Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, not shown, speak the media prior to Netanyahu’s address to the U.S. Congress on July 24, 2024 in Washington. Photo: Josh Morgan / USA TODAY NETWORK via IMAGN images
He’s five feet two and he’s six feet four He fights with missiles and with spears He’s all of 31 and he’s only 17 He’s been a soldier for a thousand years… He’s the universal soldier and he really is to blame His orders come from far away no more They come from him, and you, and me And brothers can’t you see This is not the way we put an end to war.
– Buffy Sainte-Marie
Middle-aged men exhibiting toxic masculinity at a mid-life crisis start wars. The young take their marching orders and are cut down at their prime, as are civilians. And the cycle continues as we expect different results. This is the very definition of insanity.
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So to you, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I introduce a term you may not be familiar with or, if so, you certainly have not considered: ne·go·ti·a·tion (noun) meaning “discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.”
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Bibi, now that you have killed most of Hamas’s leaders and over 43,000 Palestinian civilians, and you have ordered the Gaza Strip turned into rubble, when is enough fully enough for you?
How many more Palestinians and members of the Israeli armed forces must die before you declare victory?
How much further must world opinion turn against you and the nation of Israel before you finally call for a negotiated ceasefire?
But, who, you ask, remains to negotiate with your extremist government? And if there is a ceasefire, how long will you and your government remain in power so you can avoid ultimate imprisonment for crimes you committed before October 7, 2023, and the war crimes you are accused of perpetrating throughout the current war?
To address the question of who remains to negotiate, a group of international mediators representing the United States, Egypt, and Qatar has been — and continues to be — available to bring the warring sides together to discuss the terms for a cessation of hostilities.
But are you actually interested in peace? By all accounts, it appears that you are not.
Psalm 34:14: “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it”
“The war to end all wars” is an idealistic and hopeful phrase used to describe World War I (1914–1918). The “Great War,” though, was certainly not the end of war, but only an entry on a tragic journal written in the chronicles of human history.
In our nuclear age, the war to end all wars will be the war to end all life on our planet.
Individuals and groups who stand up and put their lives on the line to defend their country from very real threats to their national security are true patriots. But true patriots are also those who speak out, stand up, and challenge their governmental leaders, those who put their lives on the line by actively advocating for justice, freedom, and liberty through peaceful means.
Let us honor the diplomats and the mediators, those working in conflict resolution and civil and human rights, the activists dedicated to preventing wars and to bringing existing wars to diplomatic resolution once hostilities have begun, the individuals of conscience who refuse to give over their minds, their souls, and their bodies to armed conflict.
Let us also honor the practitioners of non-violent resistance in the face of tyranny and oppression, the anti-war activists who strive to educate their peers, their citizenry, and, yes, their government to the perils of unjustified and unjust armed conflict and incursions into lands not their own — all of these aforementioned people make appropriate attempts at diplomatic means to resolve conflict.
Looking over the history of humanity, it is apparent that tyranny, at times, could only be countered through the raising of arms. On other occasions, however, diplomacy has been successful, and at other times, it should have been used more extensively before rushing into war.
I find it unacceptable when one’s patriotism and one’s love of country are called into question when one advocates for peaceful means of resolving conflict, for it is also an act of patriotism to work to keep our brave and courageous troops out of harm’s way and to work to create conditions and understanding that ultimately make war less likely.
As poignantly expressed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono: “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
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