We, who all lost loved ones in Hamas' vicious assault, know the feelings of anger and pain that could push individuals towards acts of revenge. However, it is inconceivable – on both the ethical and strategic level – that revenge should be an official policy of a state when formulating a plan of action for war.
It is quite sad that we've reached a point where an international institution has to say something that has been clear to us for a long time now: Under Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, false promises of security have turned into a campaign of revenge that includes war crimes, starvation and ethnic cleansing, as well as settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers, through their daily statements and actions, permit the blood of Israelis and Palestinians to be shed for the sake of political survival and messianic delusions. Evidently, as far as they are concerned, the hostages and Israeli soldiers can die, and Gazans must die.
For what? To this, there is no candid, direct answer that withstands the test of reality.
The decision by the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reflects the depth of the moral crisis and leadership crisis faced by Israel.
Whether or not these warrants are legally justified, it is clear that a leadership that for more than two years has been harming the Israeli justice system and Israeli democracy, avoiding taking even minimal responsibility, refusing to establish a state commission of inquiry to probe the failures of October 7, employing institutional violence to silence all domestic criticism by labeling critics as leftist traitors and all external criticism as antisemitism – is a leadership that invites international investigation.
What we need to understand is not how to avenge the deaths of our murdered loved ones, but how we can create a different reality, in which no one will have to pay such a heavy price as this again. Hungry children in Gaza do not bring this desired reality any closer. Evacuated and frightened children in Israel do not bring a better future any closer.
The policy of Israel's government and the military's conduct over the past year are not producing security and are not advancing any purpose aside from feeding the cycle of bloodshed and violence, and expanding Israel's illegal and impossible bid to sustain control throughout the area between the Jordan River and the sea.
Netanyahu, stop! End the war, bring the hostages home quickly, enable the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, establish a state commission of inquiry, open a diplomatic channel for a long-term arrangement that will achieve real security for Israelis.
If you do not do so, your actions justify the arrest warrants against you, because someone has to stop this madness.
Magen, Magel and Maoz Yinon are the sons of Bilha and Yaakov Yinon, who were murdered at Moshav Netiv Ha'asara on October 7, 2023. Yonatan Zeigen is the son of Vivian Silver who was murdered on Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7, 2023. Yaakov Godo is the father of Tom Godo, who was murdered at Kibbutz Kissufim on October 8, 2023.
