What's Happening in Gaza Has to Stop

Being against Israel's siege of Gaza does not mean you are an anti-Semite

Photo by Aditya Romansa on Unsplash

Five hundred people are believed dead under the rubble of what used to be a hospital in Gaza City. Whether it was a bomb from the unrelenting Israeli airstrikes or an errant missile from the Hamas terrorists being fired toward Israel, the violence involving the non-combatants of Gaza City has to stop.

Israel was brutally attacked, resulting in over a thousand innocent deaths. If you are a Palestinian, you will, of course, deny that any Israeli citizens are innocent, but that is rhetoric. Many citizens of Israel have nothing against the Palestinians, and a growing minority are not against them having an independent state. Currently, 139 out of 193 countries in the United Nations recognize Palestine as independent. 

What Israel is now doing, however, is, to put it bluntly, “overkill.” Israel is preventing basic necessities from reaching Gaza and has forced the resettlement of 600,000 non-combatants from the North of Gaza to the South.

By Tuesday, the consequences of the blockade and strikes were inescapable: Rescuers were struggling to free some 1,200 people trapped under rubble, fights were breaking out over loaves of bread, and hospitals were grappling with how to treat the rapidly growing number of wounded and ill as their generators ran short of fuel. Palestinian officials said that at least 2,800 people have been killed and 10,000 others have been wounded in the Israeli strikes (Israel and Palestinians Blame Each Other).

The West cannot accept the violence Israel is exacting against the women and children of Gaza. For nearly the past two years, we have condemned Russia’s war of genocide against Ukraine with the harshest measure. Somehow, though, we struggle to muster up a straightforward criticism of Israel’s unforgiving punishment against everyone who happens to be Palestinian, regardless of age. 

Israel, of course, had every right to react to the nightmarish attacks that left 1400 dead and 200 still in captivity. Still, and now with the death toll of civilians over 3000 and many more expected — especially given that Israel has not recognized any safe zones — isn’t time for restraint? 

Unfortunately, most of the Western democracies fear criticizing Israel’s behavior. 

But Israeli forces have continued launching airstrikes into southern Gaza. Gaza’s Interior Ministry said that at least 72 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in attacks on residential buildings in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah. The Israeli military said on Tuesday morning that it had struck Hamas targets (Israel and Palestinians Blame Each Other).

The Hamas leadership are terrorists, and anyone in Gaza who supports them is foolish — like Americans who support Trump. Extremism begets extremism. What happened on October 7th was worthy of a harsh response. 

If we don’t demand that the Israeli government stop the slaughter immediately, then how is this not an example of criminal hypocrisy? If we don’t stand up for the innocent victims of Gaza, then how can we stand up for the innocent victims of Ukraine?

And for the record, being against the Israeli violence in Gaza does not make one anti-Jewish (the Palestinians are Semites, also). It makes a person a humanist and against the murder of innocent women and children.