Compendium of Writings on the October 7 War and Western Reactions to it

At the moment is the one yr anniversary of the horrific October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist assault on Israel. The ensuing battle continues. I want there was one thing I may say to ease the ache of the victims of the assault, and their households. However that activity is way past my very restricted eloquence.

Nonetheless, over the previous yr I’ve written items on varied points of the battle and the response to it within the West, which may be of curiosity. This put up is a compilation of them. I have never written as a lot about this battle because the Russia-Ukraine Battle. However there is sufficient to be price compiling.

I maintain a considerably uncommon mixture of views on the battle. I’m no nice fan of the current Israeli authorities, or of the ideology of Zionism (the latter due to my normal opposition to ethno-nationalism). But I nonetheless hope Israel wipes out Hamas and offers a decisive defeat to its different adversaries, as nicely. For all its severe flaws from the standpoint of liberal values, Israel is incomparably superior to its enemies.

A small anecdote might help illustrate the purpose. In December, I’m scheduled to be a visiting professor at Uriel Reichman College in Israel. One of many conferences tentatively deliberate is one with Arab Israeli authorized tutorial Mohammed Wattad; since we final met in 2016, he has turn into the president of one of many nation’s main universities.

Are you able to think about a Jew main any main establishment beneath the rule of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and even the Palestinian Authority? The query solutions itself. Certainly, a Jew most likely couldn’t even stay alive for lengthy beneath these regimes. Hamas and Hezbollah severely repressive even in the direction of Arab Muslims who dare dissent from the rulers’ quasi-medieval theocracy.

As Wattad will possible remind me, Arabs nonetheless face appreciable discrimination in Israel. That’s incorrect, and deserves condemnation. However the rule of Hamas, Hezbollah and the PA is vastly worse. Arabs beneath Israeli not solely have extra rights than ethnic and non secular minorities beneath the management of Israel’s enemies; they even have extra rights than do Arab (or Iranian) Muslims beneath the latter regimes. Issues are worse for West Financial institution Palestinians than Arab Israelis. However even they’re unlikely to be higher off with a Hamas victory that might put them beneath the rule of a brutal theocratic dictatorship.

In any battle, I choose the victory of the facet that higher approximates liberal democratic values—at the least in conditions the place there’s a significant distinction between the 2. On this case, there isn’t any query that facet is Israel.

With out additional ado, listed below are hyperlinks to my writings on the post-October 7 battle. For comfort, I’ve put them in chronological order, and divided them into one part on the battle itself and one on the Western response, together with ensuing protest actions. All of those writings are posts printed right here on the Volokh Conspiracy weblog:

Writings on the Battle and Associated Coverage Points

“These Who Help Israel Towards Hamas Also needs to Again Ukraine Towards Russia, Oct. 12, 2023. There are lots of parallels between the 2 conflicts. The put up is primarily directed at right-wingers who again Israel, however not Ukraine. However a lot of the factors it makes apply equally to leftists who maintain the precise reverse mixture of views.

“Hamas Assault Ought to Train Us the Folly of Hostage Offers with Terrorists,”Oct. 17, 2023. This can be one in all my most unpopular takes. It could appear to be solely a merciless and heartless individual may probably oppose offers that launch hostages. However, as I level out within the piece, such offers incentivize additional terrorism and hostage taking. The October 7 assault itself was masterminded by Yahya Sinwar, a Hamas chief launched within the 2011 Shalit deal, during which the Israelis launched some 1200 terrorists in alternate for one soldier captured by Hamas. I used to be one of many few critics of the Shalit deal on the time it occurred. Issues turned out a lot worse than even I anticipated.

“The Ethical and Strategic Case for Opening Doorways to Gaza Refugees,” Oct. 24, 2023. Granting refuge to Palestinian civilians who want to flee the battle and Hamas’s repressive rule is each an ethical crucial, and a method to make it simpler for Israel to crush Hamas. For considerably totally different causes, this view is fiercely opposed by a mix of Western right-wingers, far leftists, and supporters of Palestinian nationalism. This mixture of opponents truly will increase my confidence that it’s proper. Curiously, this is a matter the place I discover myself largely in settlement with my rather more conservative colleague and co-blogger Eugene Kontorovich.

“Biden is Proper to Grant Non permanent Refuge to Palestinian Migrants Already in US, however Ought to go Additional,” Feb. 15, 2024.

“Why I Do not Purchase the Concept that You Cannot Kill an Concept,” Feb. 24, 2024. It is usually stated you may’t defeat actions like Hamas and Hezbollah by army means, as a result of “you may’t kill an concept.” This put up explains why that ubiquitous declare is incorrect. Although I additionally emphasize that does not imply the Israelis ought to depend on pressure alone, or that they needn’t observe any ethical constraints on their army measures.

Writings on Western Reactions to the Battle and Protest Actions

“Some Cancellations are Justified,” Oct. 15, 2023. Why employers and others are sometimes justified in refusing to rent individuals who specific help for Hamas terrorism. As famous within the put up, this isn’t a brand new place adopted in response to controversies arising from the October 7 battle. It builds on arguments I superior years earlier than.

“Far-Left Help for Hamas just isn’t an Aberration,”Oct. 30, 2023. Western far-leftists have an extended historical past of supporting repression and mass homicide. Thus, we shouldn’t be shocked that lots of them now help Hamas. As famous within the put up, “far left” just isn’t a pejorative time period for anybody to the left of me. As used right here, it has a much more particular and narrower that means.

“Pupil Actions Are Typically Mistaken,” April 26, 2024. The concept causes espoused by student-led actions are all the time or virtually all the time proper is a fable. At the moment’s scholar anti-Israel motion is simply the latest of many counterexamples. Clearly, actions led by older persons are usually misguided, as nicely.

“Campus Anti-Israel Protests and the Ethics of Civil Disobedience,” June 5, 2024. Violence and different lawbreaking perpetrated by many campus anti-Israel protesters cannot be justified by theories of civil disobedience.