I have read and appreciated your other articles, Martin, but I have no idea how to respond to this one--except a few of my normal responses.

I am NOT anti-semitic, nor am I anti-Israel. I am also NOT anti-Palestinian, although I loathe and despise entities like Hamas that unabashedly promote genocidal hatred. And I also loathe and despise Netanyahu and his cronies, whose own hatred and opportunism enable them, without batting an eye, to turn Gaza and the West Bank into Hell on Earth, bombing and gunning down thousands of innocent men, women, and children and then rationalizing it all by blaming their own genocidal policies on Hamas. There are no "good guys" in this horror.

Both Israelis and Palestinians have a right to live in peace, with basic human rights and self-determinaton, but the monsters wjho have duped them into hating one another so rootedly have denied both of these peoples those basic rights.

Colum McCann's recent book Apeirogon is a deeply humane meditation on the predicament in Israel. Its centerpiece is an unlikely friendship that developed between two fathers--an Israeli and a Palestinian--who both lost their young teenage daughters to the senseless violence on both sides. I highly recommend it. It may open your heart to the common humanity on both sides.