Thoughts on the war in Gaza

Commentary

After a three-plus week break, Around the Block is back

I haven’t posted a column since March 13. Up until then I was on something of a roll, posting one story on March 12, Jimmy, Oscar and Donald, and two on March 13, I can’t get “20 Days in Mariupol” out of my head and The dangers of another Trump term: If you don’t believe me, believe Bernie! I even had begun a story on March 20, opening with this:

In a March 18th New York Times story headlined, Trump Says Jews Who Support Democrats ‘Hate Israel’ and ‘Their Religion.’” the lede read:”Former President Donald J. Trump accused Jews who vote for Democrats of hating their religion and Israel, reviving and escalating a claim he made as president that Jewish Democrats were disloyal.”

I never got past that lede, never returned to the story.

Why the silence?

One reason could be travel. Sharon and I were leaving for a trip to Tokyo, our home for five years in the ‘90’s, on March 27, (I’m writing this story from my Tokyo “office,” –actually the second bedroom of our friends, the Hattori’s house where we are staying) and the prep for a trip of over two weeks to this exotic, enigmatic land required some thought and energy. Did I arrange my pills? Do I have the correct electronic wires and adapters for Japan? Am I bringing the right clothes? Do I remember how to activate my VPN so we can watch American cable shows? Did I find my Skechers slip-in shoes (de rigueur in a country where you take your shoes off, and more importantly put them back on, when you visit homes and more traditional restaurants)? And more.

But could that really be the reason? After we left Japan in 1995, I travelled here, either on consulting business or for pleasure, dozens of times – although not since before Covid. Truth be told, even at my advanced, forgetful stage of life, it didn’t require that much thought or energy ––although I’m still obsessing about whether I left my headphones on the plane or didn’t pack them.

No, the real reason for the hiatus, I believe, is the nature of the subject matter I read and then write about. My Around the Block world including, but not limited to, current events, world affairs, politics, society, Trump…is becoming so fraught, so distressing, that writing about those subjects takes enormous thought and energy. Certainly more than packing for a trip.

Today is Tuesday, April 9, 2024 in Tokyo. It is 2:35pm. The weather is awful. Heavy rains all night and into the day. Strong winds picking up later this afternoon. Not a time to go out touring or shopping. What a better time, then, to review the literally dozens of articles and stories I’ve been bookmarking and saving and do some writing.

Before I begin, one note on shopping. The $/¥ relationship is so tilted in favor of the dollar that shopping here is breathtakingly cheap. When we moved to Japan in 1991, and for most of our stay, the exchange rate ranged between $1.10-$1.30/100¥. That meant buying an item that cost ¥1,000 would cost about $11-$13. A ¥1,000 item will now cost less than $7.00! Did I say “breathtaking?”)

As I reviewed my list of articles, I realized that I could write 10 stories or more. Recognizing that’s not going to work – too much for me; way too much for you – I decided to organize today’s and subsequent posts into broad categories, pulling articles that express my fews or ideas about each.

Today’s category will be the war in Gaza. Subsequent posts will be on the current state of U.S. politics and the upcoming presidential election and then one devoted exclusively to the near and present danger of Donald Trump.

What will become became clear, I believe, is the interconnections and interdependence of these subjects.

The War in Gaza

My Israeli friends will not be happy with me for this, particularly given the sources I’ve chosen to excerpt, but it needs to be said. This war has been a disaster from the get-go and is showing, as of this writing, no signs of resolution. It is putting U.S.-Israeli relations at risk. It is threatening the future of Israel. It is having the unintended consequence of impacting the 2024 U.S. presidential election – and not in a good way.

Yes, as I, and many other liberal American Jews have said, the October 7 Hamas attack was horrific, an attack that needed to be responded to. Yes, Israel has not just the right, but the duty to defend itself and its citizens. But six months into this conflict, is there an end in sight?

I’ve excerpted comments from three recent stories that help to illuminate the point.

Israel is lost and Netanyahu has no idea where he’s taking us – HAARETZ TODAY, Apr 8, 2024

By Allison Kaplan Sommer

As I sat in traffic, it occurred to me that the insecurity and uncertainty I felt on the road with my useless GPS [due to IDF signal scrambling] felt perfectly in line with the national mood since October 7. Lost and looking for direction, we expect a calm, authoritative voice to guide the nation in a direction – any direction – that will extract it from its current distress.

Instead, we face a government that is a scrambled screen with arrows pointing at each other, providing no reassurance as to where we are heading or when we might escape the place we are in.

The headlines of the past few days tell the story: We have been told since October that the goal of the Gaza war is “total victory” over Hamas and, more recently, that for it to happen a full assault on Rafah is crucial. We will never get our hostages back without relentless military pressure. And yet there is one brigade combat team in Gaza and seemingly little preparation for a Rafah operation as international pressure grows.

The safe return of the hostages is meant to be our top national priority. And yet, the Netanyahu government is only grudgingly granting the negotiating team room to maneuver. Are we on the road towards a cease-fire deal that includes a hostage release? Or are we forging ahead on the highway to a supposed “total victory”? Which way are we headed? Nobody knows.

As for who will rule in Gaza and how we will live alongside it, Bibi has not provided even the minimum level of communication expected of a malfunctioning GPS that tells us it is recalculating its route – because that would imply that he had planned one at all.

