It feels absurd—which is not exactly the right word, but I can’t think of a better one—to be walking through these streets of my suburban bliss in the sunshine of a late autumn morning, old Rocky still dancing beside me after all these years, while in the tightening grip of this question: what sort of writer am I?
Pia, I was writing about what Netanyahu is saying and doing. The plan to remove the Gazans from Gaza. The plan to occupy the whole territory. The Smotrich and Ben Gvir plan to replace the Gazans with settlers. I disagree with nothing you say about Hamas. How does what Hamas has done and what it stands for justify ethnic cleansing? How does it justify depriving Gazans of aid- a declared policy of the government?
I do not agree with Netanyahu and his right wing ministers, nor with ethnic cleansing.
However it is clear that Gaza will need to be rebuilt. There is ordinance everywhere and extensive tunnels just below, right next to the sea.. It is hardly safe for anyone. The Gazans have to live somewhere while this happens. Why not evacuate them before they are injured/starved? An evacuation implies a return.
The activists calling for Palestinian justice, at all costs, are ignoring the actual costs which will be written in blood. This happened most recently in Washington. Of course the activists are not bearing these costs.If it was their blood they might reflect more carefully.
Actions that could save both Gazan lives and their future can look like tacit support for the Netanyahu government and Donald Trump. When activists are driven by rage and emotion they cannot see differences. Thoughtful people need to keep stating these differences.Maybe someone might listen.
My response,( for what it is worth, and I am not a writer), is that the State of Israel , and indeed the Idea of Israel, is not the current Government of Israel. Also that most Australian Jews are not Israelis; and even if they were, would they vote for the current Government?
Also Germany has conducted two terrible world wars where nearly 100 million people died.No one has ever called for the extermination of Germany. No one called for the extermination of Japan after WW2 either, and the Japanese were very brutal.
The world is obsessed with Palestine and is ignoring the Ukraine, the Sudan, Myanmar etc, etc, etc. It has taken on the rage of the Palestinians as if it were the only holy cause. And yes, there is much indeed to cause great concern about Gaza.
And NO ONE is enraged at Egypt, who will not let out the Gazan women and children, to safe havens. The Kosovars were evacuated to safety. The East Timorese were evacuated to safety. Ukrainians and Syrians were allowed to leave in the terrible current and past wars in those places.
Why is this unfolding in this way with the war in Gaza? All I can say is that rage traumatises, damages and restricts the thinking mind.
Thank you Michael. I thought I went on for too long....but perhaps I will add a few more items.
The current world rhetoric is right out of the Hamas playbook. "The brutal colonial invaders are to be demonised, eradicated from the land of Israel, and exterminated from the earth." This is the media victory of Hamas, preparing the entire world to agree to its goals.
I heard the founder of Hamas , Ahmed Yassin, on the BBC news in ~ 1993.Yes it was with English subtitles but it was the BBC, so I have assumed it was accurate. Yassin said:"We will kill the Jew in every country." I never, ever, forgot this. I just never believed that a time would come when it would be attempted. The first step is to change the mindset of the majority, to prepare them.
Goebbels said that if you tell a population the same thing over and over, they will eventually believe it.
Independent thought is hard work. Most do not do it.
Pomposity is something that you cannot be accused of. Analysis,depth,thought,conviction… if only more writers and commentators possessed such characteristics. The antisemitism abroard in the world today must be challenged, no matter what the cost. The crude attempts to destroy the only true democracy in the Middle East should not be allowed to go unchallenged, no matter how poorly it is led.
There is a need for adult discussion on this wide topic, but in today’s world it has little chance of occurring. Thank you, Michael, for enunciating the dilemma so well.
Thank you, Michael for writing this. I feel it deeply as other have. What you’ve captured here, the dissonance between our enduring love for Israel and our grief and horror at what’s unfolding is more than a personal reckoning. You have highlighted THE Jewish dilemma of this moment.
You’ve articulated what many of us feel but struggle to say out loud. That we are torn not because our values have changed, but because the world around us is increasingly demanding we choose between our Jewish identity and our moral clarity. And yet, for so many of us, those two things are bound together and can’t be separated.
The fear you speak of the fear of writing pompously, the fear of saying the wrong thing, the fear of being misunderstood or used as ammunition by people who wish to see Israel erased. This is real. But so is the responsibility and regarding this, you are not alone with the burden.
This moment is being shaped, by dark forces that thrive on polarization. The demonisation of Jews, the rewriting of history, the mainstreaming of language that echoes the oldest antisemitic tropes, all of this is not accidental. It’s strategic. And sadly, it’s working.
