All people make mistakes, and no one is always right but the world persists in accepting the notion that some standards or moral behavior are more acceptable than others. It has become absolutely clear over the past several weeks following the October 7 massacre of 1200 Israelis and the capturing of 240 hostages that Israelis and Jews are expected to accede to a different moral standard than others. Not only has this become evident to Israelis but it also has become acceptable for many Americans and citizens throughout the world.
In addressing the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy in June 1879, General William Tecumseh Sherman, one of leading generals in the Union Army during the Civil War, told the graduates that “War is Hell.” General Sherman in his July 1864 march across Georgia to the sea, ordered the burning and sacking of Atlanta. His actions were conducted despite humanitarian petitions from the mayor and members of the City Council of Atlanta to rescind his order.
Much more recently, the renowned and respected scholar at Princeton, Michael Walzer, the author of the definitive work on war, Just and Unjust Wars, observed that Israel had a right to respond to the attack on October 7. He stated that Hamas must be defeated, that there will be casualties, but Israel needs to respond as “carefully” as possible.
It has been reported that two Palestinians were arrested on Saturday in Jenin and accused of collaborating with Israeli authorities. They were taken outside the city and hanged on the electrical poles by other Palestinians. This act of vigilante justice conducted by Arabs on the West Bank has not yet elicited a word of outrage from the West.
An acknowledged left-wing, Jewish director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) resigned this weekend after working for the NGO for thirteen years due to its “flagrant bias against Israel.” She said in part in her public resignation letter:
When I named the constellation of my experiences over years to a senior manager
as feeling a lot like antisemitism, he replied: “You are probably right.” He did not ask
or do anything further.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch proceeds with its double standard in considering all aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (It should be noted that today HRW did issue a report—almost five weeks after its previous indictment of Israel--indicating that an errant Hamas rocket—not Israeli shells or missiles--apparently was responsible for the shelling of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.)
It is a strange world when the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar refers to a nine-year-old Irish girl’s released by Hamas as “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned….” Varadkar apparently was unable to state the obvious that she was a hostage who had been abducted by Hamas and now freed by her murderous capturers. Prime Minister Varadkar painted a picture as if she had gotten lost on a school outing.
On Friday, Hamas began to release 50 innocent civilians who were abducted by terrorists from their homes or from a concert. These were women and children who were awakened in the early morning by murderous intruders. In response to their being freed, Israel is releasing women and children who were tried and convicted of committing crimes against Israelis.
A New York City public school teacher in Queens was threatened, harassed, and chased out of her classroom in fear of her life. She locked herself in a room because a group of pro-Palestinian students had discovered a posting on social media of her attendance at a pro-Israel rally and they were now marching through the school. She was able to leave the school—having been “caught” exercising her constitutional right to freely assemble at a rally—only after the principal obtained a police escort for her.
The War in Gaza has produced an agreement for a ceasefire and increased humanitarian assistance for at least four days, concurrent with a prescribed exchanges of hostages by Hamas and jailed prisoners by Israel. So far it is proceeding. There are discussions about extending the ceasefire with the attendant further release of hostages and prisoners. In the midst of these negotiations, Hamas has toyed with releasing the hostages and intensified the emotional torture for their loved ones. This sets up a genuine fear among Israelis and other concerned observers as to what “games” will be played eventually to gain the release of the male hostages.
As General Sherman stated war is hardly pretty. Hard though it might be it would seem that observers ought to be able to demand that moral standards be applied evenly. Was burning Atlanta worth 10,000 casualties? Similarly, Michael Walzer would argue on the limits for most “just wars”. He would question, however, the objectivity of some of those making the assumption as to what those standards are.
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