Thursday November 23

Most days I find it hard to not constantly think about the families who endured the sadistic slaughters of October 7th. Those who lived through it, those who were murdered by being burned alive, hacked or raped (or both) to death, beheaded, or any number of other horrible ways that defenseless people can be slaughtered; and those who were brutalized and traumatized by the massacre of their families or their own rapes before being hauled off to Gaza, and who have remained there these last 48 days. I watch the world around me carry on, I feel myself go through all the motions of regular life, I read other news, other developments in the war and in the larger world, I try to work, I talk to people, but I cannot shake off October 7th. It sits like a grey fog behind my eyes, constantly clouding every experience of life. I would describe it as sadness, but that doesn’t begin to capture it. There is a hollowness, a constantly ready sob that lives just under my collarbone, brewing like a volcano. Friends and family who have reached out with support and compassion express their dismay for me because my sabbatical has been so affected, and for my daughter whose much-anticipated study year abroad has been postponed indefinitely. But that is not the grief I carry. I haven’t had the mental space to even think about that, nor could it possibly compare to all that so many have lost so horrifically. I have always loved young children, but now when I see them in the grocery store or walking down the street with their parents, my automatic smile in their direction is followed immediately by that sob rising, threatening to erupt, and I have to force back tears.

This grief – for lack of a better word – coexists in me with the bewildered anger that I feel at every headline, at every campus demonstration, at every witless, ignorant remark by pundits or journalists, at every call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. How is it ok that after 48 days of captivity, Hamas can trickle out 10-13 people at a time – in exchange for a 4 day opportunity to regroup, re-arm, and reset for further war with Israel, so that Israel can try to ensure that what happened October 7th can’t happen again? How is it ok that instead of the world pressuring Hamas to release all hostages unconditionally and immediately, governments are withdrawing their ambassadors from Israel, and international NGOs are decrying the damage to Gaza and the death toll there? How is it ok that Hamas admits it doesn’t even know where all the hostages are because some were stolen by private citizens to do with what they will? Doesn’t the world know that had there been a global outcry against Hamas, instead of a celebration of their “victory” on October 7th and a defense of their “violent resistance” against “occupation” – had there been pressure on Hamas from the Arab world and the UN to release the hostages, to be held accountable for their war crimes, the need for Israel to raze Gaza would have been lessened? Don’t they know that had the UN not allowed Hamas to spend billions of international aid on arming themselves and building a vast network of terror tunnels throughout the territory instead of building an infrastructure for a thriving self-sustaining economy in an actual Palestinian state, none of this would have happened? Where is the accountability for the UN, or for UNRWA, who had to know exactly what Hamas was doing with their money, with their hospitals – including the UN workers who were at the hospital when the hostages were brought in and hidden underneath?

I guess the grey fog is not just grief, but rage. I am not generally an angry person, but I have been so angry for the past 7 weeks, it is hard to feel much else other than overwhelming sadness. And exhaustion. It's really draining to be this angry. Fortunately there are public figures at whom I can direct that anger, at least in writing here in my blog.

*****

One of the nice things about living in Florida at the moment is that neither the CBC nor Justin Trudeau are in my face. Both have been embarrassing at best but mostly infuriating. (I never shared with you the photo I saw of Trudeau out trick-or-treating with his daughter 3.5 weeks after October 7th – I’ll post it at the bottom of this entry. The one thing I don’t think anyone will ever accuse him of, is being in touch with life outside his bubble.) But sometimes one or the other will cross my newsfeed, and like the proverbial trainwreck that’s impossible to not watch, I have to click on it. Here is today’s headline on cbc.ca: Israel-Hamas hostage deal offers hope for long-term peace in Gaza: Trudeau. It quotes our intrepid leader as saying “This humanitarian pause is what Canada and others have been calling for, for weeks now.” Like: “Finally, those stubborn Israelis are going to let up their silly little war on Hamas so those poor Gazans can have some peace.” To be fair, Trudeau did call on Hamas to release the hostages within the first week or so of October 7th. But ever since then, his pronouncements on the war (which no one in the world other than Canadians bother hearing) have all been calls for ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and “maximum restraint” from Israel. In fact, there was an interesting moment about two weeks ago when Trudeau pontificated that a humanitarian pause in Gaza would allow for the hostages to be released. In other words, somehow the fact that Hamas continued to hold them, would not allow the Red Cross access to them, would not allow medical attention to be given to them, and would not even release a list of names of those who had been taken (hence the continued work of Israeli forensic teams to determine from the charred remains of entire families, who was actually dead and who was missing, to this day) was now Israel’s fault. In trying to wipe out Hamas, Israel was delaying the possibility of the return of the hostages.