That’s why your voice matters. That’s why all of us, especially those who feel this anguish must keep speaking, must keep writing. Not to apologise. Not to simplify. But to hold the complexity and to insist that we can love Israel, reject extremism, mourn the innocent lives in Gaza, and still stand firm against those who hate us. These things are not contradictions. They’re what make us human.
The best way to embrace this dilemma, I believe, is for you to write through it. To show up in the discomfort. To document the internal debate with honesty and resolve. Because if you stay silent, the loudest voices, the ones that reduce everything to slogans and enemies will win. You have a special place in the written word world, please continue to share.
So write, please. Write without shame. Write with heartbreak and anger and hope. Because what we need now is moral courage. And that’s something you’ve already shown just by putting these words on the page.
What sort of writer are you? One with a conscience, who writes movingly in beautiful prose, weaving together politics, being human, and the human way of making comrades of dogs (and by extension other animals). Please don't stop!
I admire the piece - it puts into words what a lot of us think."For every complex problem, there's a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." H.L. Mencken. There are no simple answers. There is right and wrong on both sides.
You are wasted here Michael - you need a broader audience!
Michael, I recall you said to me post Oct 7 , never despair ! From time to time your (sage) advice comes to mind, yet sometimes it beckons.
I despair about Gaza, yet I resent that the actions of Israel and its government are constantly linked to questions about the State's legitimacy. And I resent that diaspora Jews must account for Israel's actions in a way that no other diasporic group does. Chinese and Iranians and countless other peoples are not constantly challenged about the legitimacy of their home countries, irrespective of their well documented human rights abuses.
Ann, we must not despair. We must not. I do not. Those who question Israel’s legitimacy are not the people for whom I write. There is no real conversation I can imagine having with them though I would be eager to debate them on a panel at a writers festival. Strangely, I have never been asked to do so. We are so deeply connected with Israel and with the Israeli people. That connection for me is unshakeable. That’s where I am coming from as a writer. That’s where this substack is coming from. What that connection means is what The Question was about.
Thank you Michael. I need to hear that. I take your point.
My deep concern is that questioning the legitimacy of Israel seems to be the subtext of much public narrative, including within the mainstream media, though it may not be overtly stated.
The decades long ideology that seeks to destroy Israel by any means necessary - kinetic energy, propaganda and its own internal division and attrition - appears to have become normalised, hidden behind polite discourse that singularly demonises the state.
So may your compelling voice reach those for whom you do not write.
Too right! Hastings Jewish Community are worn out and increasingly distressed here in the UK by the loud and persistent vitriolic hatred of Israelis and Jews who don't agree about annihilating Israel. We are doing our best to fight this and thank goodness some non-Jews are now standing up for us. I wrote to our local press to complain about a vile article and received inter alia that I was conveying "an impression of astonishing lack of human feeling"!! We hope there is a light at the end of this ghastly tunnel but, today in the rain, it doesn't feel much like it!
I admire your struggle and your writing skills. So thank you for your honesty. However, I still can't understand the world's obsession with 'Palestine'.
Thank you. A thoughtful piece and I sympathize with the anguish felt by Jews in the diaspora (of whom I am one) who hold Israel close to their hearts and I understand its challenges. At the same time however, I feel that it is important to recognize the existential anguish and burden carried by Israelis themselves, who in daily life must navigate the complex consequences of their new nation’s tumultuous history.
Surely the only ethical and commonsense and just solution would be for Israel to occupy and rule the Gaza strip. There is absolutely no hope of any compromise or peace-dealing with Hamas, which must be defeated at all costs. Israel was not the aggressor in this and she has every right to take the only sure measures to ensure her very existence: invasion, occupation and rule. What else can she do? Muslim and Arab neighbours refuse refuge to Gazans.
I am not Jewish, nor pro-war, but as a Catholic, accept the paradigm of self-defence and just war. If occupation is too fantastic and impossible a solution, destruction of Hamas's war tunnels is the only other option apart from allowing Israel to perish. Maybe occupation will follow the only other measures open to Israel. Trump is the only other VIP in the world to offer another solution. Has anyone else?
Pia, I was writing about what Netanyahu is saying and doing. The plan to remove the Gazans from Gaza. The plan to occupy the whole territory. The Smotrich and Ben Gvir plan to replace the Gazans with settlers. I disagree with nothing you say about Hamas. How does what Hamas has done and what it stands for justify ethnic cleansing? How does it justify depriving Gazans of aid- a declared policy of the government?
