The moral stain of the Israeli government: Abandonment of the hostages
On this past Saturday night, I attended the weekly protest against the current immoral and irresponsible government of Israel, along with one of my daughters and my eldest granddaughter. The Jerusalem demonstration, which was held close to the official residence of the Prime Minister, was co-sponsored by the Forum of the Families of the Hostages and other groups. Since today is October 7th and we are exactly one year since the massacres and kidnappings of Israelis by Hamas militants, I am particularly mindful of the suffering of the hostages in Gaza and the emotional suffering of the families at this time.
At the rally, I carried a sign with a verse from the prayers of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (see photo), which is usually translated “When Thou removest the dominion of tyranny from the earth” but is also translated more creatively by the relatively new prayer book for the High Holidays of the Conservative movement entitled Mahzor Lev Shalem: “all wickedness will disappear like smoke when You remove the tyranny of arrogance from the earth.”
In addition, I have rendered my own more relevant translation of this verse as follows: “May God remove this evil (or wicked) government from the earth!” This translation reflects what I – and hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens, probably millions by now—feel about this current government of destruction and despair.
Why do we feel this way? The answers are manifold, but I will give you some of the main ones:
- First and foremost, I feel that this government has abandoned the hostages who have been in Hamastan, otherwise known as Gaza, for the past year. This is a deep moral stain on the government of Israel, which in the past always did its utmost to bring captives home. It is widely known in Israel—and I assume abroad, by now– that the Prime Minister of Israel has torpedoed many efforts to reach a deal, mostly due to heavy pressure on him by his far-right coalition partners, who have been explicit about their not wanting a cease-fire or a deal to redeem the hostages. As I heard in all of the brief speeches at the demonstration two nights ago, and as I have read many times in the media in Israel, the families of the hostages feel abandoned and now ignored by this government. Their cries—and those of millions of Israelis—and millions of Jews and others abroad—have been totally ignored by Netanyahu and his government of monsters, who have made it abundantly clear that that they no longer give a damn about redeeming the remaining hostages in Gaza. This has led to existential angst among the families of the hostages and their supporters (the majority of Israel’s citizens), causing much depression and despair, as well as deep distrust of their government.
- In recent weeks, this government has further deepened its abandonment of the hostages by pursuing another war of vengeance in the north, with no clear outcome in sight and with terrible Gaza-like destruction in Lebanon, with more than 2000 people killed in recent weeks, and with more than 1.2 million internal refugees in that country, causing another humanitarian disaster. This expansion of the war in the north could have clearly been avoided through diplomacy that was offered to Israel by the United States and France, but this government is preferring war over diplomacy. Moreover, the war in the south could have ended months ago, with a cease-fire and a deal, which would have also ended the war in the north. But this government has no plans to end this war, or wars.
- Israel is now in a situation of perpetual war or what some are calling “forever war” here. There are no plans for peace. Discussions about this are complete anathema to the fanatics who are leading the government. This “forever war” concept is the result of great arrogance and hubris, two sins which are characteristic of our non-leaders these days. They have consistently rejected all ideas from our allies, like the USA and France, Egypt and others, for ending the war and moving on to the rebuilding in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel. Not only that, but their hubris has led them to seek an all-out war against the huge Islamic Republic of Iran, which has the ability to shoot thousands of missiles per day, along with its proxy, Hezbollah, into Israel, which could cause tremendous damage and loss of life and property here. This policy is sheer insanity, motivated by extreme recklessness, which is based on arrogance. It is scarring and scaring the citizens of Israel (we shivered in our shelters last Tuesday night, waiting for the Iranian bombs to attack us) and the people and governments of the world, who are desperately seeking to avoid a regional war. But none of this bothers Bibi and his buddies! They apparently would love a regional war, which they believe that they will “win” (what would “winning” mean” and at what cost to the countries and societies in the region, including theirs?) And they will soon prove this by attacking Iran, they say, no matter what the risks and the consequences for the people of Israel and the region. They are drunk with power—they are in love with all the destruction they have wrought and all the “targeted assassinations” that they have done in recent weeks (and months). Of course, there may be some causalities and destruction in Israel, but the people of Israel are strong and can sustain it, so they say. We are resilient and strong. In contrast I –and many people I know–am not at all as sanguine that the people of Israel are as prepared to suffer for their government as they think. On the contrary, I believe that the people of Israel are existentially sick and tired of this “forever war” policy, which brings no hope for the future. I don’t really think that the ten million citizens of Israel are looking forward to more nights of existential fear as we sit in our shelters or our “safe rooms” waiting for bombs from Iran and Hezbollah to explode near us.
I write this post on the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are called in the Jewish Tradition “the ten days of repentance”. This is a time for heshbon nefesh, for reflecting on what we have done right and wrong during the past year. We, the people of Israel, are doing this intensively, sadly, with profound pessimism for our future, unless this government of evil can somehow disappear from the earth, either by Divine decree or by elections, or both, the sooner the better.
Will our government and its “leaders” be doing any of their own heshbon nefesh, personal and collective reckoning and soul-searching? Or will they simply continue wrecking our society and the others in the region, by their risky and megalomanic pursuit of war and more war, with no end in sight? Will they remember the hostages whom they have abandoned in Gaza? Or will they continue to lie and spin by telling us that one of their aims of the war is still to bring them home? Have they completely lost their moral compass?
Unfortunately, we know the answers to all of these questions. But we can always hope that some soul-searching might help and some sense of sanity might be restored.