Reactions in Israel to the ICJ decision have ranged from outrage, to a sigh of relief, to a sobering assessment of its broad domestic and international implications.
“I’m all for cessation of hostilities, but I would argue that it has to be tethered to a quid pro quo,” says Middle East Analyst Aaron David Miller.
The devastating October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and the ensuing war, along with the contradictory and perplexing media accounts of the clash, underscore the necessity for a nuanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Some Palestinians ask, “How can we not compare the Nazi atrocities in the Holocaust to the mass killings of civilians and children in Gaza?
Sources inside the IDF Spotters Unit and Intelligence’s Unit 8200 shed light on the catastrophic failures that led to October 7.
“I’ve been to four marches on the National Mall,” said David Krieger of Florida. “A 1973 Vietnam War protest, the 1987 March for Soviet Jewry, during the Second Intifada in 2002 and today.”
No country could be expected to forgo retaliation for attacks on innocent citizens in its own territory. But what are the long-term goals?
“What has helped me is to see the spirit of the Israeli people. It’s amazing to see the citizens who work together, who leave the arguments they may have had before and stand with you.”
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not only a clash of two nationalisms with overlapping claims to territory—it is also a clash of histories, whose wounds resist healing.
The rift lines in Europe, then, are there for all to see and may open up further.
“How can Jewish and Israeli students feel safe on campus when it’s considered acceptable to justify or even celebrate the death of Jewish children? “
