op-ed "The Delusion of Moral Superiority Fueling Israel's War on Gaza" [View all]

From the Times of Israel. Written by an old, dear friend. For thought and discussion.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-delusion-of-moral-superiority-fueling-israels-war-on-gaza/

"Israeli public discourse, and to a significant extent Jewish discourse abroad, reflects the assumption that we as Jews are facing barbaric implacable enemies, and that while we may have committed our share of sins, we are vastly better than they are. The logic goes: Since our lives are endangered by their inhumanity, and since if they were only reasonable like us we could co-exist, radical measures – like the war on Gaza – are justified.

People justify their positions through talk about security and geopolitics. However, if you pay attention, you can hear how the assumption that they are rationally and morally superior to the other side is woven into their thinking. Keep following that thread and you’ll see how it skews their picture of reality and their moral judgement.

It must be admitted of course that the actual barbarity of many of the powers we’re dealing with – such as the regimes of Hamas and Iran – is an important part of the reason Jews see them that way. It cannot be denied that that are powerful forces – both ideological and military – in the Muslim and Arab worlds that are genocidal in their attitude towards Israeli Jews. Their positions are characterized by dehumanization, racism, fundamentalism and militarism and they have murdered thousands of civilians.

It also needs to be acknowledged that important parts of the Pro-Palestinian solidarity movement and “progressive left” share in the politics of dehumanization. This was apparent in the voices that supported or refused to condemn the intentional mass extermination and kidnapping of civilians on Oct. 7. Here we got a chance to hear the Left rehearse its version of militaristic newspeak: Murdering families in their homes became “armed struggle” and “anti-colonial violence”. But just as with the rightwing rendition of these golden oldies (for the rightwing version, replace “armed struggle” with “warfare” and “anti-colonial violence” with “collateral damage”), the rhetoric does not alter the bottom line: If you do not deem it a crime to intentionally exterminate a civilian population, then you do not recognize those people as human beings."

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