I have kept my silence on the Middle East for ten years. I left Israel in 2015, after five years as British ambassador, as the first Jew in the role. Since then, I have turned down every request to be a talking head. Neither the world nor my successors needed another ex-ambassador pundit.
But I now feel obliged to break my silence, just once, to say that the Israeli government’s treatment of the Gazan population is both wrong and self-defeating. And that it is not anti-Israel or pro-Hamas to say that withholding humanitarian aid is not the answer.
The situation is the opposite of straightforward. It is not just that there are no easy answers; there may be no answers of any sort. The Israeli position is impossible. Israel has been provoked by her enemies and patronised by her friends in equal measure.
And yet. The right answer is never to withhold humanitarian aid from two million people. The right answer is never to let children become malnourished as a matter of state policy, if not by intent, then by inevitable consequence of intended actions. It is simply wrong to traumatise and retraumatise the people of Gaza by making them flee repeatedly at short notice as part of a military campaign. These are clear, simple truths.
Many of my friends will find this hard to hear. They will have a set of powerful objections.
The first is that the blame for this sits with Hamas, not Israel. It is true that the attack Hamas launched on 7 October was a hideous atrocity, and an affront to humanity. Hamas remains a grievous threat to Israel. There must be no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. Hamas is a brutal, authoritarian terrorist organisation. Israel is a democracy, subject to the rule of law. Israel is our ally.
But however culpable Hamas may be, Israel has agency and choice in how it responds. The UK has given Israel strong support as it mounted its response to 7 October, understanding that it had no choice but to respond with overwhelming force, and knowing that this would come with painful consequences for the people of Gaza. But there must be a point beyond which our support cannot continue. Even for our allies. Even after 7 October.
The second objection is that Israel must get its remaining hostages home. By taking hundreds of hostages, Hamas created for Israel an impossible choice – sue for a deal with Hamas to get the hostages back alive, or fight to destroy Hamas. Netanyahu has tried to find a third option – fighting Hamas to get the hostages back. But the tragic evidence of the past year and a half is that this does not work. Eight hostages have been rescued by the IDF; 135 have been released in ceasefires. Israel has not escaped the appalling options created by Hamas. The current military campaign is not the best way to bring the hostages home alive.
The third objection is that there is no other way to tackle Hamas. And it is surely true that Hamas is the most pernicious of enemies – hiding itself among the civilian population of Gaza, using hospitals and ambulances for cover, shamelessly diverting aid to its own pockets and projects. All of its actions show a cynical determination to sacrifice Palestinian lives for the greater cause. Hamas knew exactly what Israel’s response would be to 7 October. They welcomed it.
I have long been wary of explaining to Israelis how to fight their battles. Israelis have learnt to disregard the well-meant but naive advice of self-described ‘critical friends’ who cannot possibly understand Israel’s state of permanent existential threat. Us lecturing Israel about the need for peace goes down as well with them as Americans lecturing Britain about Northern Ireland used go down with us.
I’m a proud Brit and Jew who hates what’s happening to the people of Gaza
But I struggle to see how the Israeli government’s current approach can lead to a lasting solution to its Gaza problem. I cannot see a viable exit strategy, the vanquishing of Hamas, and a route to a viable post-conflict stability. And I cannot see how peace is brought closer by withholding humanitarian aid, destroying all of Gaza’s infrastructure, and keeping the entire Gazan population in a cycle of fear, grief and flight.
So what can Israel do? It knows that withdrawal will lead to Hamas rebuilding. It knows that Hamas will exploit anything coming into Gaza, from food to concrete. Israel has tried withdrawing from Gaza. The outcome was Hamas takeover, and years of rocket attacks followed by 7 October. Israelis know from experience that they cannot rely on international peacekeepers to protect them, who collapse like an umbrella at the first sign of trouble. It is fantasy to think that a moderate Palestinian Authority can be inserted back into Gaza to take control. It is even more of a fantasy to think that the residents of Gaza can be moved to neighbouring countries, leaving Gaza empty.
So what is left? There are no good choices here. The least awful for Israel may be a combination of withdrawal, working with moderate Arab states to rebuild Gaza and restrain Hamas, and continued targeted strikes against Hamas personnel and facilities.
But the absence of good choices still does not make it right or sensible to let children in Gaza become malnourished. The destruction of hope and the accumulation of grievance in Gaza will not serve Israel’s security any more than it will lead to peace.
This is not siding with Hamas, as Netanyahu has claimed. It is possible both to despise Hamas and its indifference to the suffering of the Palestinians of Gaza, and to say to Israel, our ally, that withholding humanitarian aid from those same people is not something we can tolerate.
None of this is to pander to those who hate Israel, who are now comfortable in their own occupation, that of the self-declared moral high ground. One of the saddest outcomes of all this has been the growing conviction among the bien pensants that this is a simple morality tale, with our democratic ally playing the part of the villain. Things have got muddled when crowds in London cheer for the Houthi rebels, whose slogans include ‘death to America, death to Israel, curse be upon the Jews’; when feminist groups exclude the victims of 7 October from their principle of believing women who say they have been raped.
It is not anti-Israel or pro-Hamas to say that, despite the impossible situation, withholding humanitarian aid is not the answer.
And one final point. Gary Lineker said recently that ‘the real heroes are the Jews who have spoken out against [Israeli action]’. Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need anyone to tell me I’m being a good Jew or a bad Jew. I’m a proud Brit and a proud Jew who loves Israel, and hates what’s happening to the people of Gaza. I don’t need anyone’s approval or permission for that.
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