Why I have Ignored the Middle East

This essay is my first deep dive into the mess in the Middle East. And for now, my last.

               

October 7, 2023 was a day that changed Israel- and the Middle East- forever.  Following nearly two decades of unprecedented calm between Israel and the Palestinians, Hamas militants, operating under the orders of the hardline Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar, unleashed a major ground offensive onto Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip that took the lives of more than a thousand Israelis and kidnapped 247 more.  The attack was shocking and unexpected, considering the stellar reputation of the Israeli intelligence services.  The conduct of Hamas during the attack was so depraved that even the United Nations, hardly a friend of Israel, admitted widespread sexual violence was an integral part of it.  This violence was so graphic that I don’t see a reason to publish the specifics.  Such was the trauma of the events of October 7.  Most Israelis now see no reason for restraint and hold no moral compunction in the nation’s military operation to rid the Gaza Strip of Hamas- whatever the cost to Palestinian civilians.

                That cost has truly been ghastly.  At least 30,000 Palestinians have died.  The true casualty count is likely far higher.  The medical system in Gaza has completely collapsed as the tiny enclave- smaller than the city of Nashville- suffers with acute shortages of food, water, medicine, and basically everything.  75 percent of the strip’s population is displaced as the United Nations warns famine is imminent.  The reason for this humanitarian crisis is the continued Israeli economic blockade and bombing campaign that has seen much of Gaza reduced to rubble.  If you haven’t seen any of the traumatic videos of the civilian heartache in Gaza, don’t.  It is just as heartbreaking as the images we have all seen of Ukrainian civilians suffering under Russian rocket attacks.  To me, the Israeli bombings against Palestinian civilians, killing tens of thousands of civilians (including children) are, context aside, no less despicable than the Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians

                So whom I do blame for this tragedy?  The better question is whom do I not blame for the tragedy in the Middle East.  Beyond Hamas’ clearly genocidal ambitions towards Israelis, ultimately, the buck stops with longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  Netanyahu, who grew up in Pennsylvania and has degrees from MIT and Harvard, spent his life climbing the ladder in the cutthroat world of Israeli politics while using his American upbringing (only interrupted by Israeli mandatory military service) to act as Israel’s liaison in the United States.  Netanyahu’s work was finally rewarded in 1996, when he first became premier and has held that job on-and-off for more than 16 years.  Since then, Netanyahu’s defining cause has been strident opposition to any concessions on the issue of Palestinian statehood.  This opposition, likely inspired by his brother Yonatan’s murder at the hands of Palestinian terrorists in 1976, has now cost Israel dearly.

                The clearest blunder Netanyahu made was his ill-conceived push to weaken the Israeli supreme court as a response to the numerous charges of bribery and corruption that have long been Netanyahu’s sword of Damocles.  This conflict around the Israeli judiciary led to a crisis in the Israeli Defense Forces, with military reservists walking off the job in protest as Netanyahu threatened to dismiss his defense minister for opposing the judicial overhaul.   Compounding the pre-October 7 crisis in Israel, Netanyahu, scorned by mainstream political rivals, formed a parliamentary coalition with two ultra-hardline extremist political parties led by firebrand politicians Bezalel Smotrich and Otmar Ben-Gvir.  Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have openly advocated violence against Palestinians, whom they believe must be forcefully expelled to neighboring Arab countries.  This is the definition of ethnic cleansing.  No wonder violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians was at an all-time high in 2023- even before the October 7 tragedy.  To me, with the IDF and West Bank in chaos, it was obvious throughout 2023 that Israel was hurtling toward a train wreck of its own making.   

                 In every conflict there are two sides.  Americans and other Westerners have historically ignored the Arab perspective to this long-running conflict- often to our own detriment.  To literally billions of Arabs and Muslims around the world, Israel is not a legitimate state, but an illegal colonial entity temporarily occupying Muslim holy lands. And this entity, according to this ideology, is not immortal.  As revenge for the 1948 Nakba expulsion of Palestinians to other Arab states, the great Islamic Ummah will one day unite and rid the Middle East of the evil “Zionists” once and for all.  In recent years, Arab elites have cast off this apocalyptic prophecy and have instead sought to sign deeply unpopular peace agreements with Israel in the hopes of a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East.  However, old grudges die hard, particularly in societies governed by a toxic, conflict-perpetuating honor culture.  Perversely, we are now forced to rely on moderate Arab leaders such as Saudi Prince MBS, Egyptian President Sisi, and Jordanian king Abdullah to restrain their own populations from escalating an already grave situation.

                It is hard for me to find a real “good guy” in the current Middle East war.  Yes, Hamas attacked Israel first, and the thousands of Israeli citizens who suffered atrocities did not deserve that fate.  However, the Israeli indiscriminate targeting of civilians, conducted with little long-term strategic foresight, are a black mark to which will tarnish my once-positive view of Israel.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, feeling the heat of corruption charges and extremist members of his own cabinet, sees little reason to limit the damage his actions are causing both to Palestinian civilians and Israel’s reputation.  Were he the leader of a different country, Netanyahu would even risk being tried for war crimes.  Blinded by their trauma and fear, the Israeli people seem convinced that Netanyahu’s bloody strategy (though the man himself has lost considerable public support) is the only way to protect their future existence as a nation.

                Arab public opinion has also radicalized.  In a November survey, 63% of Palestinians, both in Gaza, and the West Bank, favor “armed struggle” against Israel over diplomacy and peaceful protests.  In another survey, this time from the Doha Institute, 88% of respondents in 15 Arab countries saw the October 7 attack as a “legitimate resistance operation” and 89% disagreed with Israel’s right to exist.  Arab social media is also openly calling for outright war with Israel and even the United States.  Oline comments on websites like Reddit have seriously frightened me. Neither Israel nor Hamas sees any room for compromise or a sustainable peaceful solution.  Only the complete destruction of the other will suffice.  Not even a temporary ceasefire that releases some Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners will change this zero-sum dynamic.  This no-win conflict is clearly going to continue off-and-on for a long, long time with no end, let alone reconciliation, in sight.

With such diabolical villains and burning hatred on both sides, I see little point in publishing any more opinion content about the war in the Middle East.  Thus, it is awfully tempting for me to wash my hands of the entire situation- if only the Middle East would let me.