This morning, Darryl responded to my email about Palestine. In it, I was wondering why nobody is quoting Hannah Arendt and her major contributions to the analysis of zionism and related issues. How can she be ignored so completely? And Darryl added: if you are so concerned about Hannah Arendt, why don’t you bring her up yourself? Good point, of course, but it has been such a long time since I have read her (the little I read by her?), I am not so sure I would be clear and true to her.

So, I went back to some sources, using Wikipedia as a spring board. I remembered mostly the books I read: ‘the Origins of Totalitarianism’, “Eichmann in Jerusalem’ and a great biography by I forgot whom! Wikipedia brought me to a lecture by Richard Bernstein and the New School … What a formative period for my intellectual life this all was! The mid 70’s if I remember! She actually died when I was hoing to take classes at the New School.

Altogether, what strikes me most now and what struck me when I was into Arendt in full. Her plea for principled stands, her integrity, to the point where she was criticized for her radicalism. Directly concerning the present Israel-Palestine conflict, I still credit her for her analysis of:

‘the Banality of Evil’, (subtitle of the book ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem’) and the fact that she refined its meaning, when she added, somewhere that

“evil is not radical. It is extreme … “
Bernstein’s interpretation of which is that
“evil is not a fault deeply rooted in humans; it rather is like a fungus, it spreads on the surface, extremely rapidly.”

I also take it to mean that she does not believe in an original sinn. This makes a major difference with most of Europe’s christian thinking.

In 1948, date of the now called ‘First Nakba’, (this an exact quote):
“there will never be peace in the Middle East as long as Arabs and Jews do not sit down and negotiate together.'”

There is an other quote I cannot miss to note here:
‘No none has the right to obey’

meaning to me that as an intelligent being, I must use my intelligence when given and before following an order. Order to do something I may consider from dubious to unconscionable. This, I believe, in reference to Eichmann’s obedience when being ordered to pursue the extermination of Jews. He was a banal man and his evil – following orders – after all, was banal.

Mysterious, ominous, these other Arendt’s words …
“No one has the right to obey.”
“Niemand hat das Recht zu gehorchen.”

… it resonates like a gun shot penetrating the soft flesh of a victim. Of a hostage, I should say.

Today, it does not take a kidnapping to produce hostages. Gaslighting, fake news, X or Instagram, large scale propaganda, demagoguery, can fool the mind and soul of millions of ignorant, banal subjects. This is what Hannah Arendt is talking about. The banality of evil.

Then, it is easier to understand why nobody refers to her at this moment! Nobody would find grace in her eyes that is.