So today Trudeau shared his wisdom and advice, telling reporters this morning that the hostage deal “is an important bit of progress, but we have to redouble our efforts now to get toward a lasting peace.” Excuse me, what? Can we not first redouble our efforts to get the rest of the 240 hostages freed?

And who are the Israelis supposed to make peace with? Hamas has vowed to repeat October 7th again and again until all Israelis are dead. Their charter calls for the massacre of all Jews. Why is Trudeau so quick to believe Hamas when they claim that Israeli fire on al-Ahli hospital killed 500 people on October 17th, needing several days more than any other western leader to concede that it was in fact Palestinian Islamic Jihad that fired on the hospital, and that no more than 50 people had died as a result, and yet completely refuse to believe the statements of Hamas on its ultimate objectives vis-à-vis Israel?

This call for “peace” is disturbing. Of course we all – at least those with western values, including Israelis – want peace. But for Trudeau to assume that peace is the desired end for Hamas, or for its masters in Iran or any of their other proxies in the region, is beyond ridiculous. It’s wilfully blind. I can almost forgive the student marchers and other social justice protesters for demanding a ceasefire, for thinking that Israel is the impediment to peace here -- even if they understand enough of what they’re marching for and reciting to know that the impediment to peace that Israel represents is not because of anything Israel is doing, but rather simply because Israel exists. That at least makes sense; if you think that Jews don’t have a right to a state of their own, then the fact that they have one would incite you to march against its continued existence and demand its destruction. But for Trudeau or any other world leaders to think that there is any peace for Palestinians or Israelis as long as Iran is pulling the strings, as long as the world continues to fund UNRWA, as long as the media continues to conflate the cause of social justice for Palestinians with the notion that any kind of justice is a desideratum of Hamas and their fight a legitimate one for freedom by violent resistance against the existence of Israel, seems beyond stupid.

The refusal to actually hear what Hamas is saying is a wilful deafness that Trudeau shares with so much of the free world. It’s not about his lack of intelligence, nor his ability to listen (though we might question both, not my point here). It’s not even about a lack of understanding of the larger Middle Eastern historical context. Rather, it has to do with cultural illiteracy, combined with the basic human response to try to impose one’s own worldview on what is happening to others in order to try to understand it.

One of our Prime Minister’s favorite things to do is to tell Canadians how they ought to think and behave. He likes to talk, to advise, to make promises (and of course, to apologize). His idea of being a leader is not to actually do any leading, by, say, taking a principled stand on something (like Biden did, for example). In fact, he recently explained that his “job, as Canadian prime minister, is to help bring Canadians back together. To understand that, if Canadians can’t figure out how to get along and remember to be compassionate and empathetic towards each other, then where in the world is there a solution for the conflict and the tensions in the Middle East going to come [from]?”

So if he can just get us all to sit down and talk to each other, with compassion and empathy, Trudeau can bring peace to the Middle East. I imagine it would go something like this.

Israel: Hey, Hamas, it really bothers me that you invaded our country and raped and slaughtered so many of our citizens. I’m feeling very hurt by your actions here.

Hamas: I hear your hurt, and it makes my heart glad. I will do it again and again, because it hurts me that there are still so many of you alive. However, if you would simply remove your 9 million people from the land of Palestine and renounce your claims to indigeneity there along with all of your history, I will be very happy. And then I will be able to begin an invasion of Europe, to eradicate the Jews from there and impose Sharia law on everyone in my path.

Israel: But you still have so many of our citizens, women, children, elderly, held hostage. Would you please return them?

Hamas: I empathize with your desire for your citizens back. We too would like you to return ours. Please empty your jails of all of the Palestinians who have either murdered or tried to murder Israelis, so that we can increase the number of those willing to become martyrs by blowing themselves up in your midst. That way, if you won’t remove yourselves, we will be better equipped to do it for you.

Trudeau: You see, Israel? If you would just release all of the terrorists currently in your jails, Hamas will send back however many of your babies and old people are still alive, if they can find them.

I’ve always found it ironic that in a country that prides itself so much on its multiculturalism, celebrating diversity and encouraging inclusion – all laudable ends in and of themselves – there is a basic lack of understanding of the fundamental fact that people from different backgrounds think differently. They see life differently. They approach problems and solutions, differently. They value life differently. This goes beyond which god one believes in, and beyond whether you rest on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Trudeau’s problem, and the problem of so many of my Canadian friends, is that they just don’t know what it’s like to not be a standard, run of the mill, white anglo-saxon Canadian. BIPOC people talk about white privilege, and that is definitely part of it. But beyond that, it simply seems unfathomable to so many Canadians (and Americans, and Europeans, but I’m picking on Canadians here because the problem somehow feels more endemic, more entrenched in Canada; or maybe that's just where I'm most familiar with it) that there are ways of seeing the world other than their own.

