College Protests, Gaza's Plight
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“So, what do you think about these crazy college campus protests?” |
The question caught me off guard. I leaned back in my desk chair while still facing the people seated in my home. Bringing my clasped hands with forefingers pointed up to my chin, I began speaking in slow and measured sentences, unsure up to that point how I really felt about the current headlines.
“I think if I was back living on a college campus –
especially as Israel prepares to wreck havoc in Rafah -
I’d be right there with the protestors.”
I love my Jewish friends and neighbors. But I am extremely angered and troubled by what the Israel government and military is doing in Gaza.
As much as I hate it when someone says "I don't hate homosexuals, just what those guys are doing in bed" -- you know, using that foolish old argument about loving the sinner, but not their sin -- I'm going to go ahead and use that formula here:
I can respect the Jewish faith,
have sympathy for the Jewish people
in regards to their past and present sufferings,
and love my Jewish friends and neighbors --
while at the same time
opposing the policies of the Israeli
government led by Benjamin Netanyahu
and the Far Right political base of his
that he is beholden to.
This does not make me anti-Semitic.
Of course I watched the video clips that were taken at the Bar Be'eri Kibbutz on Oct. 7, 2023 that captured Hamas terrorists taking over the guard house, ambushing and killing unsuspecting Israeli citizens waiting for the gate to open and then rushing in to commit more slayings. Such horror and brutality.
Yet now I have also watched for nine months the terrible Israeli-led retribution in Gaza.
Really, Israel?
In a word:
DISPROPORTIONATE
Let me ask you something. Let’s say your neighbor kid, who you know is a little trouble-maker and instigator, decides one day to throw his hardball into the air and as it descends, he whacks the hell out of that ball with his bat. This action sends that high velocity missile right through your living room window – resulting in not only a lot of broken glass, but cracks open the skull of your 3 year old child asleep in his crib in the middle of the living room floor.
How do you respond?
Do you set out that evening to burn his family’s home to the ground while they’re sleeping in it?
Such a response would be disproportionate and wrong, that’s what I think.
During the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, over 130 people were killed. As well, the community suffered hundreds of heartbreaking incidents on that Black Saturday and over the past months, especially regarding the hostages.
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| Israeli military bags the bodies of those killed in the Hammas attack on October 7, 2023. |
Since the terrorist organization Hamas
launched its attacks on Israeli soil
on October 7, 2023,
around 1,200 Israelis have died,
and 5,431 were injured.
Through retaliation attacks by the
Israeli armed forces against Hamas in Gaza,
33,797 Palestinians were killed,
and 76,465 were injured.
In a word:
DISPROPORTIONATE
Similarly for Bush following 9-11 who got to push through the Patriot Act, the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023 were a “burning of the Reichstag moment” for Netanyahu -- ever the opportunist, he seized upon this crisis to achieve the dictatorial powers he’s long craved and push through his Far Right party’s long-held vision for Gaza.
Do you remember what was happening in Israel
just prior to the Hamas terrorist attack in 2023?
Just prior to the Hamas terrorist attack, millions of Israelis were demonstrating in the streets AGAINST Netanyahu and his attempt to shove a rewritten constitution down their throats with no democratic referendum on the changes – changes that will greatly diminish the power of the Judicial branch in Israel and consolidate powers in Netanyahu’s executive administration.
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| Israelis protest against Netanyahu, early 2023 |
And why was Netanyahu trying to do this? Because the Courts were out to get him. Those are his words (we Americans have heard the same words from another autocrat, haven't we?) On November 21, 2019, Netanyahu was officially indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud, leading him to legally relinquish his ministry portfolios other than prime minister. Netanyahu's trial in the Jerusalem District Court began on 24 May 2020, with witness testimony starting on 5 April 2021.
To be blunt: Netanyahu was in deep doo-doo in the weeks leading up to the Hamas terrorist attack in 2023. But, oh my, what a difference a day makes!
A conspiracy theorist might wonder if Hitler was behind the burning of the Reichstag, only to then blame the communists so he could gain dictatorial power.
A conspiracy theorist might wonder if the Roosevelt administration knew the Japanese fleet was on its way to Pearl Harbor, but knew such an attack would silence the isolationists in Washington and he’d be able to finally get America to provide Europe the military support it needed.
A conspiracy theorist might think Clinton and Bush were fully briefed on the Taliban threat assessment – but intelligence agents become opportunists in board rooms and here was a chance to justify our long-desired invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq in order to – have you looked at a map – put the pincers on Iran. So, why not let the Taliban come and give us that excuse to pounce.
A conspiracy theorist might look at the weeks leading up to October 2023 and think, if there was ever a political leader in need of a distraction - a Wag the Dog incident – it was Benjamin Netanyahu. Well, he got one.
A moot point now, as well, will be those troublesome settlements, don’t you think?
Look, I’m all for the partition of Palestine after World War II. I mean the Jews suffered one of the worst calamities in world history – the Holocaust. They’d long desired a nation of their own and the early 20th century spirit of nationalism had been giving everybody a little piece of pie – even my Czech peeps got their wish after WWI. So, good for the Jews, they finally got their homeland.
