A Broader Perspective Examining Israel’s Necessary War Strategy, Media coverage and the Recent Anti-Semitism on College Campuses

Half the world is said to be outraged by Israel’s war against Hamas. The media in America can’t find enough to criticize–the stupidity of their leaders, one after another example of idiotic decisions before the war and, even worse, its dumb plans for the future. There is zero sympathy for the difficult decisions Israel’s leaders had to make and still must make. For instance, that Hamas’ leaders could be bribed into a peaceful relationship like the architects of the slaughter of Israel’s athletes at the Olympics, the PLO. Ridiculous. Hamas is not the PLO. They should have understood that Iran rules Hamas and Iran was not going to tolerate Israel’s imminent alliance with the Saudis. After the fact, unsuccessful strategies always seem obviously wrong. But this criticism is minor compared to the rest of Israel’s horrible behavior. What has grabbed the headlines is Israel’s villainy. Thousands of women and children killed or crippled by the IDF, famine, inadequate medical supplies, attacks on hospitals– the list of moral transgressions could fill headlines from tomorrow ‘til forever. We cannot dismiss this criticism as imagined or biased nonsense. There is truth in some, though certainly, not all of it. Nevertheless, the attacks on Israel’s conduct of the war is off in America, very far off from what it should be. We are turning out to be a fair weather friend. There are many causes of that, but one is clear. Americans have forgotten what it is like to be at war—a real war­–one in which our homes and our lives are in danger, where one or more of us could be killed or crippled. We don’t understand Israel’s reality. We can’t, we are too safe.

In modern consciousness, by that I mean since Viet Nam and the counter culture’s apparent victory, we have come to accept that the important war being waged is not on the battlefields. It is in the media. Who is winning or losing that war is what matters. The examples are everywhere, starting with promoting generals who understand how today’s wars are to be fought, who understand that their own survival depends on being media savvy. Prioritizing that, rather than the usual proof, demonstrating fighting effectiveness, is not as outlandish as it, at first sounds. It is to be expected in the world Americans occupy, the safe environment we live in.

And it is safe. Our wars are but one of many interests that may, or may not, grab Americans’ attention on a given day. America’s on and off engagement in our wars–Iraq or Afghanistan,and now support of Israel, each fade or gain in importance in the ever cascading headlines and conversations that temporarily occupy us. They are topics, juiced up for a while then fade, joining gun control and the many other fears our worriers conjure. The ease of our being distracted is not a mystery. We live the good life. Other than occasional mad men erupting and shooting up a school or mall, or car hijackers, or the many dangers pictured by politicians seeking to be elected in order to save us from that danger, compared to people involved in a war, we live a very good life. Which is fine, thank the powers that be. But our relative safety leads to certain biases. President Biden is fond of a story he has often told that when he and then-President Obama visited the Pentagon and met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during the meeting they informed him that climate change was the greatest threat to American security. Meaning, Biden and his allies are dedicating trillions of dollars in a quest to save the planet which, worse-case scenario, will have us doomed in a hundred years.

That we can worry and plan for possible events in a hundred years is a sign of how safe we currently feel. The signs are everywhere. Our modern spirited, democratic way of fighting, dedication to openness, fair play, and humane killing, and the gallons and gallons of wartime chatter on every air wave– all are signs of how much our assumptions bring us confidence. To prioritize having clean hands is part of the same syndrome. It is very preferable to the panic and desperation of those in a real war. Our romance with the loftiness of peace has led to an unsurprising result, one corresponding to our lack of involvement in our wars. This media game we play at, results in billions and billions of dollars thrown out, but we apparently can afford it. Since Viet Nam, relatively few Americans have lost their lives in war (in Iraq 3777 and Afghanistan 3606 in twenty years of conflict). All to the good. However, if this is the perspective that encases us, somehow, the consequences of our lack of warrior mentality must be acknowledged. To start with, it has brought us defeat after defeat in all our post 9/11 wars. That may be worth the abstract attention it gets, even if, I suspect, we can pull ourselves together if circumstances warrant it. Still, that in actual wars we are losers is no small thing. Fortunately, we haven’t had to fight and we haven’t. Since 9/11, we have lost 4 times as many servicemen to suicide as from battlefield fatalities. So, to expect Israel to drink up our wisdom about how to conduct its war on the basis of our successes is absurd. Yes, we have the money to get our way, but it isn’t even clear if it is our way. Despite hostile media coverage of the war, Pew surveys indicate, 38% of Americans still support Israeli tactics compared to 34% who don’t. 27% are undecided. The real question? Should Israeli generals await an all clear from the 27% undecided?

At first blush one would think Americans would immediately grasp what war means. It’s a movie favorite, documentaries, one after another powerfully recapture previous mayhem. Wars with outer space aliens never get old. Cowboys and Indians, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, gang wars– a never ending supply of all kinds of dangers scare us, demand our attention. We know war is horrible. Apparently, none of this conveys its reality. The movies grip us, as does reports in the news of volcanos and earthquakes, or finding out that our Aunt Anne suddenly died. But our fear and sadness doesn’t last long. Its impact doesn’t change us like actually being in a war would. Our brains may understand its significance. Our emotions are engaged. It’s scary enough. But it remains unreal. The panic isn’t there. We can only understand the horror when we go there, when it is reality. And that hasn’t happened in a very long time.

We haven’t been in a real war since the end of World War II, 1945–– 79 years to be exact. During World War II every American life was seriously threatened. No one asked why we must win, or at what cost. It did not have to be explained. The worst could happen. Hopefully not, but possibly yes. The only way we can understand Israel’s war is by recalling our own.

After Pearl Harbor everybody knew what was facing us and understood what was needed. We had to win. We could not lose. Who would do the fighting? Every last one of our young men and some not so young men. It was not a job limited to professional soldiers. Most of our recruits had never fired a gun, certainly not at another person. They had never beaten up anyone, let alone killed one. They had never known this kind of danger. They left home knowing they might not return.

Not that their feelings mattered. Whether afraid and hesitant, or eager to be a hero, their attitude about joining was irrelevant. They had to go. Farmers, plumbers, electricians, accountants, actors and baseball players, students not yet finished with their studies, the kid down the block and his cousin–all put their clothes in the closet and put on whatever uniform was assigned to them. It was not a time for individualism and personal growth. Glory would have to wait, or be found on the battle field. They were expected to do what they were told to do–military attitude, put up and shut up. Anything else might land them in jail.

And most were willing. They had seen newsreels of Pearl Harbor, of fire and bombed buildings in London, crushed people, orphans. Their grocery store, where they went for an ice cream cone, their house, all the houses on their block, their neighborhood and Times Square, it was their job to protect America. Their mothers, their brothers and sisters and children, their wives and in-laws, girlfriends, childhood friends, and acquaintances. Even those they were ordinarily indifferent to–they had to do their part to keep everyone safe.

Hundreds of thousands of women worked in factories to keep the engines going. War bonds, raffles, breakfasts, luncheons and dinners, an evening dancing with soldiers on leave, given temporary respite from the battlefield. Some women fell in love precisely because their man might die. A thousand ways were found to contribute. Food rationing, any and all conceivable ways to help the war effort were dreamt up and carried through. The war was not a movie served up with butter popcorn. It was real, apathy impossible.

People turned to the news, needing to know how we were doing, the progress made by our soldiers, or defeats that set us back. Reporters were not trying to distinguish themselves with gotcha narratives. They remained focused, worried and concerned like everyone else. The petty controversies in modern newscasting, the caddy gossip of ladies, or men arguing at the bar, yesterday’s chatter and today’s fads would have seemed pointless.

The rules were many. Right or wrong they were expected to be followed. For instance, photographing body bags was forbidden. 407,000 young Americans brought home and shown on the big screen at the movies would have been far too real. No one needed reminding. It would have been extremely destructive to our war effort. It would have supported the enemy’s cause. Nations who relented to Hitler did so because it wasn’t worth the cost in human lives. Many more Americans might have turned against the war if they were daily confronted by the horror of our dead being brought home. Similarly, calling attention to the suffering of civilians attributable to our military actions was rightly considered giving comfort to our enemy. Free expression of any type that hindered our war effort was a luxury we couldn’t afford.

