The Israeli army is poised to invade Rafah in southern Gaza. The targeted area is occupied by over a million people, many of them having relocated from other areas of Gaza, at the invitation of the Israeli army, in an effort to avoid the armed conflict.
The Gaza conflict has resulted in death and destruction. Israel seeks to destroy Hamas. Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military movement governing parts of the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. Hamas seeks destruction of the state of Israel.
There is credible evidence that one of the key tactics of Hamas is to embed their fighters in the population. This tactic includes building tunnels and control centers in, and beneath, medical facilities such as hospitals. Some of the million or so people in Rafah are undoubtedly Hamas fighters.
Israel’s current actions in Gaza were initiated following an incursion by Hamas into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. Israelis were killed, raped, and taken hostage.
I suppose I could add other factual statements about what is going on in Gaza. Statements of fact, however, would not resolve the conflict itself, nor would they end the debate about the conflict. This is controversy that now includes demonstrations on American college campuses. While most of us are not forced to deal with the conflict, as we go about our daily lives, the college campus component energizes news coverage and public debate.
It all reminds me, in some ways, of Vietnam. The United States was the actor there, of course, while in Gaza we are a bystander. As a staunch supporter of Israel, however, and a major source of weapons that allow the Israelis to control the combat skies, America is seen as having major responsibility for the Israeli actions. The students are not threatened with the draft, as in Vietnam, but perhaps that only tends to demonstrate their sincerity.
When I set out to study the American involvement in Vietnam several years ago it was against the background of my own experience: I graduated high school in 1966 and, absent a college deferment, would have been drafted. Some of my friends were either drafted or joined under such threat; some lived, some died. I was generally familiar with Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Ho Chi Minh from the evening news.
The Vietnam War didn’t just happen. In my reading I learned about the French debacle, including the key defeat at Dien Bien Phu, that convinced the French to leave. The Americans took over. I didn’t know that.
I learned that domestic politics had a profound influence on the decision to escalate, and to carry on with the fight despite American deaths. I already knew that the body counts of Viet Cong reported by the press were bogus, but I became acquainted in my research with Americans, military and political, that led a doomed effort long after the supposed essence (self-determination) had evaporated. Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, bombing Laos, destroying villages to save them. ‘Nuff said.
Political debate is often contentious. When people are dying, and the threat to an ally is asserted to be existential, the energy level rises. So here we are again. In Vietnam there were suggestions that the French and American efforts were affected by racism, and in Gaza there is a consistent undercurrent of allegations of opposition motivated by antisemitism. It’s not the subject of comfortable dinner table discussion. But this, of course, is not the dinner table, so I’ll contribute a few thoughts.
Most reports of the current Gaza conflict that I’ve read mention the Hamas incursion of October 7, and imply that this was somehow the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the Arab occupants of Gaza. That would, based on my reading, be inaccurate.
While some point to ancient times and residence on the turf by both Arabs and Jews, Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian historian at Columbia University, asserts that the current conflict has its genesis in the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the British Balfour Declaration in 1917, which stated British favor of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Professor Khalidi points to four other major Israeli initiatives that were aimed at destroying Palestinian organization and hopes for their own homeland. (The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, 2021, Metropolitan Books)
I’m not accepting Professor Khalidi’s perspective as absolute truth. My lesson from Vietnam, though, is that daily press coverage of the event does not ensure accuracy in fact, and largely ignores the often-troublesome details of history. I’ve learned that governments can dissemble, and in some cases, simply lie. It reminds me of Pat Paulsen’s quixotic run for President in 1968 and his comment: “Ahead of us lies the future, and behind us lies, lies, lies.” I’m careful.
The physical war is, of course, being fought on the ground and in the skies over Gaza. (And Lebanon, and Syria, and Iran, at least so far.) There is a coincident war being fought for public opinion and support. Professor Khalidi ‘s perspective is that Israel has won this ongoing war, and the Palestinians have clearly lost. That is consistent with my own view, having been exposed to news of this conflict since the day I was born (1948, the day of the birth of Israel as well.)
While the Palestinians have long struggled to present a clear and consistent message, the Israelis have had no such difficulty. I have, for example, been taught by the press that Israel’s very existence is threatened, and this is one of the conceptual foundations of Israeli actions in Gaza. Yair Lapid, an Israeli politician and leader of the opposition, echoed this perspective when he told the New York Times: The fact that we do not seem to be able to rescue ourselves from being locked in a basement surrounded by people who want to kill us is pretty, pretty frustrating for the people of Israel. I am convinced that there are enemies who seek to destroy Israel; I am also convinced that Israel has been pretty well able to kick the fannies of anyone who tries.
My personal opinion regarding the operations of the Israeli government and army, or my observations regarding the abject political failure of the Palestine Liberation Organization, will have no effect on ground operations in Gaza. I am sure there will be an eventual proposal and effort to reconstruct Gaza, but I will be far removed, and it is unlikely those efforts will affect my pocketbook. The more important motivation is that, as with most Americans, I want to feel I have an opinion that is, at least to a reasonable extent, informed.
In that regard, I have been surprised that I haven’t heard about “teach-ins” on the campuses. These were a big thing back in the 60’s. I never attended, but I now know that I could have learned about the French colonial experience in Indochina; Churchill and De Gaulle and thir post-WWII support for re-establishing colonial empires; Woodrow Wilson and promises of self-determination; and the concept that people in a foreign land might be unfriendly to the United States for reasons other than a desire to become slaves to Communism.
The Hamas incursion on October 7 was horrific. The deaths of over 30,000 in Gaza, and the accompanying destruction of infrastructure for health care, water, sewer, economic livelihood, and food is also horrific. My life experience, and my research of past conflagrations, leads me to caution in identifying good and evil, and in attributing particular motivation, such as antisemitism, to those who might in good faith question America’s commitment to arming Israel.
There are undoubtedly haters out there, and we have historically found ways to acknowledge their right to speak while avoiding dismemberment of our society. We must continue that tradition.
At the same time, we have a responsibility as Americans to demand of ourselves that we base our opinions and political support on real experience, and hard facts. That leaves a lot of room for debate, and disagreement, but it is a responsibility we’ve inherited as Americans. That isn’t Pollyanna, it’s basic 7th grade civics.