Today, once again, I am reminded of how the United States is an isolated, self-interested bubble. As a consequence, I am also reminded of just how little I can do to heal and transform Israel/Palestine from my privileged, yet limited station in the Bay Area. After my week-long glimpse into the despair facing the Israeli center-left, it is growing even more difficult to turn this desperation into action.
Listening to the news on the way to work today, I was swept up in US domestic melodrama, like David Petraeus’ resignation as chief of the CIA, due to his extramarital affair. Just before turning the radio off, the US-based international news and analysis program The World briefly brought me to Israel.
A Syrian mortar shell crashed in the Golan Heights, which Israel countered by launching “warning shots” into Syria. This marks the rupture of a decade-long ceasefire between the two nations. Only after launching a counter-attack did Netanyahu initiate the process of determining whether or not the Syrian strikes were intentional, or simply spillover from the Syrian civil war. And an upsurge in missile attacks from Gaza into neighboring Israeli communities catapulted Israel’s notoriously deadly round of retaliations. Israel is now reconsidering the possibility of using targeted assassinations.
When it comes to how Israel responds to attacks, message received: fight first, think later.
Initially, this news concerned me because of Israel’s upcoming elections. Thanks to Obama’s reelection, Netanyahu is under more pressure than ever to prove his commitment to Israel’s “security.” So I am worried that he will become even more hawkish than ever, which could have dire consequences for everyone in the region. It could also mean the reelection of Netanyahu, or worse.
But a look into alternative Israeli media sources revealed a reality even more troubling than Israel’s possible retaliations against its neighbors. Not only is the mainstream media conveniently ignoring Palestinian fatalities, I was horrified to find out that while the mainstream Israeli media focuses on relations with Syria and negotiations with Hamas in Gaza, Israeli citizens will not know about how police fired tear gas into a Bedouin elementary school, simply because the structures were built illegally.
Increasingly, I am realizing that there is so much more to the task of healing Israel, Palestine, and their neighbors than the noble struggle towards ending the occupation. Israeli foreign policy needs to change, that much is clear. But the increasingly racist internal dynamic of Israeli society must also be addressed.
Now, more than ever, I am doubting the power of the written word. As a budding writer/activist focusing on Israel/Palestine, I am beginning to ask myself very difficult questions. While Israel picks and chooses from its infamous “box of tools,” I need to consider my own such box.
It is not enough to condemn Israel for its behavior, or to pressure it into re-initiating peace negotiations and to end the illegal settlement construction and the destruction of Palestinian homes. I must also look Israel’s institutionalized system of racism feeds into its citizen’s ignorance and apologies of the behavior of the Knesset and the IDF. Words can be so powerful in their simultaneous permanence and intransigence. However, in moments like these, in which a nation’s drone strikes, mortars, and missiles are juxtaposed with the thoughts, words, and actions of an individual, I must take a deep look at my own choices, and I must ask myself: What am I doing?
Shani Chabansky is an editorial intern at Tikkun and former editor of Leviathan Jewish Journal. She recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in both Anthropology and the first inaugural class of Jewish Studies.
Dear Shani,
I read your article carefully. It is written well, and I very much appreciate that you obviously care about things happening outside you immediate neighborhood.
I would, however, like to offer a different side to a situation you seem to portray very one-sidedly, as well as correct some factual errors and misconceptions in your article, which you seem to believe are inherently true. So here I go:
The firing into Israel from Syria was indeed accidental. Other such incidents, accidental or not, have taken place in the last 30 years, with no retaliation from the Israeli Defense forces. As the violence spreads into a civil war across the Syrian territories, is it becoming dangerously close to Syria’s border with Israel – So close that over the last few days, several bombshells have fallen right near Israeli homes in the Golan heights. Those were most likely accidental, but you must understand that a sovereign nation cannot allow turmoil in a neighboring country to endanger its citizens. The warning shots fired back from Israel targeted open ground, in order to not lead to casualties. You wrote that these “warning shots”, in sarcastic quotation marks, ended a decade-long cease-fire. There are several things wrong with this sentence: 1) the cease-fie has been going on for 30 years, not a decade. 2) these shots were fired BACK after bombshells from Syria were fired into Israeli territory – hence Syria is the one who ruptured the cease-fire, and 3) as I have mentioned, these were ACTUAL warning shots, not “warning shots” as you deem them, which is apparent from the fact that no civilian population was targeted or harmed.
