Israel takes down the world Jewry along

Yes, that is true and that is what saner heads in the world Jewry are fearing and saying louder. Articulation of arguments ‘for’ Israel’s brutal war of oppression, destruction and occupation is increasingly running hollow. Henceforth, the once pro-Israel international street is seething with anger at the genocidal butchery of Netanyahu’s forces. Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), a professional force respected around the globe, is increasingly losing a moralistic war with conscience. The demons of savagery on full display in Gaza have started to haunt members of IDF and shall continue for years to come just like the regular and consistent torment the US Military is facing. Every war has a price equally costly for the victors.

Very recently (7^th November) over 500 political appointees and staff members in the US Government representing some 40 government agencies protested against this war of savagery, especially the US government’s blind support for Israel...in a letter to President Biden. At least three dissenting internal memos were sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed by scores of State Department employees, through ‘dissent channel’ created during the Vietnam War. Besides, over 1,000 employees of USAID have signed an open letter against the war. The fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans (66% including 80% Democrats) and the world citizenry support ceasefire and pressurise Israel for it is no secret. Americans have no stomach for ‘another costly and senseless war in the Middle East’. More and more world leaders and community activists are voicing subdued denunciation of Israel. ‘Humanitarian pauses’ are seen as no substitute for cessation of hostilities and avoidance of collective punishment meted out to Palestinians in Gaza.

One of the most respected, wise and ardent pro-Israel journalists, Thomas L Friedman, a Jewish himself, lamented while writing in The New York Times on Nov 14, 2023: “We will have to either become captives of Netanyahu’s strategy — which could take us all down with him — or articulate an American vision for how the Gaza war must end.” He pointed out the irony of ‘seven million Jews trying to govern five million Palestinians in perpetuity’. He supports a two-state solution and considers this war of genocide a ‘prescription for disaster for Israel, America, Jews everywhere and America’s moderate Arab allies’.

To the watchers of Israeli politics, Bibi Netanyahu will go to any extent to stay in power through coalition with far-right, mostly ultra-orthodox Jewish allies like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Friedman claims Netanyahu is campaigning through this war to win the next elections.

Bibi’s game plan seems to appease the Israeli religious right, throw Palestinians into Sinai desert and erect Jewish settlements on the occupied Gaza as soon as possible. Hence the indiscriminate bombing, levelling of the once thriving Gaza and forced displacement of Palestinians. This is a land grab under most primal human impulses...not practised by the ‘human animals’ but the civilised Jewish state and society. And the thin veneer of smoke screen is to declare (later) that Palestinians have ‘no legitimate, independent representation in Gaza’ etc.

That is where moral obligations of the hegemon kick in. With a whopping $14 billion in aid, two aircraft carriers posturing for Israeli defence and diplomatic support in the UN, America needs to rein in and enforce UN Resolutions 242 and 338, revive Trump’s 2020 peace plan and work for a two-state solution where Palestinians can live in peace and dignity. Re-imposing the discredited Palestinian Authority (PA) on Gaza is akin to not acknowledging the ground realties. Although Bibi rejects PA ruling Gaza again, ostensibly for his nefarious land-grab opportunity. Saner voices in the World Jewry need to stand up and be counted. Now is the time. Protesting... ‘Not in my name’ is not enough.

Otherwise, a demography decidedly in favour of Palestinians, an increasingly hostile international street, world leaders privately (if not publicly) abhorring Israeli cruelty and overreach under pressure of conscience and their public opinion, would reinvigorate anti-Semitism like never before. Social media followers, mostly the 20-something, are already looking for reasons of Jewish extermination under Nazis. Jewish are bitterly divided on Bibi’s dangerous political games to cling to power at all costs. Muslim street is brimming with anger. These are all the ingredients enough to existentially threaten the Jewish universe, not the state of Israel alone. The power of the Israeli influence may not be able to contain this immense public backlash for long. And no quantum of Jewish benevolence like money, university chairs, philanthropy, artistic excellence, business success, media domination, etc may contain the darker forces of racial bigotry, religious intolerance and revenge.

Extermination of Hamas as a military organisation is simply impossible now, like never before. Hamas represents an idea, a movement, the voice of oppressed Palestinians who (rightfully) defy Israel’s suffocating stranglehold on their lives in the largest open-air prison...that is Gaza. As long as conditions do not change and improve for them, Hamas will continue to flourish and ‘regenerate’. Funding, recruitment, organization and acquisitions have never been any problem for such determined ideological organisations. Deep down the IDF would know this fatalism; however, allowing itself to become a political tool for Israeli far-right under Netanyahu for ‘land grab’ is amoral and non-professional for such a fine military. It should remember that Hamas wins even in defeat, as its legitimacy is not dependent on its military success; it is more reliant on resistance and ‘heroic martyrdom’ for Palestinian cause of liberation. So, a professional IDF has set itself an ambitious goal that is extremely hard to achieve.

Israel also cannot occupy Gaza indefinitely, unless it annexes the de-populated land and pushes Palestinians into Sinai (Egypt) which seems Bibi’s ultimate aim. Although Egypt would not take kindly to such forced migration. Hence, in sum, there are no good options for Israel.

Without a clearly articulated and ‘palatable’ political strategy, Israel’s sole reliance on the blunt military instrument to exact an unforgiving revenge from hapless Palestinians will never result in lasting peace. War termination strategy should foster peace. And that is nowhere to be seen. For it to be visible, as per one analyst; “The road back from the hell of a zero-sum ‘us or them’ begins with the humanizing of the other.” Else contemporary Israel takes down the world Jewry with it...continuing the sad story of anti-Semitism and exodus.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2023.

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