Illustration: Klawe Rzeczy
Prof. Sam Lehman-Wilzig: Israel in Gaza and America’s Historical WarFair
Warfair? That’s not a typo. What we usually call warfare is a neutral term, involving tactical military aspects. Warfair, however, raises moral questions: Why are we fighting? Against whom? For what ultimate purpose?
The U.S. is asking these questions of Israel in its present Gaza War – these past few days by turning some (arms delivery) screws. However, it behooves not only Israel to answer them; America should be looking in its historical mirror before pointing fingers.
Let’s start with 1865 and 1945 – the cessation of hostilities in the two most bloody wars in American history. Americans’ destructiveness near the end was massive – in the first case, the North against the South; in the second, against two mortal enemies (Dresden and Hiroshima as examples from the German and Japanese fronts). Whether it was moral to drop the atomic bomb continues to be debatable, but few lament the ultimate outcome.
That’s because in 1945 America was fighting against two evil regimes: extremely racist Germany and highly militaristic Japan. In both cases, the “why” was simple: they attacked America first. As to the ultimate purpose: to destroy the regime and institute something better in its place. Was this successful? Absolutely! Germany and Japan became the most pacifist countries in the world, with no desire whatsoever to become a threatening military power again.
As to 1865, much the same could be said regarding the why: the South attacked the North. Its purpose was to save slavery be seceding from the Union, which the North opposed at all costs. Here too the morality was all on the North’s side. Looking back on the war and its outcome, few today would argue that the American Civil War should not have been fought – and certainly, no one would dare state that the outcome wasn’t morally benign.
The bottom-line lesson: when faced with unmitigated evil (or aggression), total victory is not only necessary but it also can (not necessarily will) eventually lead to a highly positive outcome.
Is Israel in such a situation? Basically yes. It faces an implacable enemy (Hamas) whose foundational charter calls for Israel’s destruction and murdering (or exiling) as many Jews as possible. Nor is this merely verbose exhortation. Hamas has been firing missiles into Israel for the past decade and a half, putting its (or others’) money where its mouth (and heart) is. In short, Hamas combines the worst of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan: racist to the core and implacably aggressive.
It is worth mentioning the other moral issue: innocent civilians. In truth, that’s an oxymoron: most German citizens supported the country’s war effort to the end; Japanese citizens were fiercely loyal to their Emperor even after the atomic bombs dropped; the latest polls in Gaza show that approximately 70% of the Gazan public still support the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. Of course, there’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza today – that’s the nature of war. Perhaps not war“fair” in the vast scheme of things, but certainly an unfortunate part of warfare.
But wait: what of the Palestinian argument that Israel has “stolen” its land? Besides being false on several counts (most of the land was bought pre-1948; there never was a Palestinian “state”; there have always been Jews living in the Holy Land throughout history; the U.N. divided the land between Jews and local Arabs, but the latter refused the deal and attacked the fledgling state; etc.), here too looking at American warfair is instructive.
1846-1847: the Mexican-American War. The U.S. defeated Mexico in this 15-month war that started as a dispute over the Texas boundary – not an earth-shattering issue, but the result was huge. Mexico had to give America (what eventually became) present-day Arizona and New Mexico, as well as parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. In short, Mexico lost about half its territory. Thus, why should the U.S. hold Israel to a completely different standard after being attacked by its Arab neighbors several times over its relatively brief history? Even more damning for the current American approach: Israel actually gave back the fruits of its victory in its peace treaty with Egypt, and administrative autonomy to the West Bank Palestinians in the Oslo Accords. If any country historically has been “expansionist,” it’s the United States (let’s not even mention what happened to the Native Americans who signed treaty after treaty with the United States Government, only to have the latter unilaterally abrogate or ignore them).
President Biden has always been – and continues to be – a true friend of Israel, in words and in deeds. What he lacks, however, is a clear understanding of how America came to be great (no sarcasm meant here) i.e., historical perspective regarding how to conduct warfair when faced with a relentless and ruthless enemy. The Gazan War is not akin to the conflict with Mexico way back when, but rather an existential battle with a truly evil enemy. Two of America’s greatest presidents – Lincoln and FDR – understood that well. Hopefully, Uncle Joe does too – and will continue to act accordingly.
