THE MORALITY OF ISRAEL
Mark Wildes
Mark Wildes
As a rabbi I’ve always tried to stay away
from politics. In my sermons and even in private discussions with students I
generally refrain from sharing my own personnel opinion on political issues.
But I draw the line when issues of morality and ethics are raised and the
media’s coverage on the current war between Israel and Hamas has moved this
issue from politics to morality. Again and again, Israel is accused of human
rights violations, of acting disproportionately in their bombing of Gaza and of
being insensitive to the plight of innocent Palestinians caught in the middle.
Since the issue has been reframed as a matter of right and wrong, we the
Jewish people, who have introduced so much morality and ethics to the world,
must respond to these allegations of immorality, even at the expense of
pointing out the obvious. To me and maybe to you as well, much of what I say
may be obvious but I believe still important to be said.
Each charge below is
an accusation that I have heard in one way or another over
the last few days expressed in the mainstream media. Still trying to stay out
of politics, I will limit my responses to the moral issue levied in each
charge:
Charge:
Israel
is just as morally responsible for this "cycle of violence"
as is Hamas.
Response: When it comes to
morality it matters who attacks first as the object of the initial
aggression has the moral right to self-defense. To be clear, this war
began with the kidnapping of three Jewish boys coming home from school. In
an effort to find the boys and bring them to safety Israel arrested
many of Hamas’ leaders. Hamas responded by firing rockets into Israel,
which was then followed by Israeli air strikes on terrorist positions to stop
the rocket attacks on Israel. The media speaks of a “cycle of violence”
but every cycle has a beginning. And this one clearly started with Hamas.
Charge:
Israel's
immoral occupation of Palestinian territory is ultimately responsible for the
current crisis.
Response: First, Israel
occupied the West Bank and Gaza strip only after winning those territories in a
defensive war thrust upon Israel and therefore the whole question as to who is
morally or legally entitled to these lands is not simple. However, for the
purposes of this war, the issue of occupation is irrelevant since Israel
pulled out of Gaza and handed it over to the Palestinian people. The world has
somehow forgotten the painful evacuation of close to 8000 Jews who were living
in Gaza. And so the claim that the Israeli occupation is ultimately at fault
is baseless as Israel no longer controls or occupies Gaza, Hamas does.
Charge: Both Israel and the Palestinians cultivate a culture of hate and vengeance as evidenced by the kidnapping and killing by both Israelis and Palestinians of innocent teenagers.
Response: There is no moral
equivalency between these two heinous crimes since the crime committed by the
Israelis is an anomaly denounced by everyone in Israeli society, both by the
public and the leaders. Contrast this to the Palestinian kidnappers and killers
who continue to receive the praise of their people and leaders. Further, Israel
arrested the Israel suspects who await prosecution in a court of law (as they
should) whereas the only ones looking to bring the Palestinian suspects
to justice is Israel. Palestinian leaders and schools still educate their
society and children in Jew hatred while Jewish leaders and teachers do not
educate or incite Arab or Palestinian hatred.
Charge: Israel's bombing
of Gaza is indiscriminate targeting schools, hospitals and mosques.
Response: Israel targets and bombs Hamas and
Islamic Jihad terrorists and their rocket launching sites. It does not
target innocent civilians. It is well documented that Hamas has purposely
placed rocket launching facilities under schools, mosques and hospitals using
the children, patients or worshipers in those locations as human shields. If
Israel wanted to kill civilians it could have killed hundreds of thousands but
it has no such desire which is further evidenced by the IDF’s sending of
leaflets and making phone calls to clear out as many innocent civilians as
possible when targeting a rocket facility or a terrorist. Contrast this to
Hamas’s rocket attacks which specifically target Israeli population
centers. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked: “We are using missile defense to protect our civilians and
they're using their civilians to protect their missiles”.
Click here to watch video as IDF Postpones Strikes on Hamas Targets after Identifying Civilians in the Area http://youtu.be/yE7ykidY7FA.
Click
here to watch video as IDF Urges Civilians to Leave
Areas of Gaza Targeted for Strikes - http://youtu.be/yoK9YL6D5RE
Charge: Israel acts in an unjust manner as hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Israel air strikes compared to virtually no-one on the Israeli side.
Response: First, many of those killed are active terrorists and killing them is simple self-defense. Staying on the moral issue, the fact that one side in a conflict loses more lives than the other does not in any way make that side’s cause any more just or correct. Wrong does not simply become right because more people are dying. Of course, on a purely humanitarian basis, everything should be done to put an end to the loss of life but as long as Hamas keeps raining down rockets on Israel what else should Israel do? What would any country do to protect themselves? Anything short of continuing to bomb Hamas’ rocket facilities and those operating them would be unethical as a government’s first and primary moral responsibility to its people is to protect them from external threats.
In short, Israel acts in a morally upright manner and Hamas is the villain. We should
not shy away from sharing these ideas with our colleagues and associates, many
of whom are being fed lies and propaganda through the mainstream media. If they
don’t hear these facts and ideas from us they very well may not hear them at
all.
We have good reason to continue to be proud of our beloved Israel. She is
handling a very difficult situation with grace, dignity and bravery and above
all morally.
