Is peace possible?

For the past two years, I’ve been conflicted, even close to despair, over whether real peace is ever possible in Israel, and under what conditions.

The existential evil that Hamas and, indeed, Iran and its proxies represent has been devastating. And the almost universal betrayal of Israel by hierarchies, leaders, intellectuals, and journalists is incomprehensible. At the same time, the debate about the future of Israel has been marred by extremism and the internal divisions in Israeli society.

My late younger brother, Michael ז״ל of Yakar, always used to say that once you let Jews abuse and denigrate Arabs, they will soon go on to abusing other Jews. I fear some have reached this point. We must stop them before it is too late.

I once agreed with Meir Kahane over the Soviet jury. And I still do on the principle of self-defence. But the reason Kahana was excluded from the Knesset when he moved to Israel was not the issue of Jewish self-defence. It was the language he used of dehumanisation and denigration of whole groups of people, regardless of individuals. And the refusal to consider compromise.

I care not for ideological opponents from the left or right, Jewish or not. Nothing Israel does will change them. But I do care for people caught up in the conflict. There are good and bad everywhere, and different people are educated ( or indoctrinated) into various value systems. Not every Jew, not every Palestinian, is the same, and as the Torah says, “Fathers are not punished (die) for what their children do, and children do not die for what their parents do. People are punished only for what they themselves have done” (Devarim 24:16 ).

The Law of the Land must be obeyed, and those who transgress it must be punished. ‘Rabbi Hanina, the vice-high priest, said: “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbour alive”( Avot 3:2).

Silence leads to tragedy. Kahana led to Baruch Goldstein’s killing of unarmed Muslims at prayer in Hebron. And the bellicosity of his clone Ben Gvir only encourages internal and external violence that, in the end, will benefit no one.

Israeli society always had its criminals, its extremists, as well as its saviours. The world we live in today only wants to see the bad in Israeli society. Many have tried endlessly to establish good relations, help their Arab neighbours and work for peace. Yet they are ignored. In one sense, all of us who care for the Land of Israel are settlers, and most of us are peaceful. However, it is convenient to focus on the negative rather than the positive and overlook the vast amount of good that people have done throughout Israel for reconciliation, peace, and a better world. But all we hear is talk about a minority of others who have overstepped the limits.  And at the same time, many cannot distinguish between the different kinds of religious Jews in Israel that run the gamut of political and religious ideologies and are not blood-thirsty fanatics.

There was a time when the humanitarian, universalist spirit that the great Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook (1865-1935) preached —a tolerant Judaism —used to infuse early Israeli religious Zionism and the country’s religious character. Since 1967, the different ideology of his less impressive son Zvi Yehudah Kook  (1891-19782) has set a very different tone of triumphalism and denigration which now infects what was once the moderate wing of  Judaism with a messianic passion. Messianism is a wonderful concept and a mystical antidote. But it is not a practical solution.

It may be argued that Jews are still traumatized by the rest of the world refusing to help them when they tried to escape oppression and were caught in the evil vice of Nazism. And it is common to say that Western or Christian ethics have failed so horribly that they have no right to play a part in the decisions of the state of Israel. But this does not justify turning a blind eye to unnecessary suffering, to distorted political ideas of dehumanisation, wherever they come from today.

I understand the inevitable turn to the right that always happens within Israeli society when it has been attacked and is on the defensive. When you hit people, they close up, not open out. The Israeli army has always glorified in the concept of the “Purity of Arms.” And frankly, I don’t care what the world says. The precautions Israel has taken, as a general rule even in Gaza, have allowed the human tragedy to drag on for so long precisely because the ultimate deterrents were not used.

Of course, I blame the barbarity of Hamas for the horrors they are inflicting on their own in Gaza. But I can condemn the Israeli policymakers who encourage Hamas to challenge the PLO. They too miscalculated tragically. Hardly any politician or leader comes out of all this well. Only the young and older, courageous and intrepid men and women who fought and gave their lives for the safety of their country and their people.

The Talmudic giant Ben Azai ( the second century) disagreed with Rebbi Akivah as to the most important principle in the Torah. Not “ Love your Neighbour as Yourself,” important as it was. But rather that we are all the creatures of one God, quoting “This is the story of all mankind” (Bereishit Raba  24:7).

“ For the sake of Zion, I cannot remain silent, and for the sake of Yerushalayim I cannot be quiet (Isaiah chapter 62 verse 2).

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.