I do not agree with Netanyahu and his right wing ministers, nor with ethnic cleansing.
However it is clear that Gaza will need to be rebuilt. There is ordinance everywhere and extensive tunnels just below, right next to the sea.. It is hardly safe for anyone. The Gazans have to live somewhere while this happens. Why not evacuate them before they are injured/starved? An evacuation implies a return.
The activists calling for Palestinian justice, at all costs, are ignoring the actual costs which will be written in blood. This happened most recently in Washington. Of course the activists are not bearing these costs.If it was their blood they might reflect more carefully.
Actions that could save both Gazan lives and their future can look like tacit support for the Netanyahu government and Donald Trump. When activists are driven by rage and emotion they cannot see differences. Thoughtful people need to keep stating these differences.Maybe someone might listen.
This is brave piece. Thank you.
My response,( for what it is worth, and I am not a writer), is that the State of Israel , and indeed the Idea of Israel, is not the current Government of Israel. Also that most Australian Jews are not Israelis; and even if they were, would they vote for the current Government?
Also Germany has conducted two terrible world wars where nearly 100 million people died.No one has ever called for the extermination of Germany. No one called for the extermination of Japan after WW2 either, and the Japanese were very brutal.
The world is obsessed with Palestine and is ignoring the Ukraine, the Sudan, Myanmar etc, etc, etc. It has taken on the rage of the Palestinians as if it were the only holy cause. And yes, there is much indeed to cause great concern about Gaza.
And NO ONE is enraged at Egypt, who will not let out the Gazan women and children, to safe havens. The Kosovars were evacuated to safety. The East Timorese were evacuated to safety. Ukrainians and Syrians were allowed to leave in the terrible current and past wars in those places.
Why is this unfolding in this way with the war in Gaza? All I can say is that rage traumatises, damages and restricts the thinking mind.
Rant over!
Thank you Pia. Your response is worth a lot!
Thank you Michael. I thought I went on for too long....but perhaps I will add a few more items.
The current world rhetoric is right out of the Hamas playbook. "The brutal colonial invaders are to be demonised, eradicated from the land of Israel, and exterminated from the earth." This is the media victory of Hamas, preparing the entire world to agree to its goals.
I heard the founder of Hamas , Ahmed Yassin, on the BBC news in ~ 1993.Yes it was with English subtitles but it was the BBC, so I have assumed it was accurate. Yassin said:"We will kill the Jew in every country." I never, ever, forgot this. I just never believed that a time would come when it would be attempted. The first step is to change the mindset of the majority, to prepare them.
Goebbels said that if you tell a population the same thing over and over, they will eventually believe it.
Independent thought is hard work. Most do not do it.
Pomposity is something that you cannot be accused of. Analysis,depth,thought,conviction… if only more writers and commentators possessed such characteristics. The antisemitism abroard in the world today must be challenged, no matter what the cost. The crude attempts to destroy the only true democracy in the Middle East should not be allowed to go unchallenged, no matter how poorly it is led.
There is a need for adult discussion on this wide topic, but in today’s world it has little chance of occurring. Thank you, Michael, for enunciating the dilemma so well.
Thank you, Michael for writing this. I feel it deeply as other have. What you’ve captured here, the dissonance between our enduring love for Israel and our grief and horror at what’s unfolding is more than a personal reckoning. You have highlighted THE Jewish dilemma of this moment.
You’ve articulated what many of us feel but struggle to say out loud. That we are torn not because our values have changed, but because the world around us is increasingly demanding we choose between our Jewish identity and our moral clarity. And yet, for so many of us, those two things are bound together and can’t be separated.
The fear you speak of the fear of writing pompously, the fear of saying the wrong thing, the fear of being misunderstood or used as ammunition by people who wish to see Israel erased. This is real. But so is the responsibility and regarding this, you are not alone with the burden.
This moment is being shaped, by dark forces that thrive on polarization. The demonisation of Jews, the rewriting of history, the mainstreaming of language that echoes the oldest antisemitic tropes, all of this is not accidental. It’s strategic. And sadly, it’s working.
That’s why your voice matters. That’s why all of us, especially those who feel this anguish must keep speaking, must keep writing. Not to apologise. Not to simplify. But to hold the complexity and to insist that we can love Israel, reject extremism, mourn the innocent lives in Gaza, and still stand firm against those who hate us. These things are not contradictions. They’re what make us human.
