Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stringently defended his nation’s brutal assault on Palestinian civilians with the justification that the wrong committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 allowed for it. This is clearly a disingenuous manipulation of words to justify a horrific act, and many have pointed out that there have been a long train of abuses by Israel going back decades that must be taken into consideration, in order to resolve the current crisis. Further, a former Israeli Foreign Minister has said that this reconciliation must actually go back to at least 1948, with the beginning of the founding of Israel, and the expulsion of Arabs in former British Palestine from their lands. But consider: Can going back to any of these prior wrongs committed solve the current crisis?
First, ask: What is justice? Is it merely to right the wrongs of the past, and reclaim those things unjustly taken? Or is there a different obligation? Can delivering justice be done indiscriminately? Or must there be a discernment, so as to replace an injustice with a goodness?
If thought of in this way, it is easy to see how today’s conflict in Southwest Asia, just as with the conflict in Ukraine, is being used not to right a wrong, but to accomplish a much different geopolitical aim, without any regard for a lasting good as a result. Israel’s security is integrally tied to that of the Palestinians; and Ukraine’s security is integrally tied to that of Russia’s. Taking into consideration the necessary improved future is the only proper outlook to escape the vicious cycle taking place today.
Reports are coming in that public support within Israel is dropping for the kind of flight-forward invasion into Gaza that Netanyahu is waging—a good sign. Additionally, former Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami expressed in a recent interview a strong criticism of current Israeli policy from what should be seen as an older, more measured faction of the Israeli establishment. Israel “doesn’t have a clear political strategic purpose,” Ben-Ami said, and added that this “is a reactive war.” “Israel is failing” he went on, and warned that this crisis could “trigger a wider conflagration in the region and beyond.” Instead, “we need to look at the immediate steps, and look at what is possible to conceive in the longer term.” The diplomat said to start with the Oslo Accord, and together with mature leadership, these long-term problems can begin to be solved.
This would conveniently be ignored if you listen to today’s major media or government officials across the Atlantic who want you to stop thinking and jump on the “right side.” The Wall Street Journal took the cake this week, echoing calls by many in the insane asylum to go after the root cause of the problem: Iran and the new “Axis of Evil,” as Mitch McConnell called it. The Urinal called on Biden to stop being weak, and “restore maximum pressure on Tehran.” Netanyahu himself said Israel will not accept a ceasefire, since that would mean “to surrender to terror, to surrender to barbarism.”
At the same time, a robust debate is exploding around the world in this regard, as evidenced by the Oct. 27 vote in the United Nations General Assembly, where 120 nations voted in favor of a ceasefire. Now, that is taking the stage at Columbia University, where 165 faculty released a letter condemning the attacks and harassment of students who are supporting Palestine. With mass casualty bombings now being a daily event in Gaza, it is becoming too much to ignore—this conflict must be stopped!
Don’t fall for the trap of choosing to “take sides,” but rather reject the dying imperial system of which this conflict is a part. Instead, a just peace must be based on the mutual advancement of all. The work of Lyndon and Helga LaRouche over decades, as in the case of the proposed “Oasis Plan” for the Israel-Palestine region, shows the way out. Make the deserts bloom, the crops overflow, the power plants run, and the young minds spark—that is the basis for the solution!
