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These days, movies about deadly games are immensely popular. (That has disturbed me for some time, to be honest.) Films like “Saw,” “Hostel” and “The Belko Experiment” show that there’s an appetite for watching people in deadly predicaments that test their ability to reason under pressure — situations that place people’s lives and their instincts at odds, and force them to roll the dice.
I think we’re living through one of those situations now.
In the wake of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks being described as Israel’s equivalent of 9/11, the international community faces a gamble. That is, knowing what we know now about the failed war on terror that was initiated after the Sept. 11 attacks, are we willing to go down a similar path now?
Israeli leadership is vowing vengeance in Gaza. But as we arm Israel to the hilt, perhaps some caution is in order.
Israeli leadership is vowing vengeance in Gaza. But as we arm Israel to the hilt, perhaps some caution is in order.
Multilateral military drubbings like the post-9/11 invasion of Iraq have shown the West that when we vindictively and impulsively obliterate our enemies — and importantly, civilian-heavy communities — these actions can help fuel terrorism, instead of vanquishing it.
But listening to the inflammatory “holy war” rhetoric coming from conservatives in the U.S. in recent days, I get the sense they’re not thinking much about this at all.
For example, in an interview on the right-wing outlet Newsmax, Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee referred to the military assault yet to rain down on Gaza as “Old Testament judgment.”
In an interview on Fox News, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said: “We’re in a religious war here. I am with Israel, do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself — level the place.”
And in a post on X, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida called for the “complete eradication” of Hamas in Gaza, adding that there “simply is no diplomatic solution or ‘measured response’ available.”
To me, this comes across as disturbing saber-rattling from privileged men whose rhetoric puts the rest of the world at risk.
In August, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council that the use of force alone against terrorists “can be counter-productive, creating conditions conducive for the proliferation of terrorist groups.” In Afghanistan, one of the primary battlegrounds in the U.S.-led war on terror, the official said that “the situation ... is growing progressively complex, with fears of weapons and ammunition falling into the hands of terrorists now materializing.”
The saber-rattling over the Israel-Hamas war could arguably fuel perceptions that the world is at war with Gaza, which sounds like prime bulletin board material for terrorists. And, I insist, this conflict is hot enough without U.S. lawmakers adding on.
Fortunately, there are some U.S. leaders pushing back. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for instance, called out Graham over his “religious war” rhetoric.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are just a couple of the people who, after condemning Hamas, have warned against the U.S. contributing to a cycle of violence in the Middle East by letting Israel run roughshod over Gaza.
I appreciate their sensitivity in dealing with this issue — not only because it’s humane, but also because it’s smart from a national security perspective.
Americans don’t need their politicians playing tough guys on TV. They need tactfulness to defuse an explosive conflict.