"THE HOLIEST SPOT ON EARTH IS WHERE AN ANCIENT HATRED HAS BECOME A PRESENT LOVE"

Holy reminder for a hate-filled time

Just when America already seemed so painfully divided, a new source of division is tearing us apart. The war in Gaza has been delivered to our shores.

Campaigning all over the country as I have, my experience of the American people is that we are eminently decent. We truly do want “liberty and justice for all.” Our national creed is that all men are created equal, and that does not only mean Americans. My experience of Americans is that we desire justice and fair play, whether in the Middle East or anywhere else.

Neither justice nor fair play has been exhibited in this conflict. Neither the brutal attack of October 7 nor the resulting war on Gaza with its profound humanitarian costs has exhibited anything other than the worst impulses of humanity.  The best among us grieve not only the evil of October 7 and the horror even now for Israeli and American hostages, but equally so the atrocities people in Gaza are experiencing now. 

How do we stop the slaughter of innocents? How do we change the policies that perpetuate it? How do we influence the President to stop American complicity with policies we feel transgress our values as Americans and simply as human beings?

 In A Course in Miracles, it says God does not give us victory in battle: He lifts us above the battlefield. I don’t see it as mealy mouthed “both-sides-ism” to acknowledge that God loves us all, and we’re on the Earth to do the same. Simplistic narratives that exalt the rights of one people at the expense of another do not pave the path to a sustainable future.  

As President, I would not have been willing to give Netanyahu carte blanche support in the form of either money or weaponry. I would have demanded to know 1) his exact strategy for destroying Hamas’ tunnels and military operation, 2) how he planned to protect civilians in the process, and 3) what his plans were for the day after the cessation of military activity. Additionally, any plan would have had to include the discussion of a two state solution. In the absence of clear and satisfactory answers to the questions above, as President I would not have committed American support. 

I would be tough with Benjamin Netanyahu. I agree with Senator Chuck Schumer that he is an obstacle to peace. Israeli policies toward Palestinians have needed to change for decades - and I have said so. Yes, the October 7 massacre will go down in history as one of the most heinous acts of humanity against humanity, and it is also true that too many Israeli policies – created and supported by Netanyahu over the last 15 years - created a moral void out of which such violence might have been predicted by anyone with the slightest perspicacity about the nature of human events.

It was gut wrenching to hear Donald Trump on television last night, beating President Biden to the punch in talking to the American people about the student protests. I too would have been talking to the public, not with the one-sided pro-Israel stance embodied by the former President, but with a nuanced understanding that both Israelis and Palestinians live on that land, and both have a right to stay there. Neither are leaving. Moreover, the policy of the United States should be a robust and equal commitment to the peace, security, and sovereignty of both peoples. Our highest ally should be humanity itself.

For centuries, even millennia, Arabs and Jews lived in peace in the Middle East; may this aberrational chapter of hatred and violence end soon and war between them be no more. If any two peoples joined together could pool their brilliance for the good of humanity, it is these two Biblical cousins. In the words of A Course in Miracles, “The holiest spot on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love.”