Next, you mention an “upsurge in missile attacks from Gaza into neighboring Israeli communities catapulted Israel’s notoriously deadly round of retaliations”. It seems that you do not consider a barrage of rockets (OVER 100 in a SINGLE DAY) onto an innocent civilian population of 1 million is NOT deadly.
The Israeli retaliation is ALWAYS done by attacking rocket launchers or leaders/members of terrorist organizations (Hamas, Azam-Al-Din Brigades, and others). This is ALWAYS done with the attempt to result in as few civilian casualties as possible, and certainly not as you describe – “fire first, think later”. Perhaps you think it would be better if Israel aimlessly fired rockets at densely populated neighborhoods in Gaza? Is this what you would consider a proportional retaliation?
Israel is certainly not a perfect state. We see instances of racism here and this is a fact. However, I suggest you put this in context with how Arabs (and especially women and minorities) are treated in the neighboring countries, and understand why Palestinian would choose to stay where they are. Would you feel comfortable writing such an article about your government had you lived in Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, or Iran? How about in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Indonesia? Would you feel comfortable Walking down the street in any of those countries? Did you know that Syria was a member of the Human Rights council of the UN? That Libya was on the Women’s rights council? If you believe the “Hawkish” Netanyahu’s policies are dangerous, careless and unjust, perhaps you could suggest a plan for him on how to deal with daily rockets fired from Gaza onto innocent civilians? Israel has already withdrawn from Gaza, and the Egyptian border is semi-open for for any goods the citizens of Gaza could possibly need (they dont NEED weapons, do they?), so there are no territorial concessions Israel can make to Hamas, and the “siege” is not really happening. Seeing how withdrawing from Gaza cost many innocent Israeli lives, as many thousands of rockets were fired into it from 2006, how would you advise the Israeli govt to withdraw from the west bank? Did you know the first item of the Charter of Hamas is to erase Israel from the map?
It is honestly great that you care so much about these issues, as is clear from your posts. However, I suggest you come live here, as I did, and try to learn more about the history and players in this conflict, before writing an article containing the claims this one did. I would love to receive your response to the questions I posed.
Best,
David
At the very moment I am thinking of my family living o the Golan and my friends who live in the south. My family in the Golan sit down to Shabbat dinner and and they can hear the gun and rocket fire on the other side of the border. That means that they are within range of the rocket fire. Israel has every right to launch warning shots into Syria in response to fie coming over the border.
As for the south, you seem to deny that 100 rockets have intentionally been launched for Gaza in the direction of civilian areas. Once again, the IDF s obligated to defend its citizens. I am a firm believer of making the other side pay the price for their follies. The RAF sent that message to the germans in WW II. Obviously Hamas has no regard for civilians on both sides of the border.
I resent hearing demands that Israel take a step back when attacked. They are legally and morally obligated to respond. I suggest the author take a step back and look at the big picture
I read some analyses of war mentality……when, despite the horrific devastation of war, the frustration in the 2 sides reach boiling point, and all caution and responsibility is tossed out in a frenzy……….or, in some (but i think, rare) cases, when dictators or kings or zealot idealogs, are willing to shut off their conscience and heart for brute ego and pride……
in some ways it’s what we call ‘human nature’, or, in my opinion, the total distortion of the human spirit, that loses all sense of healthy direction. the answer, “they started first!!” really reflects a loss of direction from balanced reasoning ability which would otherwise have faith in the other side’s hidden longing for the healthy skills of humane, compassionate negotiations. that’s been weakened, tragically, over centuries of suffering from ever-widening disconnection of human spirit from its deep core…..
it will take no less than a miracle to have the original child-like human spirit restored for the joy of connecting with the same core of the other party…..to find he common core need for collaboration rather than destructive and endless rivalry….
sometimes i wonder which one is the truer human core spirit……..the 2 approaches are understandable psychologically, though i’m still rooting for the purity of spirit and deep healing, no matter how awkward it may feel to go back into those depths in the presence of longtime hated enemies……
one can still dream, can’t one……..
Get real with yourself – you either need to understand israel and Palestine or you can’t. If you insist on trying to rationalize zionist plots of genocide, you CAN’T (I repeeat CAN’T) come close to understanding Palestine and the ancient Palestinian betrayal that zionism is.
Please, the Jewish left is so close. Why can’t they just be intellectually honest and open up to the idea that they may be wrong? Why do they promote a religious, fascist state in Palestine? Why do you still say that zionism is okay?
Sometiems I don’t know if a Jew can understand – please don’t think I am racist. I just thinkt hat maybe if you’ve seen something your whole life you can’t begin to understand this. So, just as a Muslim may not understand Christ, a Jew may not understand the murder of Gaza.