Nov 19, 2023

Let Israel Vote; Let Gaza Vote

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow / tikkun.org
Let Israel Vote; Let Gaza Vote

In the Bible’s first semi-mythic story of what we now call the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abraham dies decades after he has endangered the lives of his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. His two sons come together to mourn and bury their dangerous father. As a result, Isaac goes to live at Ishmael’s well. Reconcliation!

“From the tears of grief spring up the wellspring waters of peace and reconciliation.” (Gen. 25: 7-11)

This story is intended to be a teaching of spiritual transformation. Can it be applied today to the aftermath of war, to politics, to existential fears among both peoples?

Gaza is governed by a political party that has three subdivisions, each often able to act on its own. The military wing did that on October 7, with disastrous and disgusting results. As a body, Hamas is anti-democratic at home and its military is willing to commit atrocities of killing Israeli civilians, captive-taking of civilians, and worse.

In Israel barely five weeks ago, hundreds of thousands of citizens had joined during a period of nine months in mass civil disobedience against a regime they called anti-democratic, racist, and corrupt. The regime refused to budge on its plans to end the independent judiciary.  

But then came the Hamas attack with all its atrocities – to which the Netanyahu government and his whole Occupation regime had been utterly blind, through its arrogant contempt toward Hamas and its obsession with Iran as Israel’s worst enemy. (Netanyahu had even channeled money to Hamas so that it would break the unity of Palestinian nationalism.)

Israeli society’s anger at its own government’s crucial failure was soon drowned out by the atrocious total war against the people of Gaza, under the guise of destroying Hamas. But that response and a world-wide revulsion at the resulting body count in Gaza — the tears of grief and chants of anger —  have begun to open up two new possibilities:

 

Let Israel Vote

This will not be easy, on either side.

On the Israeli side, the Resistance needs to reconstitute itself with six new planks in its platform and perhaps, while pursuing its civil-disobedience campaign, also setting up a new broad-based political party: 

  1. Netanyahu and his whole national-security leadership failed Israel at the hour of its greatest need, and must be replaced at once;
  2. There must be a shared release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisoners in exchange for all captives taken by the Hamas attack;
  3. The only way to eliminate Hamas or some renamed substitute is not with an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza but with a UN-supervised election;
  4. Israel commits itself to agreement on a treaty with a Palestine on the West Bank and Gaza, if Gaza elects a government committed to that result;
  5. Agreement to greatly expand the list of non-military goods that can be traded by Gaza with Israel and the world.
  6. Elections in Israel by Tu B’Shvat, ReBirthday of the Tree of Life– January 24, 2024

 

Let Gaza Vote

In Gaza, the goal should also be an election as soon as possible. Hamas has done much to destroy all alternative political forces that might welcome a peace-oriented Israeli government. Even with the military arm of Hamas gone or seriously weakened there would have to be a UN-sponsored commission to oversee social and political as well as physical and medical rebuilding, to let democratic life reawaken. It is barely possible that non-military remnants of Hamas will join in such a democratic reconstruction.

As that process grows from seed to sprout, a political grouping should be encouraged that is critical of the military wing of Hamas for helping the ultra-right-wing regime in Israel bring disaster on Gaza and that promises to negotiate in full dignity with a new Israeli government for a peace-committed sovereign Palestine. Perhaps a pro-Palestinian country like Brazil could supervise such an effort. Israeli troops and police would have to withdraw.

The election campaign itself and the election could be supervised by a UN Peacekeeping Force made up of troops from at least one country friendly to Israel (Germany?) and at least one friendly to Palestine (Brazil?).

It might or might not be wise for all political parties that register for this election to be required to affirm the obligations of a UN Member to refrain from attacks on other countries.

This prescription for peace may sound utopian. Perhaps it is. But the shock to both societies has been so profound – forcing both to face too many deaths – that perhaps a transformative moment will soon arrive, bringing others in the two societies to power.

 

Tikkun needs your support to bring the kind of analyses and information we provide.
Click Here to make a tax-deductible contribution.

 

Rate this article 
War & Peace
Carl Sagan
Emotional Literacy
Trending Videos
Ben Shapiro’s Audience Angrily REVOLTS Against His “Left vs Right” Framing of UHC CEO Hit
20 min - Ben Shapiro tried his very best to turn his coverage of the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s hit into an attack on the left, but his audience just wasn’t buying it. In fact, they began to realize in the...
Project 2025 Explained in Schoolhouse Rock Style!
5 min - The song that could save America. Share widely. Written, animated and performed by Jason KravitsProduced and mixed by Sean Dixon with Jason Kravits, Christopher Walz, and Brian O’Neill
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011)
174 min - A series of BBC films about how humans have been colonised by the machines we have built. Although we don't realise it, the way we see everything in the world today is through the eyes of the...
Why I Stopped Being Anti-Woke
56 min - I discuss how and why I changed over the last decade, from being more anti-sjw (anti-woke) to realizing the dangers of falling into that trap. ▼DARKMATTER2525▼ ►MY BOOKS ...
Plutocracy: The History of Class War In The USA (2019)
560 min - Plutocracy, by filmmaker Scott Noble, is the first documentary series to comprehensively examine early American history through the lens of class.Support the filmmaker's next film with a donation...
The Yes Men: Changing the World One Prank at a Time (2004)
82 min - The Yes Men is a comic, biting and revelatory documentary which follows a small group of prankster-activists as they gain worldwide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization on...
The Corporation (2003)
145 min - The Corporation is today's dominant institution, creating great wealth but also great harm. This 26 award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts and future of the modern...
Trending Articles
Honest Government Ads
Why We Need Big Picture Activism
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films

 

Become a Patron. Support Films For Action.

For $5 a month, you'll gain access to over 50 patron-exclusive documentaries while keeping us ad-free and financially independent

Subscribe | Explore the 50+ Patron Films

Our 6000+ video library is 99% free, ad-free, and entirely community-funded thanks to our patrons!

Sign up for our Email Newsletter