Death, is of course, what makes war so horrible, but focusing too much on it interferes with crucial planning. Most of the time we’d rather not think about death, but especially during war. It’s living that matters. Winning the object of prayers. We usually do our best to escape fear. Yes, death matters to those put in charge of our war efforts. Losing our own men unnecessarily was not irrelevant to our generals as they tried to figure out how to kill our enemies, but like a surgeon, an amputation is not out of the question when trying to save a patient. It would cripple a surgeon to consider damage he is doing to healthy tissue. Sometimes our own men had to be sacrificed to achieve military goals. Germany and Japan’s generals were every bit as cunning and determined to destroy us as our military planners. Meaning, compared to the goal of winning each battle, perhaps smashing our enemy mercilessly, our individual soldiers’ deaths had to be ignored. Moral complexities can muddy the field of vision.

Sometimes our men killed were due to mistakes by generals, even the best of them. Sometimes it was due to a bad guess by a sergeant or lieutenant, or an outburst of panic and wild gunshots from one, or many, of our men, hopefully few, but sometimes many. Wars are fought by actual men, meaning imperfect men, men who make mistakes, few or plenty of them, but definitely expected. There is no way to avoid that. Those generals too concerned with their armies’ safety are not up to the job. At the beginning of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had to replace one general after another who kept their armies safe from combat. It was nice of them to care about their men. But they were useless. In World War II, tigers, warriors, half animal–half men, thrilled by victory, contemptuous of frailty, men like Patton were appreciated. What was worst about him was what was best, his hate, his desire to kill. His ability to kill the enemy distinguished him. Men like him, notorious for their mean-spirited outbursts were tolerated. What counted was results, not a lovey-dovey image. Ike knew he needed warriors like him to beat the Germans. There were more than enough beasts on the other side.

In the calculus of war strategy, collateral damage was not high on the list of our generals’ concerns. As is being done in Gaza now, every Pacific island that our marines were asked to retake from the Japanese was preceded by heavy bombing and artillery fire. It was, and is, standard military practice. It was crucial to soften resistance, to cut down on the number of our men that would be lost in the invasion. Residents of the islands were simply out of luck. No one would deny their casualties were real but focusing on that seemed off the point. Same argument. There was a war to be won, an island to take, Japanese soldiers to kill. Perhaps the Japanese weren’t as cruel as Hamas using the islanders as shields, or perhaps it wouldn’t have mattered. The bombs and artillery would have come anyway. And if island casualties were a regular part of the reporting after a battle (which they weren’t) perhaps our military planners might have comforted themselves with the thought that we were freeing those on the islands from Japanese occupation. But probably not– bombing was essential and highly inaccurate. The image of a doctor with his scalpel, can be misleading. To a certain extent it still is. Yes, technology now allows us to precisely pick off individuals without doing massive damage to others. But as much as ever, an invasion requires massive bombing, not pinpricks. In retrospect every block of a city is built and lived in with detail added upon detail, forver improved, sometimes every inch fussed over and appreciated. Destruction is the opposite. It is worse than a bull in a china shop. It wasn’t china we were destroying. It was the living room, the paintings and knick knacks, the dining room furniture, and keepsakes. It was children’s swings and wagons, and toy soldiers and dolls, the roof and front doors, all blasted to smithereens. Before our troops went storming in to free France we threw high explosives everywhere, blasted away, killing mothers and children with few misgivings. Soldiers can’t think about that. Otherwise they can’t do what needs to be done. The destruction that takes place in war is inconceivable to those living in peace. It defies imagination. The French, nevertheless, lined the streets cheering as our soldiers passed before them. That kind of glory was not particularly on the minds of our generals. As much as they might have enjoyed it, their focus was not on public relations for the American military. That needed no bolstering. As it should be, it was on military aims.

We are all familiar with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our massacre of civilians on a scale that had never occurred before. Less publicized was the 100,000 Japanese civilians killed in our fire- bombing of Tokyo. It too was unprecedented. At that point it was the largest number of casualties from an aerial bombardment in history. Our leaders felt the innocence of those slayed by us was not a moral priority. Yes, we killed mothers and children, grandparents, uncles and aunts, perhaps a future great artist, composer, or poet, perhaps a scientist who might have discovered a cure for cancer. But, leisure speculations of that nature were not relevant. 50,000 American boys were casualties of the invasion of Okinawa. The intensity of the campaign was reflected in the battle for “Chocolate Drop Hill,” a fortified Japanese mound guarding the approaches to Shuri. American forces fought their way to the base of this 130-foot (40-metre) hill three times in five days and were thrown back each time. In one six-hour period, land and naval guns blanketed the hill with 30,000 shells, while bombers showered it with additional tons of high explosives. These long-range efforts to dislodge the defenders were futile, however, and ground troops had to destroy each Japanese fortification singly, an operation that was tedious, costly, and dangerous. It had a horrible outcome. 100,000 Okinawan civilians died as a result of our invasion. The Japanese fought to the last soldier. The general in charge of our assault, Simon Bruckner was killed, as was beloved war correspondent, Ernie Pyle.

On the basis of our experience at Okinawa, our leaders estimated between 250,000 to a million American soldiers would die if an invasion of Japan proved necessary. So, dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a no brainer for President Truman. We acted as any other nation at war. We cared about our own men first. One million Americans remaining alive overruled any other considerations. Criticism of what we had done was considered only long after, when those looking back felt totally secure about their own safety. They could not imagine a time when Americans did not feel safe, when there was a possibility we could lose the war.

So, let me repeat. Americans, like Israelis today, did not feel safe. Israel is 85 miles at its widest. We are a vast country. We have two oceans to protect us, but with the outbreak of World War II Americans were frightened. Germany had been building up its military might for years and years. Their factories were humming. Ours weren’t. Like Chamberlain in Britain, influential orators reminded Americans of the horrors of World War I, how we had been dragged into a European war by militarists who never tired of the glories of war. When we finally entered World War II, the horror facing us was evident, our fear appropriate to the danger we faced. Hitler led the most powerful nation on earth. For centuries, Hessian mercenaries were prized by nations seeking their discipline and ferocity. This war was being fought by them. The rallies of their people, hundreds of thousands deliriously shouting loyalty to their Fuhrer–the intensity of their patriotism sent shivers throughout the world. German scientists and engineers were among the world’s finest. Germany easily conquered every nation it attacked.

Not just conquered. They were a throwback to the past. They did not merely change the government of those they conquered. Their behavior was like the behavior of previous empire builders. The Romans killed and raped at random all who they defeated. They intentionally made the mode of killing as horrific as possible to scare the next city on their list to submit peacefully. And sometimes even those cooperating were merciless slaughtered to reinforce the message of their absolute power. The Persians are said to have invented crucifixion, considered one of the most horrible ways to die. The Romans lined the pathways to cities they occupied with naked men nailed to crosses, slowly dying in pain.
It wasn’t just the armies of Rome that feasted on their power, overjoyed with evidence of their enemies’ defeat. In their grand architectural masterpiece, the colosseum, tens of thousands of Roman citizens waited with half-bored curiosity to see what would happen next to the gladiators, their slaves and prisoners of war. Whether it would be interesting enough to keep them in their seats until the next part of the “big show” began was their main concern.
With a flourish, trapdoors in the floor of the arena were opened, and lions, bears, wild boars and leopards rushed into the arena. The starved animals bounded toward the terrified victims, who attempted to leap away from the beasts’ snapping jaws. But as one helpless man flung himself upward and out of harm’s way, his partner on the other side of a seesaw was sent crashing down into the seething mass of claws, teeth and fur.

The crowd of Romans began to laugh at the dark antics before them. Soon, they were clapping and yelling, placing bets on which victim would die first, which one would last longest and which one would ultimately be chosen by the largest lion, who was still prowling the outskirts of the arena’s pure white sand. Not being a soldier and tasting the fruits of victory, plunder and rape, citizens of Rome could still enjoy the pleasure of killing.

