They Love Death Like We Love Life
/As I talk about the atrocities Hamas committed against Israel last Saturday, resulting in more than 1,000 dead, I am met with criticism insisting I look at both sides of the issue. When I point out the evils of BLM Chicago celebrating Hamas’ attacks on civilians, I am told to look at Israel’s evils.
So, I want to take this moment to apologize for my ignorance. You see, I’ve never seen Israelis paraglide into a music festival and laughingly murder 260 people, or heard of them raping women near the dead bodies of their friends. I’ve never seen Israeli soldiers go into residential homes with the explicit purpose of murdering entire families. I’ve never heard of Israeli soldiers murdering a grandmother and uploading the evidence on Facebook for her family to find. I’ve never witnessed an Israeli trying to decapitate a man, who was still alive, with a shovel. I’ve never heard of Israelis robbing children from their beds and forcing Holocaust survivors to pose with guns. Apparently, Israelis have not only committed these or comparable atrocities; I’ve been told they’ve committed them for years.
So, if you have seen such things, show me. Destroy my ignorance and burden me with the truth. Because if you can, I will do what I am doing now and what should be easy for all decent human beings to do—I will condemn them.
I have been told Israelis are European colonizers occupying the land of the Palestinians. Even if I ignored the Jewish connection of that land going back thousands of years and accepted this premise, I doubt if Native Americans barged into the homes of Americans, gunned down parents, and stole their children, we would simply shrug our shoulders and say, “Well, that’s just the penance we must pay in order to decolonize the land.” If this had happened in the US, we wouldn’t accept lectures from any world power on how to proceed.
I heard a supporter of Palestine in Dearborn, MI argue the attacks in Israel weren’t unprovoked because “when you have 75 years of ethnic cleansing, 56 years of occupation, 15 years of a blockade, that means nothing is unprovoked in Palestine.” Is that the mathematical equation of necessary suffering to justify raping women, burning families, and shooting babies? If what Hamas did was “unprovoked,” that would make their actions against civilians rational.
And if this level of violence is earned and expected after all these years of oppression, what is the course of action the Israelis should take? Should they pack up all their stuff and flee to another country? Should they allow themselves to be destroyed? Should they insist on a two-state solution—even though their enemies don’t want it—to bide time until the next attack? Even if history was the tale the Palestinians are spinning, Israel can’t undo the past. If their destruction is justified and inevitable according to their enemy, why wouldn’t Israel wage war to preserve their future?
I’ve been told that both sides want the same thing and have been chastised for standing up for Israel. Well, please, show me where in the Israeli government they make it a priority to exterminate Muslims because I know Hamas speaks of eradicating Jews in their charter. When former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh says, “We love death like our enemies love life,” that demonstrates they have opposite goals. It also highlights why Hamas bases its operations in hospitals, Mosques, schools, and so on. It explains why their people rely on Israel to supply them with crucial infrastructure. Hamas would rather dig up water pipes and use them to make rockets for killing Jews than build a future for their people.
I wish when people yelled “Free Palestine,” they were talking about freeing them from Hamas. It is terrible they have no power and water, and it’s a shame that Hamas would rather keep hostages than have those resources restored. It is a tragedy to see parents cradle the bloodied remains of their dead children, and it’s terrible to know Hamas intends for their people to die, so you can blame the Jews and convince them not to do what must be done to end the lives of these terrorists. It is a shame Palestinians voted for such barbaric tyrants to lead and destroy them.
But at Pro-Palestine rallies, speakers are insisting Hamas is not a terrorist organization. They say Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are the terrorists. Issuing roof knocks and sending messages to civilians to get to safety before striking enemy combatants don’t seem like the typical traits of terrorists.
If you have evidence that Israel would rather have a genocide than hold and kiss their children goodnight, present it. If you have evidence that contradicts Hamas’ words and can prove Israel loves death more than life, show me.
Because I will condemn them, just as I condemn Hamas.
