Lhe massacres of October 7 committed in Israel by the brigades of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the incredible brutality of their method of execution produced an effect of horror and astonishment that our post-war generations had not until then. only known there by reading history books. For a few days, a few weeks, we were all dazed, without words, without thoughts, only ravaged by pain, terror, and sometimes stunned by the first signs of an outbreak of anti-Semitism where we expected empathy and solidarity.
But almost two months ago, the Israeli army’s response began, and it has been appalling. Already at least 15,000 dead, including more than 5,000 children, undoubtedly many more, as it is impossible to count all the victims buried under the rubble, and without counting the injured, the traumatized, the hungry. In less than two months, Israel has killed at least twenty times more children than Hamas killed or kidnapped on October 7.
The resumption of the offensive suggests a much greater obituary. Let’s not talk about pogrom for October 7 or genocide for the current offensive, words of terror which confuse everything. Let us instead try a simple macabre calculation: if we stick only to the figures of the Israeli army, the Al-Qassam Brigades and their allies being estimated at around 30,000 men, if it was necessary to kill more than 5,000 children and 10,000 civilians to kill 5,000 fighters, it will be necessary to kill at least 60,000 civilians including 30,000 children to “eradicate” the Hamas forces, if only that makes sense.
Rogue state
But let’s not talk in terms of realism, only in terms of justice. Is it fair to want to put Hamas and its allies out of harm’s way after the October 7 massacre? Absolutely. Is being prepared to do so at the cost of at least 60,000 civilians, including 30,000 children, still fair? In no way. No State, no society can base its security or use its legitimate right to defend itself at such a price known in advance. Unless it deserves to be listed for a long time as a rogue state and a society of rogues.
The shock of October 7 has passed. Not mourning or pain, but the shock that prevents you from thinking. It is high time that all Jews on the left, all Jews in short, who have retained a certain idea of what Nietzsche called “the great style in morality” (Beyond good and evil, “What Europe owes to the Jews”, 1886), express their strongest condemnation of such a bloody calculation. Muslims around the world have been asked enough to cry out “ Not in my name » after each Islamist attack since September 11, 2001. It is high time for a majority of Jews to cry out in turn “ Not in my name » in the face of the nameless violence that the Gazan population, particularly children, have been suffering for nearly two months.
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