The mighty soldiers of Ottoman empire, spreading the glory of Mohamed weren’t different. The Nazis often had public hangings as they took over a town. The Turks left a pile of men’s heads in each village they pillaged. The size of their pile of decapitated heads reinforced their mightiness. Life invariably brings every person insecurities and defeats. The Nazis enjoyed the best punctuation for their victories, the same resplendent sadism, the same certainty, the glory and pleasure of their mastery. There was no colosseum, but in their concentration camps there was similar celebration, especially of the numbers they were able to kill. Not only Jews were exterminated. Anyone they felt contempt for received the same fate, the disabled, the mentally ill, the retarded, Gypsies, Poles, Slavs, peasants of all varieties, tens of millions of non-Aryans were slaughtered. Looking back, we would undoubtedly like to think positively about human nature, believing that the cruelty of the Nazis was unique, a historical anomaly. It wasn’t. Like Hamas, intoxicated by the ambrosia of their might, they did what others had done, killed at will. The Mongolians overran Asia with the same flourish. Assyrian conquests were the same. Their ability to slaughter all adversaries meant they could now enjoy the sweetest part of their victory as rulers, peace on earth for them as their victims died. Napoleon’s conquests were no different. He may have believed he was bringing the ideals of the French Revolution, putting an end to class, to the kings and aristocracies that ruled each country. Nazis believed that they too were bringing forth something wonderful, a master race to rule over their 1,000-year Reich. When their day was done at the camps, inebriated, the masters sang sweet sentimental songs with a strong rhythm. Laughter filled the halls of the killers.

The IDF released a recording of a Hamas soldier calling home. He can be heard excitedly telling his parents that he is in Mefalsim, a kibbutz near the Gaza border, and that he alone killed 10 Jews.

“Look how many I killed with my own hands! Your son killed Jews!” he said, according to an English translation.

“Mom, your son is a hero,” he later adds.

His parents are heard praising him during the call. Identified by his father as Mahmoud, the terrorist says he is calling his family with the phone of a Jewish woman he’s just murdered and implores them to check his WhatsApp messages for further documentation.
“I wish I was with you,” the mother says.

We faced the same kind of horror Israel faced after October 7th. In our case no one was certain that Hitler could be stopped. Yes, by 1945, at a great cost in Russian blood, Hitler’s armies had finally been turned back. But in the preceding years, we had very little confidence that we would prevail. And even though, by the time we dropped our atomic bombs the war was now going well for America and its allies, fortunes can, and do, change.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, its supremacy in the Pacific was nearly absolute. Our soldiers had to flee the Philippines. Barbed wire fences were erected on Australia’s beaches. Singapore, the center of England’s Pacific empire had been overrun. As with the Germans, that didn’t simply mean a change in Singapore’s government. With Japan’s victory 25,000 to 50,000 Chinese men were soon lined up and machine gunned. 80,000 British, Indian, Australian and local troops became prisoners of war joining the 50,000 taken in Malaya; many died of neglect, abuse or forced labor. During the Sandakan Death, which began in March,1945 more than 2,700 British and Australian soldiers were forced to march through the steamy jungles of Borneo only to be shot when they reached their destination. During another death march, Japanese soldiers gleefully rode their trucks over the heads of Americans who had fallen, too weak to continue on. 40% of American POWs died in captivity, compared to only 1% of Americans imprisoned by the Germans. For whatever reason, Germans liked Americans unless they were Jewish. In conquered Singapore, only the Japanese residents were treated humanely.

There wasn’t confident chatter in America when the war began. But there was determination. Fear was daily reflected in the news. Sometimes what was reported was bad, very bad, a naval defeat, a battle that hadn’t gone well, which gave second thoughts to parents putting their children to bed. But we were not about to roll over and die. General Douglas Macarthur had to flee the Philippines with his family but he vowed to return, and most Americans believed, or at least prayed, that he would. Given our decimated Pacific fleet, Hawaii’s vulnerability was obvious. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was put under military rule. FBI and military agents rounded up suspected spies and “suspicious persons.” The army imposed a strict curfew. Habeas corpus was suspended. The military took control of labor, and trial by jury was temporarily abolished. More than 2,000 people were arrested in the first 48 hours alone. Every person on the island, with the exception of children, was fingerprinted and issued identification papers they had to produce on demand. Civilians were banned from photographing any coastal location. We have since learned, that before the war, as our relationship with Japan was deteriorating, Hawaii’s Japanese Americans had been under surveillance by federal and military intelligence agencies that feared they would side with Japan should there be a war. This intensified after the Japanese attack. Unlike America’s West Coast, the Japanese in Hawaii were not moved to internment camps. That would have totally destroyed Hawaii’s ability to function. One third of the population was Japanese, but if that were not the case it would have been done.

Many of our suspicions focused specifically on those who had been born in Japan. Japanese-born people couldn’t own shortwave radios, gather in groups of more than ten people, or move without requesting official permission. They were labeled “enemy aliens.” During martial law, the media was censored, and press outlets were only allowed to use English. So were people placing long-distance calls. A Japanese language ban affected many of its schools, which were forced to close. Hawaii’s Japanese population had long been subjected to English-only campaigns, but they had never been successful. Now, pressure to speak only English came from both the military and Japanese groups desperate to prove their loyalty to the United States. “Speak American,” encouraged one campaign.

Modern moralists would be outraged if we allowed our government to do what was thought necessary in Hawaii. In their world view such behavior would be inconceivable, unless MAGA Republicans grabbed control of America. Was it racist back then? Probably there was some of that. Few Americans had Japanese friends. Given Pearl Harbor, Singapore, Malaya and the Philippines, who knew what they were capable of doing. Xenophobia is frowned upon today, but an instinctive fear of strangers is probably the norm, especially during a time when Americans were being killed. Given the bloodshed between us and them, it was not crazy to have more than passing thoughts of danger from Japanese Americans. The fear was great enough so that our suspicions grew into decisive action. Perhaps more because they were Asian, unfamiliar, not the same race. But there were similar suspicions of Italian and German Americans and in their case also, a governmentally supported campaign against them took place. The FBI searched houses for contraband items, confiscating radios and other items, and forced Italians, even those who were naturalized citizens, to report changes of address and employment. The government restricted the employment and movement of Italian fishermen, confiscating their boats and cutting off their access to the waters that provided their livelihoods. And though the federal government officially discouraged refusing Italians employment, they looked the other way when employers like Southern Pacific Railroad terminated them en masse. More than 10,000 Italian Americans were forced from their homes, and hundreds of thousands suffered curfews, confiscations and mass surveillance during the war. Future New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s grandmother was placed in a camp. 11,000 German Americans were also placed in internment camps.

At the risk of being accused of disloyalty I must defend our World War II policies with a confession. I cannot conceive of a time when Israel and the United States could go to war with each other. I love America deeply. It has been good to me, my family, my family’s family. Compared to what Jews have faced elsewhere, America has been paradise. I love our music, our dance, our stores, the bakeries where we get our bread and pastries. I love the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, spring in Connecticut, Vermont in the fall, Jones Beach and Candlewood Lake, the New York Knicks and the Mets. Costco and Amazon and I phones are modern miracles. My wife loves the shops she has discovered locally and on line. We love it all. It is our wonderful home. But if we were in a war with Israel I would find it impossible to turn against Israel. Would I spy, or join an underground network, or do anything that would be a threat to America? I’ve never had the courage to do that. And obviously, today, at 80, I am not a threat. Nor would I have been when I was 20 in the 60’s, when I joined other students to protest the war. Although I found plenty wrong back then and still find plenty wrong with much of the accepted views now in fashion, no way could I come out against the United States. I think America and the West and Israel are fantastic and my loyalty remains complete. Nevertheless, I’m reasonably sure that in a war with Israel maybe not me, but there would be Jewish Americans who would take action for Israel rather than the United States. All of this is to say, I would be angry, indignant, furious, if during this hypothetical war America decided to place Jews in internment camps. It would be frightening and I don’t doubt there would be enough anti-Semites in America so that some of the guards at the hypothetical camp might be especially cruel. I would never forget my mistreatment. But once the war ended and the internment camps were abolished, I would still love America. I would forgive. I would understand that they (we) could not afford to take chances. Their actions were necessary. Unfair to good old innocent me but necessary. I’m sure Irish Americans, or Swedish Americans, or Finnish Americans would react similarly if a hypothetical war occurred with their people.

