For or Against: Scrolling |
Not masquerading for Purim, it’s my true face – inability to take a stand. Guilty as accused: you changed your mind? Didn’t you just say the opposite?
The Book of Esther, the Megillah, a scroll, begging to takes us through cycles, to reread, reinterpret and start again. The scroll lets us see the next vignette and the last one as we glimpse at the verse we are about to read.
I am trying to figure out the scenes in the drama unfolding before us on this third day of war, looking at the past and looking ahead. I could join widespread Israeli support for the war and condemn Israelis and Americans who object. I could elaborate on reasons why it’s justifiable and invest in convincing others.
But I can’t overlook arguments against this war.
I can say eliminating Iranian nuclear capability is valuable and try to explain to others, outside of the region, that ultimately it threatens them too. I can say that disabling Iranian support for terrorist organizations like the Houthis and Hezbollah would be a relief. Can sanctions achieve this or only war? If war is the answer, do we acknowledge that there is no war to end wars, even as we court that delusion? Raise your hand if you think that somewhere, some other regime will not replace Iran. Really?
Saving helpless Iranians from a tyrannical regime? A noble purpose. But by what means? Are the US and Israel stepping in to save all peoples around the world subject to tyranny, authoritarianism, and human rights’ violations? Does alignment with their ostensibly democratic values justify risking lives of their soldiers and innocent citizens? Who decides and how?
Oh, that’s right. Procedures. Laws. Democratic institutions. Checks and balances. Votes required of representatives of the people. And international law. I know the questionable biases and interests of the latter. But in the absence of such bodies, if the free, democratic world’s leaders decide, bypassing required procedures for taking actions in the name of their nations and their people, I suspect democracy has a problem. Why deny the foreseeable? Another procedure and another bypassed, shattering their democratic foundations.
Harriet Gimpel – March 2, 2026