Israel versus Hamas

Today’s post will be something a little different as I have been pretty busy with something else and have not had much energy for anything else. This is not a normal topic for me, but it may be relevant on how one conducts life.

I’m sure just like everyone else, I’ve been watching and reading the news surrounding the Israel-Hamas war and trying to wade through all of the opinions about the war. I don’t want to go to the political aspect because I can see Israel’s viewpoints and the Palestinians’ viewpoints. And Hamas? I think we’re pretty much in agreement that what they did was unconscionable, and their conduct of the war is a crime. That is as much as I want to say.

Instead, I have a question. When I look at Israel and Palestine and read the history – or at least part of the history – I have to wonder why the disparity between the two countries. It looks like – and I may be wrong – that around 1948 both countries were starting from zero. Israel was recovering from the devastation from the antisemitism in Germany and elsewhere and Palestine trying to absorb the catastrophe of Nakba. Both of them starting from a low place.

And yet, Israel grew to be a technologically advanced nation, with renowned intelligence (well, before Oct 7, 2023) and a thriving technology sector, despite being surrounded by enemies constantly throwing attacks on them. Palestine, on the other hand, just remained impoverished, living in “camps” (I put in quotes because I am not sure that those “camps” are “camps” in the conventional sense of the term). They haven’t progressed despite having very smart people – they have doctors working under horrendous conditions and they did build those underground tunnels. That’s a feat of engineering, although put to bad purposes.

And the Palestinians are still called refugees. Why are they called refugees? After 75 years, shouldn’t they be called residents of Gaza or Lebanon or wherever they reside? The perpetual refugee status seems unhelpful to their mindset.

The only thing I could come up with to explain the difference in how the countries ended up so differently from the same starting point is that the constant grievance, the constant threatening of Israel with terrorism and intifada, the constant declaration of eliminating Israel, has led to Palestinians being under oppression. Their never-ending grievance directed their talents and energy toward “getting back” at Israel rather than improving their lives.

Meanwhile, Israel turned most of their energy to rebuilding their lives, bolstering their security with strong intelligence, and maintaining vigilance instead of seeking revenge on Germany. The only thing they did was seek out the German perpetuators of the Holocaust. Was that revenge or was that seeking justice? There is a fine line there. You do want to bring back the perpetuators and put them to trial for accountability purposes and for education purposes (to let others know that what they did was a crime and should never happen again). While that hunt for the German Nazis may have a tinge of revenge, I think most of the Israelis were seeking to rebuild their lives and build security.

“Living well is the best revenge” is that saying that best describes the way one should handle wrongdoing and it appears that is what the Israelis did, and Palestinians did not.

Again, I could be wrong because of the oppression part.

But for me, and for Americans, we should look at the cautionary tale of the Palestinians when thinking of embarking on revenge. Retribution may not end well.