One of the ideas that is taken for granted is the notion that if Israel and Hamas exchange hostages for prisoners, the ratio will be 100’s of prisoners to 1 hostage.
Why?
The reason is simply because it is understood that Israel values an individual’s life more than does its Arab counterparts. This asymmetric value construct has informed every prisoner exchange Israel has ever undertaken.
The same asymmetry is the reason that Israel is more careful when it comes to the lives of the Gazans, their enemies, than is Hamas, the Gazan’s overlords. Israel contorts itself to avoid civilian casualties and has even been feeding their Gazan enemies, which is unheard of in warfare.
Within the Jewish community, more generally, there is an appreciation of the individual within the collective. Thus we have the direction that one should violate Jewish laws such as the Sabbath in order to save a life.
This brings to mind two related ideas:
First, with the spike in Jew hatred within the US, it is critically important to be an active political participant. For example, we need to oppose members of the squad who are virulent Jew haters (couched of course as “anti-Zionism”). One great example is the need to vote for George Latimer in this Tuesday’s primary as he seeks to replace Congressman Jamaal Bowman. Every individual vote counts so please vote.
Second, every individual should be digging a little deeper into their wallets to support worthwhile causes. I recently have learned of an incredible organization called “Daily Giving” that raises one dollar a day from over 18,000 people (and growing) and crowdfunds these donations into millions of dollars per year in charitable donations to worthy causes. To sign up go to www.dailygiving.org.
We should celebrate a civilized country such as Israel (and the USA) where every individual matters and where the power of each individual can be felt in manifold ways.
CEO
1moThank you for sharing. I worry about this issue myself, being in the At- Home insemination fertility space. I have found a few of the same patterns here in the USA too. I believe the ones I saw here have been taken care of luckily. I agree that it’s hard to regulate them especially outside the USA. Thanks for putting a spotlight on this!