Allison Kaplan Sommer has been a journalist at Haaretz since 2012, hosts the Haaretz Weekend podcast and is a co-host of The Promised Podcast. She is the former Washington DC bureau chief for the Jerusalem Post, and has also written for the New Republic, Politico, and other publications. She won a 2016 B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism for Excellence in Diaspora Reportage and the 2017 Simon Rockower award for excellence in covering Zionism, Aliyah and Israel. Originally from Rhode Island in the US, she has lived in Israel since 1993, and lives in Ra’anana with her husband and children.

Israel Will Pay the Price if Netanyahu Doesn’t Resolve Disputes With U.S. on War in Gaza – Opinion Haaretz.com, Apr 8, 2024

By Shalom Lipner

Israel is in dire straits. It has been at war without respite for six months, paying a heavy price physically and emotionally, with no signs that the storm will be abating anytime soon. Yet, absurdly, while the IDF and the security services remain fully engaged in the struggle against Israel’s sworn enemies and the effort to rescue the hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has chosen to invest its precious time in a confrontation with Israel’s greatest friend – the United States…

… The government is suffering from severe and dangerous cognitive myopia. It can’t “see the forest for the trees” – except when it comes to itself. Its destructive handling of its critical relationship with the United States is liable to impair not only its chances of defeating Hamas but also any preparedness to meet the other challenges farther ahead.     

Ever since the painful events of October 7, President Joe Biden has demonstrated unwavering support for Israel through both word and deed. Just a week and a half after the massacre in the Gaza border communities, Biden visited Israel to express his solidarity with the Israeli people; this tribute and his comforting words filled a void left by the conspicuous absence of Israeli government officials.

In the political arena, the United States blocked repeated attempts in the UN Security Council to pass resolutions demanding an immediate cessation of IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, without any precondition to release those in Hamas captivity. No other country in the world has rallied to Israel’s defense with such clout.

But nothing in life is free. The charge – levelled by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the New York Times – that Biden prefers [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar’s narrative over Netanyahu’s is an insult to intelligence.

The life-saving assistance that the U.S. has been providing Israel entitles the White House to receive thoughtful responses to its legitimate concerns regarding issues that should be of similar concern to Israel itself. What’s the right formula to ensure that Israel can enjoy secure borders without becoming stuck in a quagmire? How can Israel facilitate the increase of civilian aid, despite the difficulties involved, in order to halt the descent toward a humanitarian catastrophe? And what picture for the “day after” would be acceptable to Israel?

Shalom Lipner served seven consecutive premiers at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem from 1990-2016.

J Street Seeks a Middle Path on Gaza. Is That Possible Anymore? – The New York Times, Apr 8, 2024

By Marc Tracy

Over the last five years, the Jewish political advocacy group J Street reached new heights of influence. The center-left lobby, whose slogan upon its founding in 2008 was “pro- Israel, pro-peace,” saw five Democratic presidential candidates stump at its 2019 convention. It helped persuade 48 congressional Democrats to back a 2021 bill that would have pressured Israel to further a two-state solution. In 2022, J Street had its best fund-raising year up to that point, a spokesman confirmed.

With the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC increasingly identified with the right, J Street appealed to many American Jews as reasonably moderate: standing by a democratic Israel, opposing the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and supporting the coexistence of Palestinians and Israelis in two states.

Then came Oct. 7.

For months after the Hamas attack on Israel, J Street did not call for a cease-fire. In late January, it backed a “stop to the fighting,” humanitarian aid for Palestinians and an end to Hamas control of the region. Just last month, an internal J Street email said the organization would use the word “cease-fire” — and it clarified that this was a semantic step and not a change in policy.

“I’ve never hidden the fact that I want J Street to be on the 50-yard line of the American Jewish community,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s founder and president, said in an interview.

Mr. Ben-Ami said Friday that J Street backs the Biden administration, which warned American aid would depend on Israel’s treatment of civilians and supports a negotiated cease-fire.

But the war has raised serious concerns within J Street’s ranks about its ability to hold that middle position without being pulled apart by forces on the right and the left. Internally, some staff members have been frustrated that the group did not call for a cease-fire much earlier. They fear J Street’s delay alienated younger Americans, including Jewish ones, who are much more likely to oppose Israel’s conduct in Gaza, as the death toll soars past 32,000 and more than 100 hostages languish.

J Street’s cautious footing contrasts with the uncomplicated starkness both of left-wing groups — such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, which quickly called for a cease-fire and are often on the front lines of pro-Palestinian protests — and of ones to its right, like AIPAC, which praised U.S. support for Israel’s military and is pushing for more.

The turmoil has also raised larger questions of whether a middle lane on Israel remains tenable.

Marc Tracy is New York Times reporter based in New York. Before arriving at The Times, he covered politics and media for The New Republic and contemporary Jewish life and culture for Tablet. He periodically covers the American Jewish community for The Times and in 2012 co-edited the book, “Jewish Jocks,” a collection of 50 original essays about great (and not-so-great) Jewish sports figures.

Let me reiterate: The war in Gaza is putting U.S.-Israeli relations at risk. It is threatening the future of Israel. And, as I will write in the next Around the Block on U.S. politics, its impact on the 2024 U.S. presidential election might be catastrophic.