You know, an artificial intelligence program would probably have a lot more to say. Maybe I will invent one and call it the RaconteurBot 2000.
Update from David Blumenthal, via his brother Josh:
Dear everybody,
We are into Day 13 of the Hamas War.
The day before yesterday, Yizhar Peled, a relative of Philippe’s wife, Nili, was buried together with his wife, Gila, and his son, Daniel. There are still more children who are missing. May God have mercy on them. Yizhar Peled was the Commander of the Mishmar ha-Gevul, the national Border Guards. These are the folks who circulate all the time protecting the State of Israel. He died in the south. There were over 1000 people at his funeral. It had to be held outside the south so as not to attract a rocket attack. The bodies will be moved when peace is restored. The current Commander of the Border Guards spoke. The family is deeply moved. Here are two links: one to Wikipedia. It is in Hebrew but one can ask Google to translate it. The second is to a Facebook Memorial to Yizhar.
In an earlier letter, I recommended subscribing (it is free) to Israel21c. The current issue is dedicated to war heroes. It includes the large number of Palestinian Israelis who stayed in the south under attack to help. Many of them lost their lives. This issue is unique in its reporting, though typical of Israel21c. I really recommend it.
Comments from two readers: “You don’t ‘stand with’ a friend who is actively fending off 3 attackers in a gun and knife fight! You fight alongside your friend, defend him, and go after his enemies, until you’ve completely leveled them to the ground.” “I suppose you watched President Biden's remarks. His statement ‘We won’t stand by again’ brought tears to my eyes. it seems that, for once, we are not alone. Did any sitting US president ever recognize that, last time around [during World War II], nothing was done by the US to directly save the Jews? It reminds me of Chirac's historical recognition that France, as a country, and not simply the Vichy regime viewed by the Gaullist narrative as an illegal entity, was responsible for the deportation of French Jews.”
Several of you have written asking what can I do? How do I talk about this? Here are my thoughts, though it is a little long:
Talking to the Other
David R. Blumenthal
October 19, 2023
It is natural to read what one agrees with and to speak to those who are in sympathy with us. Still, if there is to be understanding, we must learn to talk with the other. Here are a few suggestions:
• Do not argue with people who are hostile, who are only interested in talking and not listening because they only want to persuade you, not to learn or discuss. Talking is done largely with one’s ears, as the saying goes, “God gave you two ears and only one mouth.” There is another saying worth keeping in mind, “Never argue with an idiot, people watching may not be able to tell the difference."
• Be informed. Emotional appeals are a form of sharing, but they are not persuasive. There is a lot to know, so let’s get started.
• The most important point is that it’s the context, not the facts, that make the difference. In the issue of the Hamas War, there are two perspectives and they are mutually exclusive. For Jews, this is a repetition of centuries of persecution by Christians and by secular nationalists, beginning in medieval Europe and continuing through the Holocaust, and also by Muslims, beginning with Muhammad and running through the expulsion of the Jews from Arab lands in the second half of the 20th century. This is a very, very sad story but it is our history. Most Jews do not know the facts; how can we expect others to know them? But, it is this context that shapes who we are and, therefore, what we see, feel, and fear.
The proper word for the violent killing of Jews is “pogrom,” i.e., the sudden irruption of defiling violence against Jews. There were many such pogroms in Europe and also in the Islamic lands. The European bias of Jewish historians usually allows them to concentrate only on the European pogroms (Wikipedia). For the parallel in Islamic Lands, see the works of Bat Ye’or, Andrew Bostom, and others.
Pogroms really did happen. Reading the narratives, poems, and elegies of these events is terrifying. They were not just killing; they were meant to be degrading and very violent: burning Jews alive, cutting open pregnant women, mass rapes, killing children in front of their parents, and worse. The paradigmatic pogrom is the Holocaust with its “culture of cruelty.”
The Holocaust really did happen. Most of us have (distant) relatives who went through it. The systematic and bloody expulsion of Jews from Islamic lands also really happened after centuries of living in those lands, speaking Arabic, eating Middle Eastern foods, singing Middle Eastern music, and so on. No one believed that Germany, the center of Europe and western culture, would turn against the Jews and actually exterminate them, using modern industrial techniques to do so. And not many believed that the Islamic world would kill, imprison, humiliate, and expel its Jews. But both events did happen though there are differences in quality and quantity. What is worse is that we, Jews, all know that it could happen again; that there could be another pogrom, indeed another holocaust, another a systematic, violent extermination of Jews, anywhere.
