by Peter Fernandez
At 6:30 a.m., October 6, on a sleepy October Shabbat (Saturday) morning when observant Israelis might be relaxing and waiting to take down their temporary Shelters in celebration of Succot, a traditional harvest holiday commemorating the Israelites’ deliverance out of Egypt, another ruthless enemy from the south, invaded Israel.
From Gaza, The Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas, attacked a seemingly unprepared Israel with constant rocket fire, and with land and sea forces breached security fences, managed to take over an entire police station, killing its 20 officers, capturing a kibbutz, and killing over 800 Israelis, mostly civilians.
This is the worst fighting between Arab and Israeli since the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu promised “Mighty Vengeance” against the terrorists, who entered civilian homes, murdering and taking innocent occupants hostage. According to The Guardian, a London-based daily periodical, “Up to 100 Israeli hostages, including women and children, may have been taken into Gaza by Hamas, hugely complicating any military operation to free them.”
The sheer scale of terror and violence of this unprovoked attack against the Jewish state’s populace far outweighs the repeated rounds of internecine fighting between Hamas and the Israel Defence Forces that the world audience has become familiar with. In a video statement, PM Netanyahu stated,” We are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war. What happened today has never been seen in Israel, we will take mighty vengeance for this black day. I tell Hamas, you are responsible for the wellbeing of the captives, Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them.”
Now begins the daily debate between polarized Americans, sadly reminiscent of the Union and the Confederacy. Perhaps it is slavery to identity politics, the attack on our two first constitutional amendments, and biased identity journalism. It seems fair and consistent to say this was an unprovoked attack against the Jewish state, but the left’s pro-Palestine propaganda machine says that it is, of course, Israel’s fault for owning the world banks, stealing Palestine in 1948, apartheid, yadda, yadda, but these are easy-to-swallow racist lies since they have been repeated over and over again, ad nauseam.
The historical context of this conflict needs to be considered before any well-informed and unbiased opinion can be formulated. Please consider reading Jonathan R. Verlin’s Seven Times Palestinians Rejected Peace published by American Thinker, November 22, 2017.
Seven Times Palestinians Rejected Peace – American Thinker. Included also are two of Hamas’ main articles:
Article 13 There is no negotiated settlement possible. Jihad is the only answer.
Article 14 The liberation of Palestine is the personal duty of every Palestinian.
Sunday, in NYC, over one thousand pro-Palestine demonstrators, some carrying signs stating that “Resistance is justified when people are occupied,” shouted across the crowded, police refereed streets at the minor, but vocal pro-Israel faction. It is safe to say that most of these protestors consider the butchering of whole families to be legitimate.
IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Cornricus compared this invasion to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. “This is uncharted territory. When it comes to us fighting terrorism, we will need to new heavy and stronger tools against these terrorists. I wouldn’t rule out anything at this stage. This is an unprecedented attack which calls for an unprecedented response against Hamas which will render it incapacitated to do such an attack again,” he added.“This is not a normal situation — this will not end with the limping ceasefire,” he added.
History needs to be referenced to understand that it is the Palestinians who are in the wrong and have been since four Arab nations attacked the fledging Jewish nation in 1948. Those Arab armies would have also butchered Israeli civilians.
“Since 1948 it is we who demanded the return of the refugees while it is we who made them leave,” wrote Khaled al-Asm, who was Syria’s Prime Minister at this time, in his 1970 memoirs. “We brought disaster upon Palestinian refugees by inviting them and bringing pressure to bear upon them to leave.”
Since that time, we have at least three members of Congress, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have failed to condemn this murderous invasion.
The author is a children’s book author and Vermont resident.