One Secular Humanist View of the Hamas-Israeli War
The current Israeli-Hamas conflict is difficult to fully appreciate. Being a secular humanist who speaks a different language in the middle of a distant continent, I’ll never get the full import of the situation in all of its confusion and misery. Like most others, I’m left with interpreting this hairball of violence secondhand from what I can read and view on video. My only personal connection is an Israeli colleague in Haifa who I am worried about. He is not a fan of Netanyahu at all. That whole political mess has been put aside for a while.
We westerners have recoiled from the abhorrent, murderous Hamas attack on October 7th. Such savage acts are beyond comprehension but are far from unprecedented in the world. The case for better treatment and a homeland for the Palestinians was set back years by the action of Hamas.
According to the Times of Israel Netanyahu has supported Hamas with funds over the years with an eye on the long-term strategy of driving a wedge between Gaza and Hezbollah in the West Bank. How will he survive this?
The Times of Israel said that the Israeli military strategy is to destroy all of Hamas’ tunnels. The entrances to these tunnels are quite frequently in buildings and homes of noncombatant Gazans. One report shows the entrance to a tunnel below the floorboards in a child’s bedroom. This Hamas strategy seems to take advantage whatever lingering reluctance there may be of the IDF to bomb civilians. Innocent Palestinian casualties only works against Israel.
The US and Coalition forces ran into this blending-in with noncombatants in Afghanistan and Iraq. The French resistance in WWII and Viet Cong did this as well. It is a useful strategy for under-resourced forces. Hide in plain sight. At least there is the element of surprise working for them. But it only works if the attackers desire to avoid civilian casualties. Israel is on an aggressive war footing and concern for civilians is not at the top of the list.
While Hamas planned and executed a horrific act of mass-murder, the Israeli response of aggressively rooting out and killing every last Hamas member in Gaza continues to result in mass casualties of the general population. Evidently, there is little in Gaza that is immune from bombing. Hamas can huddle in their tunnels or blend into the civilian population. It’s a bug hunt. Hamas must have been fully aware that something like this would happen, yet they mass-murdered anyway. Was it part of a grand strategy or just an improved act of bloodlust?
The US and allies invaded and occupied Afghanistan and Iraq soon after the 9/11 attack in the US. Whatever good we might have done was temporary and must be measured against the unanticipated consequences of an extended insurgency and urban warfare. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died in these actions. To the Afghans and Iraqis, we were simply heathen invaders marauding through their countries, unwanted and despised, destroying their culture and economies. It was yet the latest imposition of westerners on their lands. Most Iraqis were grateful to see Saddam Hussein thrown out of power, but the insurgencies that followed quickly turned into deadly and prolonged urban warfare. Suicide bombing is alien to the western mind. These are smart bombs with blood and guts.
The October 7th attack was started by Hamas who claims to oppose Zionism but not Judaism. Hamas claims to represent the Palestinians. But Hamas is an arm of Islam by their very own charter. What it cannot devolve into is Judaism versus Islam, though I suspect that has been a fraction of it for a long time.
All that remains to be done by outsiders is to continue to persuade Israel to back off on civilian casualties and for them to plan for the state of post-war Gaza. The Gaza strip will be materially and psychologically devastated and the population has been in great need of assistance since this started. Any previous good-will of the Palestinians towards Israel will have vanished and be replaced with rage. The Levant will be a be an open sore for decades to come.