HAARETZ.COM Opinion | No War With Iran Will Erase Israel's Crimes in Gaza. Don't Get Distracted
Israel has adopted a worldview in which every problem should be solved through force, as seen in Iran, and the people of Israel have become a collective that admires force and brutality while scorning dialogue and compromise A boy reacts as he sits at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on June 14, 2025 following reported Israeli attacks on aid queues in the Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza.Credit: AFP/OMAR AL-QATTAA Michael Sfard Follow Jun 16, 2025
I have no idea whether Iran had already resolved to construct a nuclear bomb. And even if it had, I have no idea how long it would take it to build one. I also don't know whether the only way to keep Iran from becoming a military nuclear power is by launching a war against this ancient nation. Even after the war has begun, I have absolutely no clue whether our strikes are affecting its nuclear program in any way.
I don't have the basic data to form an opinion about the necessity of the war that threatens to drag the Middle East into a long, disastrous conflict. I lack information about its justification and legality and the alignment between its goals and the means chosen to achieve them. I don't have it because I don't believe a word spoken by the Israeli government's spokespeople.
They have proved countless times that they can't be trusted. It's reached the point that my distrust in what the prime minister and the IDF spokesperson say almost reaches my distrust in the reports from the ayatollahs' regime. So perhaps there was no choice but to attack, maybe there was. I honestly don't know.
But there are two things that I do know. I know, sadly, that most Israelis are not troubled by these questions. That there is almost no one to talk to here. That we are high on drugs full of swaggering slogans and floating in militaristic ecstasy.
Millions of Israelis repeatedly lap up the reports about the elimination of Iran's military leadership, the pixelated black-and-white images that supposedly document the Mossad operation behind enemy lines ("So like Netflix!") and the details of the Israeli deception of the gullible Iranians, the highlight of which was the meeting of Israel's inner cabinet that was ostensibly convened to discuss a hostage deal but in fact – wow, what a sting – approved launching the war. (How disgraceful that Hamas isn't alone in using the hostages as a means to an end; the government also cynically exploits their existence, while yet again toying with their families' stressed feelings.)
This militaristic trip is being presided over by the television studios. They fan the flames of war and glorify the pilots. They laud the Mossad agents and Military Intelligence personnel – "our magnificent heroes" – to the point of deification. These media outlets don't even pretend to provide their viewers with complex information. They deliberately prevent other voices, who aren't marching to the beat of the military drums, from being heard.
We have to admit that this phenomenon is as old as humanity – violent masculine tribalism that bursts with pride over the ability to deliver the strongest punch. I'm not a pacifist; sometimes, using force is necessary. But Israel has adopted a worldview in which every problem should be solved through force, and the people of Israel have become a collective that admires force and brutality while scorning dialogue and compromise.
And there's one more thing I know.
Just as, under the din of war in Gaza, ethnic cleansing has been perpetrated in large swaths of the West Bank, there is now a great risk that the government will fully press the criminal pedal in Gaza. That while all eyes are on the war between Mideast's only nuclear power (according to foreign sources) and its second most populous country, Israel will race to realize the Smotrich/Ben-Gvir fantasy of obliterating what remains of Palestinian Gaza.
No war with Iran will erase our crimes in Gaza. This weekend, Haaretz published a horrifying article by Nir Hasson, Yarden Michaeli and Avi Scharf about the destruction of Gaza. Read it. Look at the satellite photos. This is us, the 21st-century people of Israel. We erase cities, destroy towns, pulverize villages.
There's no military explanation that could even come close to justifying this destruction, which, legally speaking, is a blatant crime. And we haven't even mentioned yet the starvation tactics and the weaponizing of humanitarian aid to perpetrate a population transfer. Generations of Israelis will have to live with the mark of Cain we have put on ourselves through our actions. These deeds are in the best case crimes against humanity and war crimes, and in the worst case they raise suspicions of genocide.
So forgive me if my greatest fear about the war with Iran is that the little international and domestic opposition there was to the ethnic cleansing and mass killing in Gaza will dissipate.
We must not turn our eyes away from Gaza.
