Gaza and After

Most Israelis, most Jews outside of Israel, and many other people recognize that as tragic as is the plight of the people in Gaza, Israel had no choice but to shell and ultimately invade Gaza. Gaza was sending rockets over the border into Israel (even as far as central Israel), killing and wounding people in Israel, and causing the Israeli people to live in bomb shelters. Hamas was sending terrorists through tunnels into Israel to kidnap and kill Israelis. It would be ridiculous to expect Israel to absorb that kind of punishment and simply not respond. As for proportionality, there is no such thing. Once Israel responds, it has to go all the way. War is not a game. Civilian casualties are inevitable in war, especially when Hamas hides its weapons in and shoots them from civilian locations. There were civilian casualties when the Allies invaded Europe during World War II, but that did not make us war criminals. We dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan ending World War II. That was not a war crime. President Truman correctly reasoned that the alternative was an invasion of Japan with great loss of American soldiers’ lives.

Hamas says it is shooting rockets and sending militants into Israel through tunnels to end the blockade, but they are saying it backward. The blockade is to prevent the rockets and cement for tunnels from getting into Gaza for the purpose of attacking Israel. If there were no rockets and no tunnels, there would be no reason for the blockade. Demilitarization of Gaza would end the blockade and the conflict. Peace would then allow the Gazans to concentrate on building prosperity which would actually make them stronger than any weapons would.

Having said that, the present battle in Gaza will eventually end as they all do. But what will happen after that? Barring some major change, Hamas will start digging new tunnels and stockpiling more missiles. The missiles will become more deadly with longer ranges, and Israel will respond with more blockades and development of more sophisticated ways of closing tunnels and responding to missiles. The biggest losers will be the civilians in Gaza trapped in this cycle.

I spoke recently with an Israeli Jew living in the US. I said Israel and the Palestinian Arabs will eventually have to come to terms. The cycle of wars can not continue forever. He disagreed. Sadly, he saw no way out. He was resigned to endless conflict. It is tragic that we Jews who have created so much and have given so much knowledge to the world can not dig ourselves out of this hole. Perhaps I am a Pollyanna, but one must not resign oneself to endless tragedy. I do not believe that even God hates us so much that he tempts us with the goal of the time of the Messiah when swords will be turned into plowshares, but somehow always places us in the vortex of conflict continuing since the time when according to the Bible we were lead to the point of collision between Egypt and Mesopotamia (ancient Israel).

When the present battle ends, Israel will win militarily. Most of the tunnels and rocket launchers will probably be destroyed. Then Hamas will probably start digging again and thinking up new ways to make mischief. Israel will be thinking of new technologies to anticipate and counteract them.  Of course the Israeli military and technology must be kept at the maximum. But there are other possible sources of strength. The present tragedy might actually present more opportunities to Israel than to Hamas if only Israel can and will make the most of this opportunity. Interestingly, many of the surrounding Arab governments have remained silent and in a way have actually supported Israel because of their hatred of the radical unbending Islam that Hamas represents. President Obama and Ban Ki-moon of the UN expressed the understanding of the International Community by publicly declaring that Hamas is the guilty party in breaking the last cease fire. One wonders how much support Hamas still actually has among the ordinary Gazans on the street. The Jews of Israel are not going away because there is nowhere to go, but the same is true for the Palestinian Arabs. Perhaps when the dust settles Israel will manage the opportunities well and figure out how to make the necessary adjustments (whatever they are) needed to make the neighborhood a more liveable place or at least to gather up as many allies as possible.