The October 7 massacres committed in Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the unprecedented brutality of their execution, produced a level of horror and stupefaction that our post-war generations have hitherto known only from reading history books. For a few days, a few weeks, we were all dazed, without words, without thoughts. Only ravaged by pain and terror, and sometimes stunned by the first signs of an outbreak of anti-Semitism at a time when empathy and solidarity were expected.

But for almost two months now, the Israeli army's response has been appalling. At least 15,000 people have already died, including over 5,000 children, and probably many more, given the impossibility of counting all the victims buried under the rubble, not to mention the wounded, traumatized and starving. In less than two months, Israel has killed at least 20 times more children than Hamas had killed or kidnapped on October 7.

The restart of the offensive foretells an even greater death toll. Let's not use the word "pogrom" for October 7 or "genocide" for the current offensive terrifying words that cloud everything. Instead, let's try a simple, macabre calculation. If we go by the Israeli army's figures alone, with Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades and their allies estimated at around 30,000 men, if it took the deaths of more than 5,000 children and 10,000 civilians to kill 5,000 fighters, it will take the deaths of at least 60,000 civilians, including 30,000 children, to "eradicate" Hamas's forces, if this even means anything.

Rogue state

But let's not talk in terms of realism, only in terms of justice. Is it right to want to put Hamas and its allies out of action after the October 7 massacre? Absolutely. Is it still right to be prepared to do so at the cost of at least 60,000 civilians, including 30,000 children? Absolutely not. No state or society can base its security or use its legitimate right to defend itself on such a price known in advance unless it deserves to be listed as a rogue state and a rogue society for a long time to come.

The shock of October 7 is over. Not the grief or the pain, but the shock that prevents us from thinking. It's high time that all left-wing Jews, or all Jews, period, who have retained some idea of what Nietzsche called "the grand style in morality" (Beyond Good and Evil, "What Europe owes to the Jews"), expressed their strongest condemnation of a calculation this bloody. Muslims the world over have been asked to cry "not in my name" after every Islamist attack since September 11, 2001. It's past time that a majority of Jews, in turn, cried out "not in my name" in response to the nameless violence to which the Gazan population, especially children, have been subjected for almost two months now.

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