War in Gaza

Wading into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dangerous work. It is an exceptionally charged issue, with both sides capable of as much passion as you'll experience in discussing a foreign policy dispute. Personally, I have been shocked and unnerved at some of the venom unleashed in the comments. I can't help but think that if only people read up on the history of the conflict, they would see that things aren't as black-and-white as their fire-breathing comments would have you believe.

It is important to understand that threats to Israel's survival are not theoretical. From the moment of the country's formation in 1948 to the present day, it has been surrounded by hostile neighbors who have wanted to see its destruction and used force to bring such an outcome about. Israel was attacked by neighboring nations in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. The country's seizure of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 occurred in this context. More recently, Israel has had to withstand suicide bombings, in which Palestinian terrorists would kill and wound innocent civilians inside Israel.

In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, dismantling all of its settlements and evicting its settlers, some by force. Palestinians proceeded in elections to put into power the terrorist group Hamas, which does not recognize the right of Israel to exist. With Israel gone from Gaza, Hamas seized on the opportunity to launch attacks from Gaza on civilian populations in Israel, firing more than 4,500 rockets and mortars into Israel since 2005. And Hamas used civilian areas as cover for the launching points for its attacks.

A little more than six months ago, Egypt brokered a cease fire between Israel and Hamas. The truce ended on December 19, and it was Hamas, not Israel, that refused to extend it. In fact, The current attacks began before the cease-fire agreement expired. In the last six weeks, Hamas has fired more than 400 missiles into Israel, including 40 Qassam rockets and mortars since December 19.

With Hamas attacking Israel, and with Hamas unwilling to extend the truce, Israel responded with the current offensive. And there are certainly views on both sides of the conflict and even the Jewish community can be split on the offensive.

I want to share with you some words of a friend of mine. Rabbi Donnel Hartman from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel wrote these words in light of the recent offensive in Gaza.

"It is difficult - very difficult - for parents today to send our children to war. Some might see this as a great weakness; they believe that the future of Israel in this neighborhood requires that we return to the old ethos. I see the new ethos as the source of strength and a worthy and powerful foundation for the future of Israel. "It is good to live for one's country." We, like our parents and grandparents, are willing to pay the utmost price for the viability and survival of our country. And we know that survival is dependent on the strength of our will. Yet, at the same time, we can taste something else. We don’t believe that war and death are inevitable. We have begun to lay foundations in which mere survival is not the ultimate end, but rather the content and quality of our lives. It gives expression to the new and larger vision and expectation that we Israelis now have for our country - to contribute through living. As a result, as we begin the operation in Gaza, as a father I am disturbed and pained. I am a citizen. As a citizen of this beautiful country I know and believe that at the foundation of our and indeed every society lies an unquestionable loyalty that each citizen must have toward each other. We will survive and indeed achieve our ultimate aspirations only to the extent that every citizen knows that their individual difficulties are the country's difficulties. Their pain is the country's pain. Loyalty is not simply a gift that citizens bestow upon each other, but rather it is the building block of society itself. I know that we must do everything in our power to change the current unjust and impossible status quo that allows terrorists in Gaza to lob mortars and missiles at will upon our fellow citizens. It is our responsibility to each other as fellow citizens to try military means, as well, so long as we remember the limitations inherent within the use of these means. As a citizen I not only support but feel that a military response in Gaza is the deepest representation of our loyalty and responsibility to each other. Herein lays my dilemma and my pain. I am a father and a citizen. At one moment one identity prevails and at other times, the other prevails. I pray for the safety of my child, and the children of my family and my friends, and I pray for the well-being of all our citizens. I cannot give up either identity; I cannot, nor would I want to. In the tension which so many of us feel lies the future growth and greatness of our country. I, and other fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses and grandparents - all citizens and lovers of Israel, find ourselves in an impossible dilemma. We are fearful yet proud. Fearful yet proud."

Has Israel always acted correctly? Of course not. I dare you to show me a country that has conducted itself perfectly all the time. We don’t have to look so far here. I am all for a two-state solution. But both states have to respect the right of the other to exist, and nothing in Hamas's actions has demonstrated that it is in any way willing to take part in such an arrangement. Hamas wants a one-state solution, and that one state is not Israel. And how is it that Hamas, a terrorist organization that refused to extend the truce and fired rockets at civilians on a daily basis, gets so much sympathy, with Israel condemned for defending itself? In a vacuum, there is no defense for Hamas in this situation.

Hopefully, in the not too distant future, Palestinians will rally behind moderate, non-corrupt leadership, and a fair two-state solution will be hammered out under which both of the countries' citizens can live in peace and prosperity. But until that day comes, as long as the Palestinian people throw their lot in with terrorists like Hamas, who, in their name, attack civilian targets in Israel, a two-state solution cannot be put in place, and the Palestinian people will have to bear the consequences of their leaders' actions.

In an ideal world, a military action like the Israeli offensive in Gaza would never happen. No person of conscience can truly look at what is going on there and not feel sad. But at the same time, the Hamas bombing of Israeli civilians is equally disturbing, and there is no obvious alternative available to Israel to defend its citizens. It feels unfair to me when people take Israel to task without placing any significant blame on Hamas.

The writer Cervantes said: “When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be.”
My prayer on this cusp of the new year is that the madness of Cervantes — the madness of dreaming for a better world, the madness of seeing life as it should be — will prevail over the madness of the never ending conflict in the middle east and that a life filled with peace and security will be the prize we win in 2009.