![]() 7, sending millions of Israelis to shelters several times a day? Where are more than 100,000 Israelis who were uprooted from their homes in both the south and the north, filling the country with internally displaced people who cannot return to their homes before the immediate threat is taken away? ![]() What place is left for Iran, the Houthis, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah-armed actors bent on the destruction of Israel-in Father Neuhaus’s narrative? Where are the hundreds of missiles that have been launched from Gaza and Lebanon into the cities of Israel daily since Oct. Was Father Neuhaus unable to find or give voice to one rational reason that drove Israel to send her sons and daughters to kill and be killed, en masse, in a seemingly endless war? I am happy to provide a partial list of serious reasons for such actions, which do not seem to derive from the depths of our collective and agonizing soul but rather, from objective threats to Israeli lives. I found Father Neuhaus’s critique of Israeli society extremely unfair, misleading and, I would even say, demonizing.īut is that the case? Is this war all about intergenerational trauma and revenge, about some sort of a psychological breakdown in the Jewish-Israeli psyche-and nothing more? 7 attack” (the answer seems to be embedded in the wording of the question), Father Neuhaus depicts Israeli society as motivated by a combination of “sorrow, rage and a desire for revenge.” He later adds to this boiling emotional soup a reenactment of “Jewish fears,” “historic traumas,” “mourning, loss and…trauma” and again “Jewish fears.” Blinded by their pain, Father Neuhaus’s Israeli Jews simply cannot see the other side: “There is no place left in the Israeli narrative for what might be happening in Gaza.” Israelis only bathe in their own victimhood and self-righteousness, giving themselves carte blanche to sow endless destruction in Gaza. In response to America’s Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, who asked Father Neuhaus about “Israel’s war of retaliation against Hamas for the Oct. However, I found Father Neuhaus’s critique of Israeli society extremely unfair, misleading and, I would even say, demonizing. We should be very careful not to see antisemitism where it does not exist. ![]() They spew vile rhetoric and still have too much destructive power, but the war is not in their hands.įurthermore, I agree with Father Neuhaus that it is vital not to equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Right-wing extremists are not directing the war in Gaza. The faith of the Israeli public in the government is so diminished that they successfully pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to include members of the opposition in his war cabinet. This aim is shared by many institutions in Israel, from the Supreme Court to the police to the heads of the Israeli army. 7, I feel that the current Israeli government does not represent me, and I feel a responsibility to limit its authority both domestically and on the battlefield. Like most Israelis, especially after Oct. I share much of Father Neuhaus’s critical stance toward the Israeli government. ![]() The unease I felt while reading the interview had nothing to do with the legitimacy of criticizing Israel, a right that Father Neuhaus justly exercises. I found Father Neuhaus’s approach to the situation in Israel-Palestine as well as toward Jewish-Christian dialogue to be problematic, to say the least. But reading a recent interview with Father Neuhaus published by America was a tormenting experience. Through this work, I have had the opportunity to engage with many thoughtful Christians, including David Neuhaus, S.J., whom I consider a personal and even close friend. ![]() I am an Israeli Jew who has studied Jewish-Catholic relations for many years. ![]()
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