"There's Nothing New Under the Sun"
It seems that hardly a week goes by without my receiving emails from longtime readers of The K.F. Stone Weekly or students in the All Politics All the Time courses I’ve been teaching at local universities for the past 22 or 23 years. These emails frequently include links to essays or articles with an appended note asking either What do you think about this? or Is this really true? More often than not I don’t send back lengthy, detailed replies to the What do you think? questions . . . either because of the constraints of time or because I feel reasonably certain that the inquirer is less interested in my reply than satisfying him/her self that I haven’t a brain in my head. Ofttimes I handle these Is this true? questions with a link to one of serious fact-checking websites like Snopes or the Washington Post.
One of the most constant questioners (who, mirabile dictu finds that I do have a brain in my head) is a long-time student and dear friend who refers to himself as “Pal Al.” Beyond sharing an obsessive love of baseball (he the Yankees, yours truly the Dodgers) we are both אוהבי ישראל - “lovers of Israel.” and political progressives. It should come as no surprise then, that My Pal Al wrote me asking what my thoughts were about the whys, wherefores and conceivable outcome of the current lethal confrontation between Israel and Hamas. Without having access to either a functioning crystal ball or any inside information, I will nonetheless attempt to share some thoughts - not just for his sake but for mine as well.
Prior to the outbreak of this newest conflict between the Gaza Strip-based Hamas and Israel, sort of led by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, it had been 7 years since the two sides had gone at it toe-to-toe against one another. Back in 2014, Barack Obama was POTUS; Donald Trump was starring in the 10th season of The Apprentice; the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) movement was growing on American college campuses and around the world; the official position of both the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party was in favor of a “Two-State” solution. Then, in July 2014, Israel began to conduct an operation called Brother’s Keeper as a response to the kidnapping of 3 Israeli teenagers by Hamas members in Gaza. Soon, a war broke out. It lasted 7 weeks (July 8-August 26) and ended with both sides claiming victory. According to Israel and Palestinian Authority President Abbas, Hamas was severely weakened and achieved none of its demands. According to Hamas, Israel was repelled from Gaza.
The summary for this war could easily have been authored by the Biblical essayists Kohelet (King Solomon), who wrote in Ecclesiastes: .מַה־שֶּֽׁהָיָה֙ ה֣וּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶ֔ה וּמַה־שֶׁנַּֽעֲשָׂ֔ה ה֖וּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין כָּל־חָדָ֖שׁ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ. (That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.) Since that 7-week conflict, we have experienced 4 years of Donald Trump who, living up to the terms of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (passed during the Clinton Administration) moved our diplomatic mission out of Tel Aviv. Many have adduced (myself included) that this was done far more for purposes of political optics than actual diplomatic progress; after all, it garnered both the support and attention of normally Democratic-voting Jews and pro-Zionist fundamentalist Christians. (How many have times have we heard that “Donald Trump has been better for Israel than any American president”?) Additionally, the Trump Administration yanked the U.S. the hell out of The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian nuclear deal, and just this last September, an exultant Donald Trump announced completion of the grandiosely titled “Abraham Accords,” which brought about the normalization of relations with 2 Sunni monarchies . . . Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
At the White House ceremony announcing the pact, Trump proudly announced: “We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history. After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East,” and claimed that it would “serve as the foundation for a comprehensive peace across the entire region.” In the following months, both Sudan and Morocco entered their own processes of normalization with Israel. It should be noted that for better or for worse, this accord was met with overwhelming cynicism in both the Middle East and foreign policy establishment worldwide. Neither the UAE nor tiny Bahrain was ever at war with Israel. They already maintained numerous channels of clandestine cooperation with the Jewish state. The agreements they signed, as would later be the case with Sudan and Morocco, came with significant geopolitical sweeteners from the Trump administration. And as nondemocratic states, their ruling elites could not claim to even represent the abiding views of their small numbers of citizens, let alone the critical mass of regional public opinion.
