Letter to the Editor: ‘They Have Put Up Many Flags / to Make Us Think That They’re Happy’

Re: Hillel and Chabad hold vigil in remembrance of fallen Israeli soldiers and terror victims

I am struck by the passion and sincerity with which Jewish leaders on campus spoke out in memory of their dead. One quote: “We remember tonight that the land was not given freely,”  stuck out to me though, for different reasons. 

What land are we talking about? Does it include the West Bank and Gaza? Certainly, the Israeli government thinks it does, as it rapidly expands its settlement program and politicians openly claim it as part of Greater Israel.

The fact of the matter is that, ever since Israel’s occupation and subsequent settlement of the Palestinian territories after 1967, this land grab is what Israelis have been dying for, a project which has only exposed soldiers and civilians alike to more violence. Finding meaning in their deaths by glorifying it misses the point. To quote Yeshayahu Leibowitz, “There is meaning to their death …Yet they fell in vain because their death (even if they died in a victorious war) does not necessarily resolve the issues over which they fought and fell.”

I understand and respect the desire to mourn the dead — regardless of one’s political or national commitments, it’s a sacred right. Yet, unquestioning praise of sacrifice contributes to the problem by refusing to grapple with its root causes.

I do not mean to tell the Jewish community how they can or cannot mourn. But, looking at the flags set up outside Dartmouth Hall, I cannot help but wonder if there isn’t a better way, one that isn’t blind to the intrinsic violence of occupation. I am reminded of two lines from a poem by Yehuda Amichai: “They have put up many flags / To make us think that they’re happy.”

Ramsey Alshiekh ’26 is a former opinion editor and current opinion columnist. Letters to the Editor represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.