By Uche Chris
Most people of the world are perplexed and helpless with Israel’s unrelentingly avowed commitment to continue the war in Gaza until its declared objective of eliminating Hamas is accomplished, regardless of global outrage over the massive destruction, and over 70,000 deaths.
Again, most countries that sympathized with Israel after the October 7, 2023 cross border invasion of Israel and massacre of 1200 Israelis, and abduction of another 280 hostages by Hamas militants, and subsequently supported the war on Gaza, are now completely indignant and exasperated on the continuing war and the daily carnage in life and property that accompanies it.
Issues of the morality of the war and proportionality of the response now dominate discussions on the matter, with the balance of argument weighing heavily against Israel and the degree of what is proportionate response.
With global opposition against the continuation of the war now wearied by Israel’s stubborn pursuit of its declared objective, few people really understand the driving force behind Israel’s action, and the concomitant defiance of world opinion.
Whereas most world leaders justified the morality of the war as a consequence of unprovoked aggression by Hamas, virtually everyone, except perhaps, the U.S, is now aghast and shocked by its disproportionality, which evidently appears overwhelmingly and unreasonable.
Many people have blamed the U.S unquestioning and unalloyed support for Israel as being responsible for its recalcitrance that has taken modern civilization a century backward, because the world has not seen such prolonged devastation with apparent genocidal dimension since the Second World War.
Others argue that Benjamin Netayanhu, the Israeli prime minister, is fighting for political survival, using the war as a ploy to remain in power, and wade off his impending day of reckoning in court for corruption charges.
Yet others, especially Hamas, say that the war has become a face-saving goal for Israel since it has failed in its vaunted mission of decimating Hamas from existence.
Without diminishing the import and relevance of these arguments, they fail a major test of the Israeli persona, history, and psychology. This is very critical, because every people and society have a definite world view and understanding of life and its manifest destiny and existence.
For instance, everyone knows that America would go to any length to protect its citizens anywhere in the world. We also know that the Chinese, and most of the Asian countries, are extremely nationalistic and very proud of their culture. Europeans are usually too diplomatic, or even deceptive. However, this attitudes may not apply to former colonies, which suffer identity crisis and cultural inferiority complex.
For the Jews, only two things determine and inform their mindset and world view: their history and religion. Their history is conditioned by a contradiction of outcomes that had made them a “special people,” on one hand, and the most hated, vilified, and abhorred, on the hand. There is no other race on earth that attracts and suffers this duality of sentiments.
They are God’s own people, called through Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob, who gave birth to the patriarchs that became the 12 tribes of Israel. They gave the world its first monotheist religion historically codified. They also physical ‘walked’ with God by hearing Him directly and through His prophets, the greatest of whom was Moses, the law giver. So, they enjoy a special place in terms of man’s relationship with God.
However, they have been, throughout known history, the most despised and persecuted as “killers of God” by crucifying Jesus, who Christians believe was the son of God sent to deliver a sinful and wicked world from eternal damnation. This act of deicide has haunted them for the past 2000 years and every national calamity was heaped on them wherever they were found.
Yet, as a special people they continued to thrive and prosper to the envy of their host countries, having been scattered for the last time since 73 AD, when Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem. This event had profound political, religious, and cultural implications for the Jewish people, and their psyche.
All the history-long hatred and persecution of the Jews culminated in the “Ultimate Jewish solution” by Adolf Hitler in the WWII with the extermination of six million Jews throughout Europe, except the UK. It climaxed all their historical suffering, such as bondage in Egypt, exile in Babylon, and sacking of Jerusalem. The Holocaust, as it has come to be known, has no parallel in history. It depicted in its most stark reality, the desperate wickedness of the human heart. The Jews will never forget that ugliest part of their history forever.
So, the threat by Iran to wipe them out, the attack by Hamas, and the resultant response, is a sad and bitter reminder of what happened before, and can still happen again, perhaps in a more foreboding dimension. It is a human psychology nobody else understands, and blaming them is like asking them to accept their own certain execution. Nobody willingly accepts his own death except by law.
Then, there is also the religious angle, which most people, especially Christians, don’t understand, and therefore, judge them too harshly on the basis of their own belief without reference to the Jewish faith. As the only people practicing Judaism in the world, it is hard for most of the world to understand them. This is why the Jews are the most misunderstood people in the entire world, because their world view and history are uniquely distinct.
Although, Christians also read the Old Testament, however, their understanding is tempered by the New Testament, which preaches love and forgiveness, two injunctions that are unknown in the Mosaic laws that constitute Judaism. There are two relevant scriptures that probably condition the Jewish mindset: “Life for life…, eye for eye…” etc (Exodus 21:23-24).
The Jews do not believe in forgiveness, especially where life is involved; they must take their pound of flesh. Remember the story of Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Whether it is proportionate or not is immaterial to them, especially where the threat still exists. Again, recall that Moses had told the children of Israel to wipe out the Amelekites for refusing them right of passage to the Promised land. Such is the mindset of the Jews: No forgiveness, no mercy!
The second scripture was given by Solomon, but also relate to, and derives from the first: “Because sentence (judgment) against evil works of men is not speedily executed, the heart of men is set to do evil…” (Ecclesiastes 8:11). What this means is that every act of evil, or intended evil must be punished. The Gaza war is no longer about the evil perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, but the evil it represents and may do to Israel in future.
What the world sees as being stubbornly obdurant or unyielding is part of their religious belief, and could be likened to Islamic terrorists, who stripe themselves with bombs; it is hard to rationalize. Moshe Dayan, the monocular-Israeli General and defence minister during the 1967 six day war, once said, “Our American friends offer us money, arms, and advice. We take the money, we take the arms, and we decline the advice…” He also once told the New York Time that ‘Israel is like an egg, the more you boil it the harder it becomes.”
This also explains the resounding victory of President Trump in the November elections; it was not primarily, because the economy was bad, or the Democrats were “gay lovers;” part of the reasons is that President Biden was getting emotional about Israel’s conduct of the war, and wanted it stopped. Israel does not see the world like we all do, which is something Iran and Hamas have failed to understand; that Israel is not much beholden to world opinion, but its religious belief, and historical experience – because the world failed them in their time of greatest need.