By David K. Shipler
The deep
paradox in the Arab-Israeli conflict is the immorality of each side’s moral
certitude. Each is convinced of its righteousness.
But the high ground of
righteousness has been completely flattened in the last year, beginning with the
intimate atrocities of October 7 by the Palestinian movement Hamas, then with
the remotely inflicted atrocities by Israel. The only shred of morality left is
whatever attaches to victimhood.
Not that
wars are moral enterprises. Not that this conflict has ever been ethical or conducted
within Queensberry rules. Since modern Israel’s founding in 1948, the struggle has
been nasty, grinding, and brutalizing. Still, it respected certain boundaries.
Forty years ago, the Palestinians had not yet adopted suicide bombers as a
standard weapon against Israeli civilians, nor had they sexually assaulted and
tormented young Israeli women. Israel had not sent tanks and fighter jets
against Palestinian residents of Gaza and the West Bank, nor had Jewish
settlers so systematically driven Palestinians from their West Bank villages.
And non-Arab actors such as Iran had not directly attacked Israel.
But now,
as Tom Friedman has said, so many red lines have been crossed that “you kind of get used to it.
And at the end of the day, there are no more red lines. And when that happens,
watch out.”
Both
Israeli and Palestinian societies are diverse and fluid. Neither is monolithic;
both contain moderate citizens embracing coexistence. Yet the most radical and
hateful among them have been propelled into power by decades of strife. Palestinian
leaders see all Israelis, including children, as potential soldiers. Israeli
leaders in the current government—the most extreme in Israel’s history—conflate
all Palestinians in Gaza with Hamas, one reason that Israel is willing to bomb
whole buildings and kill many civilians to get one commander. On both sides, those
at the top seem to have no moral brakes.
Their military tactics have been devastating to non-combatants. Abhorrent methods of warfare have been normalized: sadistic killings and hostage-taking, food deprivation and massive bombings, indiscriminate rocketing, assassinations, exploding pagers designed to murder and maim even while innocent bystanders suffer. Hamas has embedded its fighters among civilians in their homes and schools and hospitals, using innocents as human shields. Undeterred, the Israelis have fought through those so-called shields, mostly with air strikes and artillery, killing and wounding tens of thousands, impeding food supplies, and shattering medical facilities.
