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Saeb Erekat repeatedly libeled Israel, aided terrorists and was an obstacle to peace. But Jewish values will always dictate that Israelis help those in need.
(October 19, 2020 / JNS) It’s the kind of story that drives a lot of friends of Israel nuts. One of its chief opponents, Palestinian Liberation Organization senior leader Saeb Erekat recently fell ill with COVID-19. Faced with the decision as to where to be treated, it was only natural that instead of going to a Palestinian hospital or even one in neighboring Jordan, he chose to go to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
This is, after all, the same person who spent
his career lying about Israel, and smearing it as a nation of oppressors and
war criminals. He’s part of a government that spends far more on paying
salaries and pensions to terrorists and their families than on hospitals.
Indeed, in March of this year, he actually went as far as to falsely allege
that Israelis were spitting on Palestinian cars so as to spread the coronavirus
to them. And though he has served as the P.A.’s chief peace negotiator, he’s
spent his tenure in that position working to make peace negotiations
impossible, swearing that he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state and
end the ongoing conflict.
However, when faced with the question of where
was the best place in the region to seek help, Israel was the obvious answer.
One of the region’s pre-eminent health-care facilities, Hadassah and its doctors
took him in.
Some Israelis and friends of the Jewish state
can’t understand it. They see this willingness to help even enemies as a
particular form of weakness. They cite the passage from the Midrash of the
sages that says, “He who becomes compassionate to the cruel will ultimately
become cruel to the compassionate” as a good reason to turn Erekat down.
Others think that it was wrong of the
government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to exact concessions from
the Palestinians in exchange for what may well be the best chance of saving
Erekat’s life. And it wasn’t just right-wingers saying that. Michal
Cotler-Wunsh, a moderate member of the Knesset from the Blue and White Party,
asserted that prior to admitting him, Israel should have gotten the P.A. to
agree to reciprocal humanitarian gestures, such as returning the bodies of
slain Israeli soldiers being held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip or
freeing two Israeli Arabs who wandered over the border in that terrorist
enclave.
That sounds only fair; still, the supposedly
hardline government led by Netanyahu didn’t try to extract such concessions or
at least didn’t try very hard to do so quietly. Why not?
One pragmatic answer is that for all of the
antagonism between Israel and the P.A., in addition to the latter’s refusal to
make peace, the day-to-day working relationship between them continues.
Contrary to the incessant talk about the occupation, almost all Palestinians
live under the dictatorial rule of P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas and his corrupt
Fatah Party. There is a fair amount of security coordination going on that is
partly aimed at reducing Palestinian attacks on Israelis, yet also focused on
keeping Abbas alive against threats from his Hamas rivals.
Doing favors for Palestinian leaders is part of
this uneasy relationship, so it’s hardly surprising that Israel would reserve a
bed at Hadassah for the use of a person who has done so much to hurt the Jewish
state.
But the real reason goes far deeper than that.
As much as Israel is depicted as a modern day
Sparta—a militarized state that is dominated and governed by its security
establishment—Jewish values still play a crucial part in its decision-making.
Being a Jewish state necessarily involves considerations that a purely
utilitarian approach to life would reject.
Much like Netanyahu’s highly controversial
decision to trade more than 1,000 convicted Palestinian terrorists, including
many with blood on their hands, for the freedom of a kidnapped young soldier,
Israeli leaders often wind up doing things that objectively make little sense.
The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange let murderers of children walk free;
however, the obligation to redeem a captive took precedence and rather than
suffer politically for the decision, Netanyahu was applauded by voters even as
security experts deplored the precedent he had set.
By the same token, the generally tough-minded
premier likely felt that it was impossible for him to refuse a humanitarian
request, even from a bitter foe.
It’s doubtful that any other country would be
so generous to an enemy, yet somehow, the notion that Israel would turn away a
person in need is inconceivable. Unlike the English common-law tradition, there
is a specific Jewish obligation to help others rather than to stand by only watching
their plight.
Israel isn't perfect but it is often
unfairly judged by a double standard about its conduct towards enemies that is
not applied to any other democracy at war. Though it is far more scrupulous
about trying to avoid hurting civilians when it fights its foes, it is
continually blamed for any casualties in ways that others are not.
Like the peace offers that Erekat and his
comrades have repeatedly rejected, no one will give Israel credit for its
unilateral humanitarianism. But it’s entirely natural, if also frustrating,
that Netanyahu would help a Palestinian leader in need even when we know that
if the shoe were on the other foot, Israel’s foes would not do the same.
The instinctual application of traditional
Jewish values by the Jewish state’s secular government should not surprise
anyone. Even when it will not advance Israel’s cause, behaving decently to
those who would not reciprocate such a gesture is still the default position of
any government of the Jewish state.
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