Being in Berkeley in 1968 cured my leftist politics forever. I specifically went there for my medical internship thinking I was entering where the good guys lived. I was joining people who cared. They did care, but not exactly as I had imagined. I came across many people who not only proclaimed, but truly believed, that their deepest identity was making love not war, despite their fervent beliefs and hatreds which in their minds justified killing. In the name of the good much is allowed

At a meeting of the Medical Committee for Human Rights I saw fellow physicians, with Mao’s Red book in their back pocket, swell with pride as Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, who had been invited to our meeting, the founders of Oakland’s Black Panthers, bragged that, unlike Detroit’s Black Panthers, they were actually going to take down some pigs. Policemen deserved to be murdered.

The doctors themselves weren’t going to kill anyone. But their acceptance, more accurately, their excitement hearing such daring talk, turned me off. This went far beyond virtue signaling. They weren’t trying to impress each other. I remember mouthing across the room “Meshuganer” to the only other Jewish doctor in the room. I wasn’t being funny. I was disturbed and kept thinking about it for hours after trying to figure it out. Again and again, the entire year in Berkeley, leftists looked down their nose at liberals. The more radical you were, the more virtuous you became. I had read about American radicalism in the 30’s. How many otherwise intelligent people chose to go beyond flirting with Communism, how many actually became communists and felt that proved they were a better person. I suppose that kind of quest to climb the mountain of virtuehood is to be expected as the mountain top can never be reached. More, more– one must perpetually prove to yourself that you are yes indeed virtuous and prove it to everyone else. It can take weird forms. In Brooklyn glat kosher fanatics drive everyone else crazy with their search for acceptable food–in Berkeley’s one upmanship in the 60’s, one person out-radicaling the next. Exuding certainty and confidence, righteous fanaticism is a tempting persona for both the glat kosher nut and Berkeley radicals. I suppose both of them are harmless eccentricities that don’t do harm to very many. Eating permitted food is not a matter of great importance to anyone other than the glatt kosher fanatic. And doctors, on the whole, tend to think rather than act. These doctors weren’t going to kill anyone. But perhaps that’s beside the point. They were on the same side as people who could and would act. All for the sake of taking their goodness wherever it led them. Or did they start with that hate? How had the land of people in the Yellow Submarine become slimed by where their idealism had led them.

I was a kid back then, a newly graduated doctor with romantic follies and fine intentions, like many people my age. I had been a student so many years, with an unrelenting desire to understand. I thought principles and ideas determined history and action, that democracy forever moved forward towards something better. It took me many years to realize that certainly is how it should be. Not how it is.

In the real world, war demands infringements on liberty, many necessary, and yes, some, especially in retrospect, an overreaction. But, the present leftist perspective, comparing, for instance, what was done to the Japanese on our West Coast to Nazi concentration camps, is ridiculous. Japanese Americans on the East Coast were not put in internment camps. 32,000 Japanese who were living on the West Coast weren’t either. They found jobs elsewhere and moved there without government infringement. The people who were concerned with security weren’t interested in camps per se as important to our war effort. They wanted the west coast safe. That’s it. Once forced to vacate, the displaced persons had to have somewhere to go. Despite comparisons to Hitler’s concentration camps, there was adequate food and water, schools, baseball, boy scout and girl scout troops, much of American culture fully present in the internment camps. Although they were guarded and a resident could not leave at will, if a resident found alternative housing and a job elsewhere, he and his family could leave. 4,000 students were allowed to leave to attend college.

To return to my argument, harshly judging American morality during the war is a luxury only possible with the security and complacency we enjoy today. It is suitable for Mr. Rogers neighborhood, the apparent mindset of many of today’s students. Been there done that. During the war people living on the West Coast were afraid of an impending invasion. In California there were many panicky sightings of the Japanese navy, and any time there was an explosion in L.A. it meant sleepless nights for the wary. There were actual attacks on the United States along the Pacific coast including against the Ellwood Oil Field, located near Santa Barbara, Fort Stevens in Oregon, and the Lookout Air Raids near Brookings, Oregon. Blackout drills were instituted in most cities with air raid wardens going from home to home trying to enforce the blackout rules. Those volunteering their time to be a warden were not mocked as scaredy cats, but as partners trying to keep their neighbors safe.

One other piece of information that is often ignored by those who today attack America’s racism and paranoia. David Lowman, a national security agent, in his book Magic (2000) documents that President Roosevelt, in making his decision to move the Japanese Americans from the west coast, was not acting from unverified rumors. He was given abundant evidence, provided by our cryptologists of widespread espionage by Japanese Americans. Numerous actual messages to Japan were provided to him. This conclusion and some of the book’s other claims have been challenged, but even if the book were not entirely true, even if, as most people, including me, believe the great majority of Japanese Americans were loyal to the United States, the argument still holds. We were justifiably frightened, at a weakened position in a war against fierce enemies. Spies there probably were. Chances could not be taken. It wasn’t only paranoia or racism or other villainous motives that led to the internment camps. It was actual danger.

The role of the military.

As children, we count on our parents to protect us from danger. Our respect and expectations are visceral. As adults, in very frightening situations, we turn to the police. When there is a threat to our nation we similarly turn to those with the most knowledge about how to protect us. During World War II there were, as always, claims and counterclaims about certain leaders’ dishonorable actions. There were undoubtedly some leaders that needed replacement. But distrust of our institutions as a whole was not as deep and widespread as it is today. Our generals hadn’t yet been tarnished as belonging to the military-industrial complex. They mostly believed in what they were doing and took pride in that. So did most Americans. Boys wanted to grow up to be G.I. Joe. No one could imagine what was to come in the 60’s. Viet Nam vets spit on when they came home. ROTC banned on most college campuses.

In the mind of most Americans Dwight Eisenhower was like a father. Yes, unquestionably, the military might make strategic errors, sometimes costing our soldiers casualties. Especially in retrospect, instances can be cited where they may have been heartless in their willingness to send our men on suicidal missions to accomplish their battle plans. Especially if the mission failed. Similarly, it is easy to later see just how insensitive their willingness to ignore collateral damage to civilians might have been. A little more thought, a better plan and far fewer might die. But a barrage of criticism against our generals, even if based on actual occurrences, was unacceptable when we were in the middle of a war. It was understood that we need a defense department. We wanted our generals to keep their eyes on the prize, answering the prayers of Americans, winning the war. A congressional investigation, or a Pulitzer Prize winning news series on our generals’ mistakes would have been asinine.

There were mistakes, many of them, as there always are. Forty-seven of our fifty-two amphibious tanks sank to the bottom of the ocean killing its crew members during the invasion of Normandy. How was that possible? Didn’t they try out those landing vehicles in actual water before using them? Apparently not. There wasn’t time. The invasion couldn’t wait. There were thousands of other mistakes made throughout the war. Should there have been a headline highlighting this unimaginable goof, all the men lost? Or was the more important news that our men made it ashore. It was a time to rejoice, to heave a sigh of relief. We were now in France, hopefully on the way to Berlin. That was the news that mattered. It was D-Day!

The war took place in the real world, imperfect as reality always is, not in the conceptualizations of planners or the disappointed expectations of Monday morning quarterbacks. The makers of the landing vehicles would be facing a lot of questions with or without a news story about it. Our papers didn’t need, as we seem to need today, another story illustrating what nincompoops run this country.

War is war, a horrible time ignoring attention to unexpected possibilities. There were forever things going wrong. Those making decisions do not have the time scholars have, after the fact, to carefully contemplate choices to be made. We expect our generals to be decent men, but not overburdened by moral complexities. Being distracted by them gets in the way of decision making, which too often must be quick. We hope, we pray, we count on them to do what they have been chosen to do, to win our war, to not let our enemies defeat us. That is priority one, two and three. We can only hope they are making good choices. If they have given extra thought to moral concerns that is a plus, but we shouldn’t expect it from them. Not where it might get in the way. Their main purposes are too important. Whatever flaws they may have, our generals must fulfill the reason we need them, to guard the country, to protect us, to win the war we need them to win. The rest is gravy, the gotcha’ mentality ennobling modern reporters obscene.

Despite the terrible press throughout the world describing Israel’s war on Hamas, despite President Biden’s criticism, most Israelis agree that their safety depends on Hamas being eliminated. They are today a nation of 9 million, ¾ of them Jews, on a small piece of land, as noted, 85 miles at its widest. They don’t have oceans to protect them. No Israeli can ignore the horrible reality of Jews throughout history being very successfully slaughtered. Their fear is justified as is their rightful fury. Never again. The phrase has been repeated so often that it may have lost its sting. But not its meaning. Jews will never again simply submit to those wanting to eliminate them. Whatever it takes, those intent on seeing them dead will pay the price, think a thousand times over whether they want to arouse the sleeping giant. Yes giant. Not many men, not much land, but a giant. Through cruel experience, a Jewish image less than that invites disaster from those looking for trouble.

