Israel's Predicament

I would like to recommend reading the Aug 15, 2014 entry on the blog of Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg at http://jonathanwittenberg.org/post/94806816757/after-gaza-these-wounds-go-very-deep . Rabbi Wittenberg is a Masorti English rabbi who visited the Gaza border recently. The entry illustrates the predicament faced by Israel. The immediate response to attacks on Israel by Hamas has to be military. Israel can not turn the other cheek and get pounded by rockets and terrorists coming out of tunnels. But the long term solution can not be achieved by military might alone. There appear to be 2 streams in Israel, one forward stream that sets up hospitals to treat anyone sick or injured, Jew or Arab, even treating Arabs wounded in the Gaza war. This is the stream that pushes for inclusiveness in Israel, including all Jewish forms of worship, Reform and Conservative as well as Orthodox. This stream tries to bring Israeli Arabs into the mainstream of Israeli life and realizes that a strong country does not marginalize 1/4 of its population. Unfortunately there is also a backward stream. The backward stream pushes exclusivity inside Israel and pushes for expansion of settlements in the West Bank even though that makes coming to terms with the Palestinian Arabs impossible. There also appears to be 2 streams in the Moslem world, an unfortunately large stream which can not come to terms with the existence of Israel. But there is also a strong forward stream among Israeli Arabs who want to fully participate as equals in the modernity of Israel. There is also a glimmer of hope in small pockets of progressive Islam like the Suffis, the Ahmadis, and the Druze who are willing to accept a predominantly Jewish Israel. Another interesting development seen in the recent Gaza war was Jordan and Egypt if not siding with Israel at least remaining neutral. Let us hope that the forward streams on both sides will prevail. It won't happen over night. Hatreds will have to be overcome. Trust will have to be established. It might take generations, but one has to start.