'The people of Israel live.' Courage that comes from moral clarity needed.
If we cannot at least agree that the barbarism of Hamas has no justification — that it represents the personification of evil — the civilized world is in as much peril as in the late 1930s.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, begins on October 2. It should be a happy time and always has been for my family.
But on October 31, Israeli Defense Forces recovered the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas for more than 300 days. They had been shot in the back of the head — executed in cold blood — as Israeli troops were close to rescuing them. One of them was an American, Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
They were abducted, held captive in dank, dark tunnels, starved, abused — and finally murdered — for no reason other than they were Jews.
Is it enough yet? Have you seen enough, heard enough, or even thought about it at all?
Have you forgotten the 1200 innocents murdered on October 7?
Have you forgotten the rape, torture, and mutilation of the victims that day?
Have you forgotten the 241 innocents taken hostage, at least 70 of whom are known or believed to have been murdered already, with 97 still unaccounted for?
Or do you deny all of it happened or justify it as the understandable rage of supposed “freedom fighters?”
Is it the justified behavior of freedom fighters with the blood of victims still on their hands to call their parents to say they should be proud of them for killing Jews?
The attackers on October 7 came from across Gazan society. Some were United Nations Employees — paid in part by American tax dollars. They reveled in the carnage and shared their glee across the globe.
I knew I needed to write a follow up to my May 8 column when I saw the reporting of the latest atrocities. I didn’t expect what would happen in the following days to bring it to life.
I soon learned of two small vigils on the Oval at my Ohio State alma mater to honor the memory of the latest six hostages executed by Hamas. In a nearly two-hour meeting at the Ohio Union on campus, I met four young Israelis: Aviv Kurnas, 25, Brhan Worku, 26, Shir Golan, 22, and Sapir Golan, 24.
With different shades of hair and skin and family histories from in and around Israel, these four beautiful souls represent just part of the diversity that is their modern, democratic, and pluralistic nation.
Shir and Sapir are sisters who survived the massacre at the Supernova Music Festival. The horrors they saw are unimaginable to those who live in relative safety here. Shir went to the festival with five friends.
She was the only one to make it out alive.
My daughter is 25. I saw her in their eyes.
These young Israelis are touring university campuses across the Midwest on a mission to bear witness and build empathy through dialogue. As they walk around campuses, they carry a sign that reads, “I’m Israeli, Ask Me Anything.”
Contrast that openness for dialogue and understanding with the often violent protests at universities throughout the U.S. and around the world by Hamas apologists who promise not peace but to instead “Globalize the intifada!”
Talking with these young adults instantly felt like I was talking with family. They agreed and disagreed — mostly about the details of policy or strategy, not the necessary outcome of them.
I spent nearly two hours talking with them. I asked them questions that were hard for me to ask, and no doubt even harder for them to answer.
They know war and they want peace, They want peaceful coexistence with their Arab neighbors, including the people of Gaza. Their only conditions were an equal commitment for peaceful coexistence in return.
They are young but are not so naïve as to think they have such partners in Hamas or any of the other Islamist groups today, none of which have ever demonstrated any interest in peaceful coexistence.
If only those marching in support of those groups knew the same.
Maybe they do but like Students for Justice in Palestine, they share the goal of the elimination of Israel and the death of Jews. This odious group, with chapters on campuses around the U.S. even posted a call “to undermine and eradicate America as we know it.”
I often see commentary by those who say they don’t support Hamas and only want an end to the war and the suffering of the people of Gaza. They often parrot the casualty figures from Hamas to support their claims, blame Netanyahu for the war, insist Israel declare a ceasefire, and negotiate for a “two state solution.”
Such views can only be characterized as naïve, ignorant, antisemitic, or some combination thereof.
Hamas started this war and have been explicit in their desire to destroy Israel and kill all its Jews. They have been clear in their goal for a wider war to create a global Islamic caliphate. They have consistently rejected a two state solution that includes Israel and the people of Gaza supported them for all of it.
People of good will decry the horrors of war. We will disagree about the causes and methods of it. But if we cannot at least agree that the barbarism of Hamas has no justification — that it represents the personification of evil — the civilized world is in as much peril as in the late 1930s.
This war could end tomorrow with the surrender of Hamas and the return of all remaining hostages. The people of Gaza could rise up against Hamas. That they don’t says all that needs to be said.
In an apocryphal quote attributed to Winston Churchill, he said of people who tried to appease Hitler that they are like those who “feed a crocodile, hoping it will eat them last.”
Hamas and the rest of the Islamist entities cannot be appeased. They view those who do so as weak and will strike whenever the opportunity presents itself. The humanity of the civilized world is preventing us from accepting this reality.
Every few generations, the world faces a time when the courage that comes from moral clarity is required. For Israel, for Jews everywhere, and for the future of the civilized world, that time is now.
Am Yisrael chai. L’shanah tova tikateyvu. The people of Israel live. May you be written [in the Book of Life] for a good year.