Whatever Happened to Right and Wrong?

The Hamas-Israel Conflict

Opinion Article

Frank Kaufmann

June 13, 2024

There is a known aphorism that says "Truth is the first casualty of war." I would like to offer a similar aphorism of my own, "Right and wrong are sacrificed on the altar of the desire for Peace.” 

My "abandoning right and wrong" aphorism is related to some degree to the frequently heard chant "No justice, no peace." (Justice being the link to questions of right and wrong.) 

Unfortunately, the "no justice, no peace" chant is owned by victims and the aggrieved. It is chanted as a threat. Love of justice is a claim forbidden to defenders of establishment ideals. For example, what if justice were being championed in this way? 

"We would be delighted to welcome this family to live fully among us, but unfortunately they are here in our community illegally"?

Would a person saying this be admired as a champion of justice? No. Of course not. This person would immediately be branded a bigot, a racist, and a nationalist (of the Nazism type), and probably worse. But why should someone defending the law not be admired as a champion of justice? Justice by definition is bound intrinsically to law. 

To demand that a community welcome lawbreakers, (traditionally known as criminals), and embrace them as a sign of being for “peace” is what I suggest in my teaser above that "right and wrong are sacrificed on the altar of desiring peace." 

All people desire peace. This is not a big accomplishment. Claiming to “be for peace,” or to “want peace,” distinguishes someone not at all. The desire for peace is perfectly universal, which makes claiming to be for peace a perfect artifice to bludgeon any poor soul who even timidly wants to assert the importance of right and wrong.

The absence of peace in any situation, from the smallest (“Mommy. Billy won’t give me my toy back.”) to the largest (Hamas-Israel, Russia-Ukraine) is never because one person is pro-peace and the other is not (except of course war-profiteers), but rather conflict is always over disagreement about who’s right and who’s wrong. 

The tiring posturing of “calling for peace” says in essence nothing. It wastes the listener’s time. It is non-productive. If anyone truly wants to press for peace, including as pertains to the current Hamas-Israel conflict, they must above all advocate for, and more importantly model the courage to take up the question of right and wrong. 

True peace seekers should be ready to assess elements of a conflict courageously in light of moral judgment, and must be able to do so with an open mind. 

The current military activity of Israel is in response to an attack on their homeland, and in pursuit of rescuing Israelis being held hostage. Even rabid ideologues (of any stripe) are likely to concur that people have a right to defend themselves and their loved ones. Most will agree that humans have a right to try to rescue loved ones from death and brutality. 

If nearly every person alive affirms these two human rights (defend myself, rescue loved ones from harm), we have to look elsewhere to understand the mind-boggling intensity of hatred leveled at Israel and any sympathizer on the international scene (from the streets to the Hague). (It should be noted that spray painting and burning down US and European cities and sacred treasure is unlikely to result in peace and positive welfare of people living in the Holy Land.)

My primary initial positions vis a vis hoping for peace in the Holy Land at this juncture are these. 1. Attacking Israel is nothing new. 2. Though the current attack resembles others, October 7 is unique among them. 

1. Not wanting Israel to exist has existed at least since May 14, 1948. I’m not arguing that Israel should or shouldn’t exist¹, I am merely saying that people doing things like what Hamas did on October 7 is nothing new - save perhaps for the sub-human barbarity that characterized parts of the October 7 attack. Since 1948 there have been at least 14 attacks on Israel from foreign countries, and at least 11 major coordinated terrorist attacks carried out on Israelis including some for sustained periods of time.  I am not saying Israel doesn’t deserve to be attacked², I am just pointing out that in its very short history of modern existence, Israel has been attacked, often for sustained periods, at least 25 times.
2. Despite the October 7 attack on Israel looking like just another of any of the dozens of similar attacks Israel has sustained over a very short period of its modern existence, I posit that this conflict is unique and unprecedented. This conflict in Israel is the first of its kind for several reasons.

How so? What is so different about this occasion that distinguishes it from the dozens of similar attacks?  

It is not because present day Israel is much different than it has always been. Nor is its present assailant (Hamas, and now Iran)  much different from the dozens of other groups and nations that attack Israel on a regular basis. The difference is neither Israel nor Hamas, but rather the surrounding world in which this current conflict transpires. The world has changed, and from this fact the conflict is unprecedented and different from all others. 

The main change to which I refer is my opinion that classical, higher education worldwide has been undermined over the course of approximately 30 years by a totalistic, systematic, carefully crafted design to replace learning, critical thinking, and the pursuit of knowledge and information. These hallmarks of education have been replaced by full scale indoctrination in “Decolonial” Ideology. 

This successful takeover of the academy (and by extension all social and political (even religious) institutions) has resulted in Jews (and by extension Israel) plummeting from the of  hallowed status as paragons of victimhood (Hitler’s Final Solution) to now being assigned to the pinnacle status of Colonialist Oppressors of People of Color. And, as bad or worse, as a friend joined at the hip with the ultimate oppressor, the United States of America). 

The Jews and Israel trying to protect itself and recover its loved ones from death and grotesquery is now seen entirely as the actions of Colonizers, Oppressors, White-Adjacent, America-Adjacent, perpetrators of racism, imperialism, and colonialism. 

Jews never saw this coming. 

This is why I call this current Middle East conflict the first of its kind. 

Programs for peace, articles about peace, and pursuing the end of conflict must proceed with a clear understanding of reality on the ground. It is a mistake to think of this conflict as anything like all the others. Israel now seeks to defend itself and rescue its loved ones in a world they have never known. As such peace conversations, programs and serious recommendations must start with this clear grasp of the geopolitical reality in which this conflict transpires. 

¹  I personally like the fact that Israel exists. But I also am more than willing to listen to people explain to me their views on why Israel should not exist. In fact I listen to people telling me this quite a lot

² I personally do not think Israel deserves to be attacked all the time. But I am more than willing to listen to people explain to me why they should be attacked all the time. In fact I listen to people telling me this quite a lot.

 

Acknowledgement: Reprinted from UPF magazine Connections, Spring 2024