Human beings are instinctively tribal, and when we think in terms of “us” vs. “them” the temptation to dehumanize the other is hard to resist when the stakes are high.

You see this most often in war, but even in smaller things, the tendency pops up. I know plenty of people who instinctively cringe when they hear a certain accent, and of course, plenty of people assume evil of people on no basis other than skin color.

Having grown up in the 60s and 70s I was taught to look beyond tribal ties and view others as individuals; most of us have been as well. None of us is perfect at doing so, but most of us have internalized the belief that we should view others as individuals, not simply as members of a tribe. It is a key tenet of modern Liberalism.

Every year it gets more difficult to keep doing this, as identity politics is all about emphasizing tribal identity over individual character. It’s nearly impossible to treat people based on their individual characteristics if they don’t do so themselves. If one’s tribal identity is who one is rather than being one aspect of one’s identity, it is almost insane for others to pretend otherwise.

I have been struggling in recent weeks to gin up empathy for Palestinians, despite the fact that so many of them are suffering horribly in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

I am horrified, in the abstract, at what is happening in Gaza. While many or most of the people being injured or killed are supporters of Hamas or actually Hamas fighters, some certainly are not and are victims of circumstance. They deserve our empathy and we should be sad about their suffering and wish it weren’t happening, just as with any other victim of conflict.

But I can’t get past the pure hatred being directed at Israel and Jews around the world. So many people are indifferent to the suffering of Jews, the sheer evil of Hamas, and have celebrated the brutality of terrorists that I have a hard time extending my circle of empathy. I only have so much to give.

On top of the outpourings of hate directed at Jews, so much of the pain in Gaza is the direct result of Hamas’ own actions.

Hamas uses its own citizens as human shields, basing their military and political power in schools and hospitals. It spends its resources on expanding its military power and then complains that its citizens are poor and suffering. It digs up its infrastructure and blames Israel for not providing more. It traps its citizens in a war zone and blames Israel for civilian casualties. It complains of fuel shortages while decrying the shortages that threaten electricity in hospitals.

The supply situation speaks to the relative sophistication of Hamas as a fighting force — an axiom among military professionals is that while amateurs talk about tactics, professionals talk about logistics. Yet with Gazans facing a humanitarian catastrophe, Hamas’s stockpiles raise questions about what responsibility, if any, it has to the civilian population.

Hamas is the governing body of Gaza. It hoards supplies needed for its citizens. And people question whether it has a responsibility to help its own citizens.

How am I supposed to gin up any outrage against Israel when Gaza’s governing body cannot? Hamas prepared for this war for years, stockpiled supplies for itself, and used the suffering of its citizens as a propaganda point. And that propaganda is working. Millions of people express outrage at Israel for the damage done by Hamas.

John Kirby–I can’t believe I am saying this–spoke for me when he was asked about the administration’s own lack of empathy for Hamas and its supporters.

OMG I can't believe I'm saying this, but….go John Kirby?

TV Globo’s @RKrahenbuhl: “So, besides saying that he doesn't have confidence in these numbers, the President went further to say that innocents will die and that this is the price of the war. You also said that.”

Kirby:… pic.twitter.com/PhB5SxEHTe

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 26, 2023

My failure to feel sufficient empathy for the civilians of Hamas strikes me as similar to the feeling I would have getting outraged by the destruction of Germany in World War II. Many Germans weren’t Nazis and the Allies’ insistence on unconditional surrender led to wiping entire German cities off the map. Yet we call it the “good war,” because annihilation of the Nazis was necessary.

The Nazis, if they cared about their citizens, should have surrendered. The war was clearly lost in 1944, and every death after the Battle of the Bulge was on them 100%. There was zero chance of victory, yet they persisted in order to kill Jews. It was pure evil, and the evil needed to be eradicated.

The same is true of Hamas today. Gazans deserve a better government, but it isn’t Israel’s responsibility to sacrifice its citizens to protect those of Hamas in Gaza.

The war could be over tomorrow if Hamas surrendered. They won’t. Any call for a ceasefire ignores the fact that 100% of the deaths in Gaza are due to Hamas’ evil.

Do I wish I could have more empathy for Gazans? Yes, I do. But I can’t get past the fact that Hamas could stop the madness and simply refuses to.