Their goal is domination. Ours is peace.

What is Israel’s goal in attacking Gaza? Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated that the goal is “to bring home hostages and defeat Hamas.” The first part is straightforward but the second is not. What does it mean? How will the Israeli government know when Hamas is defeated? Do they have to attack until every person who currently identifies as a member of Hamas is dead? Do they need to kill everyone who has ever affiliated with the organization? What about everyone who voted for the organization in the elections in 2006, more than 400,000 people?

This goal is so nebulous as to be meaningless. It speaks to the emotions of regular Israelis who are understandably frightened after the October 7th attacks. It speaks to the emotions of Americans and Europeans who look at Israelis and see reflections of themselves. This goal allows the Israeli government to garner support for all-out attack on and destruction of the Gaza Strip.

And because the United States used the same rationale in its own “war on terror” and its assaults on Iraq and Afghanistan, the US government provides unconditional support for the Israeli government’s actions. We have sent over $120 billion dollars to the Israeli government since World War II, including almost $4 billion per year in a current 10-year deal. And when they are questioned, our governmental officials offer the platitudes that “Israel has the right to exist,” and “Israel has the right to defend itself.” What our government has never explained is how our own actions after September 11th and the Israeli government’s actions after October 7th constitute effective self-defense. We know that we embroiled ourselves in a 20-year war, undertook the occupation of two nations, and caused the deaths of more than 400,000 civilians. We know that Israel has killed more than 15,000 Palestinian civilians in the 8 weeks since October 7th, including more than 6,000 children, and has bombed numerous hospitals and schools.

We finally left Iraq and Afghanistan when our public tired of our young people dying in senseless wars there. Those wars ended, not when we met our always unclear objectives, but when we could no longer sustain the fight. Will Israel exhaust themselves eventually? Given that they control the infrastructure and believe that the Gaza Strip and West Bank rightfully belong to them, I fear that they will force out or wipe out the Palestinian people before they are done. In fact, these are just colloquial ways of referring to ethnic cleansing and genocide.

For all of these reasons, it seems obvious to me that the Israeli government’s stated goal – the defeat of Hamas – is a smokescreen for their true goal: tightening their grip on the Gaza Strip, their tanks rolling through the West Bank, moving further and further toward the theft of land they started in 1948. In fact, they will never be satisfied until they have complete control of the historic land of Palestine.

Within the horror of this conclusion, we must always keep in mind that the Israeli government is not equivalent to the Israeli people, and is most definitely not equivalent to Jewish people around the world. There are many Israelis who question their government’s actions. There are many Jewish people in many countries who are pushing back against the Israeli government. Just as there are many here in the United States who question the United States support for both Israel’s attacks on Palestine and our own attacks on other nations. We all must continue our pressure in whatever ways we can exercise it. The Israeli government has its stated goal and its tacit goal. Our goal must be to achieve a lasting ceasefire, and then to push further for true safety and rights for Palestinians. Speak out. Call your representatives. Protest. Boycott. Organize with others. We can’t stop. We won’t stop.