Hiloni Hasbara

A more rational approach

In our post Hareidi Hasbara, we justify, beyond any reasonable doubt, the institution of chareidi yeshivos and the practice of yeshiva students desisting from army service. This post, in an unusual departure from our regular mission, justifies, from even a non-Torah perspective, Israel’s right to defend itself against the incursions of enemy forces who would massacre its population. It does NOT necessarily represent the views of the other IM authors.

We know from the Torah that Israel is the promised land of the Jewish nation and belongs us even now (assuming we don’t go with the Satmar position), and therefore, from a Torah perspective, it is completely permissible and perhaps obligatory to remove the Palestinian enemies from our midst and occupy the land- if we are able to (but there is no justification for secular Zionism, see the concluding paragraph).

But there is the rub. Mashiach is not here yet, and the Jewish state is still completely beholden to its American patron, an entity which does not look fondly upon population eviction licensed by a 3,000 year old religious text. Therefore, it is necessary to marshal secular arguments in support of Israel’s military actions, in other words, “hasbara”. And before you protest that it is the Torah alone that grants us title to the land- I completely agree with that! And I have made this very point many times in the past. But there is a long tradition in Judaism of using rational, secular reasoning to support Jewish positions. For example, rational arguments were heavily utilized by medieval Jewish philosophers throughout the centuries to buttress Torah theology, and we need look no later than the story of Geviah ben Pesisa or the many disputations between Chazal and the Romans or Sadducees to see this in action. In that spirit, I endeavor to engage in some of my own hasbara, in the hope that these arguments somehow find their way to our non-Jewish friends who do not currently support Israel, and that it should change or at least soften their harsh stance. Maybe this will make more of a difference than the ravings of a disgruntled, insane museum director.

I will start by dispensing with some of the usual lines of argument that I feel are irrational or just plain unconvincing. For starters, I do not believe in blaming all the opposition to Israel on anti-Semitism. This is a highly irrational, dishonest, and ultimately counterproductive tactic. While I will not deny that there is plenty of anti-Semitism, especially among Arabs and Blacks, anybody who is not blind can see that Israel’s military actions are enough to generate outrage from today’s snowflakes without resort to anti-Semitism. The optics of tens of thousands of dead women and children are just really, really terrible, regardless of comparisons to Hiroshima and Dresden. Disingenuously accusing people with legitimate concerns of being anti-Semitic will do nothing to convince them of the merit of our position.

I will likewise avoid the claim that Hamas are evil Nazis while the IDF is “the most moral army in the world”. To the extent that I agree with this statement, I can't expect to convince those who view Hamas as oppressed resistance fighters and the IDF as merciless mass murderers. I will likewise disregard the argument that the destruction of the Holocaust proved the need for a Jewish sovereign state, which is in actuality little more than a slogan. It does not work to legitimize current military policy, for obvious reasons, and it doesn’t even make sense- ever since the end of the Second World War, Jews have lived perfectly well in many other countries, while it is unfortunately all too evident that a Jewish state is no guarantee of Jewish safety. I will also ignore the argument that Jews were occupants of the land 2,000 years ago, since it is obvious to all but the blind that such an argument will convince nobody who is not already an ardent Zionist. I am also not going to try to deny the alleged expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians (so-called “Naqba”) since there so much historical material and interpretations supporting each side, and the waters are already so muddied, that the side one take will almost certainly only reflect one’s pre-existing position in the general dispute about Israel.

Rather, I will make the following points:

1. We live here now, do we deserve to get killed?

Let us assume for a moment, for the sake of argument, that the original Zionist conquest was completely, utterly illegitimate, and that they stole the land from 700,000 Palestinians and expelled them. But that was 75 years ago. We are three generations later. The current inhabitants of Israel are just going about their lives and have no connexion to that deed. What are they supposed to do, pick up and move? And before you mention current German reparations for past Nazi atrocities, I believe that is also unjustified from a rational, secular perspective (The Torah’s view on this is more complicated, ואכמ”ל). And if we blame later generations for the sins of the fathers, almost everybody in the world is living on stolen land. Perhaps Hamas would be satisfied if the mayor of every Israeli city would get up and make a sanctimonious “land acknowledgement” at the next town hall meeting? Something tells me they would not. Therefore, once it is conceded that current-generation Israelis have the right to live where they were born, they also have the right to defend themselves against violent aggression by whatever means necessary.

2. Critics of Israel- What are you doing to help?

For those who criticize what they deem to be Israel’s excessive violence in their military operations and unacceptably high civilian casualties, I ask, where are you? Where were you? Why don’t you send a UN peacekeeping force or a coalition of Arab military forces into Gaza to dismantle Hamas and end their “resistance” attacks, if you are so sure that Israel is doing a poor job? Oh, you are not interesting in getting yourself into that mess? You would rather Israel take care of it while you act as the annoying backseat driver? Then just shut up.

Suppose one takes the more extreme position that Israelis have no right to the land and should repatriate it to the Palestinians. Where should the Jews go exactly? Which countries are offering to absorb 7 million Jews and protect them? Are the Arab countries who constantly criticize Israel, yet kicked hundreds of thousands of Jews out of their own countries shortly after the founding of the State of Israel and confiscated all their property, willing to repatriate the descendants of these people and reinstate their ancestral property? Are they willing to absorb millions of Jews and guarantee them safety? Is France willing to do that? The UK? Germany? No? Then y’all just shut up.

3. Ethnostates are normal

One of our commenters, חוקר, made a good point about a common critique of Israel, that it relies on maintaining a Jewish ethnic majority, and must resort to some form of filtering based on ethnicity. Assuming that this allegation has validity, which I am not sure, חוקר points out that it is actually justified from a secular perspective. While it is true that ethnostates are considered “racist” by contemporary liberal standards, and thus irredeemably evil, the fact is that it is a perfectly normal and human condition. Severe limitations on immigration is standard policy in many countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, not to mention all the Arab countries that are the chief critics of Israel. It is also the official or unofficial-but-obvious policy of all right-wing anti-immigration parties which are gaining power across Europe, the United States, and South America. Therefore, from a secular but right-wing perspective, Israel’s necessary policy to ensure its continued existence is completely justified.

Disclaimer: This is not the Torah perspective

None of this is a justification for secular Zionism

I want to make it clear that this is only meant a vindication for Israel’s policy defending herself from populations who would gladly massacre her without a second thought. It is not a justification for the philosophy of secular Zionism, which is a contradiction, and oxymoron, and an impossibility. One can’t claim that there is a special Jewish homeland based on Torah texts, while dispensing with the statutes and hashkafos of the Torah. Our only real title to the land is as as a Torah nation, a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, following the laws of Hashem and connecting ourselves to Him. It is through abandonment of the Torah that we were evicted from the Land, and it is only through adhering to the Torah that our current claim can hold firm and lead to the coming of Moshiach, may we merit to see him.

I am pleased to announce that I will be in Thimphu, Bhutan next Shabbat, and am available as a scholar-in-residence at any shul that is willing to have me. On Sunday the 31st, I will be holding a parlor meeting somewhere in Thimpu to showcase everything Irrationalist Modoxism is doing to assist the war effort, including this hasbara attempt. Location and time to be announced.