Lost at Sea, indeed
I am pained, as so many are, by the flotilla debacle off the coast of Gaza and I do not really feel the need to add yet another opinion to the chorus of voices.
There is a lot of talking going on and not a lot of listening to the voices from Israel and from Gaza who suffer under siege and insecurity. That the flotilla was a political act, rather than a “purely” humanitarian mission is clear, but also beside the point. My heart goes out to the soldiers who were injured and nearly abducted, to the activists who were injured and killed, to the families of both, to the citizens of Gaza and the citizens of Israel living in fear and my heart goes out to the politicians who made this mess and to those who are trying to heal it. Some of them are the same, some are not.
For those who do want opinions on all this, there are several places to find it, and they multiply by the hour.
Crisis in Israel breeds punditry around the globe.
A few of note:
Gershom Gorenberg, author of The Accidental Empire and proud South Jerusalem resident, provides some historical context for decisions leading up to the flotilla raid from a progressive Zionist perspective. He describes the raid as “a link in a chain of premeditated folly.”
Amos Oz’s essay on the post-1967 Israeli infatuation with the use of force is thought-provoking and painful.
Another Israeli thinker of great stature, the author David Grossman mourns “how far Israel has declined.”
For a calm and thoughtful response from someone to the right of Gorenberg, Oz and Grossman, the American-born Vice President of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, Daniel Gordis, offers his thoughts in the NY Times, lamenting the loss of life, but stating with resolve that Israel will soldier on, alone if it must.
From a more official perspective, Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States launches a defense of his government’s actions and argues to discredit the label of “peace activists” which the flotilla’s organizers assert.
And here is Tikkun’s Rabbi Michael Lerner on the crisis, offering a prayer and a hope for justice and peace to all sides.
I hope that when the dust settles, the world does not allow this to become an “us vs. them” scenario, a excuse for anti-Semtism or anti-Muslim sentiment, or another bludgeon with which to bash Israel’s very existence. I fear it already has become both of those things. The international outcry about the recent actions of North Korea, or the continued trade in conflict minerals from the Congo, or the continued repression of activists and minorities in Iran have all been greatly lacking while the world fixates on Israel and Gaza. There are many pressing problems in this 21st century and we must try to move forward from the traumas of the last century so we can address them. It is nearly impossible to heal from a trauma while the violence continues, yet space must be created, as it has not been yet, for all sides in this conflict to heal. The heated rhetoric, the PR war, is not helping.
I’m praying, as Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR in Los Angeles put it, that the world and the people of Israel and Palestine can find “a third way” from all of this. There are people of good will on all sides, and I hope they find each other.
Speedily and in our time.
