U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R, SC), speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press May 12th, forcefully defended Israel’s right to defend itself, even to the point of annihilating virtually the entire of population of Gaza. “When we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by the bombing [of] Hiroshima [and] Nagasaki with nuclear weapons. That was the right decision.” Graham added, “Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war. They can’t afford to lose.” If this is the accepted Republican position, it is not one that will make America great in the eyes of the world now or in the future.
The only thing I can agree with Graham on in that statement is that Israel can’t afford to lose, but they are in no danger of “losing” to Hamas at this point, or even on October 7th, when Hamas was at its strongest and perpetrating atrocities on Jews and anyone else they encountered during their rampage in the south of Israel.
I was raised in a Jewish family, have a brother with four children and four grandchildren living in Israel, and was in Israel the week before October 7 attending his youngest child’s wedding. I don’t expect anyone to believe I can have an objective viewpoint, so will just say what I think and hope that anyone reading this will hear other viewpoints and make up their own minds about what is true and morally defensible in this fraught situation.
My wife and I have visited the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum and while there learned that many scholars who’ve studied the documents and historical records about the decision to use the atomic bomb to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki argue it was not necessary to achieve victory. Germany had already surrendered and Japan knew they had lost the war and were fighting on as a matter of pride or willingness to sacrifice their soldiers. It was certainly not the case, as Graham argues above, of risking the destruction of our nation if we didn’t destroy those two cities, indiscriminately killing at least 200,000 men, women, and children.
Today, there is absolutely no doubt that such an act would be considered a war crime or crime against humanity, if not genocide. We should not be encouraging Israel to follow our example in their war against Hamas.
I support the existence of the country of Israel as a majority Jewish nation, which was first established by UN Resolution 181 in 1947. I also support the right of the Palestinians (who fled or were displaced by the war declared on the new country by all the surrounding Arab nations) to establish an independent state in what is usually referred to as a two state solution on terms and territories to be designated by negotiation.
Yet I, like many American and Israeli Jews, am upset by the policies of the government of Israel in recent years that are clearly not moving Israel any closer to that two state solution and in the meantime are treating the Arab inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza in ways that are often discriminatory, violent, and at times, inhumane.
That does not justify Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7, and Israel has the right, in my opinion, to attempt to destroy their military capabilities and try to rescue the hostages, which include some Americans. They also have the responsibility of minimizing the injury and death of civilians despite Hamas’s tactics of hiding in tunnels under civilian infrastructure including schools and hospitals.
Israel is also responsible for ensuring that food, medicine, and shelter are supplied to Gazans. They have obviously not done this adequately, and those responsible for any war crimes that may have been committed (on both sides) must be brought to justice.
I fully support President Biden’s efforts to both assist the Israelis in their defense and to try to influence Netanyahu’s often intransigent government to act within the currently recognized “rules of war.” That includes efforts to supply direct humanitarian aid to the Gazans through the construction of the floating dock to bring in supplies by sea and Biden’s withholding of bombs too big for use in urban environments or other offensive weapons he designates to pressure Netanyahu to keep humanitarian aid flowing and protect civilians. I can’t agree with Senator Bernie Sanders call to completely cut off military aid to Israel just as I can’t agree with Senator Graham.
I hope that most Americans can tell the difference between a country that is defending itself from terrorists and a country that is intentionally killing civilians, and I hope that Israel is focused on the former and punishes anyone in its ranks engaged in the latter. My brother, who has served in the Israeli reserves and works to bring together Jerusalem’s Arabs and Jews to build healthy communities says, “Most Israelis now recognize that Netanyahu’s coalition mush be voted out of office as soon as possible. The question is, will it be in time?”
Paul Epstein is a retired teacher and musician living in Charleston