On the first day of Israel’s existence, in 1948, the Jewish population of 800,000 was attacked by the armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq with a population of well over 40 million. It was only 3 years after the Nazis finished exterminating 6 million Jews , a mission assisted by Jew hating people throughout Europe, in Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Netherlands,and the Ukraine.

Those Arabs attacking Israel claimed their motive was honorable. 6 days after their invasion Azzam Pasha one of the Arab League leaders told reporters:

“We are fighting for an Arab Palestine. Whatever the outcome the Arabs will stick to their offer of equal citizenship for Jews in Arab Palestine and let them be as Jewish as they like. In areas where they predominate they will have complete autonomy.”

The current ideal of “from the river to the sea” is that old. Israelis had little interest in the sweet talk of the Arab League. Action speaks louder than words. At the moment of its birth Israelis joyfully danced the hora briefly. Fear quickly replaced their celebration. They were outnumbered 40 to 1. Their fight for survival was desperate, losing the war unfathomable. Every able-bodied or able brained man of whatever age, 12 1/2-95 and woman under 40, were mobilized by Israel into its military. There was no choice.

Fortunately, 30,000 Jewish Palestinians had joined the English military during World War II. They were well trained. They became the backbone of Israel’s defense forces. Also, fortunately, the attacking nations were not Western nations. Their military was not comparably trained. Intrigue took precedence over discipline and organization. Some Arab leaders considered what they were doing as “police” actions. They did not send their entire armed forces into the war. Perhaps this means that Israel’s existence did not threaten their safety. Or they underestimated the Jews willingness and ability to fight. There were many competing factions among the Arabs, many deals that had been made and might be made. The politics behind their war complicated their motives.

Eliminating Israel was, in part, a war of conquest. Transjordan was hoping to grab the western portion of Palestine, Egypt the southern. The French signed a treaty for gradual independence in Syria and Lebanon in 1936. Their armies hoped to grab parts of northern Palestine. Egypt was competing with Jordon for Arab dominance. Trained by the English, Jordan’s army was the most powerful. Egypt had far more men but its armed forces were poorly trained. Its idea was for the parts of Palestine they sought, to be ruled from Gaza. Jordan had in mind the West Bank ruled by them. There are also claims that Jordan was hoping to rule a nation consisting of Lebanon and Syria.

From the very beginning, the situation in Palestine was complicated. As it had once been in Europe until modern times, there were no firm ideas of nations. There were competing tribes and kingdoms and a long history of wars between them. Repeatedly,, there have been hopes to unite all the Arabs into a single nation, instead of the 22 that Europeans designated. A short detour of local history amplifies the complications of the region.

The Hashemites trace their ancestry from Hashim ibn Abd Manaf (died c. 497 CE), the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They ruled Mecca for centuries than co-ruled with the Ottoman Empire. Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, was appointed as Sharif and Emir of Mecca by the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908, then in 1916—after concluding a secret agreement with the British Empire—was proclaimed King of Arab countries, after initiating the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. His sons Abdullah and Faisal assumed the thrones of Jordan and Iraq in 1921, and his first son Ali succeeded him in the Hejaz in 1924. This arrangement became known as the “Sharifian solution”. Abdullah was assassinated in 1951, but his descendants continue to rule Jordan today. The other two branches of the dynasty did not survive; Ali was ousted by Ibn Saud after the British withdrew their support from Hussein in 1924–1925. Hejaz, which he ruled (which included Mecca and Medina) was later absorbed into Saudi Arabia and Faisal’s grandson Faisal II was executed in the 1958 Iraqi coup d’état.

During the 1920’s Misrahi (Sephardic) Jews, who had lived in Arab countries for centuries, were not thrilled by the European Zionists hoping to at last find a homeland. The Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews were two different people, so much so, for instance, marriages between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, were strongly opposed by their families. The Sephardic were more like Arabs. Having lived among them for hundreds, even thousands of years, the Sephardic felt connected to Arab culture. In many ways they saw things the same way. Arabic was their native tongue. There were some Jewish cultural practices in common, but the socialist, idealistic Ashkenazi dreams of the reality they sought in Israel meant nothing to the Sephardim.

Meaning Sephardic Jews had few illusions about the Arabs, either good or bad. There was no need to color them better or worse, or all the things people do when the “other” remains an abstraction, in the realm of idealism and attitudes. According to the particulars of their experiences, they had both better and worse feelings about their Arab neighbors. Dealing with them was ruled by practical matters, person to person, good, bad or indifferent, but uninfluenced by the fine ideals that Ashkenazi Jews often tried to be guided by. They resented Ashkenazi European snobbishness when they sensed it, which was often. Not just among leaders, but in the day to day interactions between them. Many Sephardic thought Zionist were strangers bringing trouble. On the other hand, in day to day meetings, the Sephardic were often sought to mediate between Zionist leaders and the Palestinians.

August 15, 1929 was Tisha B’Av, the day on which Jews commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temple. There was a plan to put up a partition to separate men and women at the Western Wall. The English would not allow it. Thousands of Jews marched to the Wall to protest British restrictions on Jewish prayer there, and to reaffirm their Jewish connection to the holy site. They displayed their nationalistic fervor by singing Hatikvah (later to become Israel’s national anthem.) Crowds so close to the Dome of the Rock (which had been built on top of Israel’s Holy Temple) upset the Arabs. Rumors were spread that Jews had cursed Islam and intended to take over their holy places. Fabricated pictures of Muslim holy sites in ruins were handed out to Hebron Arabs as they were leaving their mosques on Friday, August 23, 1929. The captions on the falsified pictures claimed that the Dome of the Rock was bombed by the Jews. This never get old strategy by propagandists still is perfectly executed by Arabs today and has been especially successful with Western media who never tire of stories depicting Israeli misbehavior at the Dome of the Rock as an excuse for Arab acts of war.

That the Arabs considered desecration of their holy sites possible should not be surprising. Most people in the West no longer center their beliefs and purposes, the meaning in their life around religion. Arab Muslims still do. Harming, desecrating, degrading any of their shrines or teachings, would be the equivalence of throwing a Torah to a pen full of hungry pigs. We may mock this kind of faith as fanaticism, as going against the core of our liberal beliefs, as supremely undemocratic, as against free speech which we are all presumably entitled to do, but their loyalty to their religious beliefs is simple fact. We have grown so far away from centering our cultural passions on a battle for religious dominance that we forget that in the middle ages conquering Muslim armies destroyed churches and synagogues and built mosques on their sites. Europeans did the same. During the crusades, churches were built at the site of Arab mosques. In Mexico City the Catholic grand cathedral is situated on top of the Aztec’s most holy site.

Jews in Israel sit on a keg of dynamite. What happened October 7th happened in 1929. August 16th, the day after Tisha B’Av Muslims were told that it was their duty to take revenge. “Defend the Holy Places” became the battle cry. Mobs of armed Arab worshippers inflamed by anti-Jewish sermons, fell upon Jewish worshippers at the Wall, destroying Jewish prayer books and notes placed between the stones of the wall. Soon after, more than 1000 Arabs launched attacks on Jews throughout Jerusalem. Forty-seven people were killed. This was followed by widespread attacks on Jews throughout Palestine.

Hebron, one of Judaism holiest sites had it worst. God told Abraham to go there. “Look around from where you are – north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” It was where Judaism began. It is where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob were buried. Eliezer Dov Slonim, director of the Anglo-Palestine bank and member of the Hebron City Council was the son of the chief rabbi of Hebron whose family had lived in Hebron for generations. He had good relations with his Arab neighbors, yet he, together with his other family members, were brutally murdered. “The blood stood in a huge pool on the slightly sagging stone floor of their house. Clocks, crockery, tables and windows had been smashed to smithereens. Of the unlooted articles, not a single item had been left intact except a large black-and-white photograph of Dr. Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism. Around the picture’s frame the murderers had draped the blood-drenched underwear of a woman.

