(I know this newsletter has strayed from being about writing family histories, and I apologize to those who are here only for that. I hope the world rights itself soon so I can get back to that.)
Honestly, I don't think now is the time to call for peace. Peace will come. It has to come. But one of the reasons this has happened is because year after year, Israel has tolerated violence from Hamas. I've sat in bomb shelters as Hamas rockets exploded above us only to have Israel respond with token strength. Hamas, like Isis, like the Nazis has to be utterly dismantled, and that won't happen without violence. Israel will do what it can to spare civilians, and Hamas will do what it can to make sure those civilians aren't spared as part of its PR war, which is a wing of its actual war. I'm afraid this is a case of peace through strength. There is a time for gevura and a time for chesed. This is the time for gevura.
Oh, I want to be very clear. Like Cohen, who I quoted and who was at the time on his way to join the IDF in its response to the massacre, I'm not calling for peace-in-the-moment. I'm calling for a long-term commitment to peace. Indeed, in this moment, Israel must act to protect its citizens and its sovereignty.
I get it. I'm just saying I'm not sure of what is the point of discussing long-term peace when, literally, there are rockets falling right this moment across central Israel. We can have no idea whatsoever what peace will look like once this over. We don't know if this will be a short war or long one. We don't know if it will be one front, two front, or three fronts (Iran)--or more even. We don't know what level of casualties Israel will encounter with Gaza or what choices it will face if and when it defeats Hamas. We don't know what Gaza will look like after that. We don't, honestly, know, if Israel will even survive. But, I guess, if it helps people to support Israel in its current need to wage war with firm resolve by looking forward to a future peace, I'm okay with that.
A thing I am grateful for, friend, is that I feel certain your social media feeds haven't been full of people you thought were friends siding with Hamas and believing that they were siding with good. Or, if they didn't go that far, calling for the dissolution of Israel. The point of this post is to make clear that neither of those things are possible answers to the crisis. But it never works to tell someone what they are calling for is impossible if you don't then tell them what is possible.
This is why the post begins: This is for my friends who are neither Jewish or Muslim; my Jewish and Muslim friends don’t need it. They already think deeply and seriously about these issues.
Point taken. Apologies, I think I let the headline sidetrack me. I'm a little on edge like everyone else. I can imagine your feed is far more full of that sort of thing than mine. The algorithm knows better than that with me, plus I probably have a less diverse social network. It's all I can do, though, to hold back from engaging with the few people I do see on this site and elsewhere being lukewarm about their condemnation of Hamas, much less siding with them. I don't think I could manage with with your steadiness, so kudos for that.
I think this post is very much about the creation of family histories.
I love you, dearest friend.
I hear your heart in these words. More people should read this.
Thank you, friend.
I'm so moved by this, my friend xx
Thank you, my friend.
Honestly, I don't think now is the time to call for peace. Peace will come. It has to come. But one of the reasons this has happened is because year after year, Israel has tolerated violence from Hamas. I've sat in bomb shelters as Hamas rockets exploded above us only to have Israel respond with token strength. Hamas, like Isis, like the Nazis has to be utterly dismantled, and that won't happen without violence. Israel will do what it can to spare civilians, and Hamas will do what it can to make sure those civilians aren't spared as part of its PR war, which is a wing of its actual war. I'm afraid this is a case of peace through strength. There is a time for gevura and a time for chesed. This is the time for gevura.
Oh, I want to be very clear. Like Cohen, who I quoted and who was at the time on his way to join the IDF in its response to the massacre, I'm not calling for peace-in-the-moment. I'm calling for a long-term commitment to peace. Indeed, in this moment, Israel must act to protect its citizens and its sovereignty.
I get it. I'm just saying I'm not sure of what is the point of discussing long-term peace when, literally, there are rockets falling right this moment across central Israel. We can have no idea whatsoever what peace will look like once this over. We don't know if this will be a short war or long one. We don't know if it will be one front, two front, or three fronts (Iran)--or more even. We don't know what level of casualties Israel will encounter with Gaza or what choices it will face if and when it defeats Hamas. We don't know what Gaza will look like after that. We don't, honestly, know, if Israel will even survive. But, I guess, if it helps people to support Israel in its current need to wage war with firm resolve by looking forward to a future peace, I'm okay with that.
A thing I am grateful for, friend, is that I feel certain your social media feeds haven't been full of people you thought were friends siding with Hamas and believing that they were siding with good. Or, if they didn't go that far, calling for the dissolution of Israel. The point of this post is to make clear that neither of those things are possible answers to the crisis. But it never works to tell someone what they are calling for is impossible if you don't then tell them what is possible.
This is why the post begins: This is for my friends who are neither Jewish or Muslim; my Jewish and Muslim friends don’t need it. They already think deeply and seriously about these issues.
Point taken. Apologies, I think I let the headline sidetrack me. I'm a little on edge like everyone else. I can imagine your feed is far more full of that sort of thing than mine. The algorithm knows better than that with me, plus I probably have a less diverse social network. It's all I can do, though, to hold back from engaging with the few people I do see on this site and elsewhere being lukewarm about their condemnation of Hamas, much less siding with them. I don't think I could manage with with your steadiness, so kudos for that.
I haven't been very steady. Ask Dominik, who has had to scoop me off the floor on which I wept more than once at the things friends have said.