The Most Courageous Israeli Political Leader Has Done Nothing to End the Sixth Israeli–Hamiltonian War and the Israel-Israel War

There have been five wars in the last 15 years between Israel and Hamas. How do we stop the sixth from happening sooner or later? Is it possible to stop fighting while addressing the root of the conflict? For 75 years, diplomats, well-intentioned Israelis and Palestinians and government leaders around the world have struggled to bring peace to this region. In that time an Egyptian president and an Israeli prime minister were assassinated by extremists for their efforts to end the violence.

It started when I met the most Courageous Israeli political leader today, Mansour Abbas. Abbas is a Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel who happens to be a devout Muslim and a member of Israel’s parliament, where he leads the important United Arab List party. Abbas did not respond to the terrorism of Hamas with silence so his voice is more important now. Abbas understands that while it’s right to be outraged at the pain Israel is inflicting on Gaza’s civilians, reserving all of your outrage for Gaza’s pain creates suspicion among Jews in Israel and worldwide, who notice when not a word is uttered about the Hamas atrocities that triggered this war.

Hamas made it clear that its goal was to kill as many as possible and destroy the state of Israel. A Hamas spokesman told The New York Times last week that they hoped the war with Israel would become permanent and that the Arab world would stand with them.

Second, Israel has done nothing in recent years to give hope for a peaceful settlement — maintaining the blockade of Gaza, deepening the daily humiliations of occupation in the West Bank, and largely ignoring the horrendous living conditions facing Palestinians.

To achieve the political transformation that Gaza needs, new Palestinian leadership will be required as part of a wider political process. And for that transformation and peace process to take place, Israel must make certain political commitments that will allow for Palestinian leadership committed to peace to build support. They need to guarantee the right to return to homes for the Palestinians who have been displaced. People who have lived in poverty can’t be made homeless. Israel must also commit to end the killings of Palestinians in the West Bank and freeze settlements there as a first step toward permanently ending the occupation. The steps show that peace can give the Palestinians what they want, and that the Palestinian Authority will have the right to take over administrative control of Gaza after an interim stabilization period.

The United States has provided large sums of money to Israel in the past. We provide 3.8 billion dollars a year. President Biden has asked Congress to waive normal oversight rules so that he can get $14.3 billion more. The blank check approach must end. While we are friends of Israel, there are certain conditions that must be met in order to be considered a friend. We cannot be involved in actions that violate international law and our sense of decency. There needs to be an end to indiscriminate bombing, the right of displaced persons in Gaza to return to their homes, no long term Israeli occupation of Gaza, and a freeze on settler violence in the West Bank.

Let’s be clear: this is not going to happen on its own. The current coalition agreement cements Mr. Netanyahus intention to establish Israeli sovereignty between the Sea and the Jordan River. This is more than just ideology. This goal has been pursued by the Israeli government. The last year saw record Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank, where more than 700,000 Israelis now live in areas that the United Nations and the United States agree are occupied territories. They have used state violence to back up this de facto annexation. Since Oct. 7, the United Nations reports that at least 208 Palestinians, including 53 children, have been killed by Israeli security forces and settlers. This can’t continue.

Mr. Netanyahu made clear where he stood on the issues. So should we. If the asking was nicely done we wouldn’t be in this situation. The only way these necessary changes will happen is if the United States uses the substantial leverage we have with Israel. And we all know what that leverage is.

I’m a long time observer of the Arab-Israeli conflict and I keep away from both the pro-Palestinian left and the pro-Israel right just because I find their visionsclusivist.

They aren’t thinking about the Jewish mother in Jerusalem who told me in one breath how she just got a gun license to protect her kids from Hamas, and in the next about how much she trusted her kids’ Palestinian Arab teacher, who rushed her children to the school bomb shelter during a recent Hamas air raid. They are not thinking about the owner of the Israeli Arab shop in Taibe who gave 50 bikes to the children who survived the Hamas attacks, only to have his shop torched by hard-line nationalist Israeli Arab youth.

Oliver Abbas and the Hamas Attack: a tribute to all who died in Israel, and the courage to die in such a tragedy

But those on all sides who read this column know that I am not one for keeping score. My focus is to get out of this show before it is too late and everyone is blind or toothless.

So, this Thanksgiving week, I ask you to spare a few moments with me to reflect on some of these people, including some of the extraordinary acts of rescue that they committed on Oct. 7. They will make you believe in the story more than any of the headlines would suggest.

My friend once described my views as a sort of cross between Thomas Hobbes and Walter Mondale. For several days on my trip, I let out my inner Mondale to chase some rays of hope shooting through the darkness.

The first thing Abbas said to me was that nobody can accept what happened on that day. And we cannot condemn it and say ‘but’ — that word ‘but’ has become immoral.” Recent polls show overwhelming Israeli Arab condemnation of the Hamas attack.

Abbas said being an Israeli Arab was one of the hardest things to do today. “The Arab Israeli feels the pain twice — once as an Arab and once as an Israeli.”