The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱Why I’m going to write about Israel
I’m an active part of this vibrant poetry community on WordPress. Many here are not just fellow writers but people I consider friends. That’s part of why I’m writing this.
I’ve decided to write a series of posts about Israel, Gaza, and the broader war with Iranian proxies. This is not something I want to do, and it’s not in my interest to do it. But I’ve decided to do it anyway.
In our community, views on geopolitics vary widely. But when Israel comes up—especially in relation to Gaza or Lebanon—the tone is almost always critical, often escalating to accusations of genocide. Those who are more supportive of Israel generally don’t write about it; most aren’t from Israel, and it isn’t their priority. So the conversation moves in one direction, largely unchallenged.
For me, writing about this is not a winning proposition. I’ll likely take heat, I may lose followers, and I won’t gain any. This is not the blog I set out to create, and it’s not the blog I want—I want a poetry blog, focused on self-exploration, ethical reflection, and personal writing, with some prose alongside the poems.
But when I read posts about Gaza, I often see reactions formed from partial and often sensationalized coverage. The emotions are real, and the concern is real, but the conclusions, as I see them, are often disconnected from the underlying facts. The word that keeps appearing is genocide.
What is happening in Gaza, and similarly in southern Lebanon, is a war against enemies that embed themselves within civilian areas—and in Gaza, also extensively beneath them. That does not make civilian harm acceptable, but it does matter for how the situation is defined. By definition, this is not genocide.
There’s also a practical difficulty for me. It is much easier to react than to respond: attaching a word like genocide to something emotionally overwhelming takes comparatively little effort, while defining terms, examining evidence, and writing something careful and grounded takes much more. That imbalance shapes the conversation, where the fastest claims travel furthest—even when they are the least substantiated.
It’s also why I’ve avoided writing about this. Doing it responsibly requires time, research, and precision—far more than making a facile accusation. At the same time, I’m aware that as an Israeli, as a Jew, as a Zionist, I’m easy to dismiss; it’s simple to say, “Of course he would say that.”
I could ignore these posts, and that would certainly be easier. But to me, that feels like cowardice—because I know I’m outnumbered in our community. When one view dominates so completely, silence starts to look like agreement, and no one else in this space is likely to make the case for why the war in Gaza is not genocide.
What I see instead are powerful, often graphic descriptions of suffering paired with the word genocide, without a clear demonstration of why it applies. The result is that the term begins to lose meaning. And when everything is called genocide, it becomes harder—not easier—to hold Israel accountable for real wrongdoing, because a maximalist accusation leaves no room for serious critique or distinction.
So I’m choosing to step into this. Not because it helps me—it doesn’t—but because I care about the truth, and because for all its flaws, I love my country and my people. I am proud of Israel, and proud to be Israeli.
I also want to be clear that I understand the emotional reaction to what people are seeing from Gaza. As a human being, I feel that too. I don’t dismiss it; I disagree with how it’s being interpreted.
I am bringing geopolitics into a space many of us use for poetry and reflection, and I don’t take that lightly. But at some point, truth has to take precedence over comfort. At minimum, I think it’s worth hearing a perspective that is largely absent from our community, especially from someone who lives it.
This is not about winning arguments. It’s about putting a perspective on record, knowing the cost—and being willing to take the heat.
#Accountability #Conviction #Hamas #Hezbollah #Integrity #Iran #Israel #Narrative #Truth #Voice #War
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