There is a beautiful apocryphal story I heard shortly after the Twin Towers were attacked in New York. A Native American lawyer was asked by her elderly great-uncle to take him to see the cavernous site where the buildings once stood. The old uncle stood there for several minutes, tears rolling down his cheeks. The lawyer asked her uncle what he was feeling. The uncle answered:
‘I feel that there are two wolves fighting in my heart. One is the wolf of anger, revenge, war and hatred. The other is the wolf of forgiveness, reflection, peace and love’.
‘Which wolf will win Uncle?’ asks the lawyer.
He answers ‘the one I feed’.
And that is how I felt after the attack on southern Israel where friends of friends and family of family were mercilessly mutilated, tortured, killed, raped or taken. I was aghast and appalled at the horror and loss of life, especially of the kibbutznics, many of who were in turn aghast and appalled at their own government’s right-wing religious fanaticism and treatment of the Palestinians.
And we can see which wolf the Israeli government fed immediately after the terrorist violence – and it wasn’t the second. Feasting on Nazi references and dehumanising language there was not a hint of taking stock, securing the borders and giving some space to think ‘where to from here?’, or ‘how did we get here?’.
There was no deep breath. And as I watched the retribution or self-defence killing, bombing, starvation and banishment of civilians in Gaza – many no doubt utterly opposed to the zealotry and oppression of Hamas – I ruminated at the mess of blood and arrogance and eye-for-an-eye that the Middle East had become. I felt blessed that our First Nations people have reacted so peacefully to the latest stab in the eye that we meted out to them. (It was just a fucking advisory group that somehow the Dutton/Murdoch machine turned into a misclaim of racism and division).
America reacted to the twin towers with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. More US soldiers died in those wars of retribution than all victims of 9/11 and for what – the Taliban are back in control in Afghanistan and Iraq is a despotic democracy-free basket case. Let alone the hundreds of thousands of civilian and enemy military deaths.
How have others reacted to terrorism? Well, the English in Ireland, in retrospect, did not do too badly, and resisted for example carpet bombing the Catholic areas of Belfast to smithereens to remove the ‘terrorists’ from there. Largely (and not without blemish) they used the criminal justice system and the rule of law. My favourite-accented people have achieved peace where few thought it would ever come.
The Dali Lama appeals to his followers regarding Chinese repression of Tibetans – teaching that ‘they should practise non-violence and not waiver from that path, however serious the situation might be’.
Christians promote (and before them the Buddha promoted) turning the other cheek, but there is not much of that in the Middle East right now.
And what happens if Israel invades and removes the key personnel from Hamas? What will fill that vacuum in a nursery of hatred and bile? What choice does Israel have but to invade?
Can we really expect them to do nothing while missiles still rain down? Of course the letter writers to The Echo have all the answers, choosing sides with their PhDs in international law.
But these questions are very challenging for we merely mortal, uncertain, disconnected, irreligious North Coasters of Jewish heritage right now, although even that statement feels like a self-indulgence in the face of the terror felt by civilians on both sides.
Most of us long ago gave up critiquing Israel on anything, even as it staggered toward the extreme because of the barrage of commentary, letters and abuse from Zionists who labelled us ‘self-hating Jews’ and ‘internalised anti-Semites’. Of course, I believe in Israel’s right to exist, many of us just think that in the long run it is more likely to survive by complying with international law, cutting out the repression and treating Palestinians decently. And we reckon that there will be less Jewish world-rule conspiracy garbage here, there and everywhere if they stop conflating any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
Just now I am capable of feeling great aching sorrow for the loss of innocent life and suffering on both sides. If I were a better person I’d be finding space in my heart for the slain Hamas boy terrorists and their families too. It is not a question of moral equivalence, it is a question of blood, sweat and tears. We all bleed, perspire and cry just the same whatever our religion or flag. I don’t care who fired the first, or the worst shot, or who was there before others 2,000 or 200 years ago. I just pray it will stop. Please stop killing children.
In the name of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and God, just stop.
Each night the wolves in my heart are fighting too, but I am drip feeding the one of forgiveness, reflection, peace and love. I hope it will prevail.
David Heilpern is Dean of Law at Southern Cross University
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
