The Invasion
of the Gaza Strip is well under way and as anyone who has studied warfare would
expect, the casualty rates are rising quickly. This battle between Hamas and
Israel takes on a dangerous format as the war becomes misconstrued.
Misconceptions flare up and create a lack of moderation on both sides.
On the
Israeli side, many within the nation and outside the country view this is a
battle for the sanctity of a Jewish homeland. They see Hamas’s rocket attacks
as an attack on the Jewish people that must be responded to since past
terrorism against Jews often were ignored. Many Jews in the United States,
including me, share an affinity with Israel in that it is a country where Jews
can be guaranteed protection against discrimination after so much history of anti-Semitism.
But this
ideology fails to recognize the very nature of the conflict, which is
territorial and not religious. Hamas gained power by asserting its strong
stance against Israeli incursions into Palestinian territory. For the people of
the Gaza Strip, their land is small and they desire some form of
self-representation. To view this as a purely religious conflict is to forget
that the Palestinian people are also being discriminated against.
On the
Palestinian side, there is often great condemnation of Israel for its military
actions. But there is not one country that would not have done the same if it
suffered from repeated rocket attacks aimed at its civilians. For the Palestinians,
the issue is one that has plagued impoverished rebels forever. When suffering
from discrimination and poverty, they turn to military solutions which often
fail and only incite more anger.
There are
also the pro-Palestinian protesters that are hard at work within the United
States. Many of them are reasonable and simply disagree with Israel’s treatment
of the Palestinians. However, many would need to read up on history and change
their rhetoric. An example is from a protester who, when prompted to give his
reasons for protesting, claimed that “Jews should know better than to
discriminate”. Now, this may not sound anti-Semitic or even wrong to many
people. But it can definitely sound that way to someone who is Jewish.
So amongst
the protesters who claim that Israel practices Apartheid and that Israel maybe
should not even exist, there are some reasonable people. Amongst the protesters
who point to pictures of the three dead Israeli teens as if it could justify
any action taken, there are some reasonable people. But those people need to
speak up, and the others should learn more about international relations and
other points of views.
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