August 23, 1929 armed Arabs broke into the Hebron Yeshiva, the Talmudic academy, and murdered the lone student they found. The following day, an enraged Arab mob wielding knives, axes, and iron bars destroyed the Yeshiva and slaughtered the rest of the students there. A delegation of Jewish residents on their way to the police station was lynched by an Arab mob. The mob then proceeded to massacre Hebron’s Jews — both Ashkenazi and the Sephardic, who had lived peacefully with their Arab neighbors for years. In Jerusalem the English authorities published a refutation of the rumors that the dead Jews of Hebron had been tortured before they had their throats slit. Attempting to refute the English claim, two medical men, Dr. Dantziger and Dr. Ticho intended to gather up the severed sexual organs and the cut-off women’s breasts they had seen lying scattered over the floor and in the beds. But when they came to the Slonim house a telephone call from Jerusalem had ordered their access barred. [Van Passen, Pierre, Days of Our Years, Hillman-Curl, Inc., New York 1939]

Following similar riots, repeated in 1936, most Sephardic Jews now sided with the Zionists. Many fled Hebron. Those Jews who chose to remain in their family homes and on the land that had been theirs as long as anyone could remember, were removed by the British. Hebron was banned for the Jews. It remained that way until the War of 1967, when from the point of view of the old Jewish Hebron families, Hebron had been liberated.

Americans have had their moments where fear has energized efforts to lessen dangers. It has led to impassioned campaigns against guns, to airport security lines, and viral protection software, but none of this can be compared to Israelis long history of danger and death at the hands of those who hate them. As I noted there is a spirit of nationhood in Israel similar to what Americans felt during World War II, only more so. Within hours of hearing about Hamas’ invasion, ordinary men, civilians, not men devoted to war, lawyers, doctors, professors and third grade teachers, shopkeepers, waiters, bus drivers, office managers and clerks went to their closets, put on their uniforms, got their gun, kissed their spouses and children, and reported to their units for duty.

It isn’t coincidence that Israel has one of the great military forces in the world. Some of this may be due to savvy, but by far it is an illustration that necessity is the mother of invention. The danger has been that constant and cannot be ignored. Ten miles away, their neighbors’ offspring are taught from an early age that Jews are evil and must be eliminated. In Iran they don’t mince words “Death to Israel.” mobs chant as they conclude their prayers. “Death to America” is also chanted but even if the very worst happened, a terror attack against us, unlike Israel, we don’t fear annihilation. An insane gunman might attack one of our schools, but the odds of that are very very low, lower than death from traffic accidents.

The causes for alarm in America are distant. Imagine if just across the Hudson River, New York’s neighboring state New Jersey, daily, year after year sent rockets loaded with explosives aimed at New Yorkers. Imagine if New Jersey distributed children’s school books that depicted all New Yorkers as evil-incarnate. Imagine if New Jersey’s government gave a life time subsidy to the families of any Jersian terrorist who murdered a New Yorker. Imagine if the problem went beyond an evil Jersey governor, if it was woven into the cultural fabric of the people of New Jersey, if it was generally accepted that the terrorists were now martyrs in heaven who had furthered the cause of their holiest purposes. Imagine, if there were many virtuous Jersians lovingly believing in the teachings of the founder of their religion, Mohamed. Many more who at least made a show of going along since it was too dangerous for them not to be religiously adherent. This great Jersey prophet and teacher thought that God himself wanted true believers to kill New Yorkers. All of them. As quoted in the Hamas Charter, Abu Hurairah, one of Mohammed’s associates waxed poetically. “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”

This is not an Alfred Hitchcock horror movie. It isn’t coming from Jewish memories of the fate of recent generations. It still is, and for decades has been, the reality they face. Death at the hand of its enemy has been a daily part of Israelis lives. Perhaps, I am exaggerating to make the point, but for the last 70 years Israelis and Americans have had very different ideas of danger. Unfortunately, all humans must face their mortality but Israelis don’t need Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, or Hollywood scriptwriters to transform their death fears into horrific satisfying entertainment. Nor do they need fantasized conceptualizations of doom dreamt up by their leaders. As I noted before President Biden has repeatedly told a story from early in his tenure as vice president when he and then-President Obama visited the Pentagon and met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During the meeting, Biden has proudly told his listeners, the Joint Chiefs informed him that climate change was the greatest threat to American security. Biden and his allies are dedicating trillions of dollars in a quest to save the planet.

Israel’s generals have had more immediate concerns then protecting its people from the end of the world scenarios that progressives claim await us. They don’t have the luxury of mad hatter campaigns. The enemy lives within a few miles, enemies who are not shy about waxing poetically about their highest hopes. “Allahu Akbar” are their final words on earth. They are willing to die for Allah, to ascend to heaven, killing a Jew makes possible their most noble moment.

Once Iran obtains its nuclear weapons their dreams may become actual. Israel may disappear from earth, Hitler’s dream further fulfilled. Americans faced the same nuclear threat during the cold war, but for the most part mutual deterrence kept us safe. So, fortunately, even at the height of the cold war, the decimation of America didn’t capture the fear of most of us. Communists may have been stubbornly blind as they confronted the horrible results of their economic theories and planning, and willing to terrify their own population into submission, but the Russians would have to be crazy, suicidal to enter a nuclear war. Israel, on the other hand, has an enemy that glorifies suicidal behavior. Believing that this life is of little importance compared to their promised afterlife, they just might accept their own destruction if the Jews could be killed along with them. Hopefully, that thought is an exaggeration of Israel’s danger, but it is a possibility, a consideration added to living in a state of war that has never ended.

If only the problem was Palestinian leaders. One after another their leaders have been wiped out, and replacements soon appear. Hamas first came into power openly declaring that they intended to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. They were the choice of the people of Gaza, who were fed up with the corruption of the PLO. In 2007 they won 44% of the popular vote compared to 41% for the PLO. It has been claimed that because of their frustration with the PLO, Israel’s leaders and President Bush favored Hamas, hoping they might pressure the PLO to get off their asses and act. If true it was an unfortunate judgement. Although Hamas did not win a majority, the rules governing the election gave power to them. They subsequently ruled as most rulers in the Arab world rule, by eliminating all rivals. They killed any members of the PLO they found, and any other competitors, shot them, threw them off of roofs. Hamas is not loved. They are feared, which is the customary Arab equivalence of respect. But this is of tangential concern. The main issue is that the vast majority of Palestinians today hate Israelis more than ever. Even if before the war, PLO leader Abbas half liked many Israelis, he wouldn’t dare openly defend them, or take their side on an issue. Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat may have won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 for making peace with Israel but he was assassinated in 1981.

Even in times of relative calm there have been unimaginable reminders that citizens of other countries haven’t experienced. Israel’s enemy doesn’t care about projecting a respectable image. Quite the opposite. Like the Nazis, like Isis, inducing terror is the centerpiece of their public relations initiatives. No other nation has had its Olympian athletes murdered at the Olympics. Trampling on the Olympic sacred ideal, a moment of peaceful competition, these murders were almost as unthinkable as an attack on a sacred temple or church when congregants had placed themselves in God’s hands during prayer. Correction, synagogues, churches and mosques are favorite places for terrorists to attack. The more revered the moment, the greater the pleasure it gives terrorists. Yom Kippur, the holiest Jewish holiday was deliberately chosen to initiate a war. Their hate can be clarified as pristine, impassioned, total when expressed at the most sacred time and place. Choosing death at the finish line of the Boston Marathon wasn’t a coincidence. It brings the greatest bliss to terrorists to kill when the hated are feeling joyful in the bosom of their finest moments. Israelis are reminded again and again that is not paranoid to recognize this. They are not being oversensitive or crybabies. Evil, the most perfect expression of hatred their enemies can conceive, is even worse than our imaginations can ordinarily conjure. Imagine an explosion at a four year old’s birthday party as they have blown out the candles and are making a wish.

America had a taste of something like that on 9/11, an enemy attack within our borders, the destruction of the very symbol of American power, the World Trade Center. Their killing went beyond the terrorists’ plans and hopes. The two largest buildings in New York came crashing down, reduced to rubble. Screaming office workers leaped to their death to avoid the horrors of the fire incinerating them. We were stunned, in disbelief, we could not believe it was happening here, in America. For our enemies, it was a miracle. Achieving a massive death total and the complete destruction of those towering buildings was confirmation from Allah. It was more miraculous than the miracle of Hanukah where the Maccabees oil lasted 7 whole days.