We did not think that it could happen in Israel. We were sure that Israel, with its own army and intelligence community, would prevent such a killing of Jews, especially in Israel. But, the Hamas Pogrom proved we were wrong. Over 1400 Jews were slaughtered by trained soldiers and vengeful masses within a period of two or three days. The Hamas Pogrom was not an invasion; it was a wild, cruel killing of Jews and a concerted taking of others as hostage. It was killing, not territory, that was its goal. Tearing the limbs of live babies is not a political demand, neither is raping young girls and parading them in public with blood running down their legs. That, is a pogrom. And that is what we, Jews, experienced.
Hamas was not shy about its goals. Quite the contrary, they were exactly clear about them. The Charter of Hamas is as explicit as a document can be about their goals: to exterminate the Jews, in Israel and outside of it. The social media of Hamas before, during, and after the Hamas Pogrom was, and is, also completely explicit in what their goals were and remain: to exterminate the Jews, in Israel and outside of it. Just read what they write in their news and social media and be sure to look to see who is being quoted and who is appearing on television. They are community leaders of all sorts and all places. Look, too, at the examples used in their textbooks for children. The bias of the west, including Jews, is to think of these statements as just huffing and puffing; that they are the work of “extremists.” Since the west, including the Jews, has its own “extremists,” we think that such statements must come from similar persons within Islam. This is not true.
Hamas experienced victory, and rejoiced over what they did. Indeed, most of the Islamic world did, and still does, rejoice in that “victory” over women, children, the elderly, and men who did attack them first. The killing was exuberant, triumphant in its very brutality and, in its success. The undefeatable Jew has been defeated. Rejoice, all Islamic peoples.
Jews experienced terror. Hamas experience victory. Jews experienced a repeat of a nightmare. Hamas experienced triumph. These views are not compatible, to put it mildly. And this incompatibility needs to be faced in any genuine conversation.
Ask your interlocutors: “Do you know how Jews experienced the Hamas Pogrom?” And, “What do you think of the stated goals of Hamas as embodied in their documents and public statements?”
• There are genuine religious problems in the relationship between Jews and Muslims, and between Israelis and Palestinians. Judaism, as a religion, teaches that all people are entitled to their beliefs and no one is entitled to meaninglessly kill another. God will settle these matters in God’s own way. Islam, as a religion, teaches that it alone possesses truth and any person who denies that truth is a “disbeliever,” subject not only to persuasion but to subjugation and, ultimately, to death. Jews, Christians, and pagans are all disbelievers. Muslims, not God, must resolve these matters and they go to paradise if they die in doing this.
There are ways to study and nuance these two religions. For instance, both religions share the idea of peoplehood (the Jewish people and the Islamic people) and of sacred land (the Land of Israel and the Realm of Islam). Both value family and both advocate generally conservative social mores. But learning and sharing that takes time, patience, and tolerance. There are also ways to share the positive elements of these traditions. For instance, both traditions have prayer, holy texts, authoritative commentaries, and a legalistic view of life. But that, too, takes time, patience, and tolerance.
Ask your interlocutors: “What do you know about Dar al-Islam and, do you agree to it as the ultimate principle for the resolution of the conflict?”
• There are also genuine political problems in the relationship between Jews and Muslims, and between Israelis and Palestinians. Who is entitled to what national property? What would borders be? What would the rights of minorities be? And so on. There are many, many issues to be addressed and many, many peace plans that have been drawn up over the years. But one thing is necessary: Each side must recognize the rights of the other. You need to know three things:
∞ Islamic tradition maintains that any land once conquered by Islam remains Islamic even if it is taken over by a non-Islamic power. This doctrine is called Dar al-Islam, the Realm of Islam. Because of this, Islam still claims that Spain is basically Islamic. So is Ukraine, and other parts of the world. The classic case is the Holy Land. It was conquered by Islam and, later during the Crusades, when part of it was conquered by the Christians. From an Islamic point of view, they were invaders, conquerors, who needed to be expelled. It took 200 years but Muslims did succeeded in defeating and expelling the Crusaders. The man who did that is Saladin (Salah ad-Din) and he is to Islam what George Washington is to Americans: the great liberator.
Following the doctrine of Dar al-Islam, Israel was established by invaders, largely Christians voting at the United Nations and Jews who settled the land and declared the Jewish state. The establishment of the State of Israel is referred to as the Tenth Crusade in the Islamic media. Any Muslim who would even think of legitimizing the State of Israel is, by this thinking, a traitor to Islam, to the prophet, and to Arab history.
If Palestinians agree to establish a Palestinian state, they will have to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel. No Muslim, no Arab, and no Palestinian is going to do that and become a traitor to Saladin, Islam, and Islamic history. (Of course, they could just lie about it when they sign the documents, which is what happened at the Oslo Accords where Arafat told his people in Arabic that, in truth, the Accords were only a step toward the “liberation” of the whole of Palestine). The teaching and the position of Palestinians is “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine shall be free [of Jews and Israelis].”
