I’m Not Anti-Israel…
But Neither am I Pro.
My dad turned 90 in late September. We Zoom every Saturday at 2 PM. He sends me weekly Google Calendar invitations just to make it official. Our conversations last anywhere from 20–45 minutes with my dad doing most of the talking. Prior to October 7, discussions typically amounted to protracted tirades about the latest MAGA grotesqueries, invoking, “It just blows my mind!” at least once, followed by a detailed narration of a frustrating tech support experience, or a complaint about the cleaning lady accidentally unplugging the cable to the motion-activated kitchen faucet while cleaning under the sink (again!), lastly with a mention of whatever he’s baking, signing off with I love you! and a wave.
However, since October 7, we’ve hardly spoken of anything besides the current war between Israel and Hamas. Considering the inexorable, unabated exchange of vitriol on social media, I’ve been hesitant to add my perspective until I had some time to reflect before wading into the Holy War waters. But first, some background:
I was born in Israel. Some of my earliest memories are of the red poppy-dotted hills surrounding our apartment building in Jerusalem, the smell of the Mediterranean mixed with the odor of hardboiled eggs and apricots, homemade pickles and fried smelt my safta — my grandma used to pack for an afternoon at the beach in Haifa where my grandparents lived. It’s been more than 3 decades since I’ve been back (the last time was in early 1991 as a photographer for Reuters during the Gulf war), but Israel still feels like home.
Home is language, body language, mannerisms, sense of humor, the inside joke that’s tough to translate. It’s in the street food and the landscape and the way the air smells and how scents wafting past can trigger deeply buried memories of place.
I am not anti-Israel. But neither am I pro.
In the past two months, I’ve listened to and scrolled through hundreds of comments supporting or condemning the two warring parties. Here’s my perspective on some of the comments made by fellow Hebrews (in the US and Israel):
If you don’t live here [in Israel] you have no idea what’s going on.
I don’t live in Israel, but I have. I may not know everything that is going on but living outside the bubble of Israel also gives me perspective you may not have.
Know your history! You have no skin in the game! Suddenly, you’re Middle East experts? You’re ignorant!
What if I do know my history? Do I then have your permission to be appalled? I don’t have a PhD in Russian — Ukrainian history. Does that mean I have no right to object to Putin’s war?
You’re just afraid of losing your non-Jewish friends.
This is another version of being called a self-hating Jew. And for what it’s worth, most of my non-Jewish friends have been far less critical of Israel than me.
Israel has the right to protect itself. Hamas uses its own people as human shields.
True but since 2006, Israel’s democratically elected prime minister has benefited from the status quo. In 2016, millions of Americans voted for an unhinged, corrupt, autocratic sociopath. It’s becoming increasingly likely that he’ll back in the Oval Office to kick off his Stormtrooper Revenge Tour of the Apocalypse. Netanyahu is a slicker, regional version of Trump, motivated by self-interest and self-preservation. He may not have created Hamas, but he enabled and benefited from its existence. As arrogant people are accustomed to doing, he grossly underestimated its leadership. Also worth mentioning: the Palestinian population is one of the youngest in the world. Nearly half of Palestinians in Gaza in 2023 were not old enough to vote in the 2006 elections when Hamas won majority seats in the legislature.
October 7 is like America’s 9/11
I agree, there are similarities: The American intelligence community ignored numerous warnings and red flags leading up to that horrific day in September 2001. After the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon, the entire world (minus the zealot extremists) expressed its horror and sympathy. Within a few years of invading Iraq on the pretext of finding WMD, America squandered that international goodwill. The reaction to the October 7 slaughter of innocent Israeli civilians was overshadowed by the scale and brutality of Israel’s response, which compressed the sympathy-to-horror-to-disgust-to-outrage timeline.
The pro-Palestinian Left makes no mention of the atrocities committed by Hamas against innocent civilians — women and children, old people, babies, or the hostages held by Hamas.
I don’t consider myself a member of the Left. Those of the opinion that the people of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and kids at a rave got what they deserved — we have nothing to discuss. There is no excusing that kind of savagery. I was sickened by the events of October 7 and I do believe Hamas used sexual violence against women and men — there is enough evidence to support claims that brutal, sadistic rape occurred and that it was used systematically.
Bear in mind, media coverage in the US has done a great job of humanizing the hostages: we’ve seen their faces on signs, we know their names and ages and what they were like before they were taken. I imagine what they and their families must be going through, and I feel for them. But 17,000 dead Palestinians and counting, more than a third of them women and children? So many are still buried under rubble that an accurate count isn’t even possible yet. What were their names? Why are they anonymous?
How can this not be considered the ethnic cleansing of Gaza? Was this the plan all along? One can hardly blame people from wondering.
Hamas is an Islamist organization that treats its women and girls horribly. You LGBT Alphabet People marching for an immediate ceasefire would have your throats slit!
The point being? Wanting the bombardment to stop, wanting the killing to stop does not make one a Hamas cheerleader. If I’m not mistaken, tens of thousands of Israelis protested and marched, essentially bringing the nation to a grinding halt for weeks on end after a coalition of religious fundamentalists hijacked the Knesset, threatening to neuter the Supreme Court — Bibi’s Faustian bargain in exchange for a get-out-of-jail-free card (sound familiar?). Itamar Ben-Gvir and the cadre of Judeofascists are hardly champions of women’s rights or LGBTQ+ rights. Netanyahu is finished but what will replace him? Another Likudnik?
Antisemitism & the Holocaust
In November, tens of thousands of demonstrators packed the National Mall for the Stand With Israel rally in DC. I can’t decide whether stating that many American Jews identify strongly with Israel is an understatement or simply stating the obvious. As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, I do not need a primer on the reasons why the feelings are visceral and deeply embedded on a cellular level. But here’s the problem as I see it: if you conflate your Jewish identity with the state of Israel, then you must be willing to accept that its actions and policies will be challenged, criticized, and protested. Even if you don’t agree, criticizing Israel’s military response and its policies towards the Palestinians is political, not antisemitic. I’m in favor of legislation outlawing caste discrimination. That does not make me anti-Hindu. I think it’s worth taking a beat before reacting reflexively to every criticism at a time when antisemitism — real, old fashioned, your grandma and great-grandma’s antisemitism is on the rise. Invoking the Holocaust as the mother of all non-starters cheapens the lessons we should have all learned so that Never Again means Never Again. To ANYBODY.
Fox News
A story in the Washington Post reported that many Jews are taking comfort in watching FOX News because of its decidedly pro-Israel coverage of the war. Attention fellow Hebrews! The people of the GOP fascist propaganda machine are not our friends! We are a wish-fulfillment for their messianic fantasies. Sweating up the sheets with the likes of the GOP or Hungary’s Viktor Orban is not a good look. If we’re going to accuse anyone opposed to Israel’s policies of antisemitism, is it not hypocritical to ignore Likud’s warm & fuzzy relationship with Orban’s Fidesz? Man, that’s some Gumby dammit! mental contortion, Animal Farm-level irony. This is not about Judaism or Jewish identity, just garden variety ultra-nationalism, which looks the same regardless of costumes, uniforms, and headwear.