So what’s behind this latest - and potentially most lethal - battle between Hamas and Israel? What has changed and what might be its cause? One of the first things that comes to mind is the current deadlock in Israel’s national politics. Jerusalem has suffered through 4 national elections in just under 2 years, and is no closer to forming a viable coalition government than it was when the process began. And to make matters even worse for Netanyahu - Israel’s longest-serving P.M. - he is currently at the center of a corruption trial and fears that if he fails to form a government and is without an office, he may well go to jail.
As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently noted, it is Bibi’s hope that his right-wing rivals might “. . . have to abandon trying to topple him and declare instead that this is no time for a change in leadership.” It sounds a bit like Republicans arguing that a sitting president can neither be indicted nor tried while occupying the White House. Many observers have stated a belief that Netanyahu bears responsibility for a brazen action on the part of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces which underlies the current military action: began on the night of April 13, (which corresponded to the 2nd of Iyar, Israel’s version of Memorial Day . . . יום הזיכרון . . . when the nation mourns and remembers its fallen soldiers. The observance begins at sundown with the wailing of a siren that can be heard from one end of the country to the other. Israeli citizens stop whatever they're doing, wherever they are, and stand firm to honor those they've lost. It is both haunting and quite emotional.
It so happens that Israel Memorial Day generally coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. This year, the 1st day of that holy month coincided with יום הזיכרון - Yom Hazikaron - Israel Memorial Day. Inexplicably on Tuesday April 13, the local Israeli police broke locks and cut electric lines to the loudspeakers at four minarets in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, thus silencing evening calls to prayer. To say the least, this infuriated the Muslim community . . . like a caterer serving pork chops and lobster tails at a Jewish (or Muslim) wedding. Plus, the local Jerusalem authorities had of late been evicting Muslim families from their homes in East Jerusalem, a neighborhood which has long been a bone of both emotional and historic contention.
Another possible answer to the question Why Now? deals with Iran, who has increasingly become the banker of first resort for Hamas. It is the Iranian intention to gain in importance in both Gaza and the West Bank (which Hamas wishes to control). The ground-to-ground weaponry Hamas has purchased with their Iranian rials is neither as sophisticated nor as on-target as the missiles launched from Israeli warplanes or ground installations. That is why the numbers are so lopsided when it comes to deaths. Israel, according to their communiques, has trained a majority of its air attacks on the web of underground tunnels in Gaza. Sadly, many, if not most, of these tunnels run just beneath neighborhoods, schools and hospitals, which increases the civilian carnage. And unlike Hamas, the Israelis have the “Iron Dome” defense system, which can destroy a clear majority of the approximately 3,000 missiles they have hurled at Israel before they even come close to their targets.
Interestingly, few Sunni Arab countries have joined in on the murderous catcalls against Israel. True, they despise Israel; but even more importantly, they don’t really care that much for the plight of the Palestinians; they are far more fearful of Teheran than Jerusalem. According to a recent report from National Public Radio sources on the ground in various Arab capitals, there is a new, popular hashtag which reads (in Arabic): #thePalestiniansarenotmyproblem.
Not surprisingly, this latest war has caused a steep spike in anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe. And here in the United States, where the Biden Administration - which has spent its first 100 days far more engaged in domestic rather than foreign issues - have been more frequent and muscular calls from Democrats for a cease-fire and disparaging remarks from Republicans and some Jews that the current administration is far more disposed toward the Palestinians than the Israelis. Then too, the most progressive Democrats in Congress (notably the “Squad”) are sounding more and more skeptical about Israel. Kohelet was correct: There is nothing new under the sun.
Let us conclude with the understanding that being pro-Israel or pro-Zionist does not require one to be a right-wing nationalist. One can still favor a two-state solution or speak out against the Netanyahu policy of settlements in disputed regions without being labeled an anti-Semite . . . or worse. Eventually this latest conflict will wane, a 5th election will be held in Israel, and whatever passes for ‘normality’ in that region of the world will resume . . . for however long it may last. But the seeds of greater hatred for Israel in the ravaged Gaza Strip and Hamas’ political incursion into the West Bank will become exponentially increased.
That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.
Copyright©2021 Kurt F. Stone