I would like to respond to Leah Lyons’ letter (“The Blood Libel” (April 4, 2024), since it is directed at Jews like me who interpret some of Israel’s actions in Gaza as plausibly genocidal.
I do appreciate that Leah gives us the benefit of the doubt in calling us “kind, good-hearted people,” unlike some others who disagree with us, calling us self-hating Jews or kapos. She says we are just misguided because we’re only presented with half a picture, just watching CNN, CNBC, TikTok and X videos. “All you hear all day long is that Israel is a monster.”
But I do listen to the other side, to the “pro-Israel/pro-war side. And it’s what I hear on that side that reinforces my pro-ceasefire stance. This is because, almost without exception, every argument I’ve heard supporting the war in Gaza contains one or more of the following three features:
1. Dehumanization of Palestinians. This can range from explicitly genocidal rhetoric to the racism of those who see Palestinian or Arab society as violent by nature. There are unfortunately many Jews who would openly admit that they have little to no sympathy for the Palestinian children who have been killed. Any level of dehumanization makes it easier to support a war that has killed thousands of children.
2. A dismissiveness or willful ignorance of the prevalence or seriousness of the dehumanization mentioned above. There are many supporters of the war in Gaza who insist that they do sympathize with the Gazan civilians, but they say that it is unfortunately unavoidable collateral costs in a war against terrorism that would otherwise kill many more civilians. War is hell, but sometimes necessary. I give them the benefit of the doubt that they are sympathetic. But they often discredit themselves by pretending that anti-Palestinian hate is not a serious problem in Jewish/Israeli society, by pretending that the kind of hate that can lead to genocide is not prevalent enough among our people to pose a risk.
3. Blind faith in the IDF. There are those who do acknowledge the seriousness and prevalence of anti-Palestinian hate in our society. They concede that it is a serious issue that must be confronted, just as antisemitism must be confronted among the pro-Palestine crowd. But in their arguments in support of the war, they insist that the IDF is somehow unaffected by the pervasive dehumanization of Palestinians, or only affected to a negligible degree.
I believe in giving benefit of the doubt, but not at the expense of clarity in critical situations. When it comes to supporting a war that’s killing thousands of children, your argument shouldn’t appeal to giving benefit of the doubt.