The slaughter of Israel’s Olympian athletes happened in 1972. 1973 brought the Yom Kippur War. Time has blunted its impact, especially in the memory of Western nations, but it remains a day of terrible grief for Israelis who lived through it. Following its brilliant victory in 1967, a war lasting 6 days that, for that moment, established Israel’s military dominance and, in retrospect, soon after, its complacency. Perhaps hubris set in. In a carefully coordinated surprise attack, Egypt and Syria, using modern tanks and airplanes, supplied by the Soviet Union seemed, in the first few days of the war, on the verge of overwhelming Israel and marching into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. 50 years after the war, top secret archival papers were recently released to the public. We learned that Defense minister Moshe Dayan, believed for a while, that the “third Temple” was about to be destroyed. He raised the possibility of Israel using its nuclear weapons if the worse was about to happen. He was overruled by Golda Meir.

Richard Nixon rescued Israel. Mordechai Gazit, who at the time of the Yom Kippur War was director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, told authors Gerald Strober and Deborah Hart Strober in Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency: “The airlift was decided not because we asked for it. Our relations with the United States were not at a point where we could have asked for an airlift; this was beyond our imagination.” The president asked Kissinger for a precise accounting of Israel’s military needs, and Kissinger proceeded to read aloud from an itemized list.

“Double it,” Nixon ordered. “Now get the hell out of here and get the job done.”

To the end of Golda Meir’s life she referred to Nixon as “my president” and told a group of Jewish leaders in Washington shortly after the war: “For generations to come, all will be told of the miracle of the immense planes from the United States bringing in the materiel that meant life to our people.”

Technically, Israel “won” the war but there was no celebration either then or since. Writing in Hadassah Magazine Rochelle Furstenburg captured the mood:

“Friends and sons of friends were killed and wounded. And in the confusion of the surprise attack, many were missing. Israelis lived in dread for weeks and months, waiting to hear the fate of loved ones. Rumors abounded. A missing soldier had been seen here, another there. A colleague put an ad in the newspaper with his son’s picture, begging anyone who had seen him to please contact the family.

For many weeks, there was no news of our friend, David Katz, a South African-born sociologist on reserve duty at the Bar Lev Line. After the war, fellow soldiers described the shock they felt as they saw Egyptian boats making their way across the canal.

“David was on the southern lookout. He had finished his Yom Kippur prayers and was shooting fiercely,” said one of his comrades. “I couldn’t believe that this sweet, innocent man could fire like that. But ultimately, he was wounded. He cried ‘Shema Yisrael’ and died a half hour later.”

Over the 19 days of the war, Israel lost 2,656 soldiers. It’s a small country. Everyone knew someone, or knew someone who knew someone. With a population of 3 million at the time, this many lost is the equivalent of the United States losing 265,600 of its population today, not professional soldiers, 265,600 young members of society. The outpouring of public mourning remained for decades. During the war Golda Meir was able to make calm resolute statements to Israelis on TV. Afterwards she wept at the Western Wall. Yom Kippur became not just a day of repentance. The shofar has since rang out commemorating not only a day of atonement, but a day of grief.

The war had some positive effects. It enabled Egypt to end its humiliated state following the 1967 war. As Kissinger intended, they claimed that the war was their victory. The Sinai Peninsula was returned. Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel. becoming the first Arab country to recognize Israel as a nation. For that it was kicked out of the Arab League. It would be nice to think that Sadat was mainly guided by wisdom and a peaceful agenda. But that was not the issue. The United States was in the middle of a very real cold war for dominance with the Soviet Union. While Russia had proven to be a trustworthy ally, its equipment was inferior to America’s weaponry, so in essence worthless. 20,000 Russians were sent home. Egypt became an American ally, second only to Israel in the billions of dollars we have given them in arms and economic development. Its peaceful relationship with Israel has endured these 50 years, as have their strong ties to America.

In the fourth century Gaza was the primary port of Israel for international trade and commerce. Great medieval rabbis such as Rabbi Yisrael Najara, author ot Kah Ribon Olam, thepopulare Shabbat song, and reknowned Mekubal Rabbi Avraham Azoulai, were rabbanim in Gaza Jewish communities. Jews lived in Gaza throughout the centuries with a stronger presence in the nineteenth and and early Twentieth centuries. Jews were present in Gaza until 1929, when they were forced to leave the area due to the violent riots against them by the Arabs. Following these riots, and the death of nearly 135 Jews in all, the British prohibited Jews from living in Gaza to quell tension and appease the Arabs. Some Jews returned, however, and, in 1946, kibbutz Kfar Darom was established to prevent the British from separating the Negev from the Jewish state.

The United Nations 1947 partition plan allotted the coastal strip from Yavneh to Rafiah on the Egyptian border to be an Arab state. In Israel’s war for independence, most Arab inhabitants in this region fled or were expelled, settling around Gaza City. Israeli forces conquered Gaza, and proceeded south to El-Arish, but subsequently gave control of the area to Egypt in negotiations, keeping Ashdod and Ashkelon. In 1956, during Israel’s war with Egypt, Israel conquered Gaza again, only to return it again.

With the 1967 Six Day War, Israeli forces reentered Gaza and captured it. During the war, Israel had no idea what it would do with the territory. Eshkol called it “a bone stuck in our throats.” Egypt had no interest in having the Gaza Strip returned after the Yom Kippur War. Gazan leaders were heavily influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, considered by Egyptian leaders to be a fanatical enemy. This was not new. Egypt did not want Gaza to become part of Egypt when the British were parceling out territories. It ruled over Gaza militarily but that was it. Briefly in 1959 Gaza officially had become a part of the United Arab Republic, a union of Syria and Egypt, under the pan-Arab policy of Nasser. In reality, however, Gaza was under direct Egyptian military governorship, which also continued upon the withdrawal of Syria from the UAR shortly afterwards. When the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964, Nasser formally, but not practically, proclaimed that it would hold authority over Gaza, and a year later, conscription was instituted for the Palestinian Liberation Army.[89]

Although when Israel took possession of Gaza following the ‘67 they were not happy with the situation, in the earliest years following the 1967 War Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Israelis and Arabs, nevertheless, mingled freely. It was not unusual for Israelis to shop in Gaza, to spend an afternoon at their beach, buy fish there and picnic. Jews went to Arab shops and restaurants and vice-versa. Israel had a growing economy which meant many jobs for the Arabs. Those who found work in Israel prospered nicely. Businesses co-owned by Arab and Jew were not unheard of. The wars with Egypt, Jordan, Syria did not make it impossible for Israelis to eventually interact with citizens from these countries. The same thing was happening in Gaza. Israelis interaction with the Palestinians was gradually normalizing relationships between the people. Israeli hospitals meant modern health care for many Palestinians. Israel helped construct the now famous Al Shifa Hospital complex, a central medical hub located in Gaza City. It was designed by Israeli architects led by Gershon Zippor and the late Benjamin Idelson in the 1980’s. Zippor was subsequently tasked with designing a modern, central triage building for the hospital. Additionally, he proposed a comprehensive future plan and clear vision for the “Shifa Campus” for 2000, looking ahead to a time of coexistence

There were brief uprising of Palestinians but organized armed struggle against Israel peaked between 1969 and 1971, largely crushed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) under the command of Ariel Sharon.[90] The optimism among many Israelis and Palestinians that they could coexist was soon dashed. It was unacceptable to Palestinian leaders who still believed Israel’s destruction was imperative. Looking back it is clear Arab leaders unhappiness with the potential normalization of Arab-Jew relationships led to strategic decisions to destroy it. Ehud Yaari recounted that “by the beginning of 1970, 90% of Arab terrorism in Gaza was directed against Arab men and women employed by Israeli companies.

Palestinian leaders’ strategy to keep Jews and Palestinians separate escalated. During the second Intifadas in 2002, 1137 Israeli’s were killed. The murderers were fellow passengers on the bus, fellow shoppers, diners at a restaurant. They could be anywhere. There was attack after attack at bus stops, cafes, discotheques, pizza joints, open air markets everywhere and anywhere. Every day Israelis were killed again and again, once a week, twice a week. All were directed by organizations sworn to the annihilation of the Jews. Each time Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar those grotesque words, united the murderers with their God.

