4 | FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 J
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PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 7

essay

Reading the War
I

srael’s War against Hamas 
in the Gaza Strip is now 
over four months old. The 
heinous Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas 
terrorist attack upon innocent 
Israeli civilians — as well as 
foreign visitors and friends who 
happened to be in the area — 
sparked a war 
that continues to 
rage with no end 
in sight. 
I have always 
read widely about 
Israel. For the 
past 10 years, 
working with 
the Detroit Jewish 
News as its archivist, I have con-
sidered it an obligation to stay 
informed about current Israeli 
events as well as the history 
of Israel. However, since Oct. 
7, my reading about Israel has 
had a specific purpose beyond 
self-enlightenment.
The JN is a local publication. 
We have relationships with 
freelance writers in Israel, but 
we do not have the capacity 
to station reporters there, or 
elsewhere in the world, for that 
matter. Since the JN debuted in 
1942, it has maintained recip-
rocal agreements with Jewish 
news services and publications 
such as the Jewish Telegraphic 
Agency (founded in 1917), the 
Jewish News Syndicate (2011) 
and The Forward (1897), which 
allows the JN to bring you news 
from beyond our local area. 
Note that using reports and 
stories from these services also 
provide a wide range of views, 
from the political left to right.
Since Oct. 7, therefore, I have 
been intensely reading news 
of Israel to select meaningful 
materials about the war for 
the JN and our website, www.

thejewishnews.com. It can be a 
daunting task, to say the least. 
After 130 days, I have some 
thoughts on what I have learned 
while “Reading the War.”

FIRST, READ WITH 
A SKEPTICAL EYE
One must always read with a 
skeptical eye, or academic skep-
ticism. In short, don’t believe 
everything you read, especially, 
when it comes to reporting on 
Israel, the nation a lot of global 
media love to bash. For exam-
ple, consider the “bombing” 
of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza 
on Oct. 17. Many media out-
lets rushed to accuse the IDF 
of indiscriminate fire on the 
hospital. A few days later, there 
was substantial evidence that it 
was a Hamas rocket misfire that 
caused the damage … damage 
that was much less than first 
reported, by the way. 
 Or for another example(s), 
just spend some time on the 
internet or social media and 
you will read many outrageous 
claims, such as it was actually 
the IDF that massacred 1,200 
Israeli citizens, just to start a 
war with Hamas. Or that the 
usually respected BBC reported 
the IDF was separating babies 
from their mothers in Gaza.
Mistaken reports are one 
issue, but what is truly dis-
tressing is that there are people 
who find some of the outra-
geous claims believable. This is 
antisemitism at its worst. 

WAR IS HELL
The most overwhelming aspect 
of reading about the war are 
the reports of human suffer-
ing. Horrible, but unavoidable 
in war. It was Union General 
William Tecumseh Sherman, 

during the American Civil War, 
who succinctly described the 
essence of any armed conflict in 
three words: “War is hell.” 
 Indeed, it is, and the reports 
from Israel and Gaza provide 
ample proof. To date, over 1,200 
civilians have been killed in 
Israel and thousands wounded; 
nearly 600 IDF soldiers killed 
in action; thousands of Gazan 
civilians killed and wounded, 
some innocent, some not; and 
over 100 innocents are still held 
hostage by Hamas. And all of 
this says nothing about physical 
devastation to buildings and 
homes, or displaced people in 
both Israel and Gaza. 
The key difference regarding 
the latter is that, in Israel, the 
government is trying its best 
to support its displaced citi-
zens, even if efforts fall short 
of perfect; Hamas uses citizens 
in Gaza as shields during bat-
tle and could care less if they 
suffer. 
U.S. Secretary of State 
Antony Blinken clearly summa-
rized the situation: “None of the 
suffering would have happened 
if Hamas hadn’t done what it 
did on Oct. 7 and if it made dif-
ferent decisions thereafter.”

ISRAEL HAD TO ACT
The spring of 2023 was a time 
of joy and hope for Israel as it 
celebrated its 75th birthday; 
five months later, it was faced 
with its worst single loss of life 
in a day, and a war against ter-

rorism.
To put this in comparative 
terms, the Oct. 7 attack by 
Hamas would be the same as if 
a group of terrorists crossed the 
Detroit River and killed 40,000 
innocent citizens. Of course, 
prior to this attack, they would 
have been launching rockets 
into Michigan for years. Would 
the U.S. stand idle after such an 
attack? Or would any nation, 
for that matter?
Israel lives in a tough neigh-
borhood, and it has withstood 
terrorism since its founding. 
Jews living there survived ter-
rorism in 1920s and 1930s prior 
to the founding of Modern 
Israel, as well as major wars 
upon its founding in 1948, and 
afterward in 1956, 1967, 1973, 
1982 and 2006. See Ian Black’s 
book, Enemies and Neighbors, for 
a great, even-handed history 
of Jews facing conflict in the 
region over the last 100+ years.
On Oct. 7, however, more 
Jews died in a single day since 
the end of the Holocaust, all 
killed by a group sworn to 
eliminate all Jews and the State 
of Israel. The question is an old 
one — what kind of people are 
these terrorists? Fanatics that 
will rape and kill indiscrimi-
nately and use video cameras 
and phones to capture images 
of themselves doing despicable 
acts and bragging about them 
afterward to their families and 
friends. These are people with-
out conscience or honor. 

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair