The date marks another terrible and tragic moment in Israel and Jewish history—no, in world history.
Suddenly, almost as swift and surprising as the Hamas massacre, the ceaseless influx of immigrants from the southern border of the USA no longer commands attention; Trump’s ordeal in the courtrooms of America is put on hold; who cares about the rigmarole about the next speaker of the House or the outcome of the various strikes by disgruntled workers.
Even the Russian onslaught in Ukraine takes second place to the brutal savagery of death in Israel. If the rumor that Putin is on the precipice of death is true, it barely gets a shrug as the casualties continue to mount in Gaza and Israel.
Trying to comprehend the complexity, the longstanding conflict between these combatants, is not an easy assignment. What should be immediately understood is that Hamas is not representative of the peace-loving Palestinian, in the same way that the Klan’s outlook is not one favored by most Americans.
It will take more than the space allocated here to explain the history of the current turmoil and carnage. Even lengthy books and treatises cannot properly convey the multitude of hostility and animosity that has visited these people since 1948. And it makes no sense to compare wounds, to juxtapose a paroxysm of lethal horror to what many view as the long night of apartheid suppression of citizens. Both are the denial of human dignity, and must be condemned.
Let us hope that October 7 will not be remembered as a day that lives in infamy but one that will show the senselessness of war and hatred, and put an end to contests for land, human rights, and bitterness without resolution. Seeking the source of this current confrontation is an exercise in futility; and who’s to blame—the normalization process between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the heated rivalry at the Dome of the Rock at the center of Al-Aqsa mosque?
It is pointless to take sides when both are experiencing the loss of family, loved ones, and a community ravaged and torn asunder.
In short, there are no winners here. And if there is a victory, it’s a pyrrhic one for all those who engaged in this fruitless battle. The moral high ground in this dilemma continues to recede on the horizon for both adversaries.
Does this encounter put the quest for a two-state solution in the dustbin of history, a mere illusive chimera that never had a chance to be real?
Hamas cannot be the sword that severs the dream of unity and brotherhood; there are temples of hope from the Golan Heights to the border of Lebanon, and there is room there for those who seek to live as one in harmony with another.
We are reminded of Dr. King’s admonition that “Until a concerted and democratic program of assistance is [in effect], tensions cannot be relieved. Neither Israel nor its neighbors can live in peace without an underlying basis of economic and social development.” And that applies to the denizens within Israel’s borders.