7 October 2023--Barbarism and Gleeful, Sadistic, Murderous Hatred of Jews in Action

Monday, 7 October 2024

A Year Later—No Peace and Israel Still Exists

by Ed Buckner

It’s been a year since vicious terrorists attacked settlements and kibbutzim in Israel, sadistically and wantonly—gleefully, savagely—murdering, raping, and kidnapping babies, old people, teenagers, music fans, peace activists, Bedouin tribesmen, farmers, foreigners, Americans, ordinary men and women, and many security forces—but many more civilians.

Earliest reports of all this were not all accurate, understandably so given the horror and unexpectedness. So no, there were not 40 babies in one kibbutz killed. But—

The youngest victim was 10-month-old Mila Cohen, shot and killed at Kibbutz Beeri. An entire family, including three children aged between two and six, were killed in their home at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Elsewhere, two brothers aged five and eight were shot dead in their car with their parents. A five-year-old boy was killed in the street by a rocket. The data gives a clear picture of the scale of the atrocities at the Supernova music festival in Reim where 364 people were killed. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231215-israel-social-security-data-reveals-true-picture-of-oct-7-deaths

And, as Rabbi Peter Berg of Atlanta noted in yesterday’s Atlanta newspaper, not everyone responded in the same way to the events one year ago.

https://www.ajc.com/opinion/opinion-american-jews-have-faces-heightened-antisemitism-since-oct-7/44VY5JYIONC4LNXYQOVIXJIBOE/

I’m not Jewish or Islamic—never have been. I’m not religious and haven’t been for decades. I’ve never even been to Israel or Jordan or Gaza or Syria or Lebanon or Iran.

I once owned some Palestinian coins, but I knew little about Palestine. I’ve never had a course in the history of the Middle East. I know only quite superficially about the 1926 Balfour Declaration and the May 1948 official start of the State of Israel.

I’m no expert.

I’m strongly opposed to any nation or state being based on any religion.

I had, before October 2023, only modest knowledge or interest in the Middle East and the seemingly endless conflict there.

But in the days after 7 October 2023 I expected something quite different from what happened.

I had been through the terrorist attacks of September 2001 on the US—and had witnessed widespread (not universal) world-wide sympathy and pro-American emotion. The first ever (and so far only) North American Treaty Organization Article 5 declaration—announcing solidarity from all NATO nations with the US—was declared within 24 hours of those 11 September attacks.

So I actually expected—and I was pretty sure of this—that there would be widespread (though not universal) outrage at Hamas and support for Israel, especially in the US. I knew conflict between Hamas/Gaza and Israel was not new. I knew that Muslim students in madras schools had been systematically taught to hate Jews passionately, and that Zionist fundamentalists in the West Bank had been horrible to Palestinians. I was not a fan of Bibi Netanyahu (and I’m still not). But 7 October seemed clearly different—not just higher numbers but greater barbarity, more sadistic glee—more pure Jew-hatred on open display—and I expected an overwhelming groundswell of pro-Jewish, pro-Israel support. I was so wrong. Some outrage, some support, some shock and sympathy, of course. But—and this was before any retaliation on Gaza had begun or been discussed—the vicious anti-semitism (I really think “blind Jew-hating” describes it better) was widespread and disgusting. And it persists.

In the words of Bari Weiss—

We expected Hamas to try to kill Jews. We didn’t expect Americans to celebrate when they did.

Bari Weiss: A Year of Revelations

Are there, among Israelis, among the right-wing Israeli government leaders, examples of stupid, racial or religious hatred of Palestinians or Gazans or Hamas members? There are. Are there Israeli actions that humiliate and dehumanize Palestinians? There are. Is there any basis, in the past history of terrorist attacks—notably suicide attacks on public buses and in public cafes—for restrictions that may be at least part of the reason for humiliating and dehumanizing restrictions—there is.

Is there any basis for claiming that Israel sits quite illegally on land rightfully belonging to Palestinians? Apparently. But is there any competing basis for claiming that Israel sits quite legally on land rightfully occupied by Jews for thousands of years? Apparently. I have not read and cannot vouch for the accuracy of a book I saw at a library book sale this past weekend—

But I cannot vouch for Palestinian claims either—and I’ve read enough to know there are at least some grounds for conflicting arguments all around. Enough that I’m virtually certain that no peace can be achieved without real compromise. Enough that I’m thoroughly convinced that dealing with deep-seated irrational hatred is part of what must be accomplished before any hope of peace can be had.

I noted above that I oppose any state that gives rights and privileges to any religion. That applies to Israel. But it must be noted that Israel is the only nation in the world that does that for Judaism, while there are dozens of nations where followers of Islam have rights and privileges unavailable to others. And there are some Islamic states that are proudly theocratic, with virtually no rights for non-Muslims—substantially less democratic than Israel, with all its faults.

Now, what about Israel’s alleged “genocide” in Gaza? First, a somewhat less than serious take on this—

As Lee Child has his character Jack Reacher say in Blue Moon (2019)—

I don’t see how his welfare suddenly becomes my responsibility just because he chose to attack my welfare first. I’m not clear how that works. They started it. They can’t expect me to provide a health plan. (p. 217)

That is an absurd oversimplification if applied to Gaza/Hamas, of course. But it leads to a wholly serious question: If Israel is confronted by a group—Hamas—that does what it did on 7 October and that vows it will do it again, what should Israel do?

Can one who, like me, has limited knowledge and even more limited ability to imagine military actions, come up with ways that don’t destroy all of Gaza’s infrastructure and that avoids wholesale slaughter of thousands of people, many of them women and children? Surely someone can.

But it’s worth noting, as I think is the case, that Hamas has yet to agree to a cease-fire (since they badly broke one a year ago). Or released all the people they kidnapped. Netanyahu has also not agreed to terms of any cease-fire, but surely those who protest bitterly against that must also excoriate Hamas.

What about, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free”? Does that mean Jews will have no rights but to pack up and leave? To go where? Even if you think Palestinians have always been the victims, the oppressed, the down-trodden, never poorly served by their own leaders, never abused by other Arab nations, must not Jews have rights and be allowed to negotiate and to exist?

Fatuous anti-corporatists and “leftists” in the US have declared that America stole our land from the Indians (or “native Americans,” if you prefer). And that similarly the Jews stole their land from the Palestinians. But even if you see a meaningful parallel (I really don’t), there’s really no serious argument about who was the exploiter or thief here, whereas in the Middle East, claims and counterclaims go on endlessly from all sides.

There will be no justice and no peace as along as self-righteous, rigid, fundamentalists hold sway.

As a humanist and freethinker, as an American, as someone committed to decency and to justice and to truth, I say—

1. Compromise

2. Stop the Hate

3. Admit that It’s Incredibly Complicated

4. Choose Diplomacy over War

And whether you agree or not with me on anything, read widely. For example—

https://wapo.st/47IpMAc

https://wapo.st/3ZI9JR6

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/magazine/vivian-silver-oct-7.html

https://quillette.com/2024/10/05/the-current-situation-in-israel/?ref=quillette-weekly-newsletter

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/opinion/israel-jews-antisemitism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.P04.FUIa.ahW583HSp2X0&smid=url-share

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/05/israel-gaza-hamas-oct-7-terrorist-attacks-war/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/05/us/within-our-lifetime-pro-palestinian-activism.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/05/opinion/iran-israel-benny-gantz.html

https://x.com/K0sher_C0ckney/status/1839085025481879799

Trump's Hitlerian Month

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