By Terry Hansen
Minimal moral integrity requires that if we think something is wrong when they do it, it’s wrong when we do it…
— political activist and author Noam Chomsky
When Yitzhak Shamir died in 2012, his obituary in the British newspaper The Sunday Times stated, “The former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, who waged a terrorist campaign against the British to secure his country’s independence, has died at the age of 96 after a long illness.”
Shamir was a member of the terrorist organization Irgun, which, according to the Los Angeles Times, attacked “movie theaters, markets, houses, telephone booths and coffee houses.” Irgun also bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, killing 96 people and injuring 46 others. And members of Irgun participated in the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, violating a peace deal with the village. Over 100 Palestinian were killed, including women and children.
According to Shamir, “A man who goes forth to take the life of another whom he does not know must believe one thing only — that by his act he will change the course of history.”
Notably, Irgun was considered a terrorist organization by the United Nations, as well as by the British and United States governments. Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth Prime Minister, was Irgun’s commander and chief from 1943 to 1948.
Moving to the present day, Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was convicted of supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism. And Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s security agency Shinbet, recently condemned the “terrorism” of militant West Bank settlers.
Violent militants are conducting a campaign of murder, arson and intimidation against Palestinians in the West Bank in order to expel them from their land. Bar accuses Ben-Gvir and other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition of encouraging their actions.
Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal according to international law, yet Israel is in the process of their aggressive expansion.
Moreover, because of the massive civilian casualties, Israel’s assault on Gaza could be considered state terrorism. Every concerned citizen should listen to the testimony of Jewish American Doctor Mark Perlmutter regarding his experiences in Gaza:
“All of the disasters I’ve seen combined, combined, 40 mission trips, 30 years, Ground Zero, earthquakes…All of that combined doesn’t equal the level of carnage that I saw against civilians in just my first week in Gaza…. almost exclusively children. I’ve never seen that before.”
Kudos to the student protesters on campuses like Boston College who have drawn attention to this failure of humanity.
Hamas has rightly been condemned for its horrific crimes on October 7, as well as for the murder of hostages. At the same time, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has not been the simplistic battle of good vs. evil, of barbarism vs. civilization, that many supporters of Israel have portrayed it to be.
Clearly, the denigration of Palestinian lives has been ongoing for many decades. Rachel Corrie was the young American peace activist who, 21 years ago, was crushed to death in Gaza by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to protect the home of the family where she was staying. In an interview just two days before her death, she explained:
“In the time I’ve been here, children have been shot and killed. I feel like what I’m witnessing here is a very systematic destruction of people’s ability to survive. And that is incredibly horrifying.”
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It’s crucial for the United States to respect the work of the ICC and the International Court of Justice, because states have unequal power, and ideology and self-interest can prevent nations from prioritizing human rights for all.
The U.S. must also stop vetoing UN resolutions criticizing the Israeli occupation and its treatment of the Palestinians.
The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims, “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
Consistently supporting international law is essential for achieving these goals.
Terry Hansen is a retired educator. He lives in Milwaukee.