Let us by all means condemn Israel for what it is about to do to Gaza. But let us also remember that similar war crimes are part of the British national mythology. There is a clip of the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, saying that the civilians in Gaza are not innocent. This is so chilling that the Financial Times removed a reference from its copy. It is especially chilling when you remember that he would undoubtedly — and rightly — talk about the innocence of the Israeli men, women, children and even babies whom Hamas slaughtered.
What we in Britain so easily forget is that this was an attitude we entirely shared in World War II and that we continue to share to the extent that we glorify our victory in that war. Obviously, that victory was better than the alternative, not just for us, but for everyone in Europe. But the moral price of it was considerable.
I have in front of me a report from the National Archives on the condition of Frankfurt after four consecutive days of round the clock bombing in March 1944.
“The preliminary Damage Plot shows how effectively the centre of FRANKFURT has been blotted out, with more scattered damage extending to almost every part of the built-up area of the city .. very extensive additional devastation as been caused in the suburbs … in particular, the town of OFFENBACH … to the East, has suffered almost as severely as FRANKFURT itself.
Of the 270 acres devastated in the Fully Built-Up Zone. more that 200 are in the old mediaeval town, of which little but the site remains … neutral reports describe the centre of Frankfurt as “wiped out” — and for once neutral reports have said no more than the truth. A Swedish newspaper interviewed a traveller from Germany who said that it took him six hours of wandering through the ruins before he reached the railway station. Since this is less than a mile from the centre of town, the traveller was presumably a stranger in those parts, or perhaps he was bewildered by the complete disappearance of all familiar landmarks.
I don’t know how many civilians died in those raids but we can be certain that thousands did. It’s impossible to miss the note of relish in the report: the feeling that the civilians deserved it:
“Of Frankfurt before the war it was said “The whole appearance of the city betokens the general well-being of its inhabitants”. Now it may be said that the appearance of the city betokens the general ill-being of its inhabitants — and the retribution that has finally overtaken them.
In this report and in Herzog we see the argument made that if they didn’t want to die, they should have resisted Hitler (or, as Herzog said, resisted Hamas when it seized power in Gaza). In defence of this position it’s almost certainly true that the Germans and the Gazans thought as little of Jewish lives as the Israelis and the British think of theirs. That’s how wars work, which is why they are to be feared.
The measure of actions in wartime morality is how much they contribute to victory. But that is a very cold blooded and strategic way to look at things. In the middle of the fighting, what feels like success is simply hurting the enemy and killing as many as possible. Right now that is what public opinion in Israel demands, and it it not much concerned about who is the enemy.
“Something must be done, and it must not be business as usual. Every person with even an iota of responsibility for 10/7 or for shielding its perpetrators afterwards needs the opportunity to investigate what the afterlife has to offer him. Israeli public opinion, not to say justice, will demand nothing less,” as a piece in the American Jewish magazine Mosaic argues.
But however you feel there is still more to victory than slaughtering the enemy: in any war between states victory is marked by a peace more advantageous than the one you started with. And by this measure Israel has already lost the Gaza war, however ghastly the cost becomes in innocent lives.
It has lost for the same reasons the Americans and the British lost in Iraq but this defeat is much more serious for the invaders. Iraq, after all, never posed any threat to the US or to Britain. Hamas does pose a threat to Israel and will continue to do so once the war is over. It cannot be exterminated. When Israel finally withdraws, leaving a stinking corpse-covered wasteland where there is no water, no shelter and nothing to eat, Hamas will still be there.
The piece in Mosaic, requoted approvingly in the Wall Street Journal, puts it like this:
“If Israel limits its ground incursion, deterrence against future attacks won’t be established for very long at all. If it decides effectively to level the Strip and kill as many members of Hamas as possible, it might accomplish that goal, but it will then face very difficult choices in the aftermath. Were the IDF simply to withdraw after a maximal campaign, the last surviving member of the Qassam Brigades will, as it were, grab a bloody Hamas flag, wave it for the cameras, and declare victory. The terrible forces that caused the last attack will then reconstitute themselves, very likely even resurrecting the Hamas government.”
And this from a gung ho warmonger, who supposes that the way out of the dilemma is to bomb the shit out of Iran instead, something which makes as much sense, I suppose, as a perpetual occupation of Gaza. It’s not as if there are any third parties prepared to govern the place on Israel’s behalf. Why should there be?
At least when the Allies destroyed Germany, we took responsibility for the ruins when we occupied them. But Israel can’t do that. This is not an argument that it has lost morally by committing war crimes. The moral high ground is not a military objective, nor an advantage. My argument is that this war is worse than a crime; it’s a mistake, as Talleyrand said. That doesn’t stop it being a crime as well — just means that it is one from which no one will ultimately benefit.
I guess I’m not quite ready to condemn Israel for what it is apparently about to do in Gaza. If the Israelis actually DO commit the war crimes of which they stand pre-accused, well then yes, I will certainly condemn them.