Three Reactions. Two from Israel. One from New York. My Responses to Gaza Testimony.
Follow up of previous post on 19 March 2024. A commentary and extracts from Israeli academic on war in Gaza
There are those who know not that (in this quarrel)
we perish and die; those who realise this,
have their quarrels calmed. The Buddha, Dhammapada Verse 6
A Response to a Selection of Three Emails in my Inbox
Here are three of the emails in the past 48 hours I received following my blog/post in my previous newsletter. Two emails were sent from Israel and one from New York.
Photo shows systematic decimation of a society, culture and heritage in Gaza
Email 1.
So we should offer to be murdered voluntarily. Did you see the videos the Hamas terrorists took themselves about butchering 1200 Israeli, also Bedouins and foreign workers, but mostly Jews.
Taping burning babies in ovens, burning whole families alive in their homes, taping many women and girls so brutally that they were found with broken hips dead. The UN were here and took all the hundreds of testimonies.They clearly wrote and said that if it's up to them, they will kill us all.
We are deeply sorry for the suffering of civilians in Gaza .
But officially 30 thousand are or were armed Hamas soldiers and many from UNWRA and thousands of others helped. IDF do all not to hurt civilians.
There was a ceasefire toll 6.10 booked in a horrific way by Hamas taking after all that killing 240 hostages.
134 after almost half a year still under earth in terrible conditions. Imagine your daughter and grandchildren there.
We hate war hundreds of our young soldiers fell and every person in Israel knows someone murdered or fell or hostage. Me too. Many.
I am shocked about the well-meaning Buddhist people being heartless to one side ours.
Very sad about that.
My Response to Email 1
“Imagine your daughter and grandchildren there.”
If my daughter and four grandchildren were held hostage in Gaza, I would be campaigning morning, noon and night for a ceasefire. This is also a view often expressed by those who have been released from the horrific nightmare inflicted on them by Hamas. What seems to be genocide will not help bring them home but is more likely to seal their fate.
Hamas might murder the hostages, bombing, shelling and indiscriminate bullets of IDF soldiers bullets might end their lives. Are we expected to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has the interests of the hostages at heart? Does he see the hostages as a reason to perpetuate warfare with hostages as collateral damage? It is hard to image the anguish and suffering of family, friends and others in Israel over the hostages. A ceasefire is the priority and main hope.
With regard to your last two sentences. Please see extracts below from a previous blog/post.
Email 2.
I dont know why I’m on your newsletter. Maybe some Buddhism stuff but this kind of anti Israel shit, keep to yourself. Why not write about Hamas atrocities, rape, mass murder, kidnapping and so on. Or is that Ok since it involves Israelis? War against people of Gaza? BULLSHIT. War is against Hamas.
Bye, mister 'enlightened'.
My Response to Email 2
Speaking about the war on Gaza, President Isaac Herzog of Israeli announced to Israel and worldwide at a press conference, "It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. It's not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved. It's absolutely not true ….and we will fight until we break their backbone.” The Washington Post, 24 October 2023.
I advise you to email President Herzog of Israel and inform him the war against the people of Gaza is ‘bullshit.’
Here is the President’s email address. public@president.gov.il
Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant's announced to Israel and worldwide that Israel is "imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and are acting accordingly." The Times of Israel. 9 October 2023.
I also advise you to email Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant and inform him the war against the people of Gaza is ‘bullshit.’
Here is the Minister’s email address: pniot@mod.gov.il.
Read Wikipedia. South Africa v. Israel (Genocide Convention). South Africa alleged that Israel had committed and was committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, contravening the Genocide Convention.
Email 3.
Yes, what is happening to the people of Gaza is horrible and tragic. How come you don't talk about how all of this shit storm was set off by what Hamas did on October 7.
I don't give a damn what your politics are, which side of the fence you sit on, there was NO JUSTIFICATION for what Hamas did.
What did the Palestinians imagine the response was going to be?
And more important, what have they gained by Hamas's actions?
Hamas are terrorists, that is the truth!
