Generally speaking, I tend to support the Jewish people and the state of Israel.
I learned about the Holocaust by visiting the Dachau death camp museum when I was 10 years old, followed by a visit to the Anne Frank Home Museum in Amsterdam. Those experiences, especially Dachau, were deeply troubling to me; I almost left my lunch on the floor. A couple of years later in Texas, I befriended three sisters in my high school who happened to be Jewish, and who shared my Maine roots. I am not, by any means, “antisemitic.”
I don’t like Hamas, and absolutely abhor the atrocity that it perpetrated on Oct. 7. Its members are Islamist radicals, not really as interested in creating a peaceful Palestinian state as they are in creating a militant Islamic state. Unfortunately, the current government of Israel operates on the same train of thought as Hamas — promoting a monocultural religious state. Palestinians in Israel cannot thrive due to laws designed to make them second-class citizens, if citizens at all. This in their own historical land.
It is interesting to note that for every Israeli “hostage” that Hamas frees, Israel releases hundreds of Palestinian hostages. The Israelis and an unquestioning Western press call those Palestinians “prisoners,” rather than hostages, and there is no worldwide pressure for their release. And still, some wonder why Palestinians are willing to die as Hamas soldiers.
The state of Israel has a right to defend itself from radical Islamists. But the integrity of the Jewish nation evaporates when the state of Israel continues to kill innocent Palestinians (because they are Palestinians) through military assault, starvation, denial of water and destruction of health care facilities. Israel cannot hide behind the Holocaust while perpetrating a Holocaust on the Palestinian people.
It is a moral obligation of Jews and every civilized country to bring the state of Israel back to a state of humanity. When we fail to do that, bad begets awful. The assassination of Jewish people does not surprise, as regrettable as it is. Justice is a two-way street, and Palestinians will seek justice. If they can’t get it through official means, they will seek it by unofficial means. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. This is not my wish, but my sympathies are turning to the Palestinians.
Peace is possible; the north of Ireland is a place worth visiting, or even living in today, which it wasn’t 50 years ago. Men and women of courage made it happen. Loyalist leaders gave up institutions of their colonial dominance, and nationalists laid down their arms. Let’s get that done in Gaza.