The Middle East, When Revenge Sets the Agenda

Moscow - Veterans news. "I have seen war up close. I have stood in sand and dust among the wounded and the dead, and I have served shoulder to shoulder with soldiers from many nations. I have been a representative for veterans in different conflict zones, and I know what it feels like when human beings are reduced to pawns in a cynical game. That is why I cannot stay silent when I see what is happening in Gaza."

October 7, 2023 became a day of horror, when Hamas attacked civilians in Israel. More than a thousand people were killed, hundreds taken hostage. Children, women, and the elderly were subjected to unimaginable violence. Many Israeli families still live with an open wound: the fear of new attacks, the grief of lost children, and the uncertainty of whether the remaining hostages will ever return home. For many in southern Israel, life has become a life in shelters, with sirens warning of rockets, with children growing up in fear instead of safety.

I understand this fear. I understand the pain. But I also know that fear often turns into revenge. And revenge is not a way out. Revenge is a force that accelerates, it drives the conflict forward, and it binds people to the logic of war. It makes you blind to solutions, unable to build peace.

This is not a new problem. It is the very core of the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict—a long-lasting spiral of violence and revenge. Hamas too is trapped in the same snare. They build their legitimacy on revenge against Israel, and the result is the same vicious circle: attacks, counterattacks, dead children on both sides, and new generations inheriting bitterness and hate. Revenge only breeds more revenge.

Thus, we see two peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, who decade after decade are dragged deeper into a destructive spiral. It is an old problem, but every new round of violence makes it harder to break free. For Israel, revenge means justifying massacres in Gaza. For Hamas, revenge means sacrificing their own civilian population by making attacks on Israeli civilians an end in itself. Both sides lose their humanity when revenge takes control.

I’ll say it plainly: revenge has taken over. It has become the real engine of the conflict—more than politics, more than religion, more than territory. And it holds both peoples captive in a nightmare they cannot escape without a radical change of course.

That is why it is so crucial to listen to those, both in Israel and in Palestine, who say: enough. Enough revenge. Enough blood. For only those who dare to break with this old logic can create a new future.

I have seen what war does to human beings. No one wins—well, except for the arms industry. And they are winning now too. But both Palestinians and Israelis are losing, day after day.

Peace does not come through revenge. Peace comes only when both peoples dare to break free from the spiral of vengeance and see that justice and reconciliation are the only path to safety for their children and for the future.

Best regards,

Mr. Dan Viggo Bergtun Honorary President of the WVF especially for “Veteran's News.”

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