Context “explains” everything and it “explains” nothing. It explains somethings and excludes other things –like the the wordless and physical shock it effectively occludes. It’s an intellectual’s exercise tied up with narratives and concepts. Looking at the photograph, I don’t “understand” how a young man gets up in the morning and stabs a 79-year-old woman in the back. Her name is Leah Bar-Avi.
I don’t understand how an Israeli pilot can drop a ton of bombs on a house killing innocent civilians either. There are many things that are “inexplicable”: how both sides can lose tzelem enosh; how people are simply incapable of moving beyond their tribe.
Can we rent the Pope?
Not trying to pick an argument: I agree about tzelem enosh, but I’d ask if for you that counts as pacifism. A very dear friend of mine would go that distance, but I wonder about you.