Suffer the children

By the time this piece posts, the world will have confirmed what was only rumor at the time of writing. Hamas terrorists murdered and decapitated dozens of newborn children in an Israeli kibbutz. I was hoping against hope that this was simply another false report in a war filled with false reports. But as of this writing, this came through from CBS news:

@CBSNews learned that Israel body recovery teams have discovered beheaded babies and children in kibbutzim in southern Israel

— Norah O'Donnell 🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) October 10, 2023

There is no justification. No "cause" can merit this utter inhumanity. No "cause" can survive this utter barbarity. By this act, Hamas has doomed the cause the two-state solution. No Israeli government, of right, center, or left, will be able to countenance a Palestinian state existing cheek-to-jowl with Israel.

I am a frequent critic of the Israeli government. The settlements are untenable to a long-term peace. The inflammation of tensions over Al-Aqsa/Temple Mount regularly lead to Palestinians being killed by Israeli soldiers and police. The current Israeli government is burdened with a heavy load of responsibility for this sneak attack, having ignored warnings from Egyptian intelligence services in favor of placating the settlers who form a major constituency. But none of this—none of it—justifies what Hamas and affiliated terror groups have done. The murdered babies. The teens slaughtered at a music festival. The Holocaust survivors having their lives snuffed out in another pogrom. The Hamas apologists aver that this is what giving "voice to the voiceless" sounds like. It's not a voice. It's a demonic scream.

And, of course, Palestinians themselves will bear the brunt of Israel's quest for justifiable revenge. Ismail Haniyeh is safely out of the Gaza Strip. He's living in security in Doha, Qatar, far from the reach of Israeli jets. He is not volunteering to be a glorious martyr. He is not anxious to ascend to Paradise. Palestinian children will join Jewish children in death's embrace.

Please put aside the idea that this is a cry of the disenfranchised. Gaza has received billions of dollars in foreign aid since Hamas seized the territory. Where has that money gone? Where are the roads? The schools? The hospitals? The jobs? Gaza is called an open-air prison; but the blockade began as a result of Hamas' attacks on southern Israel. There was no blockade from the time Israel under Ariel Sharon evacuated the Strip and handed control to the PLO, to when Hamas executed a coup and kicked out its rivals. The PLO, at least, recognizes the Israeli state; Hamas has its eradication as the central plank in its charter. Who turned Gaza into a prison? Its wardens.

We are in a twilight struggle between civilization and barbarity. It's a straight line from children killed in the gas chambers and immolated afterwards to newborns being decapitated. This struggle has continued since the dawn of civilization. There is nothing new under the sun. But there are more of us. And yes, this is quite simply an "us vs. them" moment. There's no equivocation. I wish it weren't so, but I'm afraid we're far from "the end of history". 

Postscript

I wrote this: We are in a twilight struggle between civilization and barbarity. I wish to clarify what I mean by these terms.

I'm sure if a member of one of the Harvard student groups were to read this essay, he or she would assume, with degrees of indignation and self-satisfaction, that I spoke of Western civilization.

I do not.

Civilization is not a concept peculiar to the West. By "civilization", I refer to all human civilization, all the various and wondrous cultures which have arisen in all parts of the world, from Greece and Rome to the Golden Age of Islamic history to the various dynasties in China. From ancient Sumer to the Western Renaissance to 16th century Kongo. Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood. I speak of an idea which has at its center the elevation of humanity, the quest of humanity to know the mind of God and discern the secrets of existence.

Barbarity is its opposite. It is ignorance. It is violence. It is destruction. It is death. It is the abnegation of humanity. It is the elevation of jealous savagery over civilized comfort. Civilization is not limited to one race or culture. Neither is barbarity. Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Racist murderers in the United States. Hamas genocidaires carrying out pogroms in the third decade of the 21st century. Enemies of culture and enemies of peace, because those two things are offenses to them. They are small people who have no gift for anything other than tearing down things they do not understand. They rail against a world which has no need of them and wreak ruination as vengeance.

We are in a war not of race, nor ethnicity, nor religion. We are in a war about the very meaning of humanity, and the value of a human life. And of this I have no doubt: We will win.