My
Thoughts on the Gaza Conflict of 2014
Before
I begin on writing down the diatribe of information on this broad and
opinionated topic that is stuck inside my head, I’ll give you some background
information on myself and why I feel the need to document my thoughts on the
conflict that is currently taking place in the Middle East. My name is Sarah
Benaim and I was born in Houston, Texas. My father is not originally from
Houston, or even the United States for that matter. My family on my father’s
side, which includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins live half way
across the world in the country of Israel. Most of my family resides in the
Haifa area, which lies towards the Northern part of the country, so thankfully
they have been out of the range of fire and off of the battle grounds that are
becoming the streets of Gaza and even the main country Israel. I, as a social
media user and a watcher of international news, have seen some atrocious
accusations pointed at Israel for being too harsh on the counterattacks at the
terrorist organization Hamas that have been taking place the past few weeks. I
want to make it known that Israel has every right to defend itself against the
attacks on their country and that though many people in this world may disagree,
they are doing what is necessary to instill a calm environment for their
citizens, no matter what it takes.
The
most recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza was sparked on
June 12, 2014 when three Israeli teenaged boys were kidnapped (allegedly) by
the terrorist organization Hamas. The three boys were found dead on June 30,
2014. Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the killings
would not be taken lightly and that there would be consequences for the actions
to those who killed these young men. After these statements were released, air
strikes began coming towards the Israeli mainland from the Gaza strip. In the
past few weeks, the number of missiles that have been fired into Israel have
reached over 1,000, but by the grace of God and modern Iron Dome technology,
none of the missiles have done major damage to Israeli citizens or the overall
infrastructure.
With
this in mind, the death toll on the Israeli side is up to 20, and on the
Palestinian side, it has toppled the 400 mark.
I
want to begin to refute and offer other information in response to some news
networks that are only looking at this situation from the side of the
Palestinians and who are releasing footage of Arab women “escaping their homes”
with their children in their arms. I want to begin by saying some of these
women are very clean for seemingly escaping through trashed and debris filled
homes and streets. I want to inform citizens of other countries all over the
world that Israel is not blatantly killing these civilians. Before a bomb is
dropped, Israel has been phoning the citizens to inform them that they are
about to be attacked, and it his Hamas that is telling them not to evacuate.
Also, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been firing something like a
warning bomb before the actual one comes. The warning bomb may break through
the roof of a house or building, but won’t actually explode. It’s the real
exploding bomb that comes next that will actually cause the damage. And many of
those casualties were of people refusing to listen to the Israeli warning to
evacuate and choosing to listen to Hamas telling them to stay put.
What is so irking about
the whole situation is that Israel knows the location from where each missile
is being fired from. So as soon as a missile is fired, less than one minute
later the school/business/house that it was deployed from, it will be destroyed
by the IDF. This is not what’s irking. It’s that Hamas has set up these houses,
businesses and schools to be targets for the Israeli counterattacks. They know
the force at which Israel will retaliate, and yet they are still more than willing
for their citizens to be killed. And the citizens, brainwashed by Hamas, would
rather die it seems than to evacuate.
Overall, it’s pretty
sad that the population of the Gaza strip has allowed themselves to be run by
and taken over by a terrorist organization as cruel and uncaring as Hamas is.
Even more, it’s sad
that the innocent people residing in Gaza have been killed because they allowed
themselves to be under the control of Hamas.
And above all, it’s
ironic that the rest of the world is so quick to judge Israel for taking
necessary action to neutralize their enemies in an “inhumane” manner. But, ask
this, if Mexico just started shooting rockets into the southern border of the
United States after kidnapping and killing three American citizens, and the
United States responded in the way that Israel is currently responding to their
own enemies, would the rest of the world judge the United States’ actions?
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