On Gaza, Retaliation, and the Future of Justice
The events of October 7, 2023, marked one of the darkest days in Israel’s modern history. The coordinated assault by Hamas on civilians was not only brutal; it was evil. The images of slaughter, hostage-taking, and terror shocked the world and rightly triggered a nation’s need to protect its people, reclaim its citizens, and ensure such an attack never happens again.
But even the most justifiable grief does not give rise to limitless retaliation.
What has followed in Gaza has been devastating. Entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble. Civilian infrastructure decimated. Thousands of innocents – many of them children – trapped in a siege they did not choose and cannot escape. This is not security. It is collective punishment, and it violates the moral and legal boundaries of self-defense.
Israel has the right to defend itself. Every nation does. But that right is not absolute; it is constrained by proportionality, necessity, and humanity. The principles of just war do not vanish in the face of atrocity. They become more important. Because how we respond to evil is a measure of who we are.
And that’s why it must be said clearly: what is happening in Gaza is not proportionate. It is not solely about rooting out Hamas. It is reshaping borders, flattening civilian life, and creating conditions that make future peace more distant, not closer.
Beyond the Smoke: The Question of Land
As the bombs fall, another battle unfolds – not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank. In the months since the October attacks, settler violence and land seizures have intensified under the cover of national emergency. New checkpoints. More displacement. A slow, grinding annexation by other means.
This cannot be allowed to continue. The memory of victims cannot be weaponized into a permanent expansion of territory. Trauma does not justify territorial ambition. Retaliation must not become a smokescreen for settlement.
To conflate Hamas with all Palestinians is both factually false and morally corrosive. Palestinians in Gaza are caught between a militant regime that represses them and a military campaign that flattens their homes. In the West Bank, they endure an occupation that has lasted decades. None of this advances Israeli security. It inflames grievance, undermines international support, and deepens the cycle of hatred.
The Case for Restraint and Responsibility
True leadership is not about maximal force. It’s about moral clarity in moments of anguish. Justice for the victims of October 7 will not come from unending war. It will come from isolating extremists, building coalitions for peace, and refusing to allow pain to justify permanent conquest.
Israelis deserve safety. Palestinians deserve dignity. Both peoples deserve a future that isn’t dictated by extremists on either side. That future cannot be built through walls, sieges, or settlements. It must be built on accountability, truth, and mutual recognition.
At the Cambrian Institute, we believe security and justice must coexist. The world must hold space for grief without abandoning restraint, and support self-defense without endorsing expansion. The stakes are too high – for Palestinians, for Israelis, and for what remains of international law itself.