Insanity and the Belief it Cannot Happen to You

A common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

So we are again a witness to the insanity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where the Palestinians attack the Israelis and they massively retaliate for a couple of weeks until they believe they "have taught the Palestinians a lesson", at least until the next time.

Nothing is ever changed by this cycle except for the victims who have to piece their lives back together after losing loved ones and property.

As usual official world opinion condemns the Palestinians for starting the latest cycle and that Hamas has again resorted to terrorism but it is never really that simple. They have been living under an occupation for decades, denied basic rights such as freedom of movement, a secure source of fresh water, food security, health care and having their land forcibly taken away from them. I would bet my house that not a single westerner would accept such a situation if they were in the same position. Hell, a bunch of yahoos took downtown Ottawa hostage in 2022 because the government had the temerity to suggest people get vaccinated and wear a mask during a global pandemic. Could you imagine how they would react if they had to live under the same conditions the Palestinians have to live under? And if the people forcing them to live under those condition enjoyed an overwhelming military advantage would they not resort to acts that would be considered terrorism? I will add my car to the bet and say it is a resounding yes.

This is not to excuse what Hamas has done and continues to do but it does explain it a great deal. If you would not live under the conditions the Palestinians are currently living under do not claim any moral high ground if they refuse to do so as well.

The funny thing is the Israelis have been both short sighted and insane during all of this. I cannot think of a single instance of one people forcibly occupying the territory of another people where the occupier wins in the end. In every case I looked up the people being occupied find a way to end the occupation and always by making it too expensive in lives and treasure for the occupier. It amazes me that the Israelis believe they will experience a different fate.

As well, the ambition, audacity and somewhat sophisticated nature of the latest Hamas attacks should give the Israelis pause along with the intelligence failure of the Israeli security forces in detecting and stopping the attacks before they started. If Hamas can do it once they will probably be able to do it again and maybe the next time will be even more ambitious. 

The simple fact is Israel will only know true security once it makes an equitable peace with its neighbours and that includes the Palestinians. Until it does that they will never be truly secure, no matter how capable their military and intelligence services. Europe saw centuries of warfare, culminating in two very large and destructive wars in the 20th Century and the European states only realized true internal security once they made real peace with each other and began to work together for a common cause.

However, successive Israeli governments believed and they continue to believe that there is a military solution to the Palestinian problem and as long as they believe that they will only feed the narrative Hamas has been pushing for decades denying both Israelis and Palestinians a chance a true peace.

So the latest round of violence is not the last round. The Israelis will claim victory in a few weeks, a relative calm will settle over Israel and the occupied territories once again, until the next round, rinse and repeat. Insanity.