And might I suggest you read a bit more of the History, before you unilaterally make your comments.
Take me off your list.
Thank you.
My Response to Email 3
I have around 30 years of study/reflection/inquiry from the late 19th century to the current situation/plus annual visits to Palestine/Israel. You suggest I “read a bit more of the History.” Please send me the links what I need to read on the history of Palestine/Israel.
Please read below extracts of a previous blog/post.
Your name is removed from the list of subscribers.
Extracts from a 26 December 2023 blog/post of my Substack newsletter
On Saturday morning of 7 October 2023, Hamas violent activists broke through the flimsy fences dividing Israel from Gaza and killed as many Israelis and others as possible. They took 250 Israelis hostages, young and old, with 129 currently unaccounted for. These fighters shot and killed anyone they came across in Israel, including children.
The death toll included about 300 soldiers and a total of about 900 civilians. Hamas massacred 260 young people at Nova music festival in south Israel. There are eyewitness reports Hamas fighters engaged in sexual violence upon Israelis.
Hamas officials have mostly spent their life living in Gaza. They have engaged in the immoral and repugnant launching of rockets and widespread mass killing in Israel. In the past, the same government has supported terror attacks, suicide bombers and random killings of Israelis.
Hamas officials knew the citizens of Gaza would suffer a ferocious Israeli military reaction upon Gaza. Based on decades of experience, the Gaza government was determined to trigger the Israeli government to inflict violent retribution on men, women and children, plus destruction of entire sections of the city and its infrastructure.
Hamas wanted international attention to shift back to Palestine and away from Ukraine – the more civilian deaths in Gaza, the greater the worldwide media attention. They got what they wanted. The officials exposed fellow Palestinians to a massive military reaction in their small, overcrowded city. Hamas surely knew countless numbers of Palestinian civilians would suffer terrible consequences, yet they still went ahead with the slaughter of Israelis.
Both sides have an essential policy of adhering to a violent ideology of Us and Them, an ideology that matters far more than the protection and support of Palestinians or Israelis.
MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE
MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN HARMONY
MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY
The call for a ceasefire is not an expression for taking sides. It is an expression for staying in touch with one's humanity and reason.
I can not even imagine the pain through which people on both sides are going.
The 7th of October has traumatised a nation. We can see the effect of the trauma right now: much violence and trauma being inflicted in return.
If we were not to ask our heart, but only our mind for advice,we need to ask one single question: Is it likely that the current actions of IDF will lead to Hamas being extinguished? Or is it more likely it will have the exact opposite effect: a generation of traumatised children looking for revenge?
A call for a ceasefire is in the interest of BOTH sides. This war makes no sense, no matter if you look at it with your heart or your mind.
Christopher, with respect, you did comment on 7 October in your blogpost but you also adopted the BBC / Guardian trick of refraining from actually calling the Hamas ‘fighters’ terrorists and members of a proscribed terror organisation. You also give no indication that you watched the film of the atrocities committed by Hamas, spelling it out with same grim attention you gave to the recent report on IDF atrocities in Gaza. As you wrote on 19 March about that report, it is “a horrifying, detailed analysis of the current consequences of the IDF (Israeli army) invasion of Gaza under the orders of the Israeli government to launch and sustain an ongoing systematic decimation of the people of Gaza and their homeland.” And so it is, but where’s the equivalent blogpost for the Hamas atrocities, the detailed analysis of infernal crimes committed by young Palestinian men, applauded by their friends and families, and filmed, allegedly, by photojournalists who were on the payroll of Reuters and Associated Press? Where’s the endictment and outrage when it comes to the horrifying levels of capture, corruption and collusion of the international organisations that are supposed to be there to provide support and relief to the victims? I personally have not watched the film because — frankly — it terrifies me, and I don’t have the guts. Have you? And if so, what’s your take? Since Covid, I have utterly lost faith in the proclamations of Engaged Buddhism because all I have seen is biased activism. This blogpost does nothing to dispel my disillusionment.