#WTH The face of evil, and how to react

Six Israeli hostages are murdered in cold blood

I don’t think it’s possible to imagine what it’s like to have your child taken hostage, and then, on the verge of rescue, murdered in cold blood. Being a parent, all I can feel is the anguish of the parents and families of these six beautiful young people who were found this weekend in the tunnels of Rafah. Look at their faces.

Why were they taken? Were they combatants? Were they militants? Were they haters or oppressors or somehow in some way deserving? We know the answer. They were taken because they were Jews, tortured because they were Jews, and murdered because they were Jews.

How often must this happen to the Jewish people? Stop and look into the minds of theses women and children, bound for selection at Auschwitz. Why were they there?

Last moments before the gas chamber. Yad Vashem collection.

Many won’t remember the Ma’alot massacre, in 1974, when terrorists from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine took over a school. 22 children were murdered. Why were they killed?

I realize that in Israel, under the pall of mourning, people are furiously angry, and that they are directing their anger toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If these were my children, my family, I would feel the same way. But I am uncertain — truly — whether any action he would have taken could have saved these hostages. A ceasefire earlier? Hamas hasn’t ever agreed to the terms. A surrender of the Philadelphi corridor by Israel? There was no deal to ante up the hostages in exchange.

Many Israelis believe Netanyahu is prolonging the war in order to prolong his political survival. This begs the question, is the war won? Are its goals achieved? Has Hamas been destroyed to the point it poses no risk to Israel any longer? Perhaps the answer to this is closer to yes than I see. But I do know that Hamas has not agreed to any deal in recent months, notwithstanding the claims of certain self-promoting Israelis.

Israeli labor unions have declared a general strike tomorrow to call for the hostages’ release. There are angry reservists and citizens marching. They blame Netanyahu, but it is Hamas that has kidnapped and killed their people, not Netanyahu. Has the PM done every right thing? I think not. Has he managed public expectations appropriately? No. Do the Israeli people trust him? Again, no. Is he the right man for this moment? That is not my call. Israel is a democracy.

Here’s the thing: Israel, before the United States, but like the United States, engages in cartoon politics — good vs evil, bad vs good, “democracy” vs “fascism.” These labels infantilize the public, and demean the democratic process. Israelis got to this before America did, and have made an art of it, criminalizing political disagreements, and reducing every argument to its crudest elements. When times are toughest, this kind of political vitriol is most useless.

Reports now suggest that Bibi was warmed “war was coming” by Israeli intel a month before October 7. War from where? Whom? What did it look like? The spooks didn’t know, but Israel’s top papers are appalled he persisted in unpopular judicial reforms instead of preparing for “war.” This is a subject for an inquiry, not a political cudgel. Netanyahu does not have a crystal ball.

Similarly, gorgeous Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention, and weeks later he is dead. Partisans would have me argue that somehow this is Joe Biden’s fault. Well, it isn’t. It is Hamas’s fault. They wielded the gun. They made the choice. Neither Biden nor Harris could know they would kill him.

Does America have a lousy Middle East policy? Are we weak on Iran? Weak on terrorism? Is the Democratic Party increasingly overtaken by antisemites and terror sympathizers? Yes yes yes and yes. It would be good if Hamas feared us, and that is on our leaders. But they didn’t kill Hersh. Hamas did.

I realize there are nuanced arguments to be made here, and there are better policies and better people that could lead us. I write about it all the time. But today, let’s be clear that like the Nazis and the Iranians and every iteration of Palestinian “liberation” group that has existed over the years, these are the killers of Jews, the murderers of children. Remember who is the enemy, and call him by his name. Antisemite. Killer. Sometimes politics should wait. Sometimes politics doesn’t have the answers we seek.