What could the Israeli government have done differently after October 7?

A number of people asked me this when I called for a ceasefire on October 18, 2023 and became an active member of Rabbis 4 Ceasefire.

What else could Israel have done, other than go to war?

I have an answer, and I’ve had one all along. And I’m ashamed that I haven’t been more vocal in expressing it.

As part of my teshuva in this season, in these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a year after October 7, I humbly offer my answer, well aware of the scorn and contempt that such a seemingly-radical* idea may trigger.

The answer, like all good answers, is profoundly simple*: Equality. Extend equal rights to every single person living within the borders that the Israeli government controls.

Endless war and endless occupation are obviously not working. Not for Israelis, not for Palestinians, not for Lebanese. Endless war serves Netanyahu and his cronies, and Hamas and their cronies.

Equality serves humanity. Equality for every human who lives between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea, the borders the Israeli government controls (and with past collusion by Egypt at the Rafah land crossing).

Because unless and until genuine equality is extended, the Israeli government can’t claim, “we tried everything for peace” while enacting discrimination and oppression.

Because I want Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.

Because there may be wide disagreement about what happened in the past, but equality is a commitment everyone can make to the future.

If “equality” strikes you as absurd, if “equality” doesn’t sit well with you, if “equality” makes you scared, if I say one-person, one-vote for everyone who lives in the territory controlled by the Israeli government, and you think I’m crazy, I ask you to consider why.

No more, no less, than acknowledging and acting upon the full shared humanity and fundamental equity of all human beings, including Palestinians and Israelis.

Growing up Jewish in America, having lived in Jerusalem for 7 years and worked in Israel/Palestine for two decades, I can anticipate many of the objections that may be voiced by Jews.

Chief among them is: Jews need to be dominant in a Jewish country in order to be safe.

As a kid, I believed that.

As an adult, I’ve come to understand that Jews need equal rights to be safe, whether we live in the US or Europe or Israel. Not more rights, and not fewer rights. Equal rights.

The next objection: “they’ll never agree to equality.”

Whoever “they” is: “they” would be free to leave the country. All the Bezalel Smotrich’s and Yahya Sinwar’s would be given sanctuary elsewhere. Preferably on a deserted island, together. But in all seriousness, the vast majority of humans want to live in peace and security with their neighbors, and equality is the foundation upon which peace and security rest. You don’t have to take my word for it; countless academics have documented that the higher the equality of a society, the higher the peace.

The next objection: how can you believe a one-state solution is better than a two-state solution?

I don’t believe a one state solution is better or worse than any other solution. I believe in humanity. I believe in the fundamental premise of B’tselem Elohim, that every human is created in the image of God. In the twenty-first century, that translates into: equality. I’m not committed to one specific political configuration, but I am committed to self-determination for everyone.

If, once equality was extended, the people chose, with their one-person, one-vote right to divide into two separate countries, fine. If they choose three countries or one country or a federation, also fine. What is not fine is claiming to be a democracy, as Israel does, when millions of people living within Israeli military controlled borders do not have equal rights. Five million people with no vote is not a democracy.

Next objection: but the Palestinians have the right to vote for the Palestinian Authority.

Both the West Bank and Gaza are occupied according to international law. Even after the Israeli “disengagement” in Gaza in 2005, the Israeli government continued to control the Gaza population registry, all air space over Gaza, all water space, and six of the seven land crossings. When it comes to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Palestinians have a right to vote in name only. There is what to say and criticize about the PA, but to be imminently clear: since 1967, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have been subject to Israeli-determined and controlled borders and military occupation, with no vote in Israeli elections.

What’s brilliant about a genuine quest for equality is that it helps uncover discrimination everywhere: it uncovers antisemitism and racism against Jews/Israelis by people who don’t want equality for Israelis, and it uncovers Islamophobia and racism against Palestinians by people who don’t want equality for Palestinians.

If you have an alternative that is better than the equality, I’d love to hear it.

For those who care about Israel/Palestine and genuinely believe in democracy, it’s time to make our support explicit: one-person, one-vote, for everyone.

The moment has arrived to take a stand: do you support extending the right to vote to every single person who lives in Israeli-controlled territory?

*Equality is not actually a radical concept. And: obviously genuine equality is simultaneously profoundly simple and an astounding complex reality to implement. But the only way to come even close to actualizing equality is to commit to it, with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our very power of existence. There are plenty of think tanks with an abundance of expert policy papers on how to go about implementing equality. We don’t lack policy papers; we lack will. And as it was once said, if you will it, it is no dream.