Palestinians are Not Innocent

The facts of the most recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict are well-known Hamas invaded Israel, killed 1400 people and took another 241 people hostage into Gaza. Israel struck back, killing 9,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas. The mass media has been beating this drum, leading people to believe that the attack on Gaza is “senseless.” Jews say they don’t feel supported, not on college campuses and not among protesters. Pro-Palestinians also say they are not supported, as the Biden administration requests $14.3 billion in aid for Israel.

This back and forth misses the larger picture, and by looking at the wider picture, the evidence points to Palestinian responsibility for this conflict, which they are currently not owning.

Hamas is a democratically elected political party in Gaza that does NOT support Israel’s right to exist. Even the Palestinian Authority acknowledges Israel’s right to exist. Hamas is an extremist organization identified as a terrorist group by US, UK, European Union, Canada, Australia, Israel, Japan and Paraguay.

Israel has removed 8,500 Israeli settlers from Gaza in 2005 and supported the Palestinians’ right to exist. When people say there is apartheid in Gaza, how can that be when Gaza is ruled by Muslims, not Israelis?

When people talk about electricity, why hasn’t Gaza developed its resources in the way Israel and Singapore have? Why does the woke expect less from Palestinians than they do from the Israelis? Who’s being racist here?

Let’s explore the aftermath of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.

Gaza: population of 2 million people with an annual per capita GDP of $1,036.

Israel: population of 9.73 million people with an annual per capital GDP of $22,563 per year.

Unlike Gaza, where practically zero Israelis live, 21% of Israel is comprised of Arabs.

What do these figures reveal about tolerance?

Before the war, an estimated 18,500 Palestinians held work permits in Israel. They have since been deported, but not before many of them were jailed and retaliated against. Now what? Has the economic situation really improved by Hamas’ actions?

In a brutal climate bordered by four Muslim countries, five if you count nearby Saudi Arabia, Israel’s psychology is about survival. The attack by Hamas is like waking up a sleeping bulldog. Did Hamas not anticipate this? Is this how little they understand their neighbor?

Jews have been exiled and discriminated against for centuries. Before Israel’s founding on May 14, 1948, not long after nearly 6 million of them perished in a genocide, they were a major religion without at state. Islamic states, on the other hand, stretch from Europe to Asia. We’re talking about one piece of land, their ancestral homeland, where they can never be exiled again.

I believe they deserve a state.

Instead of building cooperation, Hamas has fueled hate against Israelis. Palestinians call Gaza an “open air prison.” Who made it that way? Israel hasn’t been there since 2005.

Palestinians in Gaza need to look at their own leadership. As long as they deny Israel’s right to exist, there can’t be a peace plan, much less anything to talk about.

Israel warned Palestinians to leave northern Gaza. Instead of heeding their call (get to safety first, talk later), Hamas used civilians as human shields. Instead of using grass roots organizational skills to evacuate those that cannot evacuate for themselves, they hid, like cowards, in underground tunnels and left their constituents to suffer above ground.

They bombed their own major hospital, for which the protesters, oddly enough, are silent.

If I was in north Gaza, I would have packed what I could and left. I would have worked with my neighbors to evacuate our community. I do not believe that it’s impossible. This is not a mission to Mars. This is evacuating people out of an area, and there are plenty of able-bodied men and women who could have done the job. The fact that so many people living closely together, for years, many of whom are unemployed, could not organize this says something about this community.

If I couldn’t move, in desperation, I would tell my child to.

“Run,” I would say, and point in the direction south.

Now that would be a picture worth a thousand words.

Instead, the Palestinians that stayed put not only put themselves in danger but cut short the lives of 3600 children. Nearly half of the population in Gaza is under 18. What did people expect would happen when Israel retaliated?

The woke love to decry the deaths of innocent children and civilians. None of this needed to happen. People need to look at their own leadership, who provoked Israel in the first place, knowing that Israelis live on edge, I reiterate, surrounded by five Muslim countries.

Israel’s attack was on Hamas. Children’s death was a preventable casualty of war.

Hamas killed children on purpose.

There’s a difference.

On the other end of Gaza is Egypt. What is Egypt’s role in helping their Muslim brothers? Egypt opened its doors to civilians and injured on November 1, nearly three weeks after the attack, then closed them again three days later.

As of this writing, they remain closed.

Why doesn’t Egypt open its border for the injured? Europe and America have taken in millions of refugees from Muslim countries. Why is the lens skewed when it is the “minority” that harbors racism?

Let’s be clear about what is happening. Let’s take off our woke glasses and actually see what is happening. In the US, we have this 1960s ideology of oppressed minorities. That’s not what I see here. I see people being screwed over by their own government and blaming Israel, and I see Palestinians relying on aid from the UN, supported largely by the West, instead of the five Muslim countries nearby, which says a lot about these countries’ priorities. Everyone is pro-Palestine, but when it comes down to aid and humanitarian assistance, it’s the “evil” West that is doing the heavy lifting.