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Joseph Taught Us How to Turn Our Enemies Into Allies
US President Harry Truman receives a menorah gifted by visiting Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and Abba Eban, Israel’s envoy to Washington. Photo: National Photo Collection of Israel / Government Press Office
World War II was so cataclysmic that even now, when someone says “The War,” no one has to ask them which one they mean. The villains of that dreadful conflict—Germany and Japan—unleashed horrors that defied human imagination, leaving entire countries, including their own, in ruins. Millions died, and millions more had their lives shattered.
The Allies won, but just barely—and not before being brought to their knees, literally, by blitzkriegs, kamikaze pilots, and some of the most heinous war crimes and terrifying military strategies ever devised. Unsurprisingly, the victory celebrations didn’t last long. As the world exhaled a collective sigh of relief, one daunting question lingered: What now?
The last time the world tried to clean up after a global war in 1919, it hadn’t exactly gone to plan. The Treaty of Versailles didn’t just punish the Germans; it humiliated them, grinding the nation into groveling submission, saddling them with crippling debt and a national identity crisis.
Unsurprisingly, Versailles backfired—spectacularly. Instead of licking their wounds and learning their lesson, Germany doubled down. Within a generation, they’d elected a violent psychopath who promised to restore their pride and lead them back to dominance.
By 1939, the Germans were back in uniform, goose-stepping straight into chaos and dragging the rest of the world along for the ride. So, in 1945, the Allies faced a big question: Should they repeat the mistakes of Versailles or try something completely different?
U.S. President Harry S. Truman, now the undisputed leader of the free world, was no softie. This was the man who dropped not one, but two atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II. He knew exactly what it meant to be tough. But Truman also understood something else—winning the war was only half the job. The real challenge was winning the peace.
With his Secretary of State, the famously humble George C. Marshall, Truman set out to rebuild what the devastating war had torn apart. Both men instinctively knew that grinding defeated enemies into the dirt might feel good in the moment, but in the long run, it was a recipe for resentment, instability, and—eventually—more war.
So, instead of punishment, they chose partnership. And instead of vengeance—which no one could deny was justified—they chose vision. The result? The Marshall Plan—a bold, almost utopian investment in Europe’s recovery that turned former enemies into future allies.
Meanwhile, over in Japan, General Douglas MacArthur—the military genius with a flair for dramatic poses and a love of corncob pipes—took charge of the occupation. And he did much more than oversee the country rebuild – he practically rewrote Japan’s playbook. With sweeping reforms, a new constitution, and a total overhaul of the country’s political and economic systems, MacArthur turned a defeated imperial power into a peaceful, thriving democracy.
Cleverly, he left Emperor Hirohito, who had nominally led the country during its war with the Allies, in place as head of state. And remarkably, it worked. Like the Marshall Plan, the idea wasn’t to punish but to empower, ensuring that former enemies wouldn’t become future threats. It was bold, risky, and surprisingly effective.
Both Truman and MacArthur played the long game. They understood that real leadership isn’t about humiliating enemies—it’s about turning them into allies. Truman proved he could be tough when it was necessary—his drastic decision to drop the atomic bomb made that abundantly clear. But he also recognized that securing the future required vision and partnership, not just brute force.
MacArthur took a similar approach, combining strength with strategy to transform Japan—not by crushing its spirit, but by reshaping its identity. And that brings us to Joseph, whose treatment of his brothers, especially in Parshat Vayigash, feels like a case study in strategic reconciliation.
Joseph had every right to make his brothers squirm. After all, they had sold him into slavery and left him for dead. He had done nothing to harm them, yet they conspired against him, sentencing him to what should have been a slow and miserable end. Although he survived slavery, he endured years of hardship—separated from his beloved father and locked away in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
But when the moment of reckoning arrived, Joseph didn’t crush his brothers. Instead, he orchestrated an emotional roller coaster designed to wake them up, force them to confront their guilt, and—most importantly—show them a way forward.
Joseph was tough, but he was also tender—equal parts drill sergeant and therapist. He wasn’t interested in an apology. He wanted a transformation. Like Truman and MacArthur, Joseph understood that the real victory wasn’t revenge and submission—it was redemption.
Joseph’s actions, as Ramban explains, weren’t about revenge or vindication. Instead, they were carefully calibrated to lead his brothers through a process of self-reflection and growth. Joseph wasn’t trying to break them—he was trying to rebuild them. By recreating a scenario that echoed their original betrayal, he allowed them to confront their guilt and prove they had changed. But Joseph’s brilliance didn’t stop there.
As Sforno points out, Joseph’s ultimate goal wasn’t to shame his brothers but to lift them up and empower them. He reframed their actions within a larger divine plan, assuring them that despite their wrongdoing, God had used the situation for good—to save lives and secure their family’s survival. And now, Joseph invited them to consciously step into that plan, turning past failures into a foundation for future success.
What Joseph intuitively understood was that crushing people under the weight of their mistakes might feel justified, but it’s ultimately counterproductive. True leadership means showing people how they can rise above their past and step into a better future.
And that’s the trick, isn’t it? Whether you’re rebuilding nations or repairing fractured relationships, the goal isn’t to keep score—it’s to move forward. Whether it’s Joseph in the biblical narrative or dealing with a defeated enemy in the modern world, the best way to win is to make sure everyone gets to share in the victory. Because the only thing better than defeating your enemies is turning them into your allies.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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Israel Blocks Ramallah Meeting with Arab Ministers, Israeli Official Says
A closed Israeli military gate stands near Ramallah in the West Bank, February 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after Arab ministers planning to attend were stopped from coming.
The move, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government announced one of the largest expansions of settlements in the West Bank in years, underlined escalating tensions over the issue of international recognition of a future Palestinian state.
Saturday’s meeting comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, that is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood, which Israel fiercely opposes.
The delegation of senior Arab officials due to visit Ramallah – including the Jordanian, Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Bahraini foreign ministers – postponed the visit after “Israel’s obstruction of it,” Jordan’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the block was “a clear breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupying force.”
The ministers required Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Saudi source told Reuters that Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had delayed a planned trip to the West Bank.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Palestinians want the West Bank territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the core of a future state along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
But the area is now criss-crossed with settlements that have squeezed some 3 million Palestinians into pockets increasingly cut off from each other though a network of military checkpoints.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the announcement this week of 22 new settlements in the West Bank was an “historic moment” for settlements and “a clear message to Macron.” He said recognition of a Palestinian state would be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”
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Gaza Aid Supplies Hit by Looting as Hamas Ceasefire Response Awaited
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Armed men hijacked dozens of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip overnight and hundreds of desperate Palestinians joined in to take supplies, local aid groups said on Saturday as officials waited for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals.
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close but Hamas has said it is still studying the latest proposals from his special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the proposals.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
On Saturday, the Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war began 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
At the same time, a separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on the social media platform X.
NO BREAD IN WEEKS
The World Food Program said it brought 77 trucks carrying flour into Gaza overnight and early on Saturday and all of them were stopped on the way, with food taken by hungry people.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” it said in a statement.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Overnight on Saturday, he said trucks had been stopped by armed groups near Khan Younis as they were headed towards a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and hundreds of desperate people had carried off supplies.
“We could understand that some are driven by hunger and starvation, some may not have eaten bread in several weeks, but we can’t understand armed looting, and it is not acceptable at all,” he said.
Israel says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
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Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian terrorist group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to the Hamas statement.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.
‘A MOCKERY’
The incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month.
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys.
He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation.”
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.
Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
The post Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal; Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.