‘Mugged by Reality,’ Jewish Week’s Resident Right-Winger Says ‘Let’s Talk to Hamas’
The idea of direct Israeli negotiations with Hamas — once the province of doves — has gained an unlikely advocate in The Jewish Week’s decidedly right-leaning associate editor, Jonathan Mark.
In his column this week, Mark writes:
I understand the right. I don’t flinch when Palestinians, even civilians, catch an IDF bullet. When Arabs say massacre, I hear fraud. Talking politics, you lose me at “What would the world say?” I don’t believe survivors of slavery would spill seder wine with their pinkies because Egypt got hit by frogs. My idea of a leader is Zev Jabotinsky, my favorite prime minister was Menachem Begin, and I’m convinced we’d have a military solution to terror if Ariel Sharon was 40 again and didn’t have to fight by Marquis of Queensbury rules that apply only to Jews.
And now I understand the left: Let’s talk to Hamas.
To turn the old neo-con line on its head, I’ve been mugged by reality. It’s time for Israel to ask Hamas for a cease-fire. If Israel can’t end the death, amputations and trauma with a sustained military offensive that will crush the enemy, something the Israelis don’t want to do and don’t think will work; if Israel can’t save Sderot through third-party diplomacy, and it’s obvious they can’t — as proven by 8,000 rockets this decade — then take the blue off the flag and talk directly to Hamas.
The question of what level of diplomatic contact Israel — and the international community — should have with Hamas is a tough call. At the very least, both sides in this debate deserve a respectful hearing. Mark’s column (along with support for talking to Hamas from the likes of former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy) shows that advocates of negotiating with the Islamist militant group can’t simply be dismissed as naïve doves.
While reasonable people can differ on the issue of how to deal with Hamas, I do hope that there can be a communal consensus to (at the very least) flinch when Palestinian civilians “catch an IDF bullet.”
Read Jonathan Mark’s full article.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