Michael Sfard is an expert in human rights law and the laws of war and author of the Hebrew-language book "Kibush Mehabayit" ("Occupation from Within: A Journey to the Roots of the Constitutional Coup"). Comments Sort comment by 31 CBD 01:35 18.06.2025 Masculine tribalism? Did you get that from TIK Tok? Speaking as an American, not an Israeli, what is happening now is what should've happened in 1979 in Iran and nearly at that time in Gaza and the West Bank. We have had a coterie of inferior military forces trying to impose their will on others by terrorist assaults over decades. The approach so far has been to guarantee that this abominable situation continues. Enough of that! Victory and surrender are the requirements for a lasting peace after the conflict. In recent years, Iran and Qatar have sponsored terrorist organizations who attack Israel on a regular basis, the result of establishing status quo Ante following the usual Israel, victory: do not pass go. 30 Mowing down 15:57 17.06.2025 Civilians lined up for food aid on a daily basis. An eternal disgrace. 29 Robert 11:55 17.06.2025 YES! YES! Tragic, but brilliant analysis 28 Fulgurator 11:46 17.06.2025 People of Gaza have to be free. Otherwise there is no end to this conflict. My allegieancies are with Israel, but I see no end. harm to children in Gaza is unbearable, I want to end their suffering 27 UK 11:31 17.06.2025 "So forgive me if my greatest fear about the war with Iran is that the little international and domestic opposition there was to the ethnic cleansing and mass killing in Gaza will dissipate." Clearly this is exactly Netanyahu's plan, and - surprise surprise - it is working well, because of the West's disgraceful indulgence. But for how long? The Gaza genocide is such an obvious and monstrous crime against humanity that it will have to be reckoned with eventually. One day they will have to allow journalists in, and for years to come we will see the most comprehensive process of documentation the world has ever known as the grisly facts of this atrocity are brought to light. The courts are waiting for Netanyahu and for Israel, and the hatred they have sown will inevitably bear its bitter fruit. That such a vanishingly small number of Israelis condemn this genocide is simply unforgivable as far as I am concerned. 26 Fulgurator 11:18 17.06.2025 Iran will be eradicated as its terror network. Evil is collapsing as in Russia. 25 JMS 10:17 17.06.2025 Thanks Mr Sfard for this piece. 24 Sandra Chitayat 06:53 17.06.2025 Dissidence is not even allowed. You cannot protest any war in Israel! Even one person in Haifa was stopped wearing a tee-shirt against the war or some such thing. Netanyahu is a criminal because he is corrupt & enabled by another fool, Trump. War never solved anything. You still have to negotiate an end to any war. Destruction & killing. The poor or Bedouin do not have shelters to run to. They run the most risk. How the PM of Israel would wan to endanger & ruin Israeli cities & citizens & how they accept that is beyond me! What good is all this destruction? Yes, on top of the crimes in Gaza, & essentially letting all the hostages die forgotten! What a sin! 23 Daniel Good 03:28 17.06.2025 Israel's war crime was withholding food for weeks despite Hamas seizing food aid. Gazans could have overthrown Hamas and restored the Palestinian Authority. Iran has to stop funding the death of Jews. Worse comes to worse, only two civilizations that now believe in themselves may survive into the next centuries, China and the rising Caliphate of Apocalyptic Islamists. India will survive this kali age in isolation. But when all your antisemitic civilizations fall like Babylon and Rome. When antisemitic "daughter" religions are gone the way of ancient Egyptian mythology, Jews will still be here. Hester panim is weird. But Am Yisrael Chai. Jews will survive and whether Liberal streams or , Orthodox, will always say "Next year in Yerushalyim". We will return when our oppressors are lost to history. Sometimes Amalek converts to make a great scholar of Torah. Enemies can repent. Germany did. Time for Iran too. Reply to comment Ann 07:25 17.06.2025 Daniel Good Israel couldn't beat Hamas, but somehow a starving populace in the direst of survival mode are supposed to take them down? Lollll. Daniel Good 11:49 17.06.2025 Daniel Good The Islamists are many disparate groups affiliated with Daesh or Iran. They are forced birth apocalyptic nutcases all. They have the time and Western useful allies to work towards a world wide Caliphate. Greta and her selfie yatch compatriots wouldn't watch Hamas body cam videos of Oct 7 atrocities, and it won't be Hamas alone that may (though I hope not) take down Israel. Most progressives will cheer. Turkey may participate, they want their Empire back. All I know is antizionists fall back on traditional antisemitism just like neo fascists do. Diasporism failed Jews last century, and Zionism may fail us this century. But we will survive just like always, and I can imagine a time however far off that antisemitism dies out. And for what time I have left, I advocate a canton system and an end to apocalyptic mishegoss and refusal to allow Jews what 22 Arab states have, self determination without threats from Muslims who want to murder in their deities name. Liz 13:07 17.06.2025 Daniel Good But for Jews to deny Palestinians what Arab states have .. is what? Ethnic cleansing is an evil and a crime and it's being committed by members of the Jewish community. Liz 22:40 17.06.2025 Daniel Good Many Jews don't even say .,, next year in Jerusalem … now because a fascist, apartheid state is obviously a failed Jewish homeland, 22 SJ 02:31 17.06.2025 The Genocide/holocaust in Gaza is still ongoing. No illegally attacking Iran is adding to Israelis list of crimes against humanity The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide. Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.
on June 19, 2025, 6:09 am