Two books, by two Jewish authors, Siegmund Ginzberg and Anna Foa, reflect on the tragedy in the Middle East.
“The siege. The hunger. Innocent children, the first victims of war. […] Why does God allow harm to be done to children? […] It pairs with another insoluble question: how could God allow the Holocaust? Children were the first to be sent to the gas chambers. The only thing that should be clear to everyone is that a Palestinian child is worth exactly the same as a Jewish child.” From the biblical massacres of the innocent to the war in Gaza. This is how Macellerie – Guerre atroci e paci ambigue (“Slaughterhouses – Atrocious wars and ambiguous peace,” Feltrinelli, 2024) by Siegmund Ginzberg begins, a book that profiles a violent humanity through conflicts and atrocities in history, from the Warring States period in China to today’s wars.
Ginzberg, a journalist and essayist born in Turkey to a Jewish family, is not alone in taking a stand in recent weeks. Historian Anna Foa, “a Jew of the diaspora,” explores the “same pain for both sides”—the victims of October 7, the Israeli hostages, and the civilians killed in Gaza—in her book, Il Suicidio di Israele (“The Suicide of Israel,” Laterza, 2024). This 91-page pamphlet reflects on Israel’s nation-building process and calls for a change of direction: “When and if the guns finally fall silent, we will need to revisit many of our interpretive frameworks and rethink our relationship with our history,” states the preface. “We must reexamine the course of a memory that has shaped us for eighty years but has proven insufficient to protect either Jewish civilians or Palestinian civilians during these months of war.”
Though their approaches differ—Foa’s being purely historical and Ginzberg’s rich in analogies—both have chosen to speak out. Ginzberg reflects, “Once, I was asked what defines my being Jewish. I replied: being part of a people who have been discriminated against, starved, and persecuted. The essence of my Judaism is identifying with those who suffered the Holocaust. I do not wish to belong to a people of persecutors.” In his book, Ginzberg recounts episodes characterized by what he describes as the “repetition of gruesome, horrifying, butcher-like details,” often involving Jewish protagonists. These include sieges, such as that of Jerusalem, along with massacres and deportations inflicted on the diaspora. “The book is directed at those who encourage Israel to seek revenge,” Ginzberg explained in an interview with Reset DOC. “However, I doubt it will persuade Jewish readers who believe that criticizing Israel’s actions amounts to betraying Judaism.”
In the Italian Jewish community, public statements on the 44,000 Palestinian deaths remain scarce. Notable exceptions include Senator for Life Liliana Segre and the group Mai Indifferenti – Voci ebraiche per la pace (Never Indifferent – Jewish Voices for Peace).
“The trauma of October 7—a massacre carried out by Hamas specifically to provoke a military response from Tel Aviv and push it to extremes—has disrupted years of reflection on achieving a peaceful solution,” Foa explains to Reset DOC. She adds that many in “Jewish communities” argue that “Israel is at risk of another pogrom,” a belief that fosters “unconditional defense of its actions, which ultimately stifles any possibility for dialogue.” For some, this has led to what Foa describes as an inability to feel “empathy.” This reaction, she notes, has also been identified by Gideon Levy within the Israeli left regarding the deaths in Gaza.
Criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is often dismissed as antisemitism. “By excessively broadening this concept, aren’t we at risk of losing its essence and specificity?” Foa asks. In her book, she questions the conflation of anti-Zionism—criticism of Israeli policies—with antisemitism, referencing two “official” definitions. The first, from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and adopted by Italy, links the two concepts, while the more recent definition from Jerusalem takes a “more cautious” approach. Foa observes, “Netanyahu accuses any opposition, whether domestic or international, of being antisemitic.”
Discussing genocide, Foa points out, “remains a taboo.” She adds, “Many voices from Israel argue that if it’s not genocide, we’re getting close. This is something for international courts to decide, but it still needs to be addressed.” While acknowledging that the term “genocide” carries significant emotional, political, and propagandistic weight, she clarifies, “This is not how the Pope, the opposition in Israel, or certain voices within the Jewish community in Europe and the U.S. are using the term.” Foa continues, “Seventy percent of the confirmed victims are civilians. This is a fact.” She concludes, “We are still dealing with crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
In both volumes, the war in Gaza is seen as an existential turning point for Tel Aviv. Ginzberg writes in one of his rare moments of direct reflection, “Israel cannot afford moral standards like those of Hamas—whether for revenge, to deter wrongdoers, or to prove its strength. I fear that this is a matter of its future survival.”
Foa, on the other hand, elaborates, “Israel is increasingly becoming an authoritarian state: the police are attacking any form of dissent, prisons are filled with Arab-Israeli citizens and people from the occupied territories held without trial, and racist statements from ministers are multiplying, with serious consequences for society as a whole.” She even goes so far as to describe it as “suicide.”
“I’m not convinced that a suicide can be stopped,” the historian states, “because it comes from within. A suicide isn’t stopped by weapons, walls, or barbed wire. It’s stopped by looking inward.”
For Foa, an ethical and moral reassessment is necessary: “Perhaps there is horror at the halting of aid, the lack of milk for children, and the shortage of water for civilians. But the destruction is somehow justified. Israelis need to confront this moral dryness introduced into their souls by external violence. They must recognize that what is happening is not just aimed at the Palestinians, but also impacts Israeli Jews.”
Foa also questions the social and political dimensions. “Isn’t it time to build a democratic civil society, where citizens are free and equal in their diversity?” she writes, reflecting post-Zionist historiography. “And how can a Jewish state, inherently based on the supremacy of Jews over other citizens, guarantee such a society? This is a fundamental contradiction between a Jewish state and a democratic state, one that has existed from the start and must now be resolved if we are to move beyond this state of war, as well as the deadlock that preceded it.”
“I am appalled by how Israel has squandered the solidarity it received after the October 7 attack,” Ginzberg says bitterly. “How does Israel expect to live in peace surrounded by hostile countries or even populations, especially when it antagonizes Turkey, Egypt, Iran, as well as the United Nations, the Pope, and Europe?”
For Ginzberg, one of Israel’s greatest threats is isolation. “Israel is undermining its undeniable prestige as the only democracy in the Middle East,” he points out. He adds, “To stay in power, Netanyahu has included far-right figures in his government, including those who encouraged and defended the murderers of Rabin.” “Woe to those who isolate themselves—they lose support through fanaticism,” he warns in Macellerie.
Israeli and Palestinian: two contrasting memories, two contrasting identities, yet very similar. “National identities in which catastrophe and trauma play a central role, and where the national narrative largely centers around themes of victimhood and loss,” writes Foa. “Is it possible to reconcile memory with justice when one of the victims is also a victim of the other?”
Cover photo: Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip walk on the main Salah al-Din road on November 17, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the militant Hamas group. (Photo by Abood Abusalama / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP)
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