In the futility of modern war, there are no winners
‘War has crossed out the day and replaced it with horror, and now horrors are unfolding instead of days.”
Zlata Filipovic was not yet a teenager when she wrote those words in her journal, later published as the best-selling book, “Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo.” For two years, Filipovic’s diary became her reliable confidante during the Bosnian War. Three decades later, millions of the world’s children and their families are living those same horrors in Ukraine and in nations like Niger, where months of violence and a recent military coup garnered few headlines or protests of sympathy.
And in Israel and Gaza.
Since Hamas terrorists launched their devastating surprise attack against Israel on Saturday, at least 1,000 Israelis, including about 260 people at an outdoor music festival, have reportedly been killed. As many as 150 others were allegedly kidnapped and are believed to be held in Gaza. At least 14 Americans were killed, according to President Biden, and an unknown number could be among the hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel announced that his country was “at war,” and retaliatory strikes in Gaza have been relentless and escalating. So far, nearly 800 Palestinians have been killed. Those numbers will only rise.
On Monday, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said authorities “are imposing a complete siege on Gaza” — no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Hamas is threatening to kill hostages if Israel does not stop its airstrikes. Not even a week into this war and it already feels like a world without end — or, eventually, a winner.
Of course what happens in the Middle East never stays in the Middle East, and emotions nationwide and around the world are rapidly spiraling. At a “Stand with Israel” rally Monday on Boston Common, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts — appearing with Governor Maura Healey, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and others — was nearly drowned out by loud boos when he said, “There must be a de-escalation of the current violence.”
Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters scuffled during dueling rallies outside Cambridge City Hall. In Sydney, Australia, antisemitic chants marred a pro-Palestinian rally. Worshippers at Utah synagogues were forced to evacuate Sunday after bomb threats, though law enforcement officials found nothing suspicious.
Since the war began, synagogues and mosques nationwide have been beefingup security — not that there’s ever a dearth of antisemitism or anti-Muslim sentiment. But just as businesses with “Russian” in their names endured threats of violence and boycotts after President Vladimir Putin of Russia launched his unprovoked war against Ukraine last year, there’s an expectation that those with appetites for hate and destruction will exploit tensions for their own purposes. It won’t just be the cheap virtue signaling of liquor store owners pouring what they thought was Russian vodka down drains and sewers.
Throughout its 75-year existence, Israel has been under siege. And in a 2022 report, Human Rights Watch called Gaza — one of the world’s poorest and most densely populated areas with twice the population of Rhode Island crammed into about 90 percent fewer square miles —“an open air prison.”
Discord between Israel and Gaza isn’t new. But what’s being witnessed is unprecedented in its shocking scale of indiscriminate brutality and retaliation. Something fundamental has broken. Every war has atrocities, but this nascent battle is shaping up to be a war atrocities. Both ordinary Israelis and Palestinians
Discord between Israel and Gaza isn’t new. But what’s being witnessed is unprecedented in its shocking scale of indiscriminate brutality and retaliation. Something fundamental has broken.
deserve far better. Neither group will get it. Hamas is still firing hundreds of rockets toward Israel. And a ground incursion by Israel Defense Forces into Gaza now seems inevitable.
“We have only started striking Hamas,” Netanyahu said Monday. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.” Already reverberating for the families of the dead and missing is the rote dehumanization that makes war too palatable, a response without resolution.
Hamas won’t stop. Israel won’t stop. But rockets and bullets, communities reduced to sorrow and ash, and the blood of innocents won’t bring Palestinians closer to the homeland they deserve nor achieve for Israel the peace and security it has desired for more than seven decades. There will be no winners in Israel or Gaza, just the horrors that now unfold instead of days.