More thoughts on the War in Gaza and people's interesting reactions...

So the war goes on. More of our soldiers have been killed and of course innocent civilians in Gaza have been killed as well. We're not sure where it is going, or how long it will take. No prominent mention of Gilad Shalit has been heard, and we are hoping that it will end soon, especially without a major call up of miluimnikim.

Last week I wrote a short article for the iTorah newsletter. I received a lot of compliments, but received this reaction as well:
http://socialjewstice.blogspot.com/2009/01/itorah-or-ibias.html

I was happy to hear it, and also excited that a former NFTYite was engaged in the conversation. His response is very interesting, and intending nothing personal, I responded to him in the following way:

Dear xxx,
I read with great intrigue and interest your response to my short update that was sent out on the iTorah. You write well, and you seem like an intelligent guy. A few questions that you raise, that I would like to respond to.
The word bias is a funny word. Everything is bias and there is no such thing as pure objectivity. So, if I say that I am in favor of the right of a Jewish State to exist in the Land of Israel I am clearly biased, as I am not giving voice to the contrary opinion. All of iTorah is biased. The iTorah usually expresses some sort of opinion in favor of being Jewish, or supporting a Jewish community. Is this bias? No, it is simply the agenda of the organization, which also supports Israel. And when push comes to shove, we will support Israel’s right to defend herself and not support or defend Hamas who calls for Israel’s destruction.

I am quite curious as to why you feel it necessary to continuously blame all problems on Israel. It seems as though, no matter whatever the outcome it will always be Israel’s fault. For instance, the failure of the Palestinians to even begin thinking in the direction of creating a state is ISRAEL’S FAULT?!? This is simply absurd. However, you are not the only one who feels this way. It is a feeling shared by many arm-chair pundits and battered women the world round. Just like a battered woman, many of Israel critics constantly search her soul to figure out what she has done to warrant a beating. What a battered woman often doesn’t realize is that even if she has made mistakes, it is her husband who has a sickness, and will continue to beat her regardless of her behavior however flawed or flawless it maybe.

When you wrote: “Will the damage to Hamas outweight the damage to the diplomatic process that is being weakened with every hour of this war?”
I’m sorry, maybe I missed something. What diplomatic process are you referring to? With whom do we have diplomatic relations? With Hamas, the nationally elected party?
How would any other country in the world respond to this situation? By encouraging a diplomatic process? If memory serves me correctly, we have attempted this time and again, to be rewarded with terrorism. What does it matter that the disengagement was unilateral. The Palestinian complete was of occupation. Once that occupation was ended the world woke up to the cold hard fact that, it really wasn’t about occupation at all, but rather about the simple existence of a Jewish State.

I suppose that what really bothered me about your piece were two issues.
First of all, you as a Jew, and the author of a blog entitled “Social Jewstice”, are very quick to criticize Israel, the Jewish State, and seemingly have no qualms about coming to the defense of Hamas – an organization that has openly called for the murder of all Jews world wide. Implying that not only do they want to destroy the Jewish State, but had they the means, they would come to Brown university and kill Jews there as well. This does not reflect what some may understand to be “Social Jewstice” in my opinion, but I’m just one Jew. You also represent a common misconception of Hamas. Back in the late 90s, I wrote my senior paper in college on whether or not Hamas constitutes a civil society. Well, in the decade or so since, I have been proven wrong. Hamas is unlike the Israeli political party Shas that does provide welfare and education for its constituents. Wouldn’t you think that if Hamas was truly concerned with the welfare of its citizens it wouldn’t fire rockets from children’s schools (the UN has set up) or from the middle of a civilian population (ie, apt buildings and shopping centers). The truth is that they don’t care. As a matter of fact they hate the Palestinian opposition (Fatah) almost as much as they hate Israel, and have not hesitated in killing anyone who offers an agenda that is not radical Islam.

The second issue that left me somewhat curious is that you criticized me for expressing that I felt that there was no other choice. Was there a different choice two weeks ago, as you point out? Well, the option was to simply take it. Now, the range of the rockets has increased and 1 out of every 7 Israelis (Jews and non-Jews alike) are in danger. On an American scale, this would implicate about 43,598,000 Americans. How would any U.S. administration react to such a scene? So what do you propose? Maybe we should sit back and just take it? If rockets were falling on Providence, I don’t think you would think so.

All this, and I am on the left in Israel - Not that those labels (left of center, “center-right) have any meaning anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I shudder at the loss of innocent life, of which there is no lacking. The world knows this, and certainly Hamas is aiming at this to arouse sympathy. I shudder at what has happened, and also imagine what could have happened, but did not. Imagine what any Advanced Industrial Democracy would have done in this situation. They probably would have completely obliterated the Gaza strip, not unlike what the U.S. did in Afghanistan. Israel has not done that, and has taken great strides to minimize innocent losses. I agree that while Israel has a license to do something, it doesn’t have a license to do anything. I am hoping that this will be over soon – for their sake and for ours.
I hope that I’m not being too harsh, and I am happy to correspond with you and continue the conversation.
Shalom,
Josh

I also have come across some terrible articles about Israel, and some ok ones. It might be worth checking out Melanie Phillips here.
Last night I gave a tour for the IDF Spokesperson's training course in the Yemin Moshe neighborhood. It was a nice time, and I am glad that I had a stage to present the world of Hasabara as I see it. I brought my cousin Aaron along, who will now be serving as my personal PR guy.
More later...

Peace.