The unstoppable violence of the intifada changed everything. Other than among dreamers and idealists, hopes of a peaceful coexistence among average people became almost impossible to maintain. Out of necessity, Israel built walls in the West Bank and on the borders of Gaza so that residents could not freely enter Israel and Israeli settlements. They set up necessary checkpoints. Long lines of Arabs at these checkpoints for those going to work in Israel became a daily source of tension. Ordinary people, if they were Arabs, were checked again and again, not only treated as aliens, but considered potential murderers. Hostility between the two people multiplied each time there was a tense incident. The long lines, frustration, and anger got directed at the soldiers who in turn often got nasty. Hatred was hard to overcome.

It wasn’t only Jewish or Arab leaders, those with a political agenda who felt it. Everyday people looked at each other as potential enemies, certainly enough so that laughter and kibitzing, which had once been possible, became rare. Beside the elaborate security precautions, being suspicious, on guard in public places became routine. In a video, Lucy Aharish a prominent Arab Israeli broadcaster, describes how, when she was five, in Gaza, a Palestinian terrorist threw a bomb into her family’s car, setting it on fire. He made eye contact with her the entire time. Although they were Arabs, as Israeli citizens her family had an Israeli license plate. For years afterwards as a child, each time there was a bombing of Israel citizens at a store, or on a bus, which at the height of the Intifada was several times a week, her thought was, “I hate the Arabs. Kill them” as she joined her Jewish friends at school who openly expressed their fury. Today, as an adult she is proudly a Palestinian. Her audiences as a broadcaster is Israeli Jews. She regularly presents to them, like it or not, the point of view of her Arab brethren. But, those were her own thoughts, not only the thoughts of the Jewish children she played with.

It wasn’t all bleak. Before the October 7th war, moderate Arabs tried to ignore examples of Israeli unfairness and deal with them day to day. Summer camps and schools were set up by hopeful Jews and Arabs so that their children could interact and become friends. Since October 7th the story of Vivian Silver one of the Israelis murdered, has been told many times. She was a volunteer with Road to Recovery and Project Rozana transporting Gazan patients to Jerusalem for treatment.There were many others like her, including Gazans who were fond of the Jews. Good Samaritans aside, nevertheless, most Palestinians, and most Israelis would have been delighted if the other side would disappear, die, meet their true reward. Vivian Silver may have never had that thought, but I assume that, while many political liberals may not have admitted to that fantasy, it is reasonable to assume the thought crossed their minds.

Rocket attacks from Gaza aimed at Israeli civilians began in 2001. In 2007 Israel moved all of its own citizens, 8,000 out of Gaza. When necessary, Israeli soldiers–it is said with tears in their eyes, forcibly moved their countrymen out of their homes. Two far-right Israelis burned themselves alive in protest of the withdrawal. It was hoped that leaving Gaza to the Gazans in 2007 could lead to a relatively peaceful coexistence. That hope was quickly extinguished. They now ruled Gaza, but Hamas made it clear that they still sought the destruction of Israel. They sponsored further terrorism in Israel and the rockets continued, tens of thousand rockets since 2001. In 2006, more sophisticated rockets began to be deployed, reaching the larger coastal city of Ashkelon, and by early 2009 major cities Ashdod and Beersheba had been hit by Katyusha, WS-1B[19] and Grad rockets.[20] In 2012, Jerusalem and Israel’s commercial center Tel Aviv were targeted with locally made “M-75” and Iranian Fajr-5 rockets, respectively,[21] and in July 2014, the northern city of Haifa was targeted for the first time. The rocket attacks had led to a blockade of Gaza hoping to eliminate supplies for their warfare. The blockade is the basis for left wing charges that the Gazans live in an “open air prison.”

For a while things were looking up for Israel. The Abraham accords had brought recognition by new Arab countries, eager to do business with the high tech prospering Israeli economy. And it was anticipated Saudi Arabia, similarly fearing Iran, was eager to have Israel as an ally. Before October 7th the current leader of the PLO, Abbas had been somewhat cooperative. He lives in luxury in the West Bank, part of his money, peace bribes from Israel and the United States. Similar fortunes have been given to Hamas’s leaders, which it was hoped might keep them from escalating their attacks. Moreover, prior to October 7th Israel’s missile dome systems, sirens, safe rooms and air raid shelters, the power of its military, seemed to have kept Israelis relatively safe so that Israelis’ fear seemed to be diminishing. It made self-defense routine enough so that Israelis let down their guard. Reminiscent of America after the end of the Cold War, when we thought our enemies had disappeared, that kind of trust ended in Israel as suddenly as it did in America. Having the amount of trust we enjoyed was an invitation to attack us, not quite John Lennon posing naked and crooning for his fans to imagine a world without nations, without hatred. Having thoughts like that, loving, trustful, vulnerable emotions are very beautiful. If only that dream could be. But that state of mind is a recipe for disaster, seen by enemies as an invitation to fulfill their desires.

Have there all along been Palestinians who aren’t political and judge people as individuals, that do business with Israelis, partner with them, join in cultural events, even admire more than a few Jews. Of course, there were, and are, and will be moderate individuals, more concerned for the daily life of their families than the nonsense of those spreading hatred, and turning to ancient religious texts to guide them. And there are still many Jews who don’t hold individual Palestinians responsible for what is taught in their schools, and the murderous acts of their heroes. They are aware that Hamas killed more than 800 Gazans who were suspected of being sympathetic to Israelis. How many more were silenced by fear is not known, and won’t be known until Hamas is removed as a threat. There are also the many who say what they are supposed to say and don’t have strong feeling either way. True peace comes from the mutual respect individuals earn with each other. Who knows how many Gazan without fear of Hmas, after a decade or two will work for, or work with Israeli and pay little attention to today’s hatred. Even now there are Jews and Muslims who have friendships that have lasted decades. Yes, since October 7th their numbers have diminished, and even those who have had the most powerful peaceful idealistic beliefs, have had greater doubts then they had before. Unfortunately, individuals can’t escape the history and culture of the people they belong to. On the other hand, the only hope for the future must come from the bonds real people form, not the hatred that too often appears.

My father never talked about the Japanese and the war but apparently, he hadn’t forgotten. Once, after he received the check at a Japanese restaurant, he quipped, “They got us at Pearl Harbor and they got us again tonight.” That was it, his quips contained the whole of his anger. People forget. The Japanese, who were victims of our A bombs, and once hated America, now love us and we have nothing but admiration for their art and gardens, for Sony, Toyota, Honda and Subaru. BMW, Audi, and Mercedes grace our highways. Germany is Israel’s best friend. Those hundreds of thousands of Germans screaming wildly for Hitler have long been silent, hoping their children never discover their enthusiasm for their Fuhrer many year ago. Unfortunately, there will always be wars. Ancient and current hatred have a way of emerging, but all is not hopeless. The Irish and English no longer kill each other. Perhaps, the Middle East can be a region of peace as Southeast Asia has become. Who could have imagined that in the 60’s when literally millions were dying for their cause. One way or another differences get settled. I don’t know how the Palestinians and Israelis will find a way to get along, but possibly, somehow, they will.

Or perhaps, Princeton’s Bernard Lewis was right. There has been a clash of civilization between Muslims and the West that started in the 7th century and never entirely disappeared. They have been up when Europe was down and vice-versa. Has this clash been regathering momentum? Are we witnessing with Bin Laden, Isis, Hamas and the Iranians the reigniting of a struggle that may go on and on, where Israel and the Palestinian are only a small part of that? Perhaps, but perhaps not. I can never forgive the Germans and especially the Ukrainians who killed most of the one and a half million Jews that had been their neighbors. Besides personally doing the killing, the Ukrainians, rather than the SS, were usually the guards at most of the concentration camps. Not until the Russians came were the remaining Jews saved. On the other hand, one of my daughter–in laws is half Ukrainian and I love her and her Ukrainian father, who admits that his father welcomed the Germans when they came. I haven’t asked further questions. So I suppose there is hope.

This is part one of what will probably be a book. This part aims to place Israel’s military response to Hamas’ attack in a justifiable perspective. Part two tries to make sense of the antagonism to Israel and the antisemitism that has apparently exploded as a result of that response. Part three presents the legitimacy of the Arabs’ cause, and how that can best be dealt with.