The following is adapted from an email I wrote to a co-worker who expressed discomfort around other workers hosting a pro-Palestinian event that did not acknowledge Hamas’s attack on October 7th. This wasn’t really intended to convince anyone of anything, just to explain where I’m coming from. After a long and frustrating conversation it became clear that he was not going to be receptive this explanation, so I’m putting it here. Perhaps it might yet find a purpose.
Hi [name redacted],
I think there’s this tendency to talk about “The Israel-Palestine Conflict” as if it’s this static object, an immutable Gordian Knot waiting for some clever hero to come along with a perfect political sword, and until then every conversation about it inevitably ends with “well, it’s a complicated situation.” And sure, the history of the region is complicated, and certainly it’s important to learn about if you want to understand *why* a given event is taking place. But the *what* is sometimes very simple.
On October 7th Hamas perpetrated a shockingly violent attack on Israel, killing around 1300 civilians and taking over 150 hostages. In the last 27 days of constant bombardment, Israel has killed nearly 9 times that number of Palestinian civilians. [When I originally wrote this, last week, it was nearly 7 times.] I fully admit that these numbers come from Hamas or Hamas-run sources, and there’s no way to independently verify them at the moment. However, it’s my understanding that in previous conflicts, when the dust has settled, those sources have turned out be accurate. If numbers don’t do it for you, there’s plenty of video and photographic evidence.
What we know for sure is that civilians are dying, not just from the over 12000 airstrikes conducted by the IDF [When I originally wrote this, it was 7000], but also from starvation, dehydration, and disease, as Israel has varyingly cut off or severely limited basic utilities, supplies, and humanitarian aid to the entire region. We know that entire neighborhoods have been leveled, that over 42% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged. We know that over 1.4 million people (out of a population of 2 million) have been displaced. We know that people have evacuated sites based on orders by the IDF and then been bombed in the sites they evacuated to. We know refugees have been told to flee to Egypt and then been bombed on the road. [We know that Israel has bombed the Jabalia refugee camp 5 times since Oct 7th.] We know Israel has been using white phosphorus, which it is illegal to use anywhere near populated areas; they’ve been dropping it sometimes directly onto civilians. We know that our political leaders also know all of this, and are not only choosing to let it happen but are actively supporting it, against the will of the people.
This is what’s happening right now. This is not history, and it’s not complicated, and it needs to stop.
We can all agree that the killings on October 7th were horrible, and I’m all for a statement expressing that, but this is about action, urgent action. We’ve heard the speeches of Israel’s leaders, we know that their goal is nothing less than the total elimination of the Palestinian population, be it through displacement or death. And a lot of the most craven, spineless people on the planet are getting ready to shift from “That’ll never happen” to “It happened, get over it.”
That’s why people want to take action for Palestine—because action is desperately needed. This isn’t about relitigating 1948 or 1967 or 1987 or 1994 or 2005 or 2021. This isn’t about the state of Israel’s right to exist—this is about every Palestinian’s right to exist.
I fear I’m starting to say the same thing just with different rhetorical flourishes, so I’ll wrap it up. Just want to reiterate that my frustration with your statements is not that they seem to indicate a lack of moral conscience (far from it), but that they seem to indicate a lack of understanding of why people are responding to the current situation the way they are. I hope I’ve provided some understanding, at least of where I’m coming from.
Lastly, an aside about genocide [he had also expressed discomfort with the use of the word ‘genocide’ in reference to Israel’s attacks]: I will say that while lawyers will no doubt be debating whether Israel’s actions constitute genocide (they almost certainly qualify as a crime against humanity per the definition in the ICC’s “Rome Statute”), we have the benefit of not being lawyers, nor politicians, nor anyone with the power to set policy or bring charges. As such we can use whatever language we want, and since many people in Gaza, both Palestinians and 3rd-party observers, are calling what is happening a genocide, it doesn’t seem particularly unreasonable for us to use that same terminology, even if what we mean by that does not strictly adhere to the legal definition of the word. Just because people are using the word imprecisely does not mean they are using it thoughtlessly.
Actually another aside, a point that I made in my first draft of this but seems to have gotten lost in the final version is that the perception of the conflict as a static object also normalizes the power dynamic between the two parties, so that when Hamas carries out one deadly attack it’s “shocking,” but when Israel retaliates with a 4-weeks-and-counting-long bombing campaign it’s business as usual, just Israel “defending itself” as it always has.
Actually lastly, if you are interested in a historical discussion, I found this write-up on the history of Zionism within Reconstructionist Judaism (the denomination I grew up in) really interesting.
Respectfully,
Jordan
Certain of Eventual Failure 