We’re going to do things a little differently this week.
If you are a subscriber to this newsletter, you have almost certainly been following along with the harrowing news out of Israel and Gaza. I think that the most useful thing that I can do this week in this space is to offer a roundup of what I have read and appreciated over the past several days. I will also flag here that I wrote a piece for Slate on the many statements of “Stand With Israel” from American politicians, individuals, and organizations, Jewish and not, and the multiple possible meanings of that phrase.
The following roundup includes articles by Israeli journalists, written and published since the attack, that ask their readers to consider Israeli treatment of Gaza and of Palestinians more generally. I would hope that this goes without saying, but: I have included them here because I think they are valuable and important, but neither they nor I condone the horrific kidnapping and killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas, which was an atrocity.
I also want to make clear that it is my firmly held belief that to murder a child—any child, regardless of ethnicity or religion or place of birth or anything else—is indefensible. There may be some readers who take issue with that, and while I appreciate every subscriber, if you find my position intolerable, this is not the right newsletter for you.
JTA has a story on Orthodox Jews who found out about the attack two days later because of the holiday, and another on how Jewish day schools are speaking to their students.
Peter Beinart spoke to Slate about the challenge of balancing grief and Jewish solidarity and also the belief in universal human dignity.
I highly recommend this piece in +972 by Haggai Matar, which he wrote in the hours after the attack began.
Haaretz came out the day after the attack with an editorial on how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears responsibility for the war. It also published Gideon Levy, who takes it a step further and looks at Israel’s treatment of Gaza, and this, by Amira Hass, who has reported from Gaza and the West Bank for three decades and who writes of the “cycle of vengeance.”
Haaretz also ran this piece by its diplomatic correspondent, Amir Tibon, on how his father helped save his family from Hamas and how he feels failed by the state; a dispatch from Kibbutz Kfar Azza; this piece asking the Israeli government to first consider bringing home Israeli hostages, a policy the government is evidently not pursuing; and this piece on Vivian Silver, a peace activist who was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
One last Haaretz piece, which I’m breaking out because I think it’s notable: this dispatch on protesters who have suspended their protests against the judicial reform and are pivoting to relief work. (I know that’s a lot from Haaretz but 1) I am a subscriber and 2) I think they have done amazing and brave work both in covering the attack on their country while also demanding more from the government.)
Friend of the newsletter Laura E. Adkins at the Forward has a piece from Tel Aviv on the tech team trying to find information on those presumed missing or taken.
The Forward covered left-wing Jews who defended Hamas or, in more common cases, tried to make sure the context of the occupation wasn’t erased from the conversation (and also ran a column criticizing the former).
Over at the New Yorker, Isaac Chotiner interviewed Nathan Thrall, author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama and former director for Israel-Palestine at Crisis Group.
Mairav Zonszein, current Israel-Palestine analyst for Crisis Group, has a piece in Time on, among other things, what could come next.
The Guardian ran a roundup of Jewish and Palestinian thinkers and writers on how the United States should respond. This included Palestinian-American analyst Yousef Munayyer, whose views you can read at greater length in Slate.
The LA Times ran an essay by Yara Eid, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza, on the threat to journalists there.
The Economist had a piece on what this means for US President Joe Biden’s plans for the Middle East and also an interview with a non-remorseful Moussa Abu Marzouk of Hamas.
And finally, I found this piece of analysis on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response and Russia’s evolving relationship to Israel interesting.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back on Monday with this month’s ET Read Home for paid subscribers, which will be a roundup of books on Indian politics (including by Arundhati Roy, whose prosecution Delhi’s lieutenant governor just sanctioned based on a speech Roy made in 2010). Take care of yourselves. I, as ever, hope to see you back here soon.
-ET
This is excellent.