Hey, tribe.
Shavua tov. The past week has left us plenty to contend with.
I was highly unhappy to read, on Friday, about Israel’s seizure of 800 hectares of land in the West Bank. That news was — is — a source of real distress to me.
Despite frequent accusations of being a hasbarista, I am well aware that Israel is sometimes wrong and when that’s true, I am always willing to say so.
There are terrible elements in Bibi’s current cabinet and, though I don’t consider it my place to dictate to Israel, they can’t be replaced soon enough for me.
Whether you agree with me or disagree, I hope you’ll understand my need to call these things as I see them. When I encounter a pro-Palestinian who refuses to admit their side has ever done anything wrong, they lose all credibility to me and I feel it’s pointless to engage with them. I will only attempt a genuine exchange with people I consider intellectually honest. If I didn’t remain in that category myself, then I wouldn’t feel that I deserved to be heard either.
I will defend to the hilt Israel’s need to wage this war against Hamas in Gaza.
I can’t defend land grabs and I won’t even try.
Another source of distress has to do with the much-discussed rift that’s reported to be happening between Israel and the U.S.
All the Jewish friends I spoke with last week were still reeling in response to Chuck Schumer’s call for a leadership change in Israel.
I do not disagree with Senator Schumer, nor do I doubt his bone-deep and abiding love of Israel. But in my opinion, his public remarks were not appropriate or helpful for several reasons:
Despite wide and pervasive opposition to Bibi in Israel itself, the Jewish nation has decided, by necessity, to focus on eliminating the military capability of Hamas before cleaning house. It is very hard to imagine fighting an effective war while waging an equally passionate battle at home. The intention not to pursue these priorities simultaneously, and to accord primacy to fighting Hamas, makes perfect sense to me.
It is my belief that any leader of Israel at this moment, no matter how dovish, would do exactly what Netanyahu is now doing. Leaving Hamas’ capacity to attack us intact is not an option. There can be no end to the war until that goal is met.
Israel is a sovereign nation. Only Israelis can decide whether and when to hold an election. Any attempt to control or coerce her will rightfully backfire — and moreover, it is profoundly entitled and disrespectful.
The question that remains for most of us is: how much of that speech, and others like it from the center left, is emblematic of a true rift between the U.S. and Israel, and how much was political theater to appease the progressive wing of the Democratic base?
Personally I believe the latter is far more likely. Biden and Schumer are seasoned career statesmen who understand the vaster geopolitical picture and all that’s at stake here. They know that Israel’s defeat would be catastrophic for the region and the world at large. They are well aware that after a terrorist attack on our own soil — one that was much smaller, proportionally speaking, than the October 7th massacre — it took years to defeat Al-Qaeda and subsequently ISIS.
Haviv Rettig-Gur is an Israeli political correspondent and analyst I trust and respect. He is devoutly grateful to Biden, but he nonetheless fully expected our president to “throw Israel under the bus,” rhetorically if not actually, as the current election year unfolded. I have to believe Biden and Schumer know perfectly well that Israel cannot refrain from going into Rafah, and that they don’t genuinely expect this. But it’s still painful to hear this narrative being trotted out for public consumption.
Among American Jews, I seem to be holding the minority opinion when I say I’m not yet truly worried about the U.S.-Israel relationship. I keep hearing over and over that Israel will soon be — if she’s not already — a total pariah on the world stage.
But as I see it, Israel exists because the entire world sees Jews as villains, always has and always will. The whole point of having our own nation is that we are no longer dependent on the world’s benevolence.
And I may be proven wrong, but I genuinely believe the U.S. needs Israel as much as Israel needs the U.S.
The U.S. released $6 BILLION to a regime whose mantra is “Death to America,” trusting them not to develop nuclear weapons because they said they wouldn’t. What could go wrong?
Israel, by contrast, destroyed the nuclear facilities of both Iraq and Syria — at night, under cover of darkness, in a stealth operation — and has more recently managed to do serious damage to a secret atomic weapons plant in Tehran.
If Israel goes away, America’s proxy in the Middle East goes away.
I believe Biden has genuine love for Israel (Bibi notwithstanding) but I don’t believe American aid to Israel is based on nostalgia or sentiment. I believe it’s in the west’s profound strategic interest to have a strong and thriving Israel in the region as a buffer, an intelligence agent, and a ninja.
I'm listening to a range of trusted Israelis for strategic commentary on the war, and what I’m hearing is that no Israeli is entertaining, even for a moment, the propect of not going into Rafah. If the IDF doesn’t go into Rafah, they can’t accomplish their mission of dismantling Hamas’ capability. And if they fail to do that, the entire war to date and all the horrific suffering it has caused so far will all be for nothing.
The cycle of bloodshed and heartbreak and atrocity will go on until Hamas is gone. They will sabotage any progress made toward peace, every time. They struck because Israel and Saudi Arabia were on the verge of normalization. They will never allow Israel to make peace with her neighbors, and they’ll never allow Palestinians the chance to build good lives for themselves and their children.
I also keep hearing that to all other jihadist factions in the region, the massacre and its aftermath are the canary in the coal mine. That is, they are waiting to see what the upshot of this war will be, and that outcome will inform their own intentions.
To be more specific still, the destruction of Hamas — or not — will either serve as a deterrent to others and a stabilizer for the region, or it will signal to Israel’s enemies that she has been lethally weakened, inviting a murderous pile-on. Much of the surrounding Muslim world is engaged in their own internal civil struggles between extremists and moderates. Hamas emerging from this debacle undefeated would strengthen the extremists and hurt the moderates. It would be widely destabilizing to the Middle East and eventually to the west as well.
So I’m taking the tough talk of Schumer and Biden with a hefty grain of salt. I don’t think it’s time to panic.
In any event, let’s very much hope the coming week will be better than the last. And I hope also that you had a lovely Shabbat and fun Purim festivities.
I’ll be back with you tomorrow. Keep calm and stay strong. Sending fierce love to all of you.
Am Yisrael Chai.
As usual, you are spot on. Kol haKvod!
interesting article and I agree with your sentiments completely .