My thanks to the friend that pointed me at this: Haviva Ner-David, a Jewish Israeli obviously more knowledgeable than I as I am not Jewish, nor have I studied the subject, expresses some thoughts and feelings congruent with mine on the muddled subject of the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and the accompanying protests on the American college campuses, in this article for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
When you say, “I am Hamas!” you are not identifying with innocent civilians, including children, women and seniors who were massacred and kidnapped or the women raped in captivity (according to eyewitness accounts from hostages who were freed). Even my Palestinian Israeli activist friends strongly condemned Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 and say Hamas is terrible for the Palestinian people.
And when you call out, “Say it loud and say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here!” you are fomenting violence against and silencing other Columbia students. You may disagree with them, but does that mean they have no right to inhabit your shared campus — or even live? Do you think I, an activist in the struggle for peace and equality for all in Israel-Palestine, have a right to live? …
The situation here is so much more complex than you care to understand. There is a bloody conflict going on, with people suffering and dying on both sides in brutal ways, not just in the past months but for the past century. One who studies the history and present will know that both sides are culpable and responsible for the conflict and its resolution.
And I suspect what might be termed moral norms are entirely different in the Middle East from the West. In this regard, the American students could profitably be studied on the subject of moral colonialism, the import of one group’s moral system into another society. This import is a dubious enterprise, as it’s being motivated by those who are not facing an existential crisis.
Sadly, given the overwhelming religious nature of the conflict’s participants, I do not foresee a happy ending to this conflict. Both sides see the divine approving of their stories and reasons for their actions, and when God is on your side, hey, why compromise? We see such attitudes here in the United States, at least those studying the intersection of society, religion, and politics.
When it comes to the students’ activities, I am inclined to remind them that, as Ner-David observes, the situation is far more complex than just about any of them know; that’s their moral system they wish to impose, unequally; and that we hire Presidents to deal with difficult international situations.
And, to be sure, the American people are the ultimate boss, but to promulgate dissatisfaction without having something to resolve the situation at hand, something that hasn’t been rejected by Hamas or the Palestinians, is really simply arrogant bullshit and not being an adult.
So how do I feel? Bewildered, aware that the Middle East operates on differ morality systems, frustrated – and painfully aware I have no real solution, acceptable to the morals of our system, to propose. And I fear that Ner-David is being painfully naive as well.
And I hope I’m wrong.
