John Edward Simms: The Friendship Sweater and Radical Neutrality

A Response to the Editor’s “A Note to Our Readers Concerning Vox Populi’s Coverage of the War on Gaza.”

The Friendship Sweater

When my kids were young, they would sometimes bicker as kids do. Sometimes the bickering would get to the point of extreme annoyance for others. When it reached that point, we brought out the Friendship Sweater, which is a XXXX-sized sweater that we draped over both of them. They were not allowed out until they learned to speak in a civil way to each other. The first time we used it, it took them about an hour. The time decreased in each instance. By the time we ran out of sweaters, the threat was generally enough. Imagine taking that approach to the Israel/Palestine conflict.

First, let me say I disagree with nothing my brother Michael stated in his article. That being said, I believe that another course of action should be considered – Radical Neutrality. I don’t believe either group in the current conflict is worthy of our support. It should also be noted that this article is not intended in any way to disparage or discriminate against the Palestinians or Jewish people. The focus is instead on the politicians and governments of both groups. 

The Israeli Government and the IDF 

On the one hand, Israel has been accused of being an apartheid state by Amnesty International (2022)^[1]. The history of injustices committed by Israel against the Palestinian people is undeniable and horrific, beginning with the inception of Israel in 1948 and the forced eviction of thousands from their homes and homeland. Protests ensued, and many of the families fled to Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, from which they were again evicted in May of 2021. Thousands of Palestinians across Israel held protests in support of the dispossessed families. Amnesty International (AI) states in the article:

Since Israel Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank in 1967, Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have been continuously targeted by Israeli authorities, who use discriminatory laws to systematically dispossess Palestinians of their land and homes for the benefit of Jewish Israelis.

In the current conflict, Israel has destroyed hospitals known to be populated with civilians, stating it was necessary in order to destroy the tunnels underneath suspected of being used by Hamas for communication, coordination, and mobility. Video evidence support their suspicions. For the hardliners in the Knesset, the civilians killed in the bombing were unavoidable collateral damage.  I believe it is disingenuous in the extreme to target a hospital known to filled with civilians and then claim that they were not targeting civilians. Those civilians were no more a part of the conflict than the 68 civilians killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941^[2]. Some have speculated that Benjamin Netanyahu’s extreme response may have been fueled by the murder of his brother, Yonaton, at the hands of German and Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe in 1976^[3]. If their current thinking had been applied at Entebbe, they would have simply destroyed the plane, killing all the hostages. I suspect that doing so would have been viewed as completely unjustified, even barbaric. Israel would have had to face the consequences in the international arena, politically and perhaps legally. 

Hamas

Hamas was founded in 1987 by the Imam Ahmed Yassin and is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative election campaigning in part on the right of Palestinians’ right to armed struggle against the Israeli occupation. Many attribute the rise of the group’s militancy to Israel’s negligence and outside state sponsorship, especially Iran^[4]. In August 1988, Hamas published its charter, which included a call for the complete obliteration of Israel.

According to the National Counterterrorism Center, Hamas is a terrorist organization^[5]. It has also been classified as a terrorist organization by Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand, Paraguay, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  According to the International Crisis Group (2012), a Non-Governmental Organization, 

During the second Intifada, from October 2000 until October 2005, 30 suicide bombings and other attacks killed 195 people and injured many more. Of these, 186 casualties resulted from attacks perpetrated by Jerusalem residents.^[6]

Forbes (2024) reports that Netanyahu’s own cabinet has said agreeing to a cease-fire deal would be a “humiliating surrender.”^[7]

 Both the Israeli government and Hamas are absolutely committed to the other’s destruction. Both Israel and Hamas have committed murderous war crimes. I don’t believe we should choose the lesser of two evils. The principle of moral imagination allows the development of an alternate solution: Support neither – no financing, munitions, or excuses. Absolute neutrality and withdrawing our support for anyone. It is radical because it is an extremist position. It is also guaranteed to anger just about everyone domestically and overseas and is therefore a political impossibility. The friendship sweater doesn’t work if both are willing to die to live out their hate-filled, genocidal agenda. 

Just food for thought.

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^[1] Amnesty International (2022). “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians.” February 1, 2022, accessed 5/9/24 at https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid

^[2] National WWII Museum (2020). “Remembering Pearl Harbor: A Pearl Harbor Fact Sheet.” Accessed 5/9/24 at https://www.census.gov/pearl-harbor-fact-sheet-1

^[3] Harzony, Y. (2001). “Yoni’s Last Battle: The Rescue at Entebbe.” Gefen Publishing House, ISBN 978-0-8276-0642-5

^[4] Higgins, A. (2009). “How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas.” The Wall Street Journal, September 26

^[5] National Counterterrorism Guide (2015). U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Washington, D.C., accessed 5/9/2024 at www.dni.gov

ICG (2012). “Extreme Makeover? (II): The Withering of Arab Jerusalem.” Accessed 5/9/2024 at www.crisisgroup.org

^[7] Mukunda, G. (2024). “The Key to Understanding Prime Minister Netanyahu? He’s Gambling for Resurrection.” Forbes, 5/10/24. Forbes Media, LLC. Accessed at www.forbes.com

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Copyright 2024 John Edward Simms

John Edward Simms is a retired professor of accounting and business ethics. He lives in Houston, Texas with his family.