All blues

Today was a tough day, thinking about what is going on in the Middle East.  For a Jew like me, born just when Israel was born, it has always been a shining light, the one place in the world where, when the "Never Again" happens again, Jews will be able to go and make their home.  Over the years I've become increasingly unhappy with the populist policies and the increasingly  right-wing government of the country, but it's remained a place whose very existence is of extreme importance.  I've never wanted to live there, but I've known it is there for me if I or my family need it. I  belong to organizations that work to change policies that target Palestinians and and that do lobbying and media here in the US on behalf of some kind of normalization. 

The ghastly attacks by Hamas touched a particularly powerful chord for Israelis, as they mirror the atrocities visited upon Jewish settlers when Partition came near to fruition.  But I fear that any response by Israel will be devastating to its future, because it is now such a military power.  Excessive use of force will then be used to justify increasing anti-Semitism and hatred toward Jews worldwide.  And the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank will not be made any better.  What positive outcome could Hamas possibly have anticipated from these actions?  In Hamas, as in so many places in the world, the lunatics are running the asylum.

I don't know what's going to happen next, but I know it won't be good for the Palestinians or for Israel.  So I'm worried.