Our job is to empathize with both Israelis and Palestinians

We live in an age of extremism. Our politics is marked by right-wing and left-wing, with little room left for moderates in the middle. "Whose side are you on?!" is said with an accusatory exclamation mark, since too often it is unthinkable for someone to be on both sides; you've got to choose one or the other.

This is why I admired an essay in the November 6 issue of TIME by Israeli historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, "The world's job during the war."

Harari says that while currently both Israelis and Palestinians are too filled with pain to be able to empathize with the suffering of the other side, it is the job of outsiders who are not in such extreme pain to keep alive the quest for peace.

It's a beautiful piece or writing. Below I've shared the last part of the essay where Harari speaks so eloquently about empathy for both sides. 

Hamas' crimes cannot be justified by blaming them on past Israeli conduct. Two wrongs don't make a right. There is much to criticize Israel for -- for holding millions of Palestinians for decades under occupation, and for abandoning in recent years any serious attempt to make peace.

However, the murder of the Kutz family and the many other atrocities committed by Hamas were not meant to restart the peace process, nor are they likely to end the occupation. Instead, the war Hamas launched inflicts immense suffering on millions of Palestinians. 

In its war against Hamas, Israel has a duty to defend its territory and its citizens, but it must also defend its humanity. 

Palestinian civilians deserve to enjoy peace and prosperity in their homeland, and even in the midst of conflict their basic human rights should be recognized by all sides. This refers not only to Israel, but also to Egypt, which shares a border with the Gaza Strip, and which has partially sealed the border. As for Hamas, it and its supporters should be excommunicated by humanity.

The aims of the Gaza War should be clear. Hamas should be totally disarmed and the Gaza Strip should be demilitarized, so that Palestinian civilians could live dignified lives within it and Israeli civilians could live without fear alongside it. Until these aims are achieved, the struggle to maintain our humanity will be difficult.

Most Israelis are psychologically incapable at this moment of empathizing with the Palestinians. The mind is filled to the brim with our own pain, and no space is left to even acknowledge the pain of others.

Many of the people who tried to hold such a space -- like the Kutz family -- are dead or deeply traumatized. Most Palestinians are in an analogous situation -- their minds too are filled with pain, they cannot see our pain.

But outsiders who are not themselves immersed in pain should make an effort to empathize with all suffering humans, rather than lazily seeing only part of the terrible reality. It is the job of outsiders to help maintain a space for peace.

We deposit this peaceful space with you, because we cannot hold it right now. Take good care of it for us, so that one day, when the pain begins to heal, both Israelis and Palestinians might inhabit that space.

Comments

[Really?]

It is OUR job NOT to be mislead by subtle misinformation that cements decades of propaganda and biased reporting.

It is OUR job as seekers after Truth, not to be participants in calculated untruths.

It is OUR job as people who live in supposedly democratic nations which are deeply involved in a decades long breach of an illegally occupied populations human rights, to not become personally complicit in that support of illegality and inhumanity. And we do that by being well-informed so as to avoid spreading subtle propaganda that perpetuates and promulgates a biased perspective: one that perpetuates suffering and the lies that created it.

Here is a re-working of that Times piece by the Israeli author, that transposes the participants in his narrative. See if you think it is a fair article now:
.. .. .. ..
“Israel's crimes cannot be justified by blaming them on past Hamas conduct. Two wrongs don't make a right. There is much to criticize Hamas for -- for resisting the occupation of millions of Palestinians for decades, and for drawing attention to Israel’s refusal for seventy-five years at any serious attempt to make peace.
However, the recent murder of thousands of Palestinian families and the many other atrocities committed by the IDF were not meant to restart the peace process, nor are they likely to end the resistance to Israeli illegal occupation. Instead, the war Israel launched inflicts immense suffering on millions of Palestinians. 
In its war against Israel, Hamas has a duty to defend its territory and its citizens, but it must also defend its humanity. 
Israeli civilians deserve to enjoy peace and prosperity in their homeland, and even in the midst of conflict their basic human rights should be recognized by all sides. This refers not only to Palestine, but also to Egypt, which shares a border with the Gaza Strip, and which has partially sealed the border. As for the IDF, it and its supporters should be excommunicated by humanity.

The repercussions of the Gaza genocide should be clear. The IDF should be totally disarmed and the Israel Strip should be demilitarized, so that Arab civilians could live dignified lives within it and Palestinian civilians could live without fear alongside it. Until these aims are achieved, the struggle to maintain our humanity will be difficult.
Blah, blah, blah...

It is the job of outsiders to help maintain a space for peace.
We deposit this peaceful space with you, because we cannot hold it right now. Take good care of it for us, so that one day, when the pain begins to heal, both Israelis and Palestinians might inhabit that space.”

[Hans Lethe]

Really? I’m sorry I do not understand the point you are trying to make. Would you please state clearly your “well informed” position on this horrific situation.

—was Hamas justified/and or correct to go into Israel and kill about 1400 people, mostly civilians and taking about 240 hostages?

—what do you think the appropriate action of Israel should have been and should be now?

