By Eden Chlamtáč
Last week, we celebrated Paryushan, an all-important time of meditation, introspection, and self-reflection. As I reflected on various ways in which I had personally violated my vows in the past year, any words I spoke that hurt others around me, any unintentional physical violence I committed against other living beings, and any ways in which I had lived beyond my needs, I could not help also reflecting on my share of responsibility in the untold misery heaped upon the people of the Gaza Strip.
As an Israeli academic, a tax-paying member of Israeli society, and simply as a human living among others whose actions may be inadvertently emboldened by my silence, it is impossible to ignore my role in these crimes. There is a good reason to keep silent. Good friends and colleagues of mine who were bold enough to speak out have been subjected to every kind of harassment, threats to their lives and livelihoods, and social isolation by those who, until recently, they considered friends and peers.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes back generations. It has claimed countless lives, terrorized civilians, destroyed homes, and inflamed sectarian passions on both sides for years. The most recent chapter began on October 7th of 2023. That morning, we were awakened early to several hours of bombardment from the Gaza Strip, and gradually learned that a massive attack by the Hamas terrorist organization had claimed over 1200 lives on the Israeli side of the border, about 40 km (26 miles) from my home.
This triggered a wave of existential dread among many Israelis, for whom the collective memory of The Holocaust, the genocide perpetrated against European Jews in the 1940s, is still quite vivid. As the next generation in a family of holocaust survivors (two of my grandparents lived through those atrocities, losing their first spouses, and some of their siblings and children – my own uncles and aunts) I understand this.
This fear has been systematically and cynically exploited to extract a terrible price from Gazans. Just recently, the non-sectarian Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem joined other international organizations in calling the ongoing counterattack a genocide. In an 88 page report (74 in Hebrew, 80 in Arabic), they outline the systematic use of dehumanization and disinformation to blind most of the Israeli public and our international supporters to the killing of tens of thousands of Gazan civilians, the large-scale destruction of infrastructure, the destruction of the social fabric, the mass arrests and torture of Palestinians held without trial in Israeli prisons, and repeated mass forced displacement.
While displaced children in Gaza wither and die from disease and man-made famine, it is nearly impossible to effect any kind of change within the current Israeli society. Kashayas – the destructive passions, have completely taken hold. Anger expressed through the destruction of Gaza, appeals to the ego of national identity to justify these crimes, the deceit employed to keep the public unaware, and the greed in calls for reclaiming Gazan land.
For this week’s Anuvrat, I invite you to reflect on the dire condition of Gazans today, and how we can help save them from this ongoing wanton cruelty. You can donate to a charitable organization to feed and house starving civilians, or you can talk to a beloved family member or friend and let them know of their plight. Only a growing international response can end this ongoing tragedy. If you are guided by a firm belief in ahimsa, raising awareness of the situation is the best way to prevent further suffering.
Eden Chlamtáč is an assistant professor of computer science at Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, Israel. He has volunteered in the past with Israeli animal rights and rescue organizations such as Animals Now and Be'er Sheva Loves Animals. Through various books and courses, he has also studied Jainism informally for the past decade, attended pathshala at JSMC while living briefly in Chicago, and tries his best to live by the mokshamārga. (Photo courtesy: Eden Chlamtac)
The views expressed are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.
