Moral behavior–differentiating right from wrong or good from evil, can’t be more straightforward in its meaning.
Yet, as the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict demonstrates, morality seldom exists in its pure form. In our times, morality is heavily politicized.
Let’s look at this politicization through the behavior of Joe Biden, one the most empathetic president in the country’s history.
After Hamas, the Palestinian militant group governing Gaza, infiltrated Israel’s southern border, killing over 1,000 civilians and taking hundreds more as hostages, the Israeli government responded with a blistering and ongoing bombardment of Gaza.
Whether you are pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian in this conflict, denouncing Hamas’ butchery and hostage-taking of innocent Israeli civilians seems morally justified.
“Pure, unadulterated evil” was how Mr. Biden summed it up.
“…Civilians slaughtered — not just killed, slaughtered — in Israel. Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach-turning reports of babies being killed, entire families slain. This is terrorism.”
The president got it right.
Check out this Guardian Explainer on the roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict
Yet, Mr. Biden is now holding his tongue to Israel’s brutal and indiscriminating counter-attack in Gaza, a tightly condensed territory of about two million people.
The Israeli government cut off food, water, and fuel to Gaza. It unleashed a daily bombing campaign that has so far killed over 4,000 Gazans, including 1,500 children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
A large-scale military invasion of the territory is expected any day now.
Human rights groups and others are alarmed at the number of innocent lives that might perish in such a military invasion.
“We must not kill Gazan children to try and protect Israel’s children,” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof warned Friday.
Mr. Biden sentiments on the plight of Gazans civilians is less clear.
“Israel has to respond,” He said.
“They have to go after Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They’re hiding behind the civilians. They put their headquarters where civilians are and buildings and the like.”
Is the president saying there is no hiding place for Hamas in Gaza or no safe space for its civilian population?
It isn’t clear.
“He is convinced, however, that “the Israelis are going to do everything in their power to avoid killing innocent civilians,” he told us.
The president’s support of humanitarian aid to Gaza is similarly double-speak.
He, for example, promotes humanitarian relief for besieged Gazans while at the same time plying Israel with the offensive military weapons they are using to hammer Gazans whether they stay home or flee to elusive safety zones.
A photo of Biden embracing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provides a striking moment of his politicized morality.
Not only has Mr. Netanyahu done more than any other Israeli leader to destroy the possibility of a two-state solution in the conflict between the two warring factions, but he also represents in Israel the feared anti-democratic forces that Mr. Biden is full-throatily fighting here at home.
I believe President Biden do care about the innocents being killed in Gaza, but he seems unwilling or unable to express his empathy for Gazans with the clarity in which he is denouncing Hamas’ atrocities.
Why is that?
You may call it hypocrisy, but it is more political expediency. Adhering to a strict, universal moral code comes at a price, political or otherwise. Just ask the Harvard students who are being doxxed for expressing empathy with the Palestinian cause.
Ask Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose appearance Friday at 92NY cultural center in New York, was cancelled after he signed an open letter critical of Israel.
Clive,
I do always look forward to your views. But I think here you understate the appropriateness of Biden’s words in this situation. He did warn against thoughtless responses out of anger (e.g., our response to 9/11). He did say we must show greater humanity than our attackers, and he did mention the two state solution. There is always the question of what we can say that our audience will respond to, this with recognition of who is “there” (as any good teacher, preacher or therapist will tell you). Yes, I recognize there are also mountain top moments that call for the prophet to elevate us all. But Biden is not that. So I grant that Biden made good choices in the situation.
Bob, nobody is more critical of the Biden administration than me. His administrations continued failure and hypocrisy of gun control ( Hunters illegally purchased guns and the release of Brittany Griner for the release of an arms dealer) continue to shock me. Like his hypocrisy on gun control I don’t see how anybody can look to Biden for leadership in this situation either.
“What a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.”