Our system of Western values teaches that if we sit down and negotiate, we can find a solution that is best for everyone. We will compromise if necessary and resolve our differences. That’s the idea behind the United Nations, of course: Providing a forum for reasoned, calm discussion to solve the problems of a region or all the world, so there should never be another World War.
But that’s not the case among all non-western cultures.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (Britain’s former chief rabbi) gives a comprehensive view of conflict from the biblical story of Amalek (Covenant & Conversation, “Two Types of Hate,” Koren, 2011):
The Israelites had escaped Pharaoh. They had crossed the Red Sea and survived Pharaoh’s armies. They had proceeded through the wilderness and suddenly they were attacked by a new enemy. A nomadic group, the Amalekites attacked from the rear, killing elderly, ill, women and children. The story ends with the words, “the LORD has sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:16).
This is very strange. Why such strong words compared with the Egyptians, who were conducting a slow genocide of the Jews, beginning with the killing of the firstborn males? The Amalekites only attacked Israel once during the lifetime of Moses.
Shouldn’t we be more concerned about the Egyptians? Are they not the symbol of evil? The Torah says, “you shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land” (Deut. 23:7 [8])
Also these verses:
“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you came out of Egypt; How he met you on the way, and smote the hindmost of you, even all that were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary, and he feared not God. It shall be that when the LORD your God gives you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget!” (25:17-19.)
The Egyptians hated Israel because, as Pharaoh said, “the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we” (Ex. 1:9). Their hatred came from fear. The Egyptians had been attacked and conquered before by a foreign power, the Hyksos. The Egyptians had not forgotten that.
The Amalekites, however, were not being threatened by the Israelites. They attacked the “hindmost” of a people who were “faint and weary.”
The Egyptians feared the Israelites because they were strong. The Amalekites attacked the Israelites because they were weak.
In today’s terminology, the Egyptians were rational. After seven plagues, Pharaoh’s ministers asked Pharaoh if he doesn’t see that “Egypt is lost?” (10:7). It took three more plagues until he saw it. The Amalekites, however, were irrational.
Near the end of WWII, the Nazis were still sending Jews to the death camps, even diverting trains from bringing supplies to the front. They were so driven by hatred that they compromised the war effort in order to carry out the systematic murder of Jews in Europe. It was evil for evil’s sake, wrote the Canadian Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim.
We are commanded to remember and never forget Amalek, for evil never dies. And today it is manifest in all forms of terrorism. It is irrational.
Peace is possible with Egypt, Moses implies, even though they enslaved us and tried to destroy us. But it is not possible with those who attack others who they think are weak. And who deny even their own people the freedom for which they claim they are fighting.
Rabbi Sacks is relevant today. Hamas believed Israel was weak and couldn’t fight a long war. The division and strife in Israeli society was an assurance to Hamas that Israel was weak. Think of the anti-government protests in 2023 and the withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000. Hamas was willing to risk an all-out invasion of Israel, expecting to sustain widespread civilian deaths. It intended to use those deaths (the more the better), to get Israel’s other enemies to attack and to garner world sympathy, turning all the nations against Israel.
Yes, we must remember Amalek. He has existed throughout history. And sometimes there may be no alternative but to fight evil and defeat it. This may be the only path to peace.
It has been said many times: “You cannot put out just 75 percent of a fire. If you leave 25 percent, it will grow and become like the 100 percent again in a short time.”
Paul added another facet to this subject, saying, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not” (2 Cor. 4:4). And the oft-repeated verse, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).
And there’s this from Zechariah: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of poison for all the peoples round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples, all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (12:2-3).
This is happening. The UN General Assembly voted to recognize a Palestinian state. It’s just one step below full voting membership. Today, 143 nations have recognized it. The decision is only a recommendation. Even the Biden-Harris government pressed the Security Council, whose decisions have force, to demand a ceasefire, so another Palestinian state can be created.
We will remain steadfast and trust in God’s eternal promises for His people.