Gilad Shalit
This morning, after digesting the news, I considered the crisis in Gaza following the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. I know that friends, colleagues at the university, and my students (I’m teaching this summer) are likely to ask me what I think, because they all know of my interest in the region. I was working through the myriad variables in an effort to reach some sort of rational conclusion when an old line, attributed to Abba Eban (once Israeli ambassador to the United States): “The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” I do not mean to imply that I view the current situation as an opportunity. Far from it. Nevertheless, my consideration of the situation and the ultimate fate of Gilad Shalit quickly moved away from a line of rational thought, not that unusual when once studies the Middle East.
I asked myself: “In the present situation, what’s the worst thing Hamas could do, in reference to what would seem to be sensible conduct from a western perspective.” The conclusion came to me rather quickly: Hamas could torture young Shalit and then videotape him making some idiotic anti-Zionist statement, brutally slaughter the young man in Daniel Pearl fashion, and then post the videotape on the internet for all to see.
Am I predicting such an outcome? No. But I offer the scenario as a negative baseline. Should any other fate await the Israeli soldier, we will be able to judge how close-to-rational Hamas can behave as a government. And if the worst-case scenario does ultimately play itself out. . . .
I asked myself: “In the present situation, what’s the worst thing Hamas could do, in reference to what would seem to be sensible conduct from a western perspective.” The conclusion came to me rather quickly: Hamas could torture young Shalit and then videotape him making some idiotic anti-Zionist statement, brutally slaughter the young man in Daniel Pearl fashion, and then post the videotape on the internet for all to see.
Am I predicting such an outcome? No. But I offer the scenario as a negative baseline. Should any other fate await the Israeli soldier, we will be able to judge how close-to-rational Hamas can behave as a government. And if the worst-case scenario does ultimately play itself out. . . .
