A standing room-only crowd gathered Wednesday night at the Squirrel Hill Jewish Community Center for a discussion with Yisrael Klitsner on the conflict in Israel.
Though Klitsner served as the Diaspora Affairs Advisor for former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and worked for six years for AIPAC-AIEF, he spoke Wednesday as a private citizen.
Klitsner told the audience what set Saturday’s attack apart from those Israel regularly faces from Hamas — as well as Hezbollah, a powerful militant group in Lebanon — was its success.
“Similar to cybersecurity, all it takes is one successful attempt out of one million for the perpetrators to be successful,” he said, speaking after the event. “This was that one time.”
He spoke for roughly 20 minutes; his remarks largely focused on giving a geopolitical sketch of recent Israeli history and conveying a sense of what it’s like to share a border with Hamas and Hezbollah. Klitsner drew clear distinctions between Hamas and Palestinians “who did not ask for this.”
Palestinians elected Hamas in 2006; there hasn’t been an election since.
For years, Israeli governments adopted a model of deterrence to militant groups, Klitsner said, but the magnitude of Saturday’s attack forced Israel to wake up to “a reality where there is no such thing as deterring a genocidal, irrational neighbor,” he said. “It just doesn’t work.”
Hamas’s founding document, written in 1988, leaves no room for the existence of an Israeli state, and specifically threatens Jews. The group adopted an amended charter in 2017 which removed specific reference to the Jewish people and instead condemned “the Zionist project.”
Klitsner said he has always looked for a path to a two-state solution, but worries Hamas’s attack will deal a significant blow to any potential peace between Israelis and Palestinians, because Israel had been “goad[ed] into battle … and cannot but respond.”
Audience members asked Klitsner to share his thoughts on the possible intelligence failures that allowed last week’s attack, his thoughts on Israel’s potential response, and the long-term impacts of the conflict.
Afterward, Klitsner reflected on what it was like to be in Pittsburgh when he heard what was happening at home.
Pittsburgh has been embracing, he said.
“I don’t know of many other rooms where you’ll see Jews, non-Jews, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and other Jews that are all coming together for a cause.”
Klitsner will leave his family on Thursday to fly to Israel and either rejoin the special forces unit with which he served, or join an infantry unit.
The JCC organized Wednesday night’s event and officials said there will be more events in coming weeks to examine the conflict in Israel.
