The Catastrophe Continues

In response to the Voices article of March 15, “Difficult Truths About the Israel-Hamas War,” the author, Peter Melnick, has tasked himself with communicating “truths” about the current situation. That is a laudable goal, and we applaud it in theory. It is worth noting that many of his statements would heretofore have elicited charges of anti-Semitism from the gatekeepers of the Jewish community.

For instance, the statement that “the Netanyahu regime has done insupportable things in the course of its war with Hamas” or the assumption of “Israel’s failure to adequately protect Gaza civilians” — to some these seem obvious and anodyne.  However, some Israel supporters have, in the past, reacted to similar criticisms by claiming that “Israel has the right to defend itself; holding Israel to a standard that is different to what is applied to other nations is anti-Semitic.”

Truth-telling requires accurate context. Reading the article gives one the impression that bad things only started with Netanyahu and his associates. And also that both sides are equally culpable and responsible for the current horrors. In fact, the real context goes back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Zionists proclaimed Palestine to be “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Their view of “empty” land is as valid as the U.S. view of the American continent: empty except for the indigenous population.

The founding imbalance between Jews and Palestinians has only continued, and this is why there is so much worldwide sympathy for Palestinians. The year 1948 saw the forced expulsion of at least 700,000 Palestinians (the Nakba or catastrophe); theft of land and destruction of houses continue; within Israel, Palestinians are second-class citizens; Gaza has morphed from the world’s largest open-air prison to one huge cemetery.

We invite the writer and others to move from words to action by supporting a cease-fire and calling for a halt to U.S. funding of arms to Israel.