Over the past week, something has happened in Israel that seems all too familiar. Armed conflict, sparked by rockets being launched from Gaza into Israel, has broken out once again. As it goes on, regular news watchers are being treated to an ever growing – and very revealing – ?body count.
As this is being written, 566 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including over 100 children. By contrast, 27 Israelis have been killed, two of whom ?were civilians.
Let me be clear that there is no defense for Hamas’ terrorist actions. Hamas is indisputably the cause of this conflict. But CNN has released polls showing that a majority of Americans think Israel’s actions are completely justified. And this simply could not be less true.
Yes, Hamas builds their rocket sites in densely populated locations. Yes, Hamas acts without regard for human life. But as the war rages on, the inhumanity of Hamas is eerily paralleled by the ruthlessness of Israel’s forces. I’m not going to talk about who’s “right” in this conflict, because that’s a question too complex and incendiary to deal with in this space.
Yet when you fight a war to defend your citizens that inflates your own casualties by a factor of 12, you’ve miscalculated. When you suffer two civilian casualties and respond by killing 100 children, you’ve gone too far. And most importantly, when you ignore the needs of a subordinate nation and respond to its uprising with a slaughter, you’ve lost the moral high ground.
See, terrorists aren’t created in a vacuum. They don’t spring out of the ground fully formed and lusting for blood. They grow out of ordinary people who are denied power and autonomy and are filled with resentment until they lose sight of reason. For Hamas, that resentment has come from a number of neglects.
For instance, Israel has stonewalled Palestine’s path to statehood. It has blockaded Gaza, strangling the nation’s economy and leading to a 40 percent unemployment rate. It has allowed settlers to invade the West Bank and seize chunks of the already-miniscule territory. And with tragic regularity, Israel massacres Palestinian civilians in its fight against terrorism.
I’m not saying that Israel has lost the right to defend itself against Hamas because Palestine is oppressed. I am saying that Israel has chosen repeatedly to deter terrorism with violence when it could instead deter terrorism by taking its foot off Palestine’s neck.
As the United States watches Islamist extremists sweep through Iraq, we should remember that it’s very hard to eliminate terrorism through violent means. It’s a simple truth that violence begets violence and we should keep this in mind when deciding our support for Israel’s invasions and ?bombing campaigns.
Israel, meanwhile, needs to remember that people don’t turn to terrorism for no reason. And when they’re looking through the crosshairs, they need to remember that most Palestinians are just ordinary people waiting for the shooting to stop.
Nathan James is a senior majoring in public relations.
