Israeli protesters carrying photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza during the demonstration Saturday June 7 in Tel Aviv. Photo Roy Schwartz
In the continuous stream of news from the Middle East, the events scheduled for the coming days may mark a turning point.
First, in Israel, where the milestone of 600 days of hostage detention has been surpassed without any progress toward a ceasefire the only solution capable of bringing them back alive, the possibility of Netanyahu losing his majority in the Knesset is increasingly being considered, though it remains unlikely. His government risks falling not because of his responsibility in the October 7th failure, nor because of the conduct of a war that has now lasted longer than that of 1948, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians without succeeding in “eradicating Hamas”. Nor because of the situation of the reservists, worn out after more than 200 days of mobilization and increasingly refusing to respond to army call-ups. Nor even because of the deterioration of Israel’s position on the international stage. No, it risks falling because of the law exempting the ultra-Orthodox from military service, a law that some Likud MPs refuse to support, potentially leading the ultra-Orthodox parties to withdraw their support for the government. Only 1,345 of the 24,000 ultra-Orthodox youths called up this year have responded, just over 5%, while the army says it is short 10,000 soldiers. Netanyahu must hold his coalition together for another seven weeks, until the autumn parliamentary recess, multiplying concessions to his allies in hopes of regaining the suport he has lost among the majority of the population, where nearly 70% want him to step down.
Then, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, just one week ahead of a peace conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, it remains unclear whether the event will result in France and other European countries recognizing the State of Palestine. To prepare for this, President Macron is organizing a conference on June 13 in Paris, where several hundred representatives from Israeli, Palestinian, and French NGOs committed to peace are expected. He hopes this meeting, which we will attend, will conclude with a “Call to action”, addressed to the president, mandating him to move forward on the two-state solution in New York. In our previous newsletter, we called on France to recognize the State of Palestine. In return, we received several criticisms, often echoing the same arguments: “You are giving a gift to Hamas”, “Who are the Palestinian partners?”, “These are useless and ineffective good intentions that won’t advance peace, since both sides reject the two-state solution”. We must respond to these legitimate critiques, which for some reflect real concern.
First of all, let us once again recall that there is no alternative to the two-state solution if we want to end this conflict. It is both a matter of justice, responding to the demands of both peoples and a matter of realpolitik. Except for the Israeli far-right, driven by a messianic ideology, the majority of the Israeli population is convinced of this, according to a recent survey conducted by ALLMEP, the Alliance for Middle East Peace. As for the existence of Palestinian partners, despite the asymmetry between the two populations and the ongoing war, the mere fact that NGOs committed to dialogue and peace continue to work together and will gather this week in Paris is further proof of their existence, and vice versa for the Palestinians.
The question of timing remains. Why call for this recognition now? Precisely because we are in the most acute phase of this century-old conflict, when both populations are trapped in their respective pain: for one, the trauma of October 7, daily revived by reminders of the hostages and military deaths; for the other, in the West Bank by the violence and abuses of settlers, and in Gaza by the daily struggle for food and shelter to survive bombings. It is now that both peoples must be given a perspective to break free from this deadlock.
Finally, there is one last issue we must speak out on firmly: the condemnation of all personal attacks against Jewish personalities, some of them close to us, who have criticized the Israeli government’s actions in its war in Gaza. And we must do so not only, as Yonathan Arfi, the president of CRIF, rightly said, because “everyone is free to express themselves and share their political or moral concerns… and because “throughout history, Jews have been able to debate, disagree, and oppose each other precisely because freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and pluralism are at the heart of Jewish values and our vision of democratic debate”. We must speak out because this criticism which we share is not made to gain approval from non-Jewish citizens or to be invited on television sets. As Delphine Horvilleur, rabbi of MJLF (JEM) in Paris, writes, we do so “precisely out of love for Israel … and out of the pain of watching it go astray in political disaster and moral failure ».
Since JCall’s founding, we have always been guided by two compasses: one political, and one moral. Politically, we have long explained why we condemn the choices made by the Israeli government, which are leading the country into a dead end. Morally, regardless of Hamas’s responsibilities in the Palestinian tragedy which are significant, we can no longer remain indifferent and silent in the face of the growing number of civilian victims in Gaza. Increasingly, Israelis recognize this when they demonstrate every Saturday holding photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza. All our values, whether drawn from Judaism or humanism, all those values that form the moral foundation upon which Israel was created now compel us to say, “Enough!” This war must end. It is the condition for freeing the hostages, for establishing an alternative to Hamas to manage the population of Gaza with the support of Arab and Western countries. Then, to ensure we do not find ourselves in the same situation again in a few years, and so that this war may be the last, Israelis and Palestinians must finally begin negotiations for a definitive resolution to the conflict.
David Chemla
