Purim 5785

Israel’s assault on Gaza became excessive on 9 October, when it cut off food and electricity to everyone in the Strip. The following day, Israel’s defense minister announced that he had “released all the restraints” on how Israel fought and its military spokesperson declared that “emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy”. An investigation by the publications +972 Magazine and Local Call found that in the first five days of fighting alone, Israel bombed more than a thousand “power targets” – which included high-rise apartment buildings, banks, universities and government offices – that it struck not because of their military value but merely for psychological effect. Israeli officials hoped the destruction would shock Gaza’s population into turning against Hamas. Justifying this by invoking [the justification that Hamas uses civilians as] “human shields” torches the core principles of international law. But it is necessary to prove that Israel is always innocent. Even when a Jewish state drops bombs that kill tens of thousands of people, it cannot be the real author of this mass death.

Now, rather than proceed to the second round of a ceasefire that would require it to withdraw its troops from Gaza, Israel has relaunched the war with even greater ferocity. It has stopped all humanitarian aid from reaching the people of Gaza. AIPAC's response: Israel is not responsible for this policy of starvation because Hamas will not rewrite the ceasefire deal to release Israel from its obligations.

In this way, establishment Jewish discourse sanitizes Israeli behavior in much the same way many Jews sanitize the book of Esther. Our communal story – told by Jewish leaders from Jerusalem to New York – is not wrong because it acknowledges the evil that Jews suffer, including the evil that Hamas committed on 7 October, and continues to commit by holding Israelis as hostage. The story is wrong because it denies the evil that Jews commit. Our refusal to reckon with the dark side of Purim reflects a refusal to reckon with the dark side of ourselves, to acknowledge our full humanity, which renders us capable of being not only victims, but victimizers as well.

Amalek [Haman's ancestor and the nation whom we are commanded to totally destroy] is the rhetorical device in Judaism's arsenal for speaking of utter ruthlessness and inhumanity. And yet, such moves are also extremely dangerous. In labeling someone an Amalekite, and thus raising them to the level of metaphysical evil, we run the risk of giving ourselves license to behave in savage ways in attempting to root out savagery. In the process we may become the very thing we set out to combat. If we wish to employ the language of evil, we must be vigilant lest it pave the way for us to behave in evil ways.