Ticking off the marks on my to-do list I find myself at the ten minute rule. I am hesitant to write this one today, because it is going to be “political” and by that I mean it is going to strike at people’s beliefs in right, wrong, and ultimately Justice. I am talking about Gaza. Now if you’re someone who is an outsider to the affair as I am, you might see the story as: Hamas military (now further classified as terrorists) brutally attack a music festival in Israel near disputed territory, murdering 1200+ and capturing over 200 as hostages. Why? One article suggests, ” Perhaps Hamas thought a surprise attack would widen political divisions in Israel, upend the Israeli government, and sap the resilience and determination of the Israeli people to prevail, rather than produce the unity and resolve the world is currently seeing.” Well, that was a bad idea.
I am not downplaying the attack in any way. I am also not focused on the sexual and other brutalities that are being claimed as part of the attack. To be honest, the only reason anyone would need to hear more than “1200 dead” would be to justify any response. It turns out the only response we’ve seen is an open assault on anyone left in the region. This includes children. Sure, you can make excuses for why children have died in the war, but that is a near inescapable aspect of war. You cannot just target military combatants in an invasion. That requires a level of precision, certainty, and awareness no earthly army has.
Yet, I am not excusing the 30,000+ deaths on the Gaza side, less than a 3rd of which were actual soldiers. In fact, despite multiple attempts to bury the story, Israel’s tactics have already led to the murder of unarmed Israeli hostages who were waving flags of surrender. Hamas is wrong for the attack. That this was authorized . We know this because Israel knew about the attack a year in advance but their leadership failed to take the plan seriously. This is the same leadership that is now using that attack as an excuse to eradicate “hamas” and seize control of the strip.
Look, nobody is right here. Also nobody appears to have the leadership to fix the problem as a 3rd party. This isn’t going to go away, but it is going to pave the way for darker feelings about Palestinians who are unfortunately being used as a proxy for other forces. We may be on the verge of seeing one of the only sanctioned and accepted cultural exterminations in my lifetime… And nobody cares.