Thinking about Anne Frank and Israel

Seventy years ago yesterday, Anne Frank wrote her last entry in her diary. Much has been written about her; she is the emissary of the Holocaust to millions. The line from her diary that stands out to me is her affirmation that, “in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

She goes on to say, “I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again. “ 

Then my thoughts turn to the current conflict in the Middle East. Now, my reader’s ears perk up. “Will he be pro-Israel? Will he be sympathetic to the Palestinians? Will he fall into the “there is blame on both sides” trap? Or will he, as Amos Oz did in a recent interview, try to analogize the situation to a neighbor shooting at your children with a baby in his lap?”

He is going to do none of these things.

I do not see how my views on this situation have an effect. I feel powerless. This post will not sway any opinions that are not already in place. In fact, recent research has disappointingly shown that people are more likely to stick with their misguided opinions even in the face of strong information to the contrary.

So it is not my goal to change your mind about Israel or the current conflict. Unless you are a leader in the current conflict, I am not sure that your opinion (or mine) is going to make much of a difference. So I am not going there.

Like Anne Frank’s story, the events in the Middle East affect me emotionally, intellectually, and personally. But I am not in the line of fire. My children are not in danger. I don’t get a vote. This horrible war is much more than a topic for Internet trolling and social small talk.

“So it doesn’t matter? So we should not pay attention?” says that reader voice. No. It matters. It is very important. As a person of conscience who values my religious identity (and my connection to Israel), and as someone who abhors any violent solution to a problem, this conflict cannot be ignored.

I can give money to organizations that will fund something. I can write letters to lawmakers and media outlets. And of course, that makes a little difference. But it will not bring about peace. I can quarterback and back with my quarters from a safe and comfortable armchair.

Simply put: my actions are not going to change the course of events. Only in my fantasies could I stop the Israelis and the Palestinians from heading down this ever more tragic path.

Like Anne Frank, I still believe that the overwhelming majority of people in the world, and in the Middle East, are good at heart. Like Anne Frank, I am optimistic about the future. But I do not look up the heavens and think it will just turn out all right. “Peace and tranquility” do not return by accident or divine intervention. Human beings make choices. That is what this is about. This about the power of people’s decisions.

My decisions have power. Not in Israel, but here. The horrible conditions of the Palestinians did not suddenly appear. The crisis was not born today. It was born of the countless decisions by many people. They may not have been aware of how their choices, like the ancient sediment and stone around them, can build up, stratify, and create canyons and mountains that are not easily crossed or moved.   

And their decisions still count. No path is fixed. The road can go many ways.

Despite her fate, Anne Frank’s message continues to move millions. Her words, her story, and her choices continue to have power. So do our decisions. For now, and for the future.