By the passage of time
Surely humanity is in grave loss
Except those who have faith, do good, urge each other to the truth (bi’l haq), and urge each other to perseverance (b’sabr).
–“Al Asr,” Qur’an 103:1-3

After some thought, I’ve decided to keep the implicit resolution I made in this post awhile back, and take a break from public commentary on Israel and Palestine, and for the most part from blogging and social media altogether. Whether I end up keeping the resolution or not, and barring some extraordinary event that absolutely “demands” comment, my aim is to keep my counsel for the next full year, from now until the beginning of November 2024. Continue reading →

It’s frequently asserted as an unchallengeable axiom that Hamas uses health facilities as a base of military operations, so that Israel is forced–by Hamas’s callous, murderous use of human shields–to target these facilities. I’m very skeptical of this claim, but let me set that particular skepticism aside for now. Consider this item below, which comes from a neutral third party, the World Health Organization (WHO). What it reports is a series of Israeli attacks on Palestinian health facilities.

Let’s suppose that Hamas does indeed use health facilities as a base of operations, thereby treating the patients and staff as innocent human shields. Still, that claim leaves us with a quantitative problem. How often? Put another way, how do we determine, in particular cases, whether this accusation is true? (a) Do we simply treat it as an axiom that regulates any evidence we receive about Palestinian health facilities hit by Israeli fire? Or (b) do we treat each case on its own merits, granting as much credence to the “human shield” hypothesis as is warranted by the evidence in each case, and taking it from there? Continue reading →

Does the item below reflect a good faith attempt to avoid civilian casualties, or does it express a cynical, murderous attempt to demand the impossible, then set up a pretext for the mass killing of large swatches of north Gaza (in principle all of it)–and as much of south Gaza as Israel chooses to hit, while demanding that the northern population flee there?

To belabor the obvious: both hypotheses are in play, as are all of the ones intermediate between them. Strictly speaking, the evidence neither rules in nor rules out either hypothesis. But no impartial observer could say that American political discourse is structured by the preceding fact. The obvious, ubiquitous epistemic imperative appears to be: rule out the latter, “pretext-for-mass-killing” hypothesis a priori, on pain of being labeled a terrorist-sympathizer, an anti-Semite, or a traitor. Why? Are we not permitted even ex hypothesi to consider the ascription of malign motives to Israel? In that case, I guess I’m not interested in getting anyone’s permission before I do.

What was the military objective of bombing precisely where civilians were gathered to leave Gaza? Defeasible hypothesis: to bomb precisely where civilians were gathered to leave Gaza.

I was texting today with a friend in the West Bank. I ranted awhile about The Situation. He made no effort to join in. Finally, he said:

I promise you to be peaceful and to teach my people that.

It seemed to come from out of nowhere, but maybe that’s because I’d been monopolizing the conversation. I told him that peace was best, but that we all have a right to defend ourselves. He didn’t respond. An hour after that, he sent me videos of the Israeli military invading his village, driving vehicles with proud Stars of David flags affixed to them, smashing down doors, doing house-to-house searches, etc. etc. Injunctions to peaceful non-violence seem anemic in this context; invocations of the right to self-defense, futile. Continue reading →

‘Gaza must become a place where no human being can exist…’ —Major General Giora Eiland, Israel Defense Forces

He neglected to add that it’s a place that few human beings can escape, either. The obvious answer to the question, “Was there anywhere safe to go?” was always “no.” The real question is why people who knew that, and planned for it, ordered people into danger anyway. But they did.

No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend
–Metallica, “Disposable Heroes” 

Having read maybe scores of articles on the ongoing disaster in Israel and Palestine, I want to hold off indefinitely on offering up any commentary, and restrict any posts I write to news items with distinctive informational value, particularly items describing events that are not being reported in the mainstream media. These two are from +972 Magazine, “an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists.”  Continue reading →

I posted this on my Facebook page this past Tuesday (slightly reworded here). It’ll be my last post on October 7 here at PoT as well, at least for awhile. I’d prefer to take some time and process the event before I say very much more.

I’m getting off of Facebook for awhile. It’s a cesspool at the moment, and I’m sick of it.

Just to clarify my own views before anyone decides to put any in my mouth while I’m gone: I do not accept the legitimacy of the 10/7 Hamas attack on Israel. I believe in a right of self-defense and of resistance, but I don’t regard this attack as an instance of those things. I know enough about suicidal behavior to recognize it when I see it. This is an enactment of murder-suicide. It’s not liberation. There is nothing here to valorize. If you feel differently, feel free. But don’t expect my support. It’s not forthcoming. Continue reading →