The Middle East Conundrum

And God said to Abraham:

I will bless those who bless you, and he who curses you I will curse; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you (Genesis 12:3).

I have always felt given our long, tumultuous history during which we have witnessed tremendous catastrophe and indeed, have found ourselves swept up and victimized in the maelstrom of it all, that as Israel goes, so goes the world.

As American Jews we are enormously blessed to be citizens of a nation in which we are so freely accepted though, of course, it hasn’t always been this way. But, no matter how free we are in this nation of ours, as a people, as Jews, we know as we consider the sweep of Jewish history that the nation of Israel, our Jewish homeland, anchors all Jews from the far corners of the world.  For too many centuries, as resident aliens in other lands, we found ourselves at the mercy and capriciousness of rulers and clergy whose disdain for Judaism and Jews was made sufficiently clear. The world is stained by Jewish blood and we bear the scars of centuries of persecution. We are indeed responsible for one another. Kol Yisrael areivim zeh ba zeh. Even in our own day, that adage remains true.

And because of so many episodes of exile from one land to another, because of our 2000 year exile from our own homeland, we understand only too well God’s commandment to be kind to the stranger because we were once and often strangers in strange lands. Our historically derived empathic consciousness has become encoded in our DNA with an understanding of the need to “love your fellow as yourself, V’ahavta L’re’acha kamocha” (Leviticus 19:18). Though American and Israeli cultures are different, there are indissoluble bonds between us and our fellow Israelis, and for that matter, between us and Jews wherever they may live throughout the world. This is the way it has always been. This is the way it will always be.  But we also understand that our own humanity as individuals and nations is measured by reaching out with compassion to help others maintain their dignity.  It can be no other way.

These last few weeks have been filled with tragedy and terror. We continue to grieve over the vicious kidnappings and cold-blooded murders of Eyal, Gilad and Naftali and also over the brutal kidnapping and horrific, revenge murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a murder Israel is investigating in order to hold those responsible accountable. Four senseless acts of murder of innocent, young people whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, murdered because they were Jews and a Muslim. Hatred of this kind encourages otherwise decent people to engage in acts beyond all rational, moral understanding. Surely this must be a universal truth: All mothers mourn the loss of their children. All fathers mourn the loss of their children. All of us mourn the loss of life. 

But war and acts of self-defense are different matters. War is always awful and innocent civilians caught in the crossfire often are tragically injured and/or lose their lives. The concept of war is as old as humanity. Our Torah is filled with numerous military battles and wars.  Hamas has staked out for itself, its people and its future a position in which it freely offers up for sacrifice its own civilians as it takes cowardly refuge behind them, militarizing mosques, hospitals and schools.  War has many painful costs as people lose their lives and as civilians lose their homes and are very often turned into refugees. Nevertheless, our humanity must be questioned if we simply turn away from the tragic deaths of those 4 little Palestinian children playing on a beach, doing what children do, simply because Hamas has created such a situation. War always produces tragic casualties, but we still feel those losses. How can we not? 

Yet Israel sets the international standard in avoiding civilian casualties with phone calls to targeted sites, “knocks” on the roofs of civilian occupied buildings, warning leaflets showered upon residential areas, and aborted missions because of civilians located near targets.  In fact, even with such warnings, there are reports that Gazans evacuating the scene of impending retaliatory strikes are urged to stay and even threatened by Hamas if they do not.  Ultimately, how can anyone rationally conclude otherwise; it is Hamas which must bear responsibility for this conflict and for its civilian casualties no matter how tragic is the loss of life.

The problems between the Israelis and Palestinians are complex and vexing. Everyone is right and everyone is wrong in many ways.  But no nation can stand passively by as civilians are targeted indiscriminately, notwithstanding the blind eye and double standards the nations of the world often wish to impose upon Israel, though presently Israel is receiving broad international support including that of its closest ally, the United States. They seem to understand.  When the sirens go off, the residents of Ashkelon, for example, have but a meager 30 seconds to dive into a shelter, simply an untenable prescription for living with daily life repeatedly punctuated by sirens and rocket fire. We here can only imagine the psychological impact on Israeli life. 

This disruption of Israeli lives with the raining of rockets from Gaza has been going on now for some 10 years and Israelis, though resilient, are also tired of diving into bomb shelters.  This time Israel seems determined to yield more from this conflict than a period of calm and quiet.  This time Israel is determined to demilitarize Gaza either diplomatically or militarily.  However, as I write this, the Israeli ground incursion has just begun notwithstanding 10 days of Israeli airstrikes. The missiles from Gaza continue unabated even during a temporary, humanitarian ceasefire.

As a people, we long for peace. Prayers for peace are part of our daily liturgy, but perhaps it is far easier to pray for peace than to make peace, oseh shalom.  Possibilities for peace require willing parties to come to the negotiating table with a genuine desire for peace overriding the painful but necessary compromises and concessions the parties must make.  Former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir z”l, came close to understanding that “peace can come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.”  I would humbly amend her sentiment by suggesting that peace can come to Israelis and Palestinians when those who govern the Palestinians love their children more than they hate us.  As Jews and as human beings, we long for such a time and should strive to maintain any legitimate opening of communication with legitimate parties in order for that to happen.  At the same time, we must respect Israel doing all it can to protect its people. 

May God strengthen His people and with that strength may God bless all of His people with peace.

Adonai oze l’amo yeetain, Adonai yevaraich et amo va-shalom.


Keyn Yehi Ratzon. So may it be God’s will.

Amen.

Shabbat Shalom. 

Warmly,
Rabbi Debra Nesselson
www.RabbiNesselson.com 
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