemitism that has much in common with the fanaticism of antisemitism, only superficially polarized differently. In the end, both lead to the end of the only Jewish state.

But they don’t want to hear any of that.

The words of Michael Schiffer from the US will be ignored in Germany, just as any substantial Zionist criticism of Netanyahu has fallen on deaf ears and will continue to do so.

Until Israel, morally elevated and without a single friend, plays Masada, like the pro-Israel scene in Germany and worldwide. Heroes, but dead.

Michael Schiffer sums it up:

The choice before us is stark: We can continue down the path of moral complicity, watching Israel destroy itself and take American Jewish credibility with it, or we can reclaim the prophetic tradition that demands justice even when – especially when – it challenges power.