The Futility of Revenge: Thoughts on the Crisis in Israel
Peter Eisenstadt

A few words on the horrible events in Israel this week. The discovery of the bodies of the three murdered yeshiva students, followed by the immolation of a Muslim teenager as a revenge murder; and the cynical manipulation of the frenzy by the Netanyahu government, which tried to use to its own political advantage, breaking up the Fatah-Hamas alliance by rousing the rabble, and many other horrible events.

The big word of the week was “revenge,” which many in Israel called for in the most terrible fashion until it spiraled out of control and led to the murder of the Palestinian climate, and with Palestinians seething in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel proper, the region seemed on the brink of a new intifada. This is probably not wanted by anyone, or by very few–Palestinians have too many nightmares about the 2nd intifada to want a repeat of any sort, and Netanyahu, despite considerable opposition from his own cabinet, doesn’t want the headache of another war.

What the episode demonstrates, as clearly as one might want, is just how fragile is the current “status quo” and how easily and quickly the veneer of civility can be dropped, and the intense hatreds that simmer just below the surface revealed. And how there is no such thing as a crime between Israelis and Palestinians that is not political in some sense, and how unequal the justice remains. (We will wait a long time before Israel demolishes the houses of the men arrested today for the murder of the Palestinian teenager. Israel demolished the family homes of the Palestinians suspected in the yeshiva murders before they were arrested, let alone tried and convicted.)

Revenge almost never works, and more often than not backfires. This is one of the points of last week’s Torah portion, where Balaam’s efforts to curse the Israelites turns into praise and blessings. Then again, in this week’s portion, Pinhas, a particularly bloodthirsty act of revenge is praised and lauded by God. Which is it? What can one say, the Jewish tradition is of two minds when it comes to revenge. In this it is hardly alone. Every religious tradition, every nation, must contend with higher and lower impulses towards the stranger, the outsider, the enemy. And like every nation, Israel must decide whether it wants revenge or justice. And as Peter Beinart suggested this week, if Israel fails to understand its obligations, then Jews in the Diaspora must be the conscience of the Jewish people.

We have all read, after the abject failure of the Kerry Mission, how peace in the near future is impossible, how the two state solution is dead, how this is not a time for action, how this is a time to go slow, to recognize reality. But there is no status quo to be kept. Has it ever been clearer that there is no military solution to the current crisis, and that Israeli military dominance of the Palestinians is far more tenuous than it might seem? This post is not a time to talk about solutions, though they all have been discussed ad nauseam, and are within the grasp of both Israelis and Palestinians, if they only reach for them.

Balaam, as confused as he was, came to appreciate that the enemy had good qualities, and could not be defeated militarily. (The Jews, unfortunately, as led by Pinhas, showed no such insight.) How long will it be before one of Israel’s neighbors joins with Balaam, in the famous words of the Ma Tovu, and say “how goodly are thy tents, O Israel.” And how long will it be before Israel praises the tents of the Palestinians? I don’t know, but if there one thing the events of this week demonstrate, it is that neither side has the luxury of time.