{"id":110964,"date":"2024-02-21T18:05:16","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T16:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=110964"},"modified":"2024-02-21T14:58:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T12:58:00","slug":"25-05-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=110964","title":{"rendered":"My friends on the left want a cease-fire. Why aren\u2019t they demanding that Hamas surrender, instead?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>My friends on the left want a cease-fire. Why aren\u2019t they demanding that Hamas surrender, instead?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Carly Pildis<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

I, too, am grieving the loss of innocent Palestinian lives. But a cease-fire will only create new openings for Hamas \u2014 not peace<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

.
\nBritish Jewish anti-occupation activists blocked the walkways into the Foreign Office in London on Wednesday to demand a cease-fire. Photo by Guy Smallman\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I have some questions for my colleagues on the left.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve worked together for years. We\u2019ve had happy hours and coffees, and taken our kids on playdates. We\u2019ve worked to pass bills and elect public servants together. We have marched together, celebrated and mourned together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We have carefully avoided the subject of Israel, and when we have discussed it, we have set firm boundaries to assure our friendships weren\u2019t destroyed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now we can avoid it no longer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of you are demanding a cease-fire. I can understand why.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I too mourn the loss of innocent life, especially the children. The loss of entire families in Gaza fills me with grief. I have supported peace my whole life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I am not ready to advocate for a cease-fire. And I have some questions for you about why you think you should.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am struck by the fact that while calls for a cease-fire are loud, few seem to have any clarity about what conditions a cease-fire should require. Hamas\u2019 record with cease-fires is less than reassuring: Just weeks ago Hamas\u00a0broke a cease-fire<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0order to launch a horrific attack on Israeli civilians during a national holiday. Former Secretary of\u00a0State Hillary Clinton\u00a0recently said<\/a>\u00a0that a cease-fire would be a \u201cgift\u201d to Hamas, as they would only use it to rebuild and repair their capacity to launch attacks. And senior Hamas officials have openly said they aim to repeat these terror attacks \u201cover and over<\/a>\u201d\u00a0until \u201cIsrael is destroyed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever you think of Israel\u2019s actions, it is unreasonable and unjust to ask Israel to unilaterally disarm after being victims of the deadliest day of violence against Jews since the Holocaust \u2014\u00a0especially in the face of such threats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have you so quickly forgotten that Hamas launched this war by massacring close to 1,400 Israelis in an unprovoked attack that targeted innocent civilians? Hamas massacred children in their beds, slaughtered music lovers at a celebration of peace,\u00a0used rape<\/a>\u00a0as a weapon of war, and kidnapped at least one\u00a0elderly Holocaust survivor<\/a>\u00a0to use as a hostage, as well as dozens of children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Israeli victims of terror deserve justice too? Isn\u2019t the least we can give them a pledge to do everything we can to ensure no one else suffers atrocities at Hamas\u2019 hands \u2014 a pledge that a cease-fire with Hamas might make difficult to uphold?<\/span><\/p>\n

So: What concession would you argue must Hamas face in order to secure a cease-fire, both in acknowledgment of the horror they\u2019ve inflicted on Israel, and to ensure the group would actually observe such an agreement? Would you demand Hamas surrender? Agree to extradite its leadership to stand trial? Free hostages taken from Israel? Hold elections \u2014 a basic democratic responsibility it has refused to fulfill time and again?<\/span><\/p>\n

If Israel agrees to a cease-fire, will my friends on the left finally hold Hamas accountable on the international stage \u2014 for their crimes against Israelis and Palestinians alike?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll remind you that you repeatedly chant that \u201cPalestinian lives matter<\/a>\u201d \u2014\u00a0but where have your voices been as Hamas has\u00a0executed and tortured Palestinians,<\/a>\u00a0set Palestinians up to be used as\u00a0human shields<\/a>, and\u00a0used a fortune<\/a>\u00a0in international aid money\u00a0to fund weapons to use against Israel rather than basic\u00a0humanitarian systems<\/a>\u00a0for the territory they govern? Will your call for care for Palestinian lives finally include accountability for the terror group that has destroyed so many of them?<\/span><\/p>\n

