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Tales of a coffee-holic: Unwavering support?

People are dying in the middle east. It’s news, but sadly, it’s not surprising.

Our views on world events are shaped by our experiences. Because of that, I’m sure mine are different than yours. I am very far removed from the second world war. I was not alive when six million Jews were being slaughtered in the Holocaust and neither were my parents. Although watching footage and seeing photos of Holocaust survivors being liberated gives me a deep sense of shock and sorrow, I will never feel the same as those who saw those images in real time. I realize that during the time directly following WWII, Jews in Europe needed somewhere to go and that the creation of Israel in Palestine was the answer.

However, the terrible reality that Jews were relentlessly persecuted in Europe 75 years ago doesn’t change the fact that Israel is killing Palestinian children today. I realize that a lot has happened in the middle east since the Holocaust and that the conflict is more complicated than anyone outside of it could probably understand. Although I do not condone any anti-semitism that has bloomed in Europe due to this conflict, I cannot understand why some U.S. congressmen and leaders continue to blindly back Israel when they are blatantly killing Palestinians whether they are fighters, grandfathers or schoolchildren.

I would think that Jews, of all people would be reticent to kill a community based only on its ethnic background. Killing Hamas fighters, people who attempt to slaughter Israelis is a necessary part of war. I think Israel needs to be much more careful about who and what it decimates.

Hamas, the militant organization is absolutely at fault for attacking Israel. Gaza is a strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea between Israel and Egypt where there are 1.8 million people living in 139 square miles. Hamas, which does not recognize the existence of Israel, controls Gaza.

The actions of Hamas against Israelis should not condone Israeli slaughter of innocent citizens who are obviously not members of the militant organization. I’m not sure why we side so adamantly with Israel when both sides have made egregious mistakes. Although I would never condone killing, I think many people would react the same to being displaced like the Palestinians were when Israel was created.

If a persecuted group like a Native American tribe decided to re-claim its rightful homeland, not on a reservation, but in the middle of a busy United States city, we would react violently, just as the Palestinians have.

Its estimated that as many as 170,000 Jewish people displaced by WWII immigrated to Israel by 1953, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. These people absolutely needed and deserved a safe place to go. But there were already people living in the area now known as Israel.

If the Cheyenne came in and set up camp in Hickory St. Square would we allow them to stay or would we arrest them? You know the answer to that.

Whether you support Israel’s actions or not, you cannot deny the facts. Nearly 1,800 Palestinians have died in the conflict since it began on July 8 including more than 300 children, according to CNN. Gaza’s Health Ministry claims that 10,000 have been wounded. CNN reported that 64 Israeli soldiers and three civilians have died on its side.

Both Israelis and Palestinians need a place to live, and they both want to live in the same place. I obviously don’t know the answer to this decades-long problem.

I sympathize with both sides, but no matter what many in the United States say, I don’t think Israel should have free reign much less U.S. support for killing Palestinian children.

Hamas may be a terrorist group, but the children being blown apart are not part of that group.

 

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