The threshold of our humanity

We can dwell on the carnage brought upon us by Hamas on October 7, the scale of Israel’s leaders’ negligence both military and political in ignoring the warnings, the consequent counterattack which evolves in part as a revenge onslaught by Israel – fully justified by pure defense needs, but there comes a time when over and above pure defense needs, national anger and revenge are not enough to put an end to the bloodbath that is Gaza. There comes a time when, in mourning and regret, we need to begin to pack away our anger, hatred revulsion at the enemy – Hamas – and their doctrine of world Islamic domination backed by Hezbollah and Iran, into the recesses of our minds; though ever-present as a warning, but not as a way to the future. I believe we have reached this point, however some of our democratically voted leaders have lost their way in the killing fest. I do not omit the insanity that comes out of Iran, Yemen and elsewhere. Yet it is time to reassess and find solutions, all be they neither foolproof nor perfect. 

I view this from an Israeli perspective. In every respect the government of Israel and our highly effective military have shaken the foundations of Hamas, shocked Iran into panic and sent a clear message to Hezbollah that the scale of punishment and destruction for their initiative of involvement is but little in comparison to what may come next if they plan further aggression. This is war. It is ironically far less destructive than what happened in WW2, Afghanistan and other zones of conflict more recently, but for us as Israelis with a diaspora that spans the globe, it is time to find the way out of this conflict and to bring it to an end: to get our hostages back home, to reassess and find for ourselves, the paths that lead us out of this tragedy.

In terms of the damage we have endured, by human suffering of our hostages and their families, the murderous onslaught and killings by Hamas and from unceasing random strikes in the North, the full weight of this disaster is percolating into the national psyche and creating pain and destruction, no doubt lasting a lifetime.  

And while our rage and pain and loss, guide our actions, at some point we need to focus on that – and examine who exactly we are and where we are going as individuals and as a nation. The slander of genocide takes root exactly because of the damage we as Israelis do in a complex war where our Hamas and Jihad neighbors see death and self-destruction as an honor: dying for the almighty as an act of heroism and access to a second life, one that promises to be perfect compared to the current one. 

One of the problems we face is loss of empathy, loss of ethical behavior, and a need to make the perpetrators pay. However this road, when taken, involves a loss of common sense, reality and humanity. Such is the situation we encountered recently at the prisoner of war camp at Sde Teiman in the South. When an average Israeli soldier – and indeed many citizens, believe that it is within logic and basic justice, to rape, abuse and injure for life Hamas POWs, it means that we are at the cusp of losing our humanity. Our empathy and basic moral (and legal) code falls away in seconds. This is the toxin that filters down as the war proceeds. And after the shocking abuses by Hamas on the 7th October, on a scale far greater than can be described, how do we retain our humanity? Many ask, should we retain our humanity? Is it not written in the scriptures: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth? 

It’s a slippery slope that leads to ongoing violence and destruction throughout society at large and finds its way to all sectors and inhabitants of all ages, in this land. And let us be clear: as brutal and insane the pogrom of the 7th of October was, Israel is under the magnifying glass of the world consequent to the vast bombing of Gaza. While often this is justified by the need to eliminate Hamas leaders and Gaza terrorists who only wish for Jihad in their so called holy-war, where are we as a nation when, as I viewed just recently on DW, a father in Gaza returns from registering his newborn, only to find a killing field where he left him? Hamas fighters or commanders may well have been in the same building, and thus fair game for an attack, but should this killing field be the work of our pilots, our generals, ultimately us, as Israeli citizens?

When this war ends, we as Israelis and as Jews across the globe, need to find the way to peace and reconciliation. Even as we may say, correctly, that Hamas brought this on themselves. 

The vast destruction towards the end of WW2 of entire German cities and the bombing of Japan outweighs by far the current war of destruction of Hamas. However we too, on a much smaller scale, have brought our enemies to their knees and in the sterile zone of wrong or right, clearly the failed attempt by Hamas and its radical allies brought this on themselves. 

However, the challenge for us now is to reign in the hate and our quest for revenge – which is a natural human instinct – and to find a way through the complex emotional and personal tragedies this insane attack by Hamas has brought upon us. If our enemies persist despite the exhaustion we will ultimately defeat them. 

We, in this small country which is the central force of Judaism today and which communities around the world look to, need to find and sustain the way to resilience and survival: that involves a true self evaluation together with our diaspora, a bond with our international communities and a healthy interaction with nations abroad. A great deal of work will be needed to create trust, support and resilience to move beyond the tragedy of October 7 2023.