HAARETZ | Opinions / November 3, 2023
by Nimrod Aloni

I doubt there is a single Israeli, Jew or Arab, who does not ask himself these days the
distressing question of how someone can become a bloodthirsty and murderous Hamas
member. How does a human being consciously and with great enthusiasm go on a
monstrous journey of massacre, burning, raping, abusing, and kidnapping innocent citizens
– the elderly, women, and children. It would certainly be presumptuous to try and provide
an answer to this question. But suppressing it and renouncing a meaningful discourse on the matter may leave us with simplistic and dangerous answers, such as “they are all animals and should be exterminated “, and on the other hand, “this is an inevitable result of the Israeli occupation and oppression”.

Before forming an opinion, one must turn to the historical-cultural context of barbaric
conduct in modern times among other peoples. How does a German become a Nazi who
plans and executes the extermination of a people in gas chambers? What brings Japanese in South Korea and Serbs in Bosnia and Hutus in Rwanda to acts of mass murder and mass rape? How did the Khmer Rouge come out, enthused by their ideology, to liquidate
thousands of people in Cambodia? How do American Ku Klux Klan members, advocating
white supremacy, unite in glee to lynch blacks?

These questions have many and varied answers in the genocide discourse. Some of them
relate to the common factors, and some to the exclusive or distinct factors that characterize
mass atrocities and crimes against humanity, and are related to cultural heritage, historical
circumstances and living conditions.

As for the Hamas mentality underlying the barbaric acts of massacre, rape, and kidnapping
in the Gaza Strip, many explanations and positions have been published in the last month –
from the vantage point of researchers specializing in the Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad organizations as well as from the perspective of peace activists who have connections with the various factions in the Palestinian public in general, and with Hamas people in particular.

The answer I wish to propose here – and for sure it is partial and not exhaustive – is based
on insights from the field of education, culture, and humanistic studies. This is the point of
view of the humanists (in the fields of philosophy, psychology, education, and social work)
that the core of their theoretical and practical work is constituted by the prism of
humanization and dehumanization. Namely, to stand for the factors that enhance human
flourishing, facilitate the development of the distinct human capacities – related to thinking,
morality, politics, and aesthetics – and contribute to a common good that enables welfare
and dignity for all.

In my understanding, two dominant factors operate in the dynamics that shape the
personality of a murderous Hamas person. One is a fundamentalist religious worldview,
Revised text received Nov 8, 2023 with telephone permission to republish on Institute website which denies human rights, individual freedom, autonomous thinking, gender equality and democratic politics, in the name of the authority of ancient traditions and the religious establishment. This is the view that is often translated into jihadist motivation and a death wish for the glory of God. The second factor is the existence of a people under occupation and oppression for many years by a foreign entity, perceived as colonialist and satanic. Each of these factors is enough to provoke hostility and violence against the other, the heretic or the conqueror. The combination of these two together gives rise to something greater than the sum of its parts – monstrous behaviours and bloodlust, unrestrained and murderous cruelty like the one demonstrated by the Hamas people in the Gaza Strip.
A position of religious or ideological fanaticism is not just another way of thinking. This
position is a refusal to think. Different thinkers have reached this conclusion when analysing
the personality of a fanatical racist and of the authoritarian personality: it is the longing for
unshakable solidity and absolute truths. He worships an eternal hierarchy and an
omnipotent authority. It is a consciousness closed to rational arguments and reliable
demonstrations; a consciousness impervious to both rational reasoning and factual
evidence, resisting critical thinking, autonomous deliberation, and considering skeptical
open-mindedness as a great sin.

The “other” is viewed as an enemy that must be limited and sometimes even eliminated.
This is a clear anti-humanist position, which sanctifies religion or ideology and does not
recognize the vital sovereignty of the human being. Anyone who does not completely
identify with the collective and follows its ways is considered a traitor, and as in the days of
the Christian Inquisition, Stalinist Communism and Hitler’s Nazism, he or she is liable to
violent sanctions.

The miserable reality of Gazans’ lives under the occupation was succinctly presented 30
years ago by S. Yizhar in Haaretz newspaper (6.5.94): “”Anyone who has not been in Jabalia, in Gaza, does not understand what a human life lower than the trodden grass.” This is the Gaza of the descendants of the refugees from 1948, whose population is the densest in the world. This is Gaza whose population regularly lacks water for drinking and bathing, and electricity for lighting and sustenance; that most of its residents are unemployed, limited in educational and cultural infrastructures and supported by charitable organizations. This is Gaza which, according to all theories of human development, the pyramid of needs, humanistic education and social justice cannot provide its children with an opportunity for adequate standards of humanity and personal well-being.

The magnitude of the injustice and disaster will perhaps be clearer to some through a
demonstration outside the human-political realm. Imagine two cute puppies that came into
the world, and then were separated: one remained chained all his life outside alone with an
iron chain as a guard dog, and the other grows up in a home that loves and cares for him,
pampers him, and all his life enjoys the company of people and dogs. Imagine the
differences in repertoire in terms of dog qualities of the one who barks and threatens to
bite all his life, and the one who is considered a faithful partner and loved by the family.
Now multiply this repertoire a hundred times more when referring it to the human family,
and crippling injustice of existence in subhuman conditions and the denial of the
opportunity to exist in dignity and to develop the personality is clearly revealed.

Let us move from theory to practice. Against the background of the mass atrocities and
crimes against humanity in modern times, including the monstrous murderousness of the
Hamas people in the Gaza Strip, I believe that anyone embracing humanistic morality and
democratic culture should reject as illegitimate any position that denys others the
fundamental right to freedom of belief and opinion, and that threatens others with violent
sanctions up to torture and killings due to thoughts and expressions that are not consistent
with those promoted by government institutions. Furthermore, since in an authoritarian
and totalitarian society brainwashing means a ban on using the brain for the purposes of
free, scientific, critical and creative thinking, it goes without saying that there is no objective
validity to the opinions voiced there – because in a place where it is forbidden to search for
truth and justice, the chances of finding them are extremely slim.

Open-mindedness, free and critical thinking, the equality of value of all humans, and the
equality of opportunities for personality development and social engagement are the basic
core of human dignity. Hence, we must do everything in our power to curb anti-humanist
trends, including extreme positions of political correctness, multiculturalism, and identity
politics, which often blindly represent backwardness and oppression to progress and
freedom.

As for the reality in Gaza, where “human life is lower than trodden grass” – the challenge is
too great for us, Israelis and Palestinians, to face alone. As has already been proposed in
countless plans and peace initiatives in the past, some of which had broad international
support, it needs to be a long-term, multi-phased program agreed upon by Israelis and
Palestinians and subject to international leadership. The purpose of that plan will be the
establishment of a sovereign and democratic Palestinian state, alongside the State of Israel, and it will include adequate security arrangements and various peace-building measures.

There is no guarantee for the success of any peace plan, but if it were one that proposes to
all inhabitants between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, in the territory of
Israel and Palestine, a dignified existence in conditions of political peace – that is the
program to follow.

Prof. Aloni is a at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Israel and he is UNESCO Chair in Humanistic Education. Original publication was in Haaretz Hebrew Edition and the translation here into English was provided by Prof. Aloni. Aloni.nimrod@gmail.com