The Islamist way of seeing the world is one that weaponizes Islam as a political ideology defined by anti-American, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, anti-democratic, anti-secular, anti-capitalist, and anti-communist sentiments (the latter two are usually linked to their hatred of Jews, responsible for both capitalist corruption and the evils of communism). The idea that theirs is the true and proper interpretation of Islam is fostered by selectively quoting the Qur’an, and spreading the notion that Muslims who believe differently are themselves infidels (giving them the ability to have no qualms about killing anyone, Muslim or not, who disagrees with their policies). And on this Islamist view, martyrdom is the highest calling of all Muslims. Dying while killing or attempting to kill the enemy is a cause for the community to celebrate, and surviving family members of martyrs are held in high esteem and rewarded monetarily. Islamism is a death cult. Its leaders rake in billions of dollars and live better than most, orchestrating violence that they know will cost thousands of lives among the rank and file in the name of Islam. (Don’t take my word for it: for a completely separate look at what goes on in the name of Islam around the world, having nothing to do with Jews, have a look at Islamist violence just against Christians, and just in the month of August 2023, here.)

Jews, and most of us in the west (including non-Islamist Muslims), abhor this kind of violence. We can’t make sense of it. We value life above all else. That’s why in previous hostage negotiations, like the famous deal made for Gilad Shalit, abducted by Hamas at the age of 20 and finally released by Hamas five years later – in exchange for 1100 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on murder and terrorism charges – Israel has paid such a high price for one single Jewish life (and as is well-known by now, many of those released, including Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, were the very people who planned and executed the invasion and slaughter on October 7th). And it’s also why, knowing the terrible devastation of Gaza that would be caused by Israel in response to the invasions and attacks of October 7, Hamas did it anyway – the lives of the Palestinian men, women, and children who would suffer the consequences simply don’t mean anything to them. Their political agenda is more important, and martyrdom brings glory.

So while Trudeau, and so many others, hailed the news of a hostage deal yesterday as an important first step toward a lasting peace, I, and many I knew, shook our heads in despair. Of course we’re happy that some of the hostages will get to go home. But what of all of the others? And what of the price to Israel – more Palestinian prisoners will be released, Hamas will have the time and space to re-group and re-arm, and work further toward the goal of wiping out more Israelis. Obviously Israel had to agree to it; under pressure from the international community, and from within as the families of hostages have done everything they can to call attention to their plight, if this was the best Israel was going to be able to get, then what else could they do? But even as we’re happy for those who will be released, it feels so wrong. Israel is backed into a corner, virtually friendless, still reeling from the deaths of friends, family, and their basic sense of security in their homes and in their country, and now they have to beg and give away so much to get so little. How could anyone think this was any kind of step toward anything, let alone a lasting peace?

I read an article this morning explaining that if we try to understand what may actually be going on from the points of view of those involved, there may be more to this than what many of us think. As the author points out, in working out this deal, “Israel isn’t speaking to the West.” In dropping the trade calculus from 1100 Palestinian prisoners for 1 Israeli prisoner down to 3 for 1, Israel was actually playing on Hamas’ growing desperation for a ceasefire. Israel may not have the upper hand in the hostage situation, but Hamas had miscalculated how hard they had poked the proverbial bear, and had over-estimated how much world opinion (that they knew would be on their side), would move Israel to have negotiated a ceasefire weeks ago. As the article points out (you should read it), Hamas and Israel now understand each other, even if the rest of us are struggling to.

Well, not all of the rest of us are struggling. Trudeau, the CBC, and many others simply assume that everyone thinks like they do, and thus everyone wants peace. Hamas must be engaging in violence because that is the only way to resist the occupation that is the state of Israel. Because for us, violence is supposed to be a last resort, most Canadians/westerners have to understand Hamas’ actions as sensible ones according to our worldview. And according to the same worldview, if Israel also wants peace then they will see the wisdom in laying down their arms and talking it out with Hamas. Negotiations will follow – because everyone wants peace, we outsiders just need to redouble our efforts to get these middle eastern children to talk to each other and play nice – and compromises will be made. Israel will give up some land and Hamas will stop terrorizing them. Except that we’ve seen that movie before, and it ends with October 7th.