Today's musing minute.
We are witnessing the most earth-shattering events in Gaza.This is no less disturbing for being anticipated. It is the result of the terrible choices faced by Israel. Attacked by Nazis bent on destroying it in the most brutal manner conceivable, Israel has elected to destroy Hamas, even at great cost to the hostages and their families and to tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of innocent civilians. The alternatives are
2.The other alternative is to cease fire temporarily to let humanitarian aid in sufficient to prevent the impending humanitarian catastrophe. This is the alternative the western world is urging, and some of the Arab world too. It is not clear to what extent this will compromise Israel's main objective to destroy Hamas, or even render it impossible. Clearly Israel thinks it is off the table.
But there is a third alternative, arguably the most logical and moral alternative. In a more moral world, one more unified against Nazis of all kinds, the great powers, and the leaders of the Arab world who claim to be against terrorism, would demand the unconditional surrender of Hamas and the turning over of its leaders to be tried for war crimes, just as happened after WWII. Sad to say it took the bombing of Dresden to come to this (or so I am told). This is the most just way to save the Palestinian people. If Hamas leaders truly cared about them, they would sacrifice themselves to that cause and surrender. If the Arab world cared about the Palestinian people they would urge Hams to do so and to face justice for the crimes everyone knows they committed. This, it should be strongly emphasized, regardless of the rights and wrongs of the broader Israel-Palestinian conflict. Nazis are in power in Gaza. One cannot negotiate with Nazis. Israel has learned that lesson. Unconditional surrender is logical and just.
But, the truth is that the Arab world, as a whole, does not care, has never cared much about the Palestinian people. Over the last 75 years they (75,000 of them) could have been accepted into any of the many Arab countries as refugees that would have contributed greatly to those countries, just as the 850,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries, at that time, were accepted into Israel. Instead they have been kept as second class citizens in camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and elsewhere to be used as political pawns for generation after generation. In the western democratic countries they have been accepted and have become peaceful productive citizens, like my next door neighbor, who is now aged 90 and has prospered, raising a large successful family.
This last alternative will sadly not materialize, but, I felt morally obligated to articulate it as something to be considered in the moral calculus that will follow the death and destruction. It is not a matter of excusing Israel's actions. It is a matter of facing the truth of Israel's dilemma, the circumstances of which are not of its making or under its control.
If the "world" really wanted to save the Palestinians of Gaza they would arrange for, they would demand, the expeditious surrender of Hamas rather than the unjust surrender of Israel to outrageous terms. Israel's choice is between sacrificing its population or the population of Gaza. Can you think of a more terrible choice?
I am not naïve, but I do wonder why this is not clear to more people.
