(Originally published in The Times of Israel)
It seems appropriate to be writing this on Tisha B’Av. We are not at a point equivalent to the destruction of temples, but the problems facing Israel are formidable, and the mood here is depressed.
Our government is incompetent at best. We are fighting a war
nobody except the extremes is certain about. We are in conflict, and many
of us are internally conflicted: we want a deal to get the hostages out, to
stop the killing of our soldiers, and to stop the suffering in Gaza. But
we know that if Hamas is left intact in almost any form, it will be considered
a victory for them and eventually we will very likely be subjected to missiles
and terrorism again.
We have some loudmouth politicians who, while not having any sway
over policy, make some of the most condemnable, outrageous statements. We have a Prime Minister whose primary if not
exclusive objective is to stay in office and out of jail.
He has given real power to some irresponsible, extremist ministers,
and has acquiesced as they drive us toward destructive policies that undermine
our standing in the world and threaten the democratic nature of the country.
As David Horovitz recently wrote, our government’s actions and
inactions have ended up with Israel holding the bag for the current situation
in Gaza, whether justified or not. The extremists driving many of these policies would have us encourage the
“voluntary” exodus of Gazans and permanently occupy Gaza, an outcome that would
repulse the world and that the great majority of Israelis oppose.
The world seems to have forgotten who started the war and that it would
end immediately if Hamas were to release the hostages and lay down its arms. A recent
survey shows that half of the American population does not even know that there
are still hostages being held.
The world is dumping on us, sometimes with justification, often
with little or none. Many of our “friends
and allies” have turned on us, some reluctantly, many others with apparent glee
and enthusiasm. It is like they were
just waiting for an excuse to pile on, regardless of whether the excuse is based
in fact or not.
The world, including our “friends and allies,” seemed very quick to accept the fact that there is a famine in Gaza. After all, many had predicted it almost since October 7. And they seemed equally quick to blame it on Israel. Some of Israel’s policies, and some of its loud-mouth politicians, gave them enough reason to lay the blame on us.
Posts
