Why Israel’s anti-Hamas strategy is failing
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“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink.” This Bible verse has been known to give rise to two misconceptions.
The first is that it’s a distinctively Christian verse—that it reflects the kind and loving God of the New Testament, not the sterner God of the “Old Testament,” as Christians call the Hebrew Bible. It’s true that this is a New Testament verse, found in Paul’s letter to the Romans—but Paul was quoting, word for word, from the Old Testament, the book of Proverbs.
The second misconception is that this verse is a simple assertion of moral truth—that it’s just saying that every human deserves compassion. Actually the verse is more pragmatic than that. It goes on to say that, by giving your enemy food and drink, “you will heap burning coals on his head.”
The exact meaning of that last passage is debated: Is the idea that your enemies will suffer, or be thwarted, or maybe that their malice will dissipate, perhaps even dissolving into remorse? (Some scholars think “burning coals” refers to an ancient Egyptian contrition ritual.) In any event, the general drift is clear: Sometimes you can best serve your interests by resisting the impulses that enemies naturally arouse.
When, two weeks ago, Israel announced a policy of denying food, water, and electricity to Gazans while subjecting Gaza to massive bombing, some people criticized the move on moral grounds. It isn’t right, they said, to punish Gazans for atrocities against Israelis that the vast majority of Gazans had nothing to do with. I agree. But those kinds of arguments get limited traction in nations that have just suffered mass atrocities, as Israel has. So I’d use a different argument in trying to convince Israel to curtail the bombing and call off a ground invasion that is sure to kill lots more innocent people. Namely: Israel’s policy of massive retaliation doesn’t serve Israel’s interests.
Before I elaborate, take a look at this graph: