Learning From Hamas Apologists

They are not fools. And they have something urgent to teach us.

“There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe them.” George Orwell did not write that, no matter how many thousands of Internet sources say otherwise.

What Orwell wrote was not so pithy. It wouldn’t work on a t-shirt. But today, almost a week after Hamas committed its grand atrocity, what Orwell actually wrote is far more relevant, powerful, and insightful.

From Notes on Nationalism, 1945:

I come back to the astonishing failure of military prediction in the present war. It is, I think, true to say that the intelligentsia have been more wrong about the progress of the war than the common people, and that they were more swayed by partisan feelings. The average intellectual of the Left believed, for instance, that the war was lost in 1940, that the Germans were bound to overrun Egypt in 1942, that the Japanese would never be driven out of the lands they had conquered, and that the Anglo-American bombing offensive was making no impression on Germany. He could believe these things because his hatred for the British ruling class forbade him to admit that British plans could succeed.

Orwell’s goal is not to mock the intelligentsia. He points to a universal truth.

There is no limit to the follies that can be swallowed if one is under the influence of feelings of this kind. I have heard it confidently stated, for instance, that the American troops had been brought to Europe not to fight the Germans but to crush an English revolution. One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.

That’s the line that inspired the pithy jibe Orwell didn’t write. But what follows is far more profound than a mere swipe at too-clever-by-half sorts now long forgotten.

The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also. There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when ‘our’ side commits it. Even if one does not deny that the crime has happened, even if one knows that it is exactly the same crime as one has condemned in some other case, even if one admits in an intellectual sense that it is unjustified – still one cannot feel that it is wrong. Loyalty is involved, and so pity ceases to function.

By now, we all know too many stories of people excusing — or even praising — the monstrous crimes of Hamas.

I won’t detail those crimes. You know them too well. I won’t recount the shameful words spoken and written by the terrorists’ apologists, nor will I explain why I find those words shameful: If you need that explained, you’re too far gone for any explanation to save you.

I will simply say that the reaction to the atrocities should give us all pause. And inspire somber reflection.

It is easy to denigrate the apologists, to call them fools, and feel the warm glow of righteous denunciation. I understand why so many have done so. But it’s a mistake. By drawing a line between the wise and good us and the perverse them, we overlook a far more important truth. It is a truth that is fundamental and universal. And when we recognize it, it delivers a cold chill.

The words of those who excuse what Hamas did may be foolish but the people who spoke them are not fools. In case after case, they are exceptionally intelligent and educated. They are students at top universities. They are professors at those same institutions. They are intellectuals and activists. They are people who have committed a great deal of time and effort to matters of politics and justice.

One of them — I won’t name her, as my point is universal so there’s no point in singling out individuals — is a professor at my alma mater, Osgoode Hall Law School.

Osgoode Hall is a top law school in Canada. This professor has a doctorate from Harvard. Her specialty? International human rights law.

I can say her words are foolish. I can say her reasoning is obscene. But I cannot call her a fool, at least not if the word is to mean anything more than an empty insult. She is no fool.

That is the point.

That is George Orwell’s point.

This professor clearly possesses a comprehensive ideology and a fierce commitment to her causes, including the “decolonization” of the Palestinian people, for which she has long worked. Ideas, passion, participation in a cause: These are things we ordinarily find admirable.

And we are right to find them admirable. Everything that’s good in this world is built on them. Look at Orwell himself, a man who overflowed with ideas and passion and volunteered for combat in the service of a cause.

But these same qualities can be dangerous.

Passion and commitment can overwhelm and blind. When that happens, reason ceases to enlighten and keep us well away from madness and obscenity. Reason becomes rationalization. It twists and bends and distorts. It excuses the inexcusable. It urges us to embrace madness and obscenity and call it truth and justice.

And we believe. We sincerely believe.

Please note the “us” and “we” in these sentences. What I am describing is not a flaw of the relative few who excused, or celebrated, the atrocities of Hamas.

This is a human flaw. It lies in each of us. We are all susceptible.

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote:

The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.

Recognizing this fundamental truth is essential if we are not to be blinded by our passions and commitments. If we are not to excuse the inexcusable. Or even to commit those inexcusable acts.

No matter what the commitment, no matter how righteous the cause, now matter how intelligent we may be, or how clever our explanations, a little part of us must stand back. And stand watch.

Let the example of the Hamas apologists be a warning to us all: The line between good and evil must always be patrolled. And each of us stands alone on that cold wall.