Beau brought me to tears with this exposition on what it takes to stop these endless conflicts based on the differences between people’s religions and ethnicities, when people lose their ability to see the most important thing: their common humanity.
Right now, we are seeing two kinds of war going on at the same time.
The war in Ukraine is a cross-border war of national aggression. It is about world power between whole nations or groups of nations in alliances and the acquisition of land and resources. The decision to begin aggression is made by a small cadre of national leaders. There is a specific date and time when hostilities are initiated.
The Hamas/Israel war, like the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the renewed ethnic cleansing in Darfur, and the genocide in Rwanda, are about trying to exterminate whole groups of people because of who they are. There is no way to assign blame because there is a spiral of violence that begets more violence, more retaliation, more grievance, and more hate. I think Beau is right. This type of conflict can only end when enough people on both sides say that sacrificing whole generations of their children is not worth the continued fight.
We, in America today, are dealing with allies involved in both kinds of war. They cannot be treated in the same way. The diplomatic actions of the Biden administration recognize that.
There can be no compromise with support for Ukraine because Putin’s ambition and aggression will never be satisfied until he is defeated. The loss of Ukraine would lead to attacks on other members of NATO and embolden other world powers to attack democracies. Appeasement of Putin was already tried with Crimea and only led to a broader, more dire cycle of violence. Those who oppose aid to Ukraine fail to see, or are purposefully blind, to those consequences.
American diplomacy in the Hamas/Israel war cannot just be about better arming Israel. It must deal with ending the spiral of violence. It must involve immediate humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza and an end to settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Netanyahu’s plan for an occupation of Gaza will lead to the loss of another generation and extend the spiral of grievance. Both Israelis and Palestinians must come to recognize the futility of continued conflict and its costs.
The resolution of the Hamas/Isreal conflict will be complex. The Guardian has a brief summary of the issues and past attempts at resolution.1 It is a good place to start if you want to educate yourself about the conflict.
Full disclosures: I am a second-generation Ukrainian American. I have friends and coworkers who are Jewish, Palestinian, and Arab Christians whose families were displaced in Israel. I am a follower of Christ who believes that all people are made in God’s image and have equal intrinsic worth. I am a mother.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/04/israel-palestine-is-the-two-state-solution-the-answer-to-the-crisis
Beau is right of course. And I have always thought Ireland should be the lens to look through. The bitterness and poison between them seemed so complete that it appeared hopeless. Correct me if I am wrong. But I believe it was women...mothers who broke the cycle.
The problem with Israel and Gaza is that these two cousins were handed a diabolical situation by Britain and its European partners in colonialism.
Imagine if Israel had been created as a secular state where all faiths or beliefs were honored. No dislocation. Just a welcome mat.
But as Beau said, we need to look forward. And that future can't include the existence of Hamas.
Here is an analogy. Europeans "stole America" from its residents. What if Native Americans started sending rockets to major cities like San Francisco? What if they pledged the extermination of every white person "from sea to shining sea"?
Gaza has been an open air prison. A ridiculous and cruel situation. But until Gazans give up Hamas, they are doomed. They will perish like the Germans and Japanese of WWII. Because they allowed themselves to be ruled by monsters.
Beau is great. I just wish he would tighten up his episodes. Too much repetition. But he is a really smart guy, for sure.