It feels like an inflection point. After Chuck Schumer's unfathomable call for elections in Israel to oust Netanyahu, the rising tensions between Biden and Bibi that have been building for weeks finally came to a head with the US abstention of the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution vote. Hamas must be very encouraged that their campaign of Palestinian self-flagellation is winning the day. Western leaders are talking about recognizing a Palestinian State - although it's hard to imagine what that would accomplish - and US Vice-President Harris has talked about further consequences if Israel conducts operations in Rafah, the last Gaza stronghold of Hamas. Israel argues that it needs to go into Rafah to finish the job of eliminating Hamas. Meanwhile, northern Gaza is on the brink of what has been called the worst famine in modern human history. According to some reports, by May up to 680,000 Gazans will be at risk. This represents the largest famine since Somalia in 2011 when approximately 450,000 starved. I wonder how many Palestinian women and children Hamas counted on dying before enough international pressure would come to bear on Israel to force them into retreat. Dying can be a powerful political tool, especially in the age of social media.
We are taught that we must not stand idly by and watch innocent people die if we have the ability to do something about it. It's a basic moral imperative. But what do you do when bad actors place others intentionally in harm's way to protect themselves? It's undeniable that Hamas is responsible for the catastrophe currently befalling the people of Gaza. In their strategy of assymetrical warfare, it's undeniable that Hamas has used the entire population of Gaza to shield themselves from Israel's superior military power. It's undeniable that their only hope of 'success' was for massive numbers of innocent Gazans to die and the world to be outraged against Israel. They view all Palestinians as not merely expendable, but as their main weapon. They call them 'a nation of martyrs'. But Hamas's responsibility for wanting and engineering the deaths of thousands of their own people can't negate the moral imperative of others to spare innocent lives if they can. Those of us watching the catastrophe of Gaza have to agonizingly hold two conflicting moral principles in our minds at the same time. One that demands evil to be eradicated in self-defense, and the second not to kill innocents in the process. In a case when one of the parties has weaponized the death of their own civillians as central to their strategy, contrary to every accepted norm and convention of warfare, we are forced to ask, which must take precedence, and at what point should that precedence shift, if ever? At what point must my self-defense take a backseat to sparing the lives of others?
We've been told that the IDF has respected, as much as possible, international military norms and conventions in their rules of engagement in Gaza. We've been told that whenever possible, in an impossible setting of urban guerilla warfare, they have done whatever they could to warn civilians to get out of harm's way before taking action. I am confident that this is the case. I am also confident that Hamas is doing everything possible to undermine Israel's efforts, and that this accounts for the vast majority of civilian Palestinian casualties. But famine changes the calculus. Ensuring the adequate supply of basic human needs is essential. In this regard, the Palestinian population must be viewed like prisoners of war and treated as such. If the IDF is doing anything to make sure famine is avoided, they need to tell the world about it. If they are being hindered in that effort by Hamas we need to know about it. Right now, to many of us, it still looks like what the IDF is engaged in is justifiable self-defense. If there is a famine, it won't look that way anymore.
5 comments:
A tragedy of epic proportions on so many levels… feels as if the light has been snuffed out and we have been sucked into the abyss of a black hole
There is a lot of suffering in the world ... but somehow it's Palestinian suffering that seems to capture the imagination of Western countries ... and somehow big bad Israel is always to blame! The Hamas "freedom fighters" come off as blameless. And the idea -- please forgive me -- that maybe/perhaps the Palestinian people themselves are at least partly to blame for their own situation -- this we can never say!
I am not suggesting that we minimize anyone's suffering ... of course not! ... and the World community should definitely do everything it can to help when there is a war or a crisis, whether it be in Gaza or anywhere else in the world.
There is of course also a lot of pain -- a tremendous amount of pain -- here in Israel, that is rarely discussed in the traditional media/social media. Certainly pales in comparison to the suffering of the Palestinians.
I’m trying to make the point that all suffering is not equal. The suffering inflicted in war is something we accept within certain boundaries. The boundaries are different for combatants and non combatants. For non combatants the rules are much stricter for good reason. But even for combatants there are principles that cannot be transgressed. If you argue that Hamas uses Palestinians non-combatants as a weapon of war, directly and indirectly, placing them in harms way, using their apartment buildings, schools and hospitals to launch their attacks etc. then casualties can and should be expected in the course of waging war. For this, Israel cannot be held responsible. However, starvation is a basic need protected in the Geneva Convention even for prisoners of war. This is a standard that cannot be transgressed under any circumstance. To date I believe Israel can claim the moral high ground, notwithstanding the pro-Palestine protests in the west which are largely misguided and conflate political goals with historical claims that are not defensible or justified in my view. But Israel risks ceding the moral high ground if under their watch they allow wide scale starvation. I’m articulating something that is already making waves in the west. For the first time since the war began a Gallup poll found that a majority of American no longer support Israel. I believe it’s because of the wide scale reporting of an imminent famine. If true, and I hope it’s not, Israel can not let it happen under any circumstance.
Yes, I get your point now ... and agree. The threat of famine and starvation ratchets up the morality issue to a different level. I do firmly believe, though, that Israel understands this, and will act accordingly.
I heard a report today that there was a plan presented accepted by Israel and fully back by the US to get food aid into northern Gaza. The plan involved a multi-national Arab force to distribute the aid, and for the US to pay for it. Makes sense on so many levels, for Israel they don’t have to take the risk of being targets of attack. UNRWA is not involved. Arabs can get the credit for distributing the aid. Apparently it was presented to the Arabs and they rejected it outright. ‘Laughed in the face of the Americans’ is how it was told to me. In short their response was ‘You broke it, you bought it.’ Couldn’t make it clearer that they want Palestinians to die to make Israel look worse. If there was any doubt tha they were coldbloodedly using their population to score political points, this should dispel it. The Arabs would prefer to see their population starve than find a solution. It’s diabolical. Evil. Hard to see any path to peace.
Post a Comment