In the face of Hamas atrocities and Israel's genocide against the Palestinians

My stay in France this academic year has been full of interesting twists and turns. To begin with, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, canceled in early December an event on anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in which I hoped to make clear the difference between the two. The event was rescheduled and later held in Pantin, northwest of the capital, where many people came to listen to the conversation on the subject that I had with Françoise Vergès, Michèle Sibony and Olivier Marboeuf, a producer and author linked to the Relais

de Pantin

. Among the sponsoring organizations were two anti-Zionist Jewish groups and other left-wing organizations. After the event, the Paroles d'Honneur agency published a recording, from which my detractors extracted and distributed a fragment in which I appeared saying that the attacks perpetrated against Israeli citizens on October 7 were part of a resistance movement. I proposed that we not consider Hamas a terrorist group, but rather part of that movement. What the excerpt did not include was the continuation of my argument: that we can, and should, disagree with the tactics of that movement and that, in my opinion, we have to oppose both the atrocities committed that day and the genocidal actions of the State of Israel. I then spoke about non-violence and what it means and stressed that my wish for the region, which many others share, is a form of government that embodies the principles of equality, justice and freedom for all, regardless of religion, race or religion. national origin.

A mural in memory of those kidnapped by Hamas, on February 24, in Jerusalem (Israel). Leo Correa (AP Photo/LAPRESSE)

Then the avalanche of hate messages from alarmed Zionists began. One of them accused me of being on the side of Hamas, that I was not concerned about sexual violence, and that I had misused the sacred term “resistance” in the French context. My institutional hosts in Paris were concerned about the public outrage. And, although they have not completely “canceled” me, some events have already been “postponed” due to threats to cause disturbances at my conferences. This scandal has to do and at the same time has nothing to do with me. At times like this, people speaking in public become a kind of whirlwind in which opposing forces converge, and it becomes very clear how little attention is paid to nuanced arguments and slower-developing reflections. As I said in my October 10

London Review of Books

article (“The Compass of Mourning”), I was greatly distressed by the massacre of Israeli Jews on October 7 and condemned Hamas for its atrocities. task. But I also had to ask myself why I felt such palpable grief for those lives when the attacks on Palestinians in Gaza were becoming more intense and thousands of them were being murdered. Some thought I should talk more about the Israelis who had been brutally killed or taken hostage, and others thought I should keep the sorrow I felt for those lives to myself. I cannot deny the pain or indignation I feel for the people attacked and murdered on October 7, but I cannot stop insisting that a genocide is being committed against the Palestinian people. For me, this is not a contradiction.

More information

A fierce academic divide between Butler and Ilouz

All of these feelings are still very alive and genuine in me as a Jewish person, just as a person. The violence carried out for many years and that has led to this event, especially that perpetrated by the occupation forces, predates October 7, so the stories we should tell began several decades before. Since that day, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 30,000 people; and that forces me to grieve and demonstrate against the violence of the Israeli State. So I find myself in the circumstance, which is not contradictory—and which I share with many other people around the world—of mourning all the deaths that have occurred in this brutal war and wishing for a world in which all of them end. the acts of violence and all the killings.

A mass grave with the bodies of Palestinians killed under Israeli attacks in Rafah, on March 9Mohammed Salem (REUTERS)

The Hamas attacks in October were, as is known, carried out by the armed faction of a political party that administers Gaza. I agree with those who say that that attack was a form of armed resistance against permanent colonization, siege and plunder. Saying that is not romanticizing their atrocities or justifying their actions. Although it is apparently difficult to understand, one can say that Hamas is part of a resistance movement or armed struggle without, therefore, considering that its actions are excusable. Not all forms of “resistance” are justified. Sexual violence is despicable in all its forms, whether carried out by Hamas or the Israeli army. Anti-Semitism and racism against Arabs must be opposed equally. I believe that, at this time, we must focus our attention on the shameless and wanton murders of tens of thousands of Gazans by the Israelis, and on the complicity of the United States and the major powers in this genocide. It is time for the international community, especially the countries of the region, to collaborate to find a just and lasting solution that allows all inhabitants of the area to live in conditions of equality, freedom and justice. To do this, we must find a way to understand the reasons for violence without resorting to either quick and suspicious explanations to justify it or racist caricatures to oppose it.

It is time for the international community to collaborate to find a just and lasting solution for all inhabitants of the area

I am committed to developing a way of imagining the radical equality of lives worth mourning. There will be people on all sides who will criticize him. A philosophy of nonviolence requires a perspective on war that does not necessarily assume a position within it. It is possible, and even urgent, to reflect on war and genocidal actions – which are not the same thing – to develop a critical reflection that tries to discover the possibilities of establishing genuine peace and to find out how and why military contenders can lay down their arms and undertake diplomatic dialogue and the construction of a new future. If we want to ask people to put down their weapons – as I hope we will – we must first understand why they have taken them up. Doing an investigation like this, of a historical nature, is not justifying the violence they commit. Understanding the historical emergence of a movement is not to excuse its actions. Furthermore, to achieve a world in which we live together without violence and to put an end to submission, it will be necessary to understand the history of the colonial yoke, its current structures and practices. Coexistence will not be possible if we do not first create equal conditions. The ideals of equality and coexistence have inspired all of my work, along with a dedication to non-violent forms of political action and mobilization. Because the means we use reflect and embody the world we want to create and, therefore, nonviolence, although impractical, offers a perspective that we cannot do without. I am saddened by attempts to misinterpret and caricature my words and work, but perhaps this incident makes clear the limits of what those for whom denial and complicity have become a way of life are capable of hearing and knowing. That way of life is the one that is most urgent to refute.

This text was published on the blog of the British publisher Verso, and is an expanded version of a previous article originally published on the French website

Mediapart

. Translation by María Luisa Rodríguez Tapia.

Sign up here

for the weekly Ideas newsletter.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I am already a subscriber

_