We are on the verge of an unimaginable cataclysm in the Middle East. The heinous Hamas terror attacks on Israeli civilians triggered a fierce retaliation on Gaza by Israel’s Netanyahu government. If Israel’s announced plans to invade Gaza go forward, the civilians in Gaza – half of them children –will suffer untold horrors and threaten a regional war that will be catastrophic for the Palestinians, the Israelis, and US interests across the world. The Biden administration should push now for a cease-fire, emergency humanitarian aid to Gazans, and an international effort to bring security to Israelis and Palestinians, ending all outside support for Hamas while bringing its leaders to justice.
The abhorrent Hamas terror attacks repulsed the world. The ferocious Israeli response on Gaza is also widely condemned. Anti-Arab and antisemitic hatreds are aroused in this country and elsewhere. Beneath the rage is a reality best summarized in an op-ed by Daniel Levy and Zaha Hassan, former negotiators for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
They laid out “three truths:” The Hamas attack on Israeli civilians was “unconscionable, inhumane, and in violation of international law.”
Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is unconscionable, inhumane, and in violation of international law.”
One must address the context of occupation to be able to find a strategy in which “both Palestinians and Israelis can live in freedom and security.”
The shocking terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians – killing 1,400 people, many of them children; was the single bloodiest day in Israel’s history. Any government would strike back.
Yet, while you cannot determine how you are violated, you can determine your response. Netanyahu’s government response was collective reprisal: cutting off water, electricity, gas, and food–while unleashing widespread bombing. It then ordered over a million Gazans to evacuate to the south, even as it continued to bomb targets in the south. Over 5,000 have died already, including over 2,000 children. An estimated million are homeless. International agencies warn of a humanitarian horror from starvation, lack of water, and medical assistance.
The world knows, as President Biden stated, that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people trapped in Gaza and the West Bank.
Virtually the entire world has opposed the scope of Netanyahu’s retaliation. Only a US veto stood in the way of a UN Security Council resolution introduced by Brazil calling for a “humanitarian pause.”
President Biden announced US support for Israel in the wake of the Hamas attacks. He has offered more military aid and moved US warships to the Eastern Mediterranean, warning others against widening the conflict. Largely in private, he has urged Israel to show “restraint” and led efforts to gain agreement for humanitarian aid to those besieged in Gaza. There are conflicting reports as to whether he urged Netanyahu to put off the announced invasion plans.
To date, the Netanyahu government has shown little sign of changing course. The violence is spreading. Israel has struck at Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Syria.US outposts have been hit in Syria and Iraq. All of this before an invasion–which inevitably will level villages, forcing tens of thousands more from their homes, and rack up more and more civilian casualties in what will be fierce fighting between Israeli and Hamas forces. The humanitarian horror will surely spark reactions not only in the region but across the world.
It is vital now that the Biden administration joins with our allies in redoubling efforts for a cease-fire, massive and immediate humanitarian relief, and the launching of a new effort to deal with the underlying conditions so that Hamas can be isolated and eliminated, and Palestinians and Israelis can find a way to live with security.
After years of failed negotiations, the last may appear to be a faint hope– but surely it has a far more realistic chance of succeeding than an invasion that will be long, brutal, and likely to spread violence across the region, isolate Israel and only feed the hatred and desperation that generate more terrorism.
In the wake of the Hamas attacks, President Biden reaffirmed US support for Israel, and demonstrated the strength of his commitment by traveling to Israel. He warned them publicly to avoid making the mistakes that the US made after 9/11 when we squandered our global support by invading Iraq. Now he should push harder – privately and publicly – to save them from allowing their rage and pain to lead them into an unimaginable calamity.
You can write to the Rev. Jesse Jackson in care of this newspaper or by email at jjackson@rainbowpush.org. Follow him on Twitter @RevJJackson.
©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
