On Restraint
“The brutality of Hamas, this bloodthirstiness, brings to mind the worst rampages of ISIS … Stomach-turning reports of babies being killed; entire families slain; young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace; women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. In this moment it must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel … Our hearts may be broken but our resolve is clear.” So said Joe Biden is a statement of strong support for Israel. One word common in such speeches that was missing from Tuesday’s:
Restraint.
Why? In part because 22 Americans are now listed among the dead and in part because Biden has seen the images of the massacres that included the murder of whole families, rapes, beheadings, and mutilations of children and even babies. Of course, it comes as no surprise to Hamas that Israel will be unrestrained in its response. They didn’t think this attack would result in the re-opening of peace talks. It’s about killing. We can expect a lot more fighting, a lot more brutality, and lot more losses of life. Sadly, a majority of the deaths will be innocent civilians.”
—Restraining Disorder by Dave Pell, Oct. 11, 2023
I could not improve upon these sentences by Dave Pell, author of the Next Draft blog. I receive a daily edition of Pell’s stories, succinctly, vividly expressed
Perhaps you think that you would not be vulnerable to committing such atrocities, the barbarity of murdering random strangers… I am certain that under the right circumstances you and I would be capable of the same behavior.
The Israeli-Palestinian story is complicated. When does it even begin? The British partitioned Palestine in 1947. The real estate was intended as a homeland for Jewish refugees of WWII, homeless, in many cases grieving the loss of family to the atrocities of Nazi camps. Overlooked was the fact that Palestine was already populated. From then until now, the story is complex, and there are many versions. Wikipedia has this entry about the Hamas-Sukkot War:
The Gaza Strip and Israel have been in conflict since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and Hamas gaining control of the Gaza Strip after elections in 2006 and a civil war with Fatah in 2007. The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since 2007, leading Human Rights Watch to call the strip an “open-air prison”
Since the partition of Palestine, and the formation of Israel the history of the place has been marked by atrocity after atrocity.
Restraint is the word which denotes self-control, a hallmark of mature leadership. Restraint is strength to hold in abeyance the desire to repay one’s enemy in full, with interest, for wrongs committed in the past. Restraint is the will to break the cycle of murder, of genocidal vengeance.
Restraint is a bid, a suggestion that “the other” is also human.
2 thoughts on “On Restraint”
If someone wants to understand the absurdity of vengeance, all they have to do is research the Balkan states. Bloodshed has been a part of the way of life for centuries. Only when the region was united under Josip Tito as an adjunct portion of the Soviet Union, did the various cultural factions give some semblance to getting along. Once the USSR broke apart and Tito was gone, Yugoslavia reverted to the myriad Balkan States. Ancient animosities broke out with people blaming their neighbors for skirmishes that took place in the 17th Century. Ethic hatred reemerged leading to Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic declaring war on Bosnia and beginning an “ethnic cleansing” of the area. Horrifying atrocities took place and the region remains a powder keg of hatred. When does someone leave the past in the past and move forward towards a better future?
Hamas leadership cannot accept that Israel has been in existence for close to 80 years. Their mantra continues to be that Israel must be destroyed and that all Jews must die. How does anyone negotiate with an organization that declares the only solution is your death? Of course the leadership in Israel has exacerbated the issue with their continual building of settlements in the West Bank region. This is total arrogance and disregard for the rights of the Palestinians who have lived there for centuries. Again, only a rational minded few on both sides have worked towards peaceful resolutions, pleading for a way forward.
Regardless of the situation one might find themselves in, there is no excuse for barbaric behavior and I am going to disagree that no matter how I might be treated, I believe that I would maintain some sense of humanity, (though it’s impossible to know for certain). But I look to Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned and isolated for decades but came out of that cell without bitterness, his humanity intact, and worked for the betterment of all people. This is the kind of human nature we need to espouse and strive for in life.
I wonder if Mandela could have known in advance that he’d be able to put aside a desire for payback? Others have retained their humanity, thus the option is real for any of us.