I must have been about 14 when I read the above quote by Aldous Huxley. I’d purchased the science magazine OMNI, and there were always a couple of pages that had historical quotes that, depending on the issue, either destroyed or restored my faith in humanity. At the time – 1984 – the threat of nuclear war between the Americans and the USSR was palpable. Even the Doomsday Clock from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists crept up a few minutes to reach 3 minutes to midnight. The scientists noted in their editorial for that year, “We thus stand at a fateful juncture, at the threshold of a period of confrontation, a time when the blunt simplicities of force threaten to displace any other form of discourse…This is an appalling prospect.”

Guess what; in January of this year the folks at the Bulletin pushed the Doomsday clock to 90 seconds to midnight. In case you’re wondering, midnight is the apocalypse. As you might expect, a driving factor moving the clock forward in the past year was the war in Ukraine. At the time the Doomsday clock published its editorial, the death toll in that war was close to 7,000 after nearly one year of fighting. Just over two weeks into the Israel-Hamas war, the death toll is creeping to that figure (1,400 Israelis and over 5,000 Palestinians). Those numbers will only increase in the near future.

Much like the reflections of the Doomsday editors back in 1984, the current war between Israel and Hamas must have a better endgame other than “blunt simplicities of force.” As many commentators, analysts and activists have noted, there will come a point when Israel’s retribution wears thin with other nations, and there will be greater demands to move towards a solution that goes beyond flattening an entire population. The continued violence plays right into the hands of Hamas leaders: they do not value life, whether it’s the life of an Israeli or a Palestinian; their actions prove that. The heinous acts committed by Hamas on October 7 must never be allowed to happen again. And however painful these acts were – and their lasting consequences on families, friends, the nation of Israel, and Jews around the world, we – the most collective “We” as humans on this Earth – must find the strength to maintain our faith in humanity. As Yuval Noah Harari noted recently, “Hamas is waging war on our souls…Hamas is trying to destroy our trust in humanity, and thereby destroy our own humanity.”

It won’t win; it can’t win. But Hamas’s disregard for all human life is taking a horrendous toll on people in Gaza. Every day I wake up to see more grim statistics on the scale of human suffering. Over 600,000 people internally displaced, over 5,000 of people killed – 62% of them women and children, over 15,000 injured, buildings and homes demolished, families homeless and distraught, no access to food, electricity and water – the convoys are welcome but insufficient given the enormity of the destruction. Thirty-five UNRWA staff killed.

Peace is not an option, at least not now. An increase in the flow of humanitarian aid is imperative, as would be a cessation of the bombings that are affecting innocent civilians. There needs to be a viable, diplomatic road to peace, which does not include Hamas in any way, but rather another form of leadership from Palestinians which can come to the table with Israel – with the support from the US and neighbouring Arab nations.

We won’t get there if our humanity is chipped away by Hamas. While the diplomatic options might seem unreachable, it doesn’t mean that we – once again the big “We” of planet Earth – should remain silent observers to the unfolding violence. You can sign a petition to call for a cease fire (I signed a petition that currently has a quarter million signatures), you can donate to a reputable organization that is providing aid to Gazans (like UNRWA; I worked for them for 6 years, they are reputable, competent, and essential to saving lives in Gaza, period) or offer support for survivors of the attacks in Israel, or – and I know this is harder than it actually sounds – talk to others about it. Don’t remain silent on what happened. Even if you don’t know how to start a conversation, but you feel that you should – with a Jewish friend, or a Muslim friend, or with anyone – it’s ok to start a dialogue with “I don’t know what to say.” We can’t be afraid to speak about this because we fear tensions might flair – denial has always been a poor way to tackle any issue. Losing our humanity in the face of these events reduces our perceptions to absurd simplicities that trample our empathy and can galvanize anger, demonization, and hatred.  An appalling prospect indeed, and not one I’m willing to give into. We are not another planet’s hell.