They are underway two terrible wars very close to us, in Ukraine and in Palestine, as well as others more distant, about which we are less informed. No person with common sense loves war, especially when nuclear powers are involved, and when the theater of war risks spreading across entire continents. Public opinion in non-belligerent countries is important because it influences the evolution of the situation through support for support actions or sanctions. Two simple considerations they can help guide our assessment at a time when partisan propaganda is rampant.
1) Unless you believe in divine justice, right and wrong are decided in international courts and bodies. The UN assembly has repeatedly condemned Russia and Israel, and trials are underway against these countries and their rulers at the International Courts of Justice (ICJ) and Criminal Courts (ICC). The UN votes and the sentences of the International Courts can be criticized, but when they reflect the unanimity or near unanimity of the body that issues them it is very likely that they are valid.
2) Responsibility, political and legal, is directly proportional to the power held. The main responsibility for the conflicts in Palestine or Ukraine falls on Israel and Russia, because they are the states that hold the power to stop the carnage taking place in Gaza and Ukraine.
These considerations identify clearly and unambiguously precise responsibilities and faults, but they do not necessarily imply the reason of the opposing party. Claiming that Israel is committing war crimes with genocidal intent does not mean claiming that Hamas is right, and has not itself been responsible for crimes: it is clear that the two parties they are both wrong, despite not both having the same level of responsibility. Furthermore, Hamas does not represent the entire civilian population of Gaza, subjected to daily bombing and the diversion of water and food. Likewise, Putin’s gross violations of international law do not necessarily mean that neighboring countries have not committed political errors, but there is a substantial difference between mistakes and crimes.
Many sociological investigations show that in countries not directly involved, considerations of this type are widely shared; much less or not at all in the countries involved. If it is understandable that the Russian people, oppressed by Putin’s dictatorship, may not be able to make such banal considerations their own, the blindness of the government and of the majority of the Israeli people, who after all enjoy a democracyalbeit very imperfect and discriminatory.
In Israel many intellectuals and many Israeli newspapers explain the concepts exposed here at length, and indeed they are much more firm and explicit; yet the majority of Israeli Jews are in favor of continuing the warunderestimating the isolation into which the country is falling, and indeed attributing the protest demonstrations now widespread throughout the world to anti-Semitism.
