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Saul Friedländer (picture from 2007).”/>Historian Saul Friedländer (picture from 2007). © imago/Rau
Holocaust researcher Saul Friedländer presents an impressive diary about the Middle East war.
Nobody knows, writes Saul Friedländer at the end of his diary, “how Iran will decide and what its protégé will do.” The historian, born in 1932, recorded the events in the Middle East day after day. His last, extremely lucid diary on domestic developments in Israel appeared shortly before the Hamas massacre and the Israeli response to it. This time, well into 2024, is now traced in the diary “Israel at War”.
At the end of the book, Friedländer not only asks whether Iran will enter the war or not, but he also outlines what, for him, would be a light at the end of the tunnel, “namely the possibility of ending a aimless war and thus the hostages “save those who can still be saved, provide relief to the civilian population in Gaza and ultimately accept the idea of a Palestinian state.”
Friedländer can only follow what is happening from a huge spatial distance. He lives with his wife in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, he shows himself to be an extremely well-informed observer. The many entries he made almost day after day boil down to a few main points: Friedländer rejects the government under Netanyahu outright; for him it is a co-cause of the evil and not part of a possible solution. The historian believes that Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran are the main culprits for the escalation. He considers the situation of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip to be unbearable. He is also concerned about what he sees as growing anti-Semitism. Only a two-state solution will help out of all this, and he never lets on any doubts about that. To do this, he emphasizes, the settlement policy on the West Bank must first be brought under control.
Friedländer did a lot for Israel in his life. Even more important was his work as a Holocaust researcher. His two volumes, “The Third Reich and the Jews” and “The Years of Annihilation,” published by CH Beck, are impressive representations in which history is traced up to the Holocaust. These are representations that are unsurpassable in terms of their quality and depth of research. There were also numerous other books and essays about the Nazis’ policy of extermination. His interest in the fate of the Jews also had a very personal background. In 2007, Friedländer said in his acceptance speech at the German Book Trade Peace Prize that his parents had brought him to Paris as a child to live with a Catholic family so that he could find permanent protection from the Nazis. They themselves tried to make their way to Switzerland. But on the day they wanted to cross the border, only families with children were allowed to make the journey to freedom. They stayed behind and were arrested and then deported to Auschwitz.
In Friedländer’s diary there is a voice that is deeply concerned about the events and, above all, about the consequences, first and foremost, for Israel. But he also cares about the fate of the Palestinian population. He emphasizes their suffering in many places in the book. He still understands the Israeli approach. The country is in a dilemma, he believes, who, like everyone else, was surprised by the Hamas attack in 2023. On October 7th he wrote: “Incredible! The country is under attack!” He writes about the invasion of Israel by Hamas fighters. “The repetition of October 1973 in October 2023 took Israel completely by surprise.” The atrocities committed by Hamas cannot yet be overlooked. That will change in the next few days. Friedländer believes that Hezbollah is now also attacking. He is annoyed by an appearance by the Israeli Prime Minister. “Netanyahu spoke and said nothing: ‘We will break their bones…'”
Even the beginning of the Yom Kippur War was less catastrophic and terrible, says Friedländer. He recognizes an absolute failure of the security forces and the government. On October 9, he noted: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to get a clear picture.” Descriptions of Hamas’ actions can be found in his book, then the news that a war cabinet is being put together. “Gantz belongs to him, a place has been kept free for Lapid.” And further: “Netanyahu’s failure is becoming more and more blatant.” US sources confirmed that the Egyptian secret service had probably warned the prime minister three days before the attack. But there “was no reaction or perhaps complete indifference.”
Over the next few days, every message is carefully registered: “Exchange of fire in the north.” He is pleased that Biden will be in Israel on October 18th, a sign of solidarity. An Israeli military action is a long time coming, it said on October 19th: “This situation cannot last long, as it has a negative impact on the morale and motivation of several hundred thousand reservists.” On October 22nd: “Nothing new in Gaza -Front.”
The book
Saul Friedländer: Israel at War: A Diary. CH Beck, Munich 2024. 204 pages, 24 euros.
As of October 27th, Israel is already at war. “No casualties were reported among the attacking troops.” Friedländer draws attention to a dispute between Netanyahu and the security forces and notes that the prime minister criticized the head of military intelligence because he had not warned him of the dangers. The dissent will continue to this day.
The entry from October 31st is particularly profound. The historian gives a brief history of Israel’s conflicts, Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, two Lebanon Wars. For him it is clear that all of Israel’s enemies are always about the same thing: driving the Jews out of the region. “This war against Hamas may be different than the previous ones, it may last longer and be more difficult, but essentially Israel is waging the same war against enemies who want one and the same thing: to expel these invaders from the Arab region of the Middle East .”
He also follows the domestic American debates closely. “American Jews are divided,” it said on November 2nd. “The majority supports Israel unconditionally, but a growing number on the left are increasingly critical, even extremely critical.” Friedländer has little use for this kind of criticism of Israel. In particular, the slogan “From the river to the sea…” is an anti-Semitic saying for him. But his attitudes differ over time. While at the beginning he considers the demonstrations per se to be anti-Semitic, towards the end of the book he says that we have to see whether and to what extent these protests are anti-Semitic. In addition, there is no reason to compare this situation with that between the two world wars. Unlike back then, governments would do something about anti-Semitism. The biggest difference, however, is the existence of Israel.
On November 6th he writes about pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the USA. The war against Hamas in the densely populated areas of Gaza is “highly regrettable but inevitable,” he emphasizes. He repeatedly returns to reports that reveal new information about the Hamas attacks. Here the American media is often far ahead of others. “It is heartbreaking to watch the endless procession of tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from the northern to the southern part of the Gaza Strip,” it said on November 21.
On December 5th, he wrote about anti-Semitism: “Where do these disgusting outbursts come from?” How did this hatred of Jews manage to seep into US universities, he asks. He is less surprised about developments on the streets of London, Paris or Berlin. Israel is increasingly isolated, he notes, at the end of 2023.
The allegations against Israel give him pause, but he defends the actions against Hamas. Omer Bartov, for example, accuses Israel of genocide. Bartov was Friedländer’s student and Friedländer cannot accept his accusations. Then Israel would have had to act even more violently for this claim to be justified, says Friedländer. On April 23, he asked: “For exactly two hundred days, 133 hostages have been in the hands of Hamas. How many are still alive?”
The last entries concern the month of May. “The body of Ron Benjamin, one of the hostages kidnapped on October 7th, was recovered in Gaza.” The last entry from May 22nd reads: “Norway, Ireland and Spain recognize a Palestinian state.” Friedländer manages to capture the event impressively trace and analyze.