Or do Palestinian lives only matter to you when you can dehumanize Jews?<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps most importantly: How will you reckon with Israel\u2019s clear need to defend itself \u2014 a need more apparent now than any time in recent decades?<\/span><\/p>\n

For the past 20 years parts of the American left have decried every single Israeli security measure as unjust and racist.\u00a0Every wall is apartheid<\/a>, every fence is oppression, every checkpoint is racism. Israel\u2019s blockade, enacted after Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza strip in 2007, creates an \u201copen-air prison<\/a>.\u201d I must have heard that phrase a thousand times, and I still have no idea what it means.\u00a0Even the Iron Dome<\/a>, which does not harm Palestinians and saves Israeli lives, you\u00a0wanted to defund<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember when you assured me that those rockets were just falling in fields and would never do real harm? You were wrong. Not only have the rockets gotten worse, but we now know Hamas can and will launch mass atrocities against Israel.\u00a0If you oppose every attempt to keep Israelis safe, you are sending the message that Jewish blood is cheap \u2014 and encouraging groups like Hamas, which explicitly treat it as such.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that cease-fire calls have focused almost exclusively on Israel shows me that there is a deep antisemitic rot within the left that has conditioned people to view Jewish lives as less important. American leftists have minimized Israeli losses,\u00a0dehumanized Israelis<\/a>,\u00a0endorsed violence<\/a>\u00a0and inflamed the conflict with outlandish rhetoric for years. You wanted to\u00a0\u201cglobalize the intifada<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0Every time you yelled these things you damaged efforts to build peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

You have used your rhetoric to erase the existence of Mizrahi Jews, Ethiopian Jews and other Jews of color to claim that Israel is an entirely white state populated by European colonizers. You ignored Jews\u2019 clear\u00a0claims of indigenousness<\/a>\u00a0to the Levant and claimed we were \u201csettler colonialists<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0You justified\u00a0terrorism<\/a>\u00a0and worked to\u00a0demonize<\/a>\u00a0Zionism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

When your rhetoric sounds exactly like that of far-right white nationalists, doesn\u2019t that disturb you? From\u00a0hate crimes in London<\/a>\u00a0to violent intimidation\u00a0at Cooper Union<\/a>, you have helped to make Jews less safe: Early data shows a\u00a0388% increase<\/a>\u00a0in incidents of antisemitism since Oct. 7.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

American Jews have been a critical part of a strong vibrant left throughout American history. We were at the forefront of\u00a0the labor movement<\/a>,\u00a0marched<\/a>\u00a0for civil rights,\u00a0stood at Stonewall,<\/a>\u00a0fought for\u00a0women\u2019s rights<\/a>,\u00a0gay marriage<\/a>,\u00a0and much more. I am deeply grateful to those on the left, from elected officials to activists to writers, who have awakened to antisemitism and are standing tall against it. I am deeply grateful to President Biden, who has declined calls for a cease-fire and said he supports a \u201cpause\u201d to provide time to free prisoners, and the leaders across Congress who have stood strong with Israel and stood against rising antisemitism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am grateful for those pushing Israel to be the most just and moral it can be, in good faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

The left is meant to prioritize justice, equality and dignity. You cannot be the left if you endorse authoritarianism, terrorism, and brutality. There should be no space on the left for those attempting to justify, excuse or \u201ccontextualize\u201d Hamas\u2019 attack on Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are stronger together when we fight hate, poverty, cruelty and systemic injustice and oppression. If you look at Jewish children and see combatants that do not deserve defending, your progressive principles are lacking. If your desire to end hate stops when you see a Star of David, you are abandoning those principles to stand with the same bigots we are supposed to fight together. If you cannot allow the horrors of the Simchat Torah massacre to change your perspective, than it is not the pro-Israel Jew who no longer belongs on left. It\u2019s you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion’68,<\/em>
\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion’68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.
\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:
\n<\/em>webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friends on the left want a cease-fire. Why aren\u2019t they demanding that Hamas surrender, instead? Carly Pildis I, too, am grieving the loss of innocent Palestinian lives. But a cease-fire will only create new openings for Hamas \u2014 not peace . British Jewish anti-occupation activists blocked the walkways into the Foreign Office in London […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110964"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110974,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110964\/revisions\/110974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}