This also explains why Palestinians refused statehood in 1947 at the time of the partition vote at the UN. In 1948 when Israel declared its own statehood, the Palestinians refused to declare theirs. In 2000, at Camp David, Ehud Barak offered Arafat a plan which he refused. In 2005, Ariel Sharon voluntarily withdrew Israeli forces from Gaza and Hamas took over but did not proclaim a Palestinian state. In 2008, Ehud Olmert offered a plan which the Palestinians again refused. In recent years, as part of the Abraham Accords, several peace plans have been spoken of. All have been refused. In addition, the Palestinians did all they could to undermine the peace agreements with Egypt and then with Jordan. (See here and elsewhere. Do a little research.) The Palestinians do not want a Palestinian state, ever, because it will have to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel.
Ask your interlocutors: “Under what conditions would Palestinians agree to establish the State of Palestine?”
∞∞ After conflicts, there is always a refugee problem. The solution is that the refugees flee and are absorbed in other lands. The refugee problem for Jews after World War II lasted a few years and, eventually, everyone who wanted to, and could, left Europe and settled elsewhere. There, they built lives and became citizens. Some eventually returned to their homelands; the rest made new lives where they settled. This is not true of the Palestinian refugees. They left Palestine before and during the War of Independence in which Israel defended itself against a multi-country attack. It is also true that some Palestinians were driven out. Some of these refugees settled in the lands of their refuge but a very large number of them, instead of settling elsewhere, maintained the status as refugees. We are now into the 75thyear and the 4th generation of these “refugees.” They have refused resettlement, unlike any other refugees. They live in “refugee camps” which are really villages with multi-story apartment houses -in Lebanon, Israel, and elsewhere. And, Palestinian refugees continue to receive money contributed annually by Europeans and the United States. Palestinians will never give up this unique status, with its income, and agree to a Palestinian state or agree to some kind of compensation. Why should they?
Ask your interlocutors: “Under what conditions would Palestinian refugees agree to stop being refugees?”
∞∞∞ If you are really lucky to get into serious dialogue, be sure to raise the following questions:
Jews in the State of Palestine:
Will Jews and Israelis be able to settle in Palestine?
To freely buy land from Palestinians?
To be members of the Palestinian police force?
To organize political parties? And to vote in national elections?
To have Hebrew media: television, radio, etc.?
To hold dual citizenship with the State of Israel?
To bear arms like Palestinians?
To serve as judges in Palestinian courts? And doctors in Palestinian hospitals?
To fly the flag of the State of Israel at demonstrations?
To have free access to kosher food?
To dress as they please?
Will Palestinians revise their school textbooks so as not to defame Jews?
Jews in other Islamic states:
Will other Islamic nations recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist?
Will Islamic states submit their school textbooks to examination and edit them to reflect a respect for non-Muslim persons and communities?
Will other minority groups such as gays and lesbians, opposition groups, those who convert out of Islam, and liberal Muslim groups be protected by Islamic governments?
Religious questions:
Does Islam require the conversion of people of other religions? What is the status of people who refuse to convert?
Will Islamic religious authorities reinterpret jihad so as to eliminate the genocidal implications for Jews, Christians, and others? Will Islamic religious authorities educate the Islamic public in this interpretation?
Do Muslims believe that the Muslims in democratic Europe ought to impose shari’a law on non-Muslims?
Can we discuss Islamic history – even the hermeneutical problems around the origin of the Koran – without threats of violence?
There is a lot more to say. I’ve written extensively about different types of real dialogue in the book no one will publish.
Blessings and prayers,
David
Josh had a new letter from David, and I just now added it to today's front-page post. Check it out above under "Read ->".
While I don't have time for a full book report, I do want to mention that I just finished Cassidy Hutchinson's book, Enough. The Kindle version I borrowed from the public library was about to (figuratively) turn into a pumpkin, so I made a point of finishing it.
One interesting take-away is that she was inspired by the story of Alexander Butterfield, someone who had been in a very similar position to hers, who came forward with testimony after Watergate. This was detailed in a 2015 book by Bob Woodward, which Hutchinson found out about and read over and over. Butterfield (whom she finally met at the end of her story; he's 97 now) was her role model as she summoned her courage and her strategy to be a truth-teller.
This shows that when you choose to do the right thing and go on the record withh it, your courage and your choice may be of untold help to others down the line. Seems that paying it forward can apply to whistleblowing as well as to passing along kindnesses. I hope more people are thinking about this now.