But, that’s the thing about partitions, isn’t it? You give ‘em a slice, they want the whole pie. Give 'em an inch more, they want a mile.
And so, what's been up in these recent years, Israel, with these settlements being built on land that is not yours?
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| The 1949 UN Partition of Palestine created a Jewish state |
Granted, Israel has had a hard time with her Arab neighbors since the creation of the new state of Israel in 1949. (Let's be mindful of the fact that the creation, as well, of an Arab state envisioned by the 1947 UN partition plan never came into being.) So we simply "displaced" a whole lot of people when we carved up Palestine and gave returning Jews a big chunk of it. Palestinians -- made up of Muslims, Jews, and Christian citizens - woke up one day to find themselves either - excuse the phrase - between a rock and hard place.
And so, I ask again,
what's been up, Israel, with the settlements you've been allowing your citizens to build on land that is not yours?
Did you not understand how inciteful these settlements are, the anger they incite, the fury that leads to violent response?
And when you experience the consequences of that fury, is it too much to ask that when armed combatants attack you, you send your own armed combatants to attack those armed combatants?
The opportunist Netanyahu and his Far Right government have now been given an opportunity to seize even more land -- land that Far Right Israelis have been silently encroaching on for decades in the building of settlements.
All the while the United States and its Allies – ever loyal to Israel, because it remains geopolitically important that we continue to have this friendly foothold in that region – have been complicit in this matter both in their silence and their pathetic occasional hand spanking. “Now, now, Israel. Please don’t be building those settlements.”
And now, the silence of the United States and its Allies in response to the Israeli government and its military’s alarming actions these past eight months has been stupefying, shocking, no – looking for the word -- inexcusable, yes, good word, but still not strong enough –
simply put, sinful.
The number of civilian women and children killed by Israel in their disproportionate retaliation has been inexcusable.
30 of Gaza's 36 hospitals
were bombed by February 2024,
many repeatedly, even while medical staff,
patients, and civilians seeking shelter
remained inside.
“But they’re harboring the terrorists.”
Really? Really? This excuses the killing of civilian women and children?
The Christian West represented by the United States and its Allies have made it known that rather than walk the path of Christ who taught us to love even our enemies and do good to those who persecute you, they have now chosen to walk the path of the Jewish scripture – “an eye for an eye” – the Old Testament, you remember, that law Jesus came to reform.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also…. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?...Take the higher road than the evildoer, set the better example. 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Riding high on his new found popularity again, Netanyahu has given the bird to Biden and Blinken, as well as ambassadors from at least four other European nations. And, despite ceasefire talks looking promising and Hamas agreeing to a new plan, as I am writing this Netanyahu is giving the order to invade Rafah.
It will be another bloodbath.
From the start of the war in Gaza seven months ago, Israel’s dual war aims – rescuing hostages and defeating Hamas – have been in tension. As pressures mount on Israel to choose between a cease-fire and an invasion of Rafah, that tension is soaring.
Israeli officials said they believed four Hamas battalions remained in Rafah. The initial airstrikes over Rafah killed 27 Palestinians, including several children, according to Palestinian health sources, while Israel said 20 gunmen were killed in their overnight operation.
As part of its seizure, Israel closed the Rafah crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid to the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza. It came 24 hours after Israel closed the Kerem Shalom crossing, another main aid entry point, on Monday after Hamas rocket fire from Rafah killed four Israeli soldiers at the crossing Sunday.
Jens Laerke, deputy spokesperson for the United Nations humanitarian body known as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned Tuesday that Israel’s closures of the two crossings left Gaza “choked off,” with U.N. agencies there facing very low stocks of foodstuffs. The U.N. said the enclave had one day’s worth of fuel supplies, which are needed to power hospitals, water pumps, and trucks for food distribution.
It remains unclear whether Israel’s incursion into Rafah is a limited operation designed to pressure Hamas to release more hostages, or the first stage in what Mr. Netanyahu has vowed, and large segments of Israeli public have demanded, for months: an assault on Rafah itself. Or, perhaps, it is an attempt at both.
For Israelis, including members of the military, attitudes toward a Rafah operation or potential alternatives vary widely. Many believe the government’s priority should be the hostages, yet nobody wants Hamas to continue to be a threat. Regardless, entering Rafah to defeat the four Hamas battalions there will likely cost many more lives: of hostages, Israeli soldiers, and Palestinian civilians.
"But, oh, what Guernica hath brought upon us."
Some would say that there is some irony in finding that today it is Israel authorizing such a military strategy.
And so, you ask me what I think about those crazy college protestors?
While I condemn those opportunists who are using these platforms to espouse their anti-Semitic views, I support those who are sincere in their efforts to call our attention to the --
- plight of Gaza's citizens who are without food and medical supplies, homes destroyed, and being displaced;
- disproportionate numbers of Gazan civilians that have been killed since the terror attack of October 2023; and
- disturbing impotence of our current administration and its unwillingness to say to Netanyahu "enough is enough."
Israel, yes,
go after Hamas.
But, end your disproportionate retaliation
against the citizens of Gaza.
I hope I’ve answered your question.
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