What The Rest Of The World Does Not Get About Israel And Gaza
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/hostages-like-me-were-also-nazacollateral-damage-7cfeb4aa
Omer Shem Tov was an Israeli hostage of Hamas in Gaza for 505 days after his abduction from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. He authored an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on September 23. Its title is “Hostages Like Me Were Also “NAZA”—Collateral Damage.”
Tov reports that NAZA is the name of a new film that received a standing ovation at the Venice film festival recently. It won a Special Jury Prize.
He explains that NAZA is a Hebrew acronym that means collateral damage. The film, as I understand it from news reports, contains “interviews with anonymous Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers.” They discuss what they describe as needless killing of civilians in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Force. Apparently, the primary reason for the Israeli military action (the October 7 massacre and hostage-taking by Hamas), is not touched upon in the film.
The Israeli hostages who died before they could be freed and returned to Israel were every bit as much collateral damage as were the civilians in Gaza who died because Hamas used them as human shields.
For a moment, let’s consider what a Hamas-like action might look like in the United States. Let us say that thousands of Mexican soldiers crossed our southern border by surprise. (Remember Hamas was the ruling party in Gaza on October 7, not simply a terrorist militia. Its invasion on October 7 was thus an act of war by the soldiers of a sovereign, elected entity against civilians.) Let’s then say the invaders killed about 40,000 Texans (about the same percentage of the U.S. population as died in Israel) and captured and abducted a few thousand more. What would the United States do?
There is no doubt, regardless of which party occupied the White House, Mexico would be invaded. Many civilians would die. Both they and some American hostages could be collateral damage. But, surely, the U.S. government would not allow such savagery to go unanswered. Mexico, including its civilian population, would pay a price.
So why is the whole world angry at Israel for wanting to rid Gaza of Hamas despite Hamas hiding behind innocent civilians, hiding out in hospital basements, and digging tunnels to move men and materiel in and out of the Gaza Strip?
My understanding is that the Israeli population is livid about the film NAZA. This is totally understandable. What should be even easier to understand is why the Israeli voter may have a very hard choice at the end of October. I think it is fair to say that Israelis do not trust their Palestinian Arab neighbors in Gaza or the West Bank. Over and over, despite many attempts by the United States and Israel to secure a homeland for the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, the Arabs in these territories have never found leaders capable of making peace. That the people of Gaza should have elected a terrorist organization to lead them after Israel vacated Gaza in 2005 is indicative of the short-sightedness of the Palestinian Authority. Shortly after Israel left, the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas took over Gaza. But in an election in January of 2006, Hamas was voted in and seized control from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. There have been no elections since and you do not need to dig miles of underground tunnels to run an enclave like Gaza. That was done to threaten Israel as Hamas has done with missiles as well. Then came October 7.
I do not understand why the rest of the world, including the Democratic Party here in the United States, does not understand why the Israelis do not trust the Arabs on either their east or west.
I have never been to Gaza, but I have frequented the West Bank. There is great potential there and I believe most Palestinians would like a peaceful settlement. BUT:
The Palestinian Arabs must agree to the fact that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state.
The Palestinian Arabs must stop sponsoring terrorist activities like what occurred on October 7.
And, the Palestinian Arabs need to identify a core group of responsible leaders capable of representing their interests in a negotiation with the Israelis.
Now a corollary is that Israel would have to agree to the existence of a Palestinian state. Mr. Netanyahu has made it quite clear that he will never do that and his long tenure as prime minister suggests that many Israelis see it his way. That’s why the choice for the Israeli voter at the end of October is so fraught. Netanyahu pledged to keep Israelis safe, but then October 7 happened on his watch for which he has yet to be held accountable. But can anyone else do better? That’s what Israelis have to decide.
The only way this on-going 78-year state of war ends is for there to be meaningful leadership on both sides that wants a cessation of the violence and death as well as to the NAZA—the collateral damage—that has plagued both sides.
Maybe the best answer is for Donald Trump to coerce the Saudis and other Sunni Gulf States to fund the rebuilding of Gaza and make it Atlantic City on the Mediterranean. If a Trump Hotel and Casino on the beach near Gaza City would stop the killing, let’s do it.
But, the Democrats here and the liberals throughout Europe have got to grasp what it means to live under the gun, as all Israelis do, and have done for 78 years. The film makers had their say. I would like to see the film before I pass judgment, but the reports have been consistent. It represents the left-wing view of the conflict in Gaza. It is not a view shared by many Israelis.
If the young American left-wing of the Democratic Party thinks the Israelis are committing genocide, what do you call October 7?
The people of Israel will not be intimidated by two movie makers or privileged left-wing American college students, some of whom are Jewish. For the movie makers and the college students this is a political matter. For the Israelis, it is existential. If the Palestinian Arabs really want peace, get some real leadership. If the Israelis want peace, they too may need to change horses this election, but that’s a lot of ifs and I don’t live in Israel. I will trust the Israelis to vote their best interests and their best interest will, by definition, become mine.
