This commentary is by Dan Freilich of Brownsville. He is a former candidate for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Our congressional delegation’s kowtowing to pressure from misinformed progressives, de facto siding with Hamas terrorists against a liberal democratic ally, and the Vermont press’ complicity, have been travesties of justice where right is wrong and wrong is right. Demanding a cease-fire and denying Israel funding hands Hamas victories and rewards for its Oct. 7 terrorism massacre. Their relative ‘crickets’ about what reports indicate were brutal rapes of Israeli women by Hamas is astounding, hypocritical and infuriating. The same can be said for their silence about university presidents espousing the calling for genocide of Jews to be contextually OK. Could you imagine Vermont’s delegation, press and progressives remaining silent if terrorists raped and murdered women of another group (pick your group)? (A recent New York Times investigation found sexual violence against Israeli women to be “not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.“) Could you imagine them remaining silent about advocacy for genocide of another group being deemed ok? Thousands of progressive Vermonters would protest in Montpelier. Terrorism aimed at Israelis, though, is OK.
Why have typically conscientious progressives been duped about morality, and who is the underdog victim who should be sided with? The root cause is that the Israel-Palestine narrative is owned by the Islamic world, which includes 1.8 billion people, 24% of the population, more than 50 countries and control of 80% of world oil reserves, versus the Jewish world which includes 15 million people, 0.2% of the population and 1 country. Israel cannot compete with the fake news false victimhood.
I empathize with others who are also heartbroken by the Gaza civilian deaths. But empathy should be balanced, unbiased by asymmetric casualty numbers, and targeted more to the just side which aims for peace and compromise and pursues liberal democratic principles (Israel). A good analogy would be the plight of German civilians killed during Allied World War II bombings, in which good-hearted Americans were appropriately more concerned about Allied deaths than those of Germans who started the war and supported its evil regime in the first place — despite higher numbers of German casualties. I don’t recall widespread denunciation of the Allies’ war effort and calls for cease-fires that would have resulted in Nazi victories.
Why are Vermont progressives misinformed? I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that their immorality is based on “ignorance of the law” rather than malicious, that they “mean well.” However, they selectively acknowledge only the pain of the Palestinians. That Israelis have lived with Palestinian terrorism for more than half a century is ignored. And our congressional delegation and press are so biased by Islamic false victimhood that they don’t push back, inform and educate about the truth. Vermont progressives ignore historical context, that Israel offered or agreed to generous peace deals THREE times, including returning more than 90% of West Bank and Gaza territory, all of which were refused by Palestinians who wanted the whole enchilada without compromise. Progressives ignore facts that the PLO’s goal enumerated in its charter previously and Hamas’ currently is the obliteration of Israel, which, for the record, was created by the UN.
I abhor Israel’s current ultra-right Netanyahu government (and its settlement policies) too, but its rise to power emanated from Israel’s liberal parties (which pursued peace for decades) losing power due to repeated Palestinian rejections of peace proposals, absence of a peace partner and the bloody second intifada. Giving up on a liberal democracy because it has an unpalatable ultra-rightist government now would be like giving up on the U.S. because of its current sojourn with similar Trumpism. Israel’s voting in of Netanyahu is akin to a friend who is a good person making a mistake; Hamas is evil in its basic being.
A common refrain is that Hamas attacked Israel because it had no other option to change the status quo; that Israel was strong, negotiating separately with Arab countries, and Palestinians’ plight was no longer on the world stage. But Hamas had another option, reversal of its charter to annihilate Israel, transformation into a negotiating non-violent organization and facilitation of a two-state solution rather than being its impediment. Such a move would have been transformative, forced Netanyahu to negotiations or paved the way for the liberal, more compromising, side of Israeli politics to regain power and negotiate peace.
Gazan civilian deaths are entirely Hamas’ fault. Hamas can revive the pause in hostilities by releasing hostages. Hamas can facilitate a cease-fire by renouncing violence and embracing compromise. Hamas started this war, knew what would happen, and uses its people as human shields. Hamas couldn’t care less about Gazans, spends its aid money on tunnels and executes two-state supporters and gay people.
To ask Israel to stop fighting back (cease-fire) is like asking a battered domestic violence victim to stop fighting back against her perpetrator. Imagine how Vermonters would act if Hamas controlled Canada and sent terrorists across the border to murder and rape Vermonters as occurred in Israel on Oct. 7. Montreal would be destroyed. We know that.
The just way to save innocent Gazans would be to support Israel’s war effort to destroy Hamas, and then reinvigorate two-state negotiations. Vermont’s delegation, press and progressives should follow President Biden’s leadership and embrace more thoughtful, just and moral stances on Israel-Palestine.
