War's Mid-Week Status

Gaza, Yemen, Iran and History & Religion

War Context

As the week progresses, so does the war. Israel is progressing its incursion into the Gaza Strip while at the same time aerial attacks on Hamas targets continue. But they also continue on Israel’s heartland, see the image of rocket attacks launched by Hamas just today. The question that keeps lingering is why there is no ceasefire or no pressure from the world to enforce a cessation of hostilities. British Labour Leader Keir Starmer weighed in on the issue yesterday and explained it clearly. He too does not see how there is any compelling reason for a ceasefire, but that would not rule out humanitarian help or as it is now referred to as ‘humanitarian pauses’.

There is of course opposition to this stance and the pressure on Israel to refrain from further fighting is relentless. Secretary of State Blinken will travel to Jerusalem again this Friday and it will no doubt be part of the discussion. But if you consider all this, the following questions come up in particular in light of the ongoing diplomatic efforts (notably through Qatar as a facilitator):

• Why did the hostage for ceasefire deal never get consummated?

• Why does Hamas keep firing rockets at civilian areas in Israel?

• Why are there still civilians stuck in areas with heavy fighting in Gaza?

• Even after multiple warnings and advice from the Israeli forces?

• Why are resources in Gaza routed to Hamas fighters rather than civilians?

In other words, where is the pressure on those that are directly contributing to both the suffering of Gaza’s and Israel’s population? Or is Hamas deliberately setting the situation up for a human disaster, on both sides?

Yemen, Iran

Multiple aerial attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen took place over the past few days and while Israel managed to neutralize these it is clear there now is a southern front opening up. One media resource noted that the possible target was the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center which is located in Dimona, in Israel’s south. The Yemen front is also one supported by Iran and as of this week the story is that Iran is not seeking a direct conflict with Israel, but will wage a proxy war through its four key partners: Hamas, Houthi in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon of course Syria. Israel is engaging now with all four and it is not hard to see how each can be accelerated at Iran’s insistence. At some point pressure on Iran will have to be applied one way or the other if we are to avoid a Middle Eastern regional explosion.

The Devastating Attack, Revisited

As I called it during the first two weeks in my daily posts, the ‘devastating attack’ is now mapped out here. It is a fully interactive map which lets you see where the killings and kidnappings took place with the names of all the victims in each location. As always, when you dig into facts later you begin to see things you weren’t fully aware of and in this case it is how deep into Israel Hamas was able to attack on that fateful Saturday. The horror will not go away.

Religion’s Role

One of the things that have bothered me to no end over the past few weeks is the literal absence of any historic understanding from ‘experts’ and ‘commentators’. No idea of what preceded the state of Israel, not a clue about the the British Mandate years, even a basic understanding of the UN resolution of 1947, nothing, nada, but the ignorant still use their bullhorn to the fullest extent. In Dutch media we had a well-known journalist calling for a separation between Jews worldwide and Israel in an attempt to ward off anti-Semitism. Like how? A member of parliament in the same country said that a call for a ‘Free Palestine’ is a call to have one nation where Jews and Palestinians live freely together. Like how? In what universe? It is pseudo-expertise without any consideration of history, facts or even a basic sense of reality. But it gets attention and traction in our social media age no doubt. It creates confusion and sends people in the wrong direction. Not helpful.

So, it was good to hear that in British Columbia it was announced that from 2025 onward the Holocaust will be a mandatory school course. As a former school trustee I was always somewhat surprised by the optional nature of educating kids about Hitler’s final solution, but at least there is now an attempt to address it. But it is far from enough and I think more needs to be done to fill the knowledge vacuum.

How can young people these days even begin to understand the world if they do not have a basic understanding of the roots of the three Abrahamic religions? I raised it once in my school trustee days and was told that ‘religion’ was a no-go area. Why? We are not seeking to convert people to become Calvinists or Muslims or Jews, but we really need to get them to understand how these religions have shaped our world. Even if you are not religious and live a happy secular life, you still are to a very large extent shaped by the religions that are foundational to today’s society. And yes that is Christianity and Judaism, but also given immigration and globalization it is Islam. Add to that Hinduism and Buddhism. Speaking for myself I only got to understand my native Netherlands when my school did a deep dive into the reformation and the eighty-year war (1568-1648) and how Dutch Protestants rebelled against the Catholic Spanish king. For better or for worse, religious conflicts are foundational to the structures of today’s world. Just putting it out there. I will revisit this over the next few weeks.