Letters
letters •
Israel at the box office. What if, on 7 October, some Arab countries had understood this better than the West?
Who wrote to the editor-in-chief, Claudio Cerasa
7 OCT 26
Translated by AI
To the Editor – The documentary film ‘Naza’ is rivalling the popularity and box-office success of the film ‘Süss l’ebreo’, which won an award at the 1940 Venice Film Festival. The film was described by Joseph Goebbels as ‘one of the most famous films produced in Nazi Germany’. In Germany, it was seen by over twenty million people. Although the allocated budget of 2 million Reichsmarks was high by the standards of the time, the box-office takings of around 6.5 million more than recouped the investment. Tragedy repeats itself as farce.
Giuliano Cazzola
I read that “Naza” is topping the Italian box office. And I read that the fifth series of “Fauda”, in the week from 7 to 13 September, was number one in the Netflix series rankings in Lebanon, fourth in Jordan and Qatar, and fifth in the United Arab Emirates. In all these countries, it ranked higher than in France, where it was sixth, in Italy, where it was eighth, and in Germany and Spain, where it was tenth. A question arises: what if, on 7 October—understood first and foremost as a realisation of the consequences of jihadist and Islamist extremism—certain Arab countries had grasped this better than parts of the West? We shall return to this.
To the Editor – Since the beginning of his pontificate, there have been countless appeals from Leo XIV for peace – that is, the ‘absolute good’ – to prevail over war – that is, the ‘absolute evil’. Despite the Pontiff’s lofty and noble teachings, however, this absolute evil does not seem to be eradicable from human history. This raises once again, even for a non-believer such as the author – who nevertheless considers himself a Christian in the Crocean sense – a question that was addressed in its most radical form by Kant in one of his most famous works, “Perpetual Peace” (1795). Over time, it has been regarded as a veritable pacifist manifesto, at times even elevated to the status of the archetype of modern pacifism, in which the humanitarian condemnation of war goes hand in hand with an edifying appeal for ecumenical coexistence amongst people of every race and nation. But unlike pacifist fundamentalism—rooted in Erasmus of Rotterdam’s assertion that ‘the most unjust peace is better than the most just of wars’ (‘Querela pacis’, 1517)—that is, that peace is the supreme good, to be unconditionally prioritised over every other value—Kant decisively rejects the idea of peace achieved at any price, even if it means building it upon the ‘graveyard of freedom’. While recognising war as a ‘scourge of mankind’, he does not regard it as an ‘incurable evil’ on a par with the far more dreaded ‘tomb of a single dominion’. Indeed, he warns against the risks of a universal and lasting peace achieved ‘under a single sovereign’, which is bound to result in the ‘most horrible despotism’. On the other hand, in the Pastoral Constitution ‘Gaudium et Spes’ of the Second Vatican Council, promulgated by Paul VI on 7 December 1965, we read: ‘War, alas, has not been eradicated from the human condition. And as long as the danger of war persists and there is no competent international authority, endowed with effective forces, once all possibilities for a peaceful settlement have been exhausted, governments cannot be denied the right to legitimate defence”. Moreover, the doctrine of ‘bellum iustum’ has its roots in the thought of Saint Augustine (354–430): ‘Peace must be in the will, and war only a necessity, so that God may free us from necessity and preserve us in peace! For one does not seek peace in order to provoke war, but wages war to secure peace! Even when waging war, therefore, be inspired by peace, so that, by winning, you may lead those you defeat to the good of peace’ (‘Letter to General Boniface’, no. 189, Point 6). Finally: ‘Vim vi repellere licet’ (It is lawful to repel violence with violence) is a principle already present in Justinian’s Digest (533). It is accepted by every legal system and every moral doctrine. Interpreted quite broadly, it has also been incorporated into the Catechism of the Catholic Church, commissioned in 1992 by John Paul II as an expression of the conciliar magisterium. “Opus iustitiae, pax” (Isaiah 32:17) was his episcopal motto. And, since peace can arise only from justice, Pope Wojtyla went so far as to say that ‘there are cases in which armed struggle is an unavoidable evil which, in tragic circumstances, even Christians cannot avoid’ (Homily at Heldenplatz in Vienna, 10 September 1983).
Michele Magno