When Is Enough, Enough? A Rational Plea Against the Logic of Vengeance

On October 7th, 2023, a horrible attack by Hamas shook not only Israel but the conscience of the world. 1,200 innocent people were brutally killed. Families were torn apart, hostages taken—some later released, many not. The trauma etched itself into the lives of survivors, and those who loved them. I remember calling Israeli friends in those days. They said they were “okay,” but the horror echoed unmistakably in their voices.

And now, nearly two years on, we must ask: What kind of world have we allowed to emerge in the aftermath?

More than 50,000 Palestinians—among them thousands of women, children, medical workers, journalists, and humanitarian staff—have been killed in what is described as the response. Entire communities are flattened. Food and water have become weapons. Starvation is not a side effect, it is a tactic.

Must we really repeat the ancient logic of Deuteronomy 19:21—”life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth”—as if it were a prescription rather than a warning? What society survives when vengeance becomes its operating principle?

We must learn, to judge policies not by intentions but by consequences ( Popper). The consequence of this war is not justice. It is moral erosion. It is the numbing of the soul when another 50, another 100 people die and the world barely blinks.

I grew up in Germany, among children of post-war families. As children, we asked the older generation about the Holocaust. About the friends and neighbors who vanished. Why didn’t they speak up? “We were afraid,” they said.

Are we afraid now? Afraid to say: Enough is enough?

This is not a matter of religion, nor of nationality. This is a test of our humanity. To remain silent while children starve, while civilians are killed with impunity, is to betray the very values that separate civilization from barbarism.

Let us be clear: condemning Hamas’s crimes must not become a license to replicate them. Our moral compass cannot be selective. The open society demands more; It demands that we criticize not only our enemies, but also ourselves—and especially the policies enacted in our name or with our tacit consent.

History will ask us, as it asked our parents and grandparents: Did you speak up?

Let us not be found silent.