I know that people back home are being bombarded by news from all sides. None of the news at home is very balanced. It's not just a right wing bias (which there is) but also a left wing bias.
There are quite a few ways to attack this issue, so I'm going to do my best to give you the most balanced report I can in the only way I know to be organized: list form.
1. Things in Jerusalem are relatively calm. The tension is palpable as people are saying goodbye to their friends, neighbors, children, cousins, siblings, parents as they are called up from the reserves to go to the frontlines Many more people are walking around in uniform than just the young adults like usual. However, thank God, we haven't heard a siren for a week or two, and people are pretty much living like normal. They are out in cafes, shopping, going to the market, hanging out, etc. So things pretty much feel like every other day. Something I have noticed about Israelis is the way they all take on the sorrows and issues of the country. All people are feeling heartbreak and loss for the young soldiers who were killed. Everyone is carrying the burden, not just the families of the dead. This is so interesting to me. I can see how this is an easy phenomenon because everyone has to go to the army for a little while, so these men could really be any relative or friend.
2. The situation here is generally complicated. Many cease fires (hafsakat eish== smichut!) have been offered and for about 6 hours Hamas agreed to a humanitarian cease fire to allow for aid to get into Gaza, although during that period they were still launching rockets. Nothing has been accepted by Hamas, though Israel has agreed to all the options offered by Egypt.
3. I am noticing people offering their opinions of "The Conflict" although they are not here right now or have never been here. I'm seeing tons of biased articles written and posted on facebook on both sides of the spectrum, and I am struggling to figure out what my responsibility is as far as responding. I can only give my perspective, but because I am here experiencing this, I hope I can shed some balanced light on this issue.
4. Facts:
- Gaza is not Israel any longer. It is not run by the Israeli government, or occupied in any way. There are no settlements in Gaza, there are no Israeli Jews left there. In 1994, Israel granted the right of self-governance to Gaza through the Palestinian Authority and in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the whole of the territory. In 2007, Palestinians held an election and since then the Gaza Strip has been de-facto governed by Hamas.
- Hamas's main leaders are not in Palestine at all. They govern from Qatar. They don't see the havoc and chaos caused by Israel's reaction to their rockets. They don't see the blood and death. People are killed and houses destroyed by the IDF as a military reaction to the rockets sent over by Hamas.
- The West Bank is occupied. There are settlers there, though the government is the Palestinian Authority, the airspace and borders are controlled by Israel.
- (If you want more historical information, I found this Wikipedia article to be actually quite helpful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict)
- Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by many countries. It has three branches: military (al-Qassam... like Qassam rockets), government, and humanitarian/social welfare. The reason that Hamas is so well liked in Palestine is because their welfare wing has built schools, hospitals, and support to people whose family members die in the name of the cause stated in their charter to "obliterate" Israel and all Jews.
5. I believe that Israel has a right to defend herself from attack, just like any other country. I have been giving this hypothetical example(it's a little goofy, but I think it works.) If Ohio seceded from the US and extremists started launching rockets from Youngstown into Pittsburgh in order to rid the area of Steeler fans, the USA wouldn't just sit around and let Pittsburghers get killed. Because Ohio is (in my hypothetical situation) no longer a part of the US, there would likely be a military invasion into the country of Ohio to destroy all the rocket launchers and terrorist cells of extremist Ohioans that formed after the secession. (PS: Thanks OH for being my example. I love you!)
6. There are some serious humanitarian questions here. Innocent people are being killed, people can't move freely throughout Israel or back and forth from Israel to Palestine. It's not good. In recent days people have been comparing the numbers of lost lives on both sides and saying that Israel has taken so many more lives. It is factually accurate to say that indeed more Palestinians have been killed. However, Hamas has launched attack after attack on Israel. I am the first one to volunteer to say that I don't think it's okay that Israel is still a presence in the West Bank. Once the agreement was made that this area would no longer be Israel and would be Palestine, Israel should have left. However, what keeps the death toll of citizens so dramatically low in Israel compared to that in Gaza is that it is THE priority of the government to keep her citizens safe. If not for the Iron Dome, rockets would have killed hundreds of thousands of Israelis by now. Israel seems to be doing her utmost to keep her citizens out of danger. This includes foiling plans to terrorize Israel by arriving in tunnels built underneath the border of Israel and Palestine. From what I have seen, Hamas's priority is not the protection of the people in Gaza, but the destruction of Israel and Jews.
7. What worries me even more than what's going on here in Israel on both sides, is the anti-Semitic nature of the demonstrations around the world. In the last two days, 700 people were killed in Syria, yet activists aren't calling for #freesyria and staging "die-ins" in front of Syrian embassies. Around the world, in places which used to be safe for Jews to practice freely, more and more large gatherings against Jews and Israel have formed. There was basically a pogrom in Paris this past week, as hundreds of Jews were trapped in a synagogue by Hamas supporters. Now, French Jews are fleeing as stores are looted and fires started in Jewish owned buildings and schools by these groups. In London, Boston, and New York, people are demonstrating en mass, chanting hate speech such as "death to Jews" "gas the Jews." Notably, the slogans aren't about "death to Israelis." The anti-Israel groups are growing more and more anti-Semitic. I feel, it is my responsibility as an American Jew to stand up for Judaism. We've gone through this before. It is in recent history that this kind of hate led to the extermination of 6 million Jewish people.
I do not believe that one needs to agree with the Netanyahu government or support Israel's actions. In fact, I believe it's okay to oppose all military action that Israel has taken. I am an American who whole heatedly disagrees with our various foreign wars and the killing that was done in the name of defending our freedom and yet I am still American. What I do want to emphasize, however, is that it is NOT okay for hatred of Jews to be spread. It is NOT okay that Jews, especially those in America, have not unified their voice and spoken out as one against the hatred that is being spewed toward us. It's NOT okay to apologize for the existence of Israel. It's NOT okay to allow this kind of antisemitism to continue to grow. As much as I may agree or disagree with what's happening on the ground here, I do not think it's acceptable to be quiet about the hatred of Jews stemming from propaganda and social media.
In order for Judaism to thrive, it is imperative that we apply our Jewish values to all areas, and this includes speaking up where there is a wrong. I don't like the way Palestinians are treated in Israel. I don't like the idea of people feeling like refugees in their own land. I don't like the racism and blatant ignorance demonstrated here toward the Palestinians.
I also don't like the disregard for human life demonstrated by Hamas on a regular basis. I don't like that this tiny New Jersey- sized nation is constantly under scrutiny by people who just don't know all the facts. It is important to speak out for the human rights of all peoples in this country. However, without the perspective of history from both sides, I do not feel that activists should speak out the way they are-- spewing hatred against all Jews.
It's our job to get informed to make conscious, educated decisions regarding this matter. Being here, in Israel gives me a clear view into what its like for both peoples.
I hope someone in internet land found my writing helpful. It has been extremely helpful to me to write this all down. If, after all this, you want to do some more reading by people much more educated than I, I suggest these two articles:
http://time.com/2982215/israel-gaza-casualties/ written by the former head of the Union for Reform Judaism
and http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-israeli-genocide-in-gaza/
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