Since October 7, there have been frequent calls to differentiate between Hamas and innocent Palestinians. The basis for these calls is a moralistic approach that views the general Palestinian community as different from the terrorists who fired rockets, conducted terror attacks, and committed the brutal October 7 attacks.
A great deal of focus and criticism has been paid to how Israel’s right-wing community has painted the Palestinians of Gaza as “all guilty” of the October 7 attacks. However, this criticism paints Israel’s Right too broadly and misses the nuance in this community’s views of the Palestinians.
Right-wing is a term that connotes varied political positions in different countries. In America, the Right refers to positions on social issues. In Israel, the right wing refers to views on security, the Palestinians, and other enemy countries like Iran.
Israel’s most well-known right-wing prime minister, Menachem Begin, was right-wing on security matters, but many of his social positions would place him on the left wing of the American political spectrum.
Israel’s Right is far from monolithic. Its members are widely spread throughout Israel. While almost all Israelis who live in Judea and Samaria are right-wing, not all right-wing Israelis live in Judea and Samaria. Even left-wing bastions like Tel Aviv have sizable right-wing populations.
The right-wing community in Israel has grown since October 7 after many Israelis viewed the attacks on the Jewish kibbutzim and towns not as a one-time event but a manifestation of widespread and deep-seated violent Jew-hatred in Palestinian society.
The right wing in Israel sits on a spectrum of views within its own ranks.
What are the Israeli political right's relations with Palestinians?
Far-right Israelis advocate for the expulsion of Palestinians from Israeli lands; liberal right-wingers feel that a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians is the best approach but with few concessions, if any, to the Palestinians; and moderate right-wingers prefer annexing Judea and Samaria while granting Palestinians autonomy in their own cities and villages. Of course, like any spectrum, many positions exist between the three just listed.
While Israel’s right wing has disparate views on a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is mostly united on the issues it has with the Palestinian people. These issues cause an insurmountable fissure between Israelis and Palestinians and drive a largely pessimistic view on finding any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
They have also precluded any cooperation or coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. Until the issues Israelis have with Palestinians are resolved, there is no chance of any reconciliation or an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is absurd to generalize about any population, including Palestinians. Like any group of people, the Palestinian community encompasses a spectrum of thoughts and ideologies. Yet, communities don’t deal with each other on an individual person-by-person basis; they base their relationship on the sense of the majority’s views.
Based on Palestinian polls, the majority of Palestinians aren’t interested in living peacefully alongside Israel but in a Palestinian state that replaces Israel. Any recognition of Israel never includes that it is a Jewish state, only that it exists.
Israelis regularly hear chants of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” This is a call to wipe Israel off the map. Palestinian maps don’t show portions of Israel but the entire land.
Palestinian leadership is a primary example of tyrannical and corrupt rule. Hamas’s control of the Gaza Strip saw the leaders of Hamas living as billionaires at the expense of their people and foreign aid stolen to build terror tunnels.
The Palestinian Authority isn’t any better. Its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, is in the 20th year of his first four-year term. He, his sons, and his close cronies have somehow earned millions without ever starting a business.
There are no moderate, peace-seeking, and honest Palestinian leaders waiting to take over when Abbas eventually dies. The world couldn’t find anyone better than Mahmoud Abbas, a man who wrote his doctoral thesis [sic] minimizing the tragedy of the Holocaust as grossly exaggerated.
Israelis have watched over 100 years of Palestinian intransigence, rejecting countless peace offers. Israelis watched as non-combatant, regular Palestinians streamed across its border along with Hamas terrorists to participate in the October 7 attacks.
They saw “regular” Palestinians take part in the raping, kidnapping, murder, and looting of Israelis. They saw crowds waiting on the Gaza side, cheering as hostages and corpses were brought into Gaza. They saw the Palestinian crowds jeer the hostages in disgraceful spectacles before releasing them back to Israel.
Israelis are aware of the PA’s pay-to-slay program and television shows that teach and inspire Palestinian children how to stab Israelis and honor “martyrs” who killed Jews. They have read Palestinian textbooks that are full of antisemitism and extol giving up one’s life to kill a Jew. Israelis on the Left and the Right see the Palestinian society as violent and hate-filled.
It is easy to brush off these Israeli concerns as generalizing about Palestinian society, but these issues and concerns are legitimate. It is true that not every Palestinian wants Israel annihilated, wants to kill Jews, or is corrupt.
Yet enough Palestinians share these views to cause Israelis serious and legitimate concerns about whether Palestinians should be trusted with their own state alongside Israel and whether a safe and secure Israel could exist with Palestinians near it. To brush these concerns off as generalizations isn’t considering these concerns with the attention they deserve.
If there ever is going to be an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israelis must have confidence that the Palestinians can manage a non-corrupt state that doesn’t incentivize and encourage antisemitic violent hate against Israelis.
Although Israel is the more powerful one in the relationship and, therefore, more responsible to take steps to progress toward an end to the conflict, it is unrealistic to demand Israel change policies in ways that will set it up to fail in ensuring its citizens’ safety and security.
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, where she lives with her husband and six children.
