The Oct. 7 Massacre: Four Lessons

Commentary

A year after the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas, the result is tragedies on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, with many dead and wounded and over 1 million displaced.

At least four major lessons should be evident one year into the war.

Recognize Humanity

First, recognize humanity on both sides. Our compassion and prayers for peace should go to each of the innocents and their families who lost loved ones over the past year. When we lose our ability to see the humanity of those on the other side, we push peace further away, and lose the values in which we believe.

Stay Strong

Second, stay strong in the face of continued attacks by dictators and the terrorists they support. Sadly, many continue to blame the victim—Israel—as these attacks by Iran and its proxies from Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza expand the geographic scope of the war. As a result, Tehran has put millions of voiceless civilians in these regions at risk.

Despite all the antisemitism that the war has elicited, we must remember that Israel did not strike first in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, or Iran. Jewish people have been oppressed in these and other places in the Middle East for centuries, including antisemitic laws in the Ottoman Empire, antisemitic riots in British Mandate Palestine starting in the 1920s, and almost 900,000 Jewish refugees driven from their homes in countries around the Middle East after 1948. Many of these Jewish refugees found a home in Israel, where their children and grandchildren are now blamed for defending themselves, including in parts of U.S. and European academia that are pervasively antisemitic.

Massive “pro-Palestine” protests are planned in Berlin and New York City for Oct. 7. Shouldn’t that be a day of mourning instead? Can’t we leave that one day as sacred for Jewish people? Instead, youth in Berlin had already started rioting the day before. A large protest is planned for New York City. Some prominent politicians in France have called on the international community to stop sending weapons to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rightly stated that this dispiriting antisemitism will only strengthen Iran and be viewed by history with shame.

It is true that civilian casualties and the impact of war on neighborhoods must be avoided with more care. Palestinian evictions in the West Bank to make way for new Israeli settlements must end. These only exacerbate anger in not only Iran but also among Israel’s quiet Arab partners in places such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

But, while recognizing areas in which we can improve, we cannot throw the baby with the bathwater. Robust deterrence is required to keep the peace not only in the Middle East but also in Asia and Eastern Europe. As Israel is demonstrating, keeping the peace and maintaining our liberties requires constant vigilance and tough deterrent action when attacked.

Be Vigilant

Third, we must be far more vigilant than in the past. The lesson on vigilance was demonstrated by warnings about increasing Hamas activity, including terrorists massing and pulsing the border, months before Oct. 7. Some warnings were from unarmed female Israeli soldiers at an observation post near Gaza. They were ignored by the Israeli brass, and many of them died or were taken hostage on Oct. 7.

A similar lack of vigilance and deterrent action accompanied the onset of war with Russia in Ukraine. Moscow sent its military in disguise into Crimea in 2014. We did nearly nothing in response, and so Vladimir Putin consolidated his Crimean gains and is trying to take all of Ukraine now. The result is over 1 million dead on both sides.

Our continued weakness threatens to trigger similar wars in Asia, where China’s fighter jets and naval ships have been pulsing long-established borders and exclusive economic zones. Taiwanese, Japanese, Philippine, and Vietnamese fishermen have been threatened or harassed. Chinese and Russian warships have made threatening moves against the United States and Canada around Alaska and the Arctic as recently as Oct. 3. North Korea is rattling its nuclear saber, apparently to get the attention of the United States during the election for sanctions relief.

Democratize

Dictators in all these countries create conflict over territory to distract their populations from much-needed democratic and market reforms. The need for these people to democratize is the fourth major lesson one can derive from the Oct. 7 attack. Civilian populations, like those in Gaza or Southern Lebanon, are at dire risk when they allow malign actors to dominate their governance. These malign actors do not care about the people over whom they rule, but hold onto their power come what may.

And, what comes when dictators attack democracies is a rain of bombs in retaliation that often kills civilians despite democracy’s best attempts to limit civilian damage. While Ukraine is doing a laudable job at observing the laws of war, these laws are usually thrown out the window when leaders feel the losses of their soldiers and an existential threat to their state.

So, before war starts, civilians in belligerent dictatorships should do whatever it takes to change their leadership. That will require sacrifice, but not as much sacrifice as being at war. Gazans learned this far too late. Russians and Lebanese are learning this. Iranians are about to learn. This is a horrible lesson best learned from past, not future, wars. Chinese citizens should take note and democratize their society as quickly as possible, while being fully cognizant of how hard this will be.

Meanwhile, U.S. and allied citizens should pay close attention to the failure of Israel’s leaders to listen to observers of the Gaza border before Oct. 7. The warning signs were there then, and are here today. But, again we are not listening. China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea mean business. They are all risking more war to steal yet more territory from their neighbors. They are massing troops and war materiel, and pulsing borders. The democracies will not accept their border violations and will ultimately go to war to stop them. So, we in the democracies need to prepare more quickly for those wars now. This means greater defense spending—especially among U.S. allies who now spend below 2 percent of GDP on defense—and a more rapid willingness to use our defense resources to nip threats in the bud, from the South China Sea to Ukraine, and everything in between.

In the words of Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the first anniversary of Oct. 7, “A better world is possible.” Let’s make it so.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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