I understand Brian’s post as an attempt to have cooler heads prevail and remember that there are many consequences to any action taken and to therefore remember the Palestinian civilians. And I believe that the author rightly points out that both sides are in deep pain.

Although I pretty firmly on in the camp that Hamas should immediately surrender unconditionally and that they are primarily responsible for the Palestinian civilians deaths, my first reaction after the visceral reaction to the brutality of Hamas’s attack was “why? (I felt pain and thinking about all the Palestinian civilians that will be killed)

I am looking to finding a Pro Hamas person who can thoughtfully explain their positions and actions and explain how in a civilized world they are taking the correct steps. (I do not know and am not saying that you are pro Hamas)

Thanks I’m advance for your time addressing my questions. Hans. (How come you don’t post using your real name?)!

[Really?]

Hi Hans,
Thanks for reading my reply. You wrote that you “understand Brian’s post as an attempt to have cooler heads prevail”. But do you think the “IDF and its supporters should be excommunicated by humanity”? I should imagine you do not.
I ask you to consider why then you think a “cooler head” would post that “Hamas and its supporters should be excommunicated by humanity”. Why the bias?

Your position and questions appear to me to be starting from fundamental false premises.

E.g. you asked “was Hamas justified/and or correct to go into Israel and kill about 1400 people, mostly civilians and taking about 240 hostages?”

Firstly it wasn’t just Hamas militants that miraculously were able (were permitted?) to cross the ‘hafrada’ (=‘apartheid’) fence. Members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and some Palestinians unaffiliated with any organised militia also did so.

Secondly, that territory is actually illegally ethnically-cleansed, stolen and occupied Palestinian land. [https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Palestinian-Loss-Of-Land-1946-2010.jpg]

Thirdly, of the 1400 Israeli people who died, we don’t know how many were killed by the IDF. Yasmin Porat is an Israeli who was at that music festival and was temporarily held-captive as a hostage in the Be'eri kibbutz and she testified that ALL BUT ONE of the Israelis were killed by IDF forces. Check for yourself.
Ignorance now more than ever before in the internet age is a choice.
Here is one US source: http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2023/october/30/october-7-testimonies-reveal-israel-s-military-shelling-israeli-citizens-with-tanks-missiles/

The reality that most unfortunately do not know is that ALL the allegations of ‘Hamas atrocities’ have either been proved to be false atrocity propaganda or are at best unsubstantiated.
I again invite you to check for yourself. One such source is here: https://uncensored.co.nz/2023/10/28/gaza-what-really-happened-on-7th-october/?v=6cc98ba2045f

I respectfully suggest that your opinion that Hamas is “primarily responsible for the Palestinian civilians deaths” defies objective reality.
If there can be “no excuse, past history or event” that justifies Palestinian militants seeking to kidnap Israelis to bargain for the release of Palestinians held prisoner in Israel, then HOW can you or anyone justify Israelis murdering over 10,000 civilians and severely injuring 35,000 innocent Palestinian civilians for a “past action” and the events on the 7th October?

We ONLY need to have and apply some impartial, unbiased moral consistency to the situation.
If we do that then we will concede that there can be NO justification for Israeli mass-murder as either ‘revenge’ or as a solution.

Yet here you are not only justifying it but also denying that the Israelis are “primarily responsible” for those “Palestinian civilians deaths”. You seem to prefer to believe that it is Hamas that is killing them with Israeli bombs and Israel bullets. I hope you will think on that and will admit that that is a quite insane and disgusting inversion of obvious reality.

Finally you asked “what do you think the appropriate action of Israel should have been and should be now?”

The obvious answer is that they should immediately stop breaking international law.

Do you “support” International law, Hans? I hope you do.

All we as “cooler heads” have to do is insist that the rule of law should “prevail”.

And if we had insisted that Israel abide by international law in all the decades since at least 1968 then this situation would probably never have arisen.

The practical, detailed answer to your question is that Israel should:
~ immediately cease their illegal collective punishment war-crimes and genocidal ethnic-cleansing of Gaza.
~ then they should allow and ensure that all Palestinians get their basic HUMAN RIGHTS!
~ that includes following the law of ‘right of return’ which means all ethnically-cleansed Palestinians can return to their ancestral homes.
~ they should also dismantle their illegal and racist apartheid walls/fences, checkpoints and jew-only roads, etc.

But Israel won’t follow these basic human rights and laws BECAUSE they are afraid that Jews would soon no longer be the majority of the population and would no longer retain power and control.
So... That is their choice:
i.) be a genuine democracy and abide by law, but cease to be a soley ‘jewish’ controlled state
OR
ii.) continue to be a brutal, murderous, institutionally-racist, ILLEGAL-occupier state.

I hope this reply goes some way towards answering your questions. If you seek clarification on any particular point please feel free to ask.

[Really?]

So… after posting misinformation that tacitly supports an Israeli Jewish genocide of non Jews in Gaza, YOU Brian never again in all your blogs mention the ongoing mass-murder, maiming and slaughter of TENS OF THOUSANDS of people murdered by Jewish people BECAUSE they are not jewish.
Hmmmm?
I wonder why?