Liberal authors criticise Israel’s war in Gaza

While two liberal commentators accuse Israel of applying disproportionate destructive force in reaction to the murderous rampage of Hamas in October, the editor of a Jewish review condemns them for equating terrorist attacks with a war aimed at uprooting a terrorist organisation.

In two consecutive issues of Élet és Irodalom, two liberal authors question Israel’s right to destroy Hamas at the price of high civilian casualties in Gaza.

Gábor Gadó writes that dismantling Hamas is a legitimate ambition but its pursuit becomes unacceptable if masses of civilians die along the way. He adds that the war in Gaza will induce sympathisers with the Palestinian cause in the West to consider terrorist acts legitimate in the future.

In a similar vein, Péter György warns that with its massive air and artillery campaign in Gaza, Israel may easily find itself outside western civilisation where it has belonged for all its history. He considers the recent unprecedentedly large anti-Israeli demonstrations in the West as proof of his thesis. György also adds that anti-Semitism that has often been tolerated by the ruling élite may flare up in the future.

In Múlt és jövő (Past and Future), a review he founded in 1988, first as an unauthorized publication, János Kőbányai reminds the two authors that Hamas deliberately attacked civilians in Israel on October 7, whereas the Israeli Defence Force is not targeting civilians. He therefore condemns Élet és Irodalom’s authors for equating the two cases. He also finds György’s remarks on Hungary unfounded. On the contrary, he believes the Hungarian government has been right to refuse the entry of masses of unlawful Muslim migrants. Although, he writes, he would never vote for that government, he praises its record of keeping Hungary free of violent anti-Semitism.

Tags: anti-Semitism, Hamas, Israel