The best way to embrace this dilemma, I believe, is for you to write through it. To show up in the discomfort. To document the internal debate with honesty and resolve. Because if you stay silent, the loudest voices, the ones that reduce everything to slogans and enemies will win. You have a special place in the written word world, please continue to share.
So write, please. Write without shame. Write with heartbreak and anger and hope. Because what we need now is moral courage. And that’s something you’ve already shown just by putting these words on the page.
In solidarity and with deep respect,
Simon
Thank you Simon. I am so with you. So beautifully written too! I hope you are writing somewhere!
What sort of writer are you? One with a conscience, who writes movingly in beautiful prose, weaving together politics, being human, and the human way of making comrades of dogs (and by extension other animals). Please don't stop!
Alison, I am so glad you are one of my readers. Thank you.
I admire the piece - it puts into words what a lot of us think."For every complex problem, there's a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." H.L. Mencken. There are no simple answers. There is right and wrong on both sides.
You are wasted here Michael - you need a broader audience!
Thank you Peter. A place that would give me a wider audience for these sort of pieces is hard to find.
how can we help with this?
Thanks for caring. I’m not sure what can be done. But this means a lot to me.
Michael, I recall you said to me post Oct 7 , never despair ! From time to time your (sage) advice comes to mind, yet sometimes it beckons.
I despair about Gaza, yet I resent that the actions of Israel and its government are constantly linked to questions about the State's legitimacy. And I resent that diaspora Jews must account for Israel's actions in a way that no other diasporic group does. Chinese and Iranians and countless other peoples are not constantly challenged about the legitimacy of their home countries, irrespective of their well documented human rights abuses.
Ann, we must not despair. We must not. I do not. Those who question Israel’s legitimacy are not the people for whom I write. There is no real conversation I can imagine having with them though I would be eager to debate them on a panel at a writers festival. Strangely, I have never been asked to do so. We are so deeply connected with Israel and with the Israeli people. That connection for me is unshakeable. That’s where I am coming from as a writer. That’s where this substack is coming from. What that connection means is what The Question was about.
Thank you Michael. I need to hear that. I take your point.
My deep concern is that questioning the legitimacy of Israel seems to be the subtext of much public narrative, including within the mainstream media, though it may not be overtly stated.
The decades long ideology that seeks to destroy Israel by any means necessary - kinetic energy, propaganda and its own internal division and attrition - appears to have become normalised, hidden behind polite discourse that singularly demonises the state.
So may your compelling voice reach those for whom you do not write.
Too right! Hastings Jewish Community are worn out and increasingly distressed here in the UK by the loud and persistent vitriolic hatred of Israelis and Jews who don't agree about annihilating Israel. We are doing our best to fight this and thank goodness some non-Jews are now standing up for us. I wrote to our local press to complain about a vile article and received inter alia that I was conveying "an impression of astonishing lack of human feeling"!! We hope there is a light at the end of this ghastly tunnel but, today in the rain, it doesn't feel much like it!
Even some non-Jews like me are walking that tightrope
I admire your struggle and your writing skills. So thank you for your honesty. However, I still can't understand the world's obsession with 'Palestine'.
Thank you. A thoughtful piece and I sympathize with the anguish felt by Jews in the diaspora (of whom I am one) who hold Israel close to their hearts and I understand its challenges. At the same time however, I feel that it is important to recognize the existential anguish and burden carried by Israelis themselves, who in daily life must navigate the complex consequences of their new nation’s tumultuous history.
Agree
Surely the only ethical and commonsense and just solution would be for Israel to occupy and rule the Gaza strip. There is absolutely no hope of any compromise or peace-dealing with Hamas, which must be defeated at all costs. Israel was not the aggressor in this and she has every right to take the only sure measures to ensure her very existence: invasion, occupation and rule. What else can she do? Muslim and Arab neighbours refuse refuge to Gazans.
I am not Jewish, nor pro-war, but as a Catholic, accept the paradigm of self-defence and just war. If occupation is too fantastic and impossible a solution, destruction of Hamas's war tunnels is the only other option apart from allowing Israel to perish. Maybe occupation will follow the only other measures open to Israel. Trump is the only other VIP in the world to offer another solution. Has anyone else?
Another just solution would be for all the women and children to be evacuated through Egypt til the end of the war so Hamas could be defeated.
193 so-called humanitarian countries at the UN could surely offer.....something?
-Support to defeat Hamas?
-Safe havens for the women and children?
Lots of talk and no action is collusion with destructiveness, whatever the cause of the situation on the ground.