I am writing in deep pain, anxiety, and mourning. The Palestinian Hamas invasion into Israel on October 7, from the unoccupied (by Israel) Gaza Strip and the single-day slaughter of babies, women, children, men, and senior citizens, in some cases complete families; the beheading, burning, and rape of people from dozens of countries, along with hundreds of abducted, from babies to seniors with no Red Cross-validation; and thousands injured, has forced the State of Israel into a war of survival.
There is no doubt that what was carried out by these murderers is comparable to the mass murder of civilians by Genghis Khan and Timur centuries ago; the Nazis, Stalin, and the Khmer Rouge in the last century; and ISIS in the last decade.
Hamas’s actions have placed the organization and the Gaza Strip that it controls as representatives of a profound class of evil, at levels that are hard and most likely impossible for free Western mankind to comprehend.
Israel is a tiny country with a tight community; the tragedy of the murderous terror attack has left nobody unaffected. Every family knows people who have suffered these horrendous inflictions. Close to my family’s home, we know of several people killed and shot. Many of our family members, friends, and students are serving on the front lines while many are volunteering to help in the community and home-front effort, including supporting the tens of thousands of who have had to abruptly leave their homes that were burnt, or under rocket fire aimed to destroy and kill women, children and hospital patients.
We are bracing for more complex and difficult times ahead.
Israel is dealing with pure, simple, unadulterated murder, rape, torture and imprisonment of innocent civilians. Basic human behavior is to come out clearly and explicitly, without any vague hesitations, against the horrible terror and war crimes that were carried out by Hamas terrorists along with the residents of Gaza. There is no reason to say that “one had to understand the context,” or “civilians on both sides have been hurt,” or “I hope for a peaceful solution,” or “stay safe.”
Anything less than a clear condemnation places you on the wrong side of good and evil. Such a downward path will just generate more violence.
The startling partial support that Hamas and their horrific actions are receiving in academia and in Western and other countries is beyond outrageous and dangerous.
Western academics have lost their moral compass
The apathy and sympathy observed in leading academic circles to such pure evil reflects a drastic and terrible loss of basic morality in parts of Western culture. This trend, often riding on unproven theories, ignorance or antisemitism, is very concerning, particularly among academics who are supposed to be guardians of fact-based thought. There is a growing chance that dark times could be around the bend for the free and developed world, reminiscent of times when philosophies led to some of the largest mass-murder events of human history.
Just as those who didn’t condemn Nazism, or the actions of ISIS, were not only blind to evil but complicit with these actions, the same is true in this case.
Thinking positively, these times can serve as a grand opportunity for academics to take a moral stand and clearly and vocally denounce radical Islam’s theoretical and proven actions and intentions of pure evil and its disastrous intentions for Israel, Europe, and America.
Here in Israel, it is so challenging to focus on research these days, when the survival, safety, and emotional health of the Israeli citizens in the Land of Israel take priority.
Some of our Israeli colleagues are doing their best to maintain some basic research activities when possible. As fundamental Islam is actively geared to destroy the freedom and prosperity of the Jewish and Western world, we feel that keeping up a limited productive routine is a basic way of keeping our ground (and sanity).
As have we for the last 3,000+ years, God-willing, the people of Israel will overcome our worst enemies that are spread on our borders from North to South; rebuild our country and society in the long war aftermath and continue to promote warm peace in the region with genuine, capable, and reliable partners (that appear totally absent from those who associate themselves as Palestinians).
We will also promote science with new vigor and resources, with the academic colleagues and institutions that clearly stood with us during these extremely difficult times.
“The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”
Strength indeed is a prerequisite for peace.
The writer, from Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Geography and Environment, specializes in physical geography, Quaternary geology, geoarchaeology, and military geosciences, and has taught and published extensively on these topics.