“Creating mass hunger is morally prohibited and undermines the moral right of the State of Israel to exist. Every just war has its limits, and the assertion that the goal justifies the means is both harmful and incorrect.” Thus Yuli Tamir in Haaretz, who explains how philosophy has always tried to establish “what is permitted from a moral and utilitarian perspective” and that this limit has been largely exceeded in Gaza.
After having unreservedly condemned the attack of 7 October, which according to the reporter also exceeded this limit despite deeming the Palestinian war of independence “just”, she explains that the “black flag” of ignominy is now flying over both contenders.
In this regard, he recalls the alarm raised in January by Arif Husain, chief economist of the World Food Programme, when he announced that 80% of the people living in the Gaza Strip suffer from catastrophic hunger: “I have never seen anything similar, both in terms of scope, size, but also the pace at which it took place.”
And, on this point, he painfully notes: “How can we complain that the hostages suffer from hunger when we leave hundreds of thousands of people to suffer from malnutrition?”
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“The current Israeli leadership – adds Tamir – makes us all complicit. We are complicit in people starving and thirsty, killing each other for a slice of bread, eating bird food and drinking stale water. We are complicit in the fact that humanitarian workers are killed during the most humane and moral action possible: the distribution of hot meals.”
“When we drink coffee in the morning and choose what type of milk we want (and whether to drink it in a glass or a paper cup), we are complicit in hunger. When we think of the Passover table and the exodus from Egypt, we are complicit in hunger. When we agonize over whether to serve Moroccan fish or fish gefilte, even there we are complicit in hunger. Even when we sleep at night, we are complicit.”
Then, evoking Israeli complaints for the world’s condemnation, he notes: “The actions carried out today are evidently immoral acts that undermine the moral identity of the entire State of Israel and its citizens.”
“Many Israelis said after October 7 that all Gazans were guilty because they had elected Hamas and were complicit in its government. And also that no one is innocent in Gaza because all the inhabitants of Gaza knew it and kept quiet. So, like the inhabitants of Gaza, we too are all complicit.”
“None of this means that they or we deserve to starve, to be killed by a rocket, a knife or a bomb. It means that we take responsibility and that we must speak out against a government that makes us complicit against our will.”
Of the same tone, but with a broader scope, another article from Haaretz, this time by Gideon Levy, entitled “In six months, in Gaza, the worst war ever waged by Israel has achieved only death and destruction”. A war, the reporter notes, in which it is clear that the “benefits are negligible, indeed non-existent”.
Of course, Israel had to react to the October 7 attack, he says, but “if these are the results, it would have been better to show restraint, punish those who had to be punished for the horrors of October 7, and move on. Everyone would have benefited, except Israel’s virile, militaristic ego, which always imposes disproportionate responses and punishments.”
“[…] Not even the most advanced ground-penetrating radar could dig through Gaza’s ruins and graves to find a single benefit to Israel from this war. The mountains of unprecedented damage, on the contrary, are visible to the naked eye.”
Not only that, the damage that Israel has inflicted on its international image, writes Levy, is “irreversible”: it will take years to recover and it is normal for the world to condemn Tel Aviv. And he concludes: “We have always been indifferent to the suffering of the Palestinians, but now we have reached new monstrous records of indifference.”
“Limbs are regularly amputated [ai palestinesi] in Sde Teiman prison without any reaction. There are 17,000 children in Gaza orphaned or separated from their parents – and nothing. Israeli doctors do not protest for Sde Teiman, nor do her social workers for starving children and those who have died or been killed. We have become monsters. Not only in our actions, but above all in our apathy.”
“October 7, Sunday six months ago, destroyed the conscience of the Israelis,” who since then have paid attention only to their pain. “But, when the largest and most advanced medical center in Gaza [al Shifa ndr.] it was set on fire, the soul of Israel also burned with it […]. At the end of this war, Gaza will be destroyed and murdered, and we will see, looking in the mirror, a different face. The world will treat us accordingly, just as we would expect it to treat any evil state that acts in this way.”
Of course, something is changing, Levy notes, reporting that more and more voices are being raised in Israel to ask for an end to the war, but these are appeals “too late and too hesitant. Bloodlust and sadism have come to light in the last six months and are considered politically correct in Israel.”
“The next six months of war could be even worse than the first. An invasion of Rafah could make the mass murders we have perpetrated so far seem like just a movie trailer.”
The new horrors of Rafah, among other things, would bring the level of conflict with Hezbollah to paroxysm and could trigger a war with Iran and other countries in the region, against which Tel Aviv will remain alone. “It’s best not to get into these horror scenarios that are not at all realistic […] It’s best to stop here. Let’s stop with the apocalyptic scenarios and stop the war. The first six months were enough for us: they are more than enough, we ended up on a dead end.”
