“We spend three quarters of our lives wanting without doing and the fourth, doing without wanting.” Diderot’s wise bitterness consoles when answering those who ask about our hatred, as always when I interview an Israeli or a Palestinian in La Contra. They want you to hate and they want it now.
Who do I hate more – I try to reason –, the stateless terrorism of Hamas or the stateless terrorism of Israel? I begin by clarifying that Hamas also has a State, which is Iran. And that Iran is less concerned about the lives of Gazans than about being surrounded by enemies in its region; because Israel and Arabia, their Sunni nemesis, were now beginning to come to an agreement; That’s why he attacked.
And the bagpipe is a temple: after all, whoever we Europeans hate, let alone the Spaniards, hardly has any geostrategic influence in the region. And if there are ministers – I reassure the Israeli embassy – from Podemos who support Iran-Gaza and their councilors achieve statements condemning Israel in their town halls, the Tsahal is going to give a damn. Because Israel was born from the Zionist conviction that the Jews would be hated throughout the planet and for all eternity and that only the Jews could save themselves from genocide. So if the entire EU condemned them now, they would be hit just as hard.
And yet, we Europeans are once again suffering terrorist attacks and paying the cost of the conflict in our economies; although we also have the right (in other countries, such as Iran-Hamas, not) to disagree without being sentenced to death.
For this reason, I fear that the answer to finding Diderot will not satisfy those who demand hatred. It is about doing everything we can in the short term to preserve the lives of Gazans and Israeli soldiers; and in the long term, for the right of all to live in peace; and that includes the Palestinians to a State. And it is also agreeing with President Biden when he asks Israel not to invade Gaza, even though it has every right to defend itself; because she will defend herself better from lucid calm than from blind anger.