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The Moral Clarity of a Just War

(Times of Israel) Yossi Klein Halevi - We are at one of those defining moments in Jewish history when we find ourselves at a moral disconnect with much of the international community. A mere month later, the memory of Oct. 7 has faded, absorbed into the "cycle of violence." No, we patiently explain, the massacre was not in response to anything Israel does but to what Israel is. And yes, the suffering of innocent Gazans deserves the world's urgent humanitarian attention, but not at the expense of moral clarity about the justness of this war. But increasingly, we sense that we are talking to ourselves. The West doesn't understand the language we are speaking. We watch the mass marches against Israel with astonishment. What may well be the most horrific massacre of our time has resulted in the unprecedented popularity of the Palestinian cause. But with the Hamas massacre, we agree that those who did that to the Jewish people must not be allowed to claim victory. To leave a genocidal regime on our border would be a betrayal of the founding ethos of Israel as a safe refuge for the Jewish people. We know that the longer the fighting in Gaza lasts, even our friends will begin to pressure us to relent. We must resist that pressure and not fear the consequences. The writer is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute.
2023-11-14 00:00:00
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