Kenaz Filan

Mar 17, 2024

Since

mentioned me twice in his most recent Substack post, I thought I would reply. Ted is a great source of information from Israel and I highly recommend his blog to anyone who’s interested in the current Gaza conflict. Ted’s blog provides an honest assessment of an Israeli-American reporting from the ground.

You might disagree with Ted’s unapologetically pro-Israel stance, but it’s well within the Israeli cultural mainstream. If you want to see this bloody mess as anything other than an entertaining lightsaber duel between Jedis and Siths, you need to know what both sides are thinking.

The View From Israel

God’s Forgotten – The Divine & The Mortal

Dear God, I hope you got the letter and I pray you can make it better down here I have been silent for the past 10 days as I decided to take the time to read other Substacks. I thought that I would gravitate to those who were virulently against Israel and what the other side was thinking and writing. I wanted to understand their POV…

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7 days ago · 7 likes · 3 comments · Ted Gross

50 years ago Ted’s crazy visions carried him from New York to the Yom Kippur War. My crazy visions haven’t landed me on a battlefield, at least not yet. But they did land me in Israel for a few months in 1987, so we share a certain interest in the region. We’re children of early Geek Culture also share interests in Tolkien, Star Trek, and ancient and early medieval history who matured into cranky contrarians.

We met on opposite sides of the Great Substack Nazi Wars. Ted has some concerns about the dangers of unrestricted speech. My concerns are more focused on the risks (or certainties) that any restrictions will sooner or later be used to silence dissidence and political speech. We both recognize that some forms of speech need to be moderated, though we differ on where that boundary lies. We continue our friendly banter toward a shared solution but haven’t found one yet.

Our newfound friendship was sorely tested in the wake of October 7. Ted objected to my officially neutral stance on the Gaza conflict. He felt my neutrality downplayed the Hamas atrocities. Like most Israelis, he was reeling from a shock. Nobody expected the raids, including the people who were tasked with anticipating such things.

Despite all things, I remain a sympathetic outsider and honest broker. I’d like to keep bloodshed to a minimum on all sides and to see a just conclusion leading to a lasting peace. As with most conflicts, there has been plenty of bad behavior on all sides. I don’t want to justify, excuse, or celebrate any of it.

There was also an information issue. I don’t know enough about this battle to offer any kind of educated opinion. If I’m going to take joy in an enemy’s death, I’d like to know first why he’s my enemy. Lacking that knowledge, I chose to remain silent. There were many who did not share my sensibilities.

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