“Community Statement” on Israel Promotes Lies, Falsehoods, and Misconceptions | OPINION
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The following is an opinion contribution and reflects the author’s views alone.
This past summer, as rockets from Hamas rained down on Israeli civilians, Princeton faculty penned a “community statement” vehemently attacking Israel and ignored the true nature of the conflict. The facts on the ground are clear: Hamas fired over 4,000 rockets toward Israel, with the intention of hitting civilian areas and placed their terrorist headquarters inside civilian areas, like schools and hospitals. Israel has offered to make peace with Hamas in the past and give them their own state, but, as Israeli politician Abba Eban remarked, the Palestinian people “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” The reason is simple. Hamas’ main focus is to abolish the existence of Israel in the area.
These aforementioned points are relevant and crucial to understanding the faults with the statement by Princeton faculty. The letter begins by declaring that the faculty members “condemn the ongoing attacks on the Palestinian people in Gaza by the Israeli armed forces.” Already, their statement perpetuates misconceptions. Israel “attack[ed]” nobody. They defended themselves. After the terror attacks on 9/11, the United States did not “attack” Afghanistan. They moved defensively against the Taliban. If a country is provoked by missiles launched toward civilian areas, they have the absolute right to defend themselves.
The statement’s suggestion that Israel can not move to stop incoming attacks raises important questions too. For example, why can a country not defend itself when its citizenry is being attacked? Would the signatories condemn any other country for attempting to neutralize a threat? Would they be pleased if Israel laid down their arms to allow Hamas to pursue its desire of Jewish genocide? The last question is the most concerning. While I don’t believe that the letter explicitly supports genocide, if Israel did lay down their arms when Hamas attacks, then genocide is exactly what would happen. Hamas would murder every Jewish man, woman, and child in Israel.
The letter continues, suggesting that the recent conflict is “the latest chapter of a nearly-fifteen-year blockade that has transformed the territory into a prison for its two million inhabitants.” Again, the letter makes unsubstantiated and inaccurate claims. It discusses the blockade without referencing why it was instituted in the first place. After Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Hamas continued to carry out extremely deadly and lethal terror attacks on Israeli citizens, prompting the initial blockade. The reason Gaza remains unlivable is not because of Israel, but because of Hamas.
Later on in the letter, the faculty members suggest that they “refuse the ‘two-sides’ and ‘evenhandedness’ narrative that ignores and conceals the meaningful differences between Israel … [and] Palestine.” I agree with them and reject the idea that we should be treating Israel and Hamas as equal entities. There is, of course, no moral equivalence here. But I say this because Hamas is an internationally recognized terrorist organization, and Israel is a diverse, Western democracy that respects human life. Under no circumstances should we treat two entities as moral equivalents. One side seeks to exterminate the populations of the other.
The letter seems to state that since Israel is strong, we should judge the conflict differently. However, their relative strength is irrelevant. A country’s actions matter most, and we should judge them based on their just actions.
The letter repeated obviously inaccurate talking points about Israel. But, in one particularly hateful instance, it nosedives into blatant antisemitism. After claiming, without evidence, that Israel is an “Apartheid system,” the letter suggested that “the brutal system that controls Israel…is ideologically founded upon Jewish supremacy.” This cannot be characterized as anything but antisemitism. To claim that Israel’s self-defense defending is a form of Jewish supremacy is shameful and a standard that would be applied to no other people or state. This letter, of course, doesn’t take into account the reality that Jewish people have a longer standing historical claim to the Land of Israel than any other people. Similarly, it doesn’t realize that the “brutal system” that “rules over the lives of Arab and Jewish citizens” is actually a democracy with Arab representation in Parliament and on the Supreme Court. The assertions made by the letter are false and perpetuate many dangerous misconceptions about Israel and the Jewish people. Israel doesn’t exist because of “Jewish Supremacy.” Israel exists because of its necessity, because there are people and forces who wish to commit genocide against the Jewish people.
Finally, the letter concludes by suggesting that Israel is in line with forms of actual evil. “We join together in rededicating ourselves to working against all forms of racism [and] colonialism,” it states. If we, as a Princeton community, are committed to standing against racism, why wouldn’t we oppose Hamas? After all, there are no Jews living in Gaza, yet the population of Israel is over one fifth Arab. Israel offers equal rights to all citizens, giving no thought to a citizen’s race, religion, gender, or national origin. The same can not be said about Hamas.
The conflict between Israel and Gaza is not particularly complicated. One side respects human rights, wishes to live in peace, and operates a thriving democracy. Gaza, on the other side, is run by an internationally recognized terror group that wishes genocide upon their opponents. The Princeton letter is a disappointing reminder of how viewing the Israel-Palestinian conflict with talking points clouds the reality of the situation. Only when we recognize that Israel has a right to exist and acts justly can we expect to find productive conversation.
