Thoughts on the War

Almost 25 years ago the failure of Clinton’s Camp David summit, followed by the 2nd intifada, killed the Israeli peace camp and pretty much rang the death knell for any kind of negotiated. two-state solution. Bibi Netanyahu has ever since governed as if the "conflict" was a war that Israel had won, and his governments have done (and allowed the settlers to do) basically anything it wants in the West Bank and Gaza with virtually no restrictions. The attack in the south on October 7 has to be seen in the context of a longstanding situation where there is neither the prospect for political advancement (or even basic citizenship rights) for the Palestinians nor international intervention to moderate Israel's behavior. Zionist claims that this attack is completely out of blue with no possible context are false. Analytically rather than morally, from the Palestinian perspective this kind of anti-colonial bloodletting is exactly the kind of thing Franz Fanon was talking about.

It has to be said that everything Hamas does helps Netanyahu politically. In the 90s It was a series of bus bombings that undermined the peace process and did a lot to get him elected in the first place. In the 2000s it was the second intifada, which allowed Israel to claim suppress the Palestinian independence movement, claim victory, and get on with the task of annexation, de facto if not de jure. And now it's this flamboyant attack in the south of the country, which allows him to complete his task of suppressing democracy within Israel and demolishing any possibility of Palestinian independence in Gaza. It’s often wondered how Hamas' actions could possibly be supposed to benefit the Palestinian people, but one can certainly see how they benefit Netanyahu: his domestic problems go away; he gets locked into his position; he gets Israel in a war footing and gets to cosplay Churchill; he gets hugged by Biden; he is able to complete the suppression of democracy at home. Hamas' actions and Netanyahu's interests dovetail quite well, as they always have.

There is absolutely no reason to give Netanyahu any kind of benefit of the doubt here. His is a racist and fascist government, despite the window dressing of "opposition" politicians who want to get in on the war action. He was the one who allowed the border to be unprotected, and he is the one who is framing this as a war against Amalek. A couple of hundred Israeli hostages are certainly not a hindrance to him. 

Some progressives in the US are painstakingly drawing a distinction between American Jews and Israel, and I appreciate that, but the vast majority of organized Jews (with the exception of a couple thousand people in Grand Central Station) is virtually unanimous in articulating a no-holds-barred approach such as has been explicated by Netanyahu. Another project that will be boosted by this, directly related to the suppression of the domestic peace camp in Israel, is the effort to outlaw anti-Zionist political speech in the US. There was a wave of legislation on this several years ago, mostly stymied by the courts, but the ADL is currently demanding that colleges ban SJP as supporting terrorism. Stifling anti-Zionist speech is a direct violation of the first amendment and is is a terrible idea, and cannot help but make the entire situation worse, as well as making "the Jews" directly responsible the undermining of this vital constitutional principle. 

Solidarity with the Palestinian people is absolutely legitimate, especially when they are under total assault by a reckless and maniacal Israeli government. If every expression of support for the Palestinians is going to be considered support for terrorism, and therefore suppressible/arrestable/fireable, then we’re going into a very dark place.

One more thought: I know a lot of people feel hopeless right now, and I agree that the situation is bad, as bad as it's ever been. We also have a Christian Nationalist Speaker of the House, which is its own terrible problem but will have to be dealt with another day. My feeling is that when circumstances make us feel that are losing our footing, when we are being blown back-and-forth by events with seemingly no place to hold onto, the best thing we can do is try to stay true to the values that we have espoused throughout our lives. Rather than letting the worst case make me think my values, which I consider sacred, have been superseded or made irrelevant somehow, I choose to see them as a port in the storm, something to guide my ship toward (to possibly overextend the metaphor). My operative philosophy has always been more or less “give peace a chance." It might seem naive, but I think I'll stick with that.

Ceasefire now.