Promised Land?

It’s the one-year anniversary of the ruthless Hamas attack on Israel.

In a way, I don’t feel it’s proper for me to comment—I’m a Lutheran Swede whose life has gone on just fine, relatively speaking. Yet, I watch the news. I’m a citizen of Earth like everyone else. I see what the attack has wrought: pretty much nothing but stoked anger, retribution, stoked anger, death and destruction, stoked anger, more retribution, stoked anger, piles of rubble, stoked anger, and the imminence of wider conflict.

A few hostages have been rescued or released, many others have been killed—either by Hamas or friendly fire. The U.S. has sent Mr. Blinken on a fool’s errand. It’s a difficult position to be in—trying to broker a ceasefire while being the face of a nation that’s supplying Israel with weaponry and half-hearted moral support.

Israel, meanwhile, has shouldered the mantle of wild-eyed ogre, as it appears to have decided that enough is enough, that civilians are indistinguishable from the enemy, as it has bombed hospitals and residential neighborhoods indiscriminately (they’ll say “surgically”) because of the Hamas tactic of sheltering and operating beneath these structures. Civilians are apparently guilty by association, caught in the middle, and with soul-crushing results.

Much of Israel is walking on eggshells, looking over its shoulder. Much of Gaza is no more or has sustained damage that will take years to repair, if at all. And now the focus shifts to the north, as Israel goes after Hezbollah in Lebanon, and maybe Iran.

“Anniversary” feels like the wrong word, as if there is something to celebrate. It’s just more of the same, really— a cycle of attack and revenge, a scriptural imperative, an evolved religious dynamic with players who want to destroy each other, more sophisticated implements of destruction, a mix of evolved and devolved tactics, wrapped up in the same predictable misery and despair.

Not to mention far greater political implications. Between this and the upcoming election, maybe Armageddon isn’t so far-fetched after all.

Way to stay positive, eh?