Someone reading my post from Friday could wonder what about the Gazan mothers who also long to see their sons. I hear that question. It would be easy for me to dehumanize those mothers and declare that they hate Jews more than the love their sons, but I have no way of proving that. What is a fact is that those Gazan mothers voted Hamas into power. Many of them cheered the militants parading raped Israeli women through their streets on October 7th.
Rape. Such a hideous word which depicts an act that should be holy and loving and reducing it into a vicious attack to show power and degradation.
Some twenty years ago there were several studies about the small incidents of rape among Israeli soldiers. Instead of applauding this phenomenon the reports claimed it was because Arab women are dehumanized in the soldiers’ eyes. I have only seen excerpts from these reports and don’t know if the statements were taken out of context. (I’m not using that word cynically.) What I do know is that whatever we do, the anti-Semites of the world will judge us unfavorably.
Israeli soldiers are not perfect. Having raised three of them I understand that quite well. Growing up, they fought with their siblings, mouthed off to their father and me, and came home later than they were supposed to. Seriously, though, they are part of the most moral army in the world. Would that the Gazan mothers could say that about their sons’ army.
If it was a moral army, it would have released all our hostages, men, women, and children, three months ago.
An oft quoted statement by Golda Meir says it all: If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.
My sons are fighting to protect me. The Gazan mothers’ sons are fighting to kill me. It’s hard for me to feel sorry for them.
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