Bob Schwartz

Following is the third post published on this blog, from March 13, 2012. What do I make of my expectation, “standard bearer of global compassion”? Maybe I was blinded by inspiration and idealism. Maybe I was naive. Maybe dreams end in misguided pragmatism. But I believe they don’t have to.

Can Israel stop the Syrian genocide? On its face, the question seems practically preposterous and crazy. But at its heart, the question has a right resonance.

Argue about conflict and aggression, current and historic, argue about religion, argue about appropriation, argue about morals and equities, but Israel remains the standard bearer and source of a tradition of forceful global compassion. On top of that, the existence of modern Israel is grounded in the repudiation of one of history’s most notorious genocides—it was the Holocaust that in part gave rise to the term itself.

Is there any practical expression of this, at this moment, in that neighborhood, that makes any sense or would not worsen rather than better situations? Almost certainly not. But in a world and region that continues to exhibit madness, maybe moments of crazy wisdom are what we need to break through. Because whatever we are doing isn’t working.