Women
were raped, some so viciously that their pelvises were broken and hip
joints dislocated. Men, women and children were shot execution style,
homes set on fire, victims tortured and beheaded, even infants were
put into ovens to bake to death while their mothers were raped on the
kitchen floor. Approximately 250 hostages, including elderly and
children, were seized. It is unknown where they are located at this
time. Over 1,200 Israelis were killed.
These
are not rumors, not over-stated hyperbole, not made-up facts. Many of
the attackers actually wore body cams to document their atrocities.
They were proud of their disgustingly horrific acts and wished to
preserve them on video to later boast of their monstrosities. Several
of these videos have made their way into the public sphere, silencing
those who claimed these unthinkable actions were made-up propaganda.
Today,
nearly four months later, there are protests across America in the
wake of this attack. College campuses are alive with flags and
marches and shouted slogans. Streets of our American cities are
clogged with angry demonstrators, carrying signs and wearing colors
of the flag they are defending. The Israeli flag, right? Wrong.
Somehow,
the cause of the animals who perpetrated such brutal atrocities on
hundreds of men, women and children is the one being defended.
Incredibly, the tide of protest in the United States of America, land
of the free and home of the brave, is in favor of Hamas, not the
Israelis.
How
can this possibly be?
Are
not the Americans decent folk, who revere human life? Are we not the
people who have led the world in seeking freedom and championing
justice for all? Do we not teach our children to carry these values
forward to the next generation, striving always to improve, to live
up to our highest values? How could any large number of the American
people be supporting the barbarians who have slaughtered so many of
their neighbors in gleeful hatred?
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| (image: farsnews.ir) |
Sadly, it seems the character of the American people has been altered, at least the process of alteration is well underway. No longer do we teach our youth such values as personal integrity, honor, self-discipline, hard work and honest dealings. It has been said that the greatest mistake made by American conservatives is to have allowed the Left to take over our education system, from K to grad school. And here you have a living result of that mistake.
Too
many Americans today identify as victims. We teach them that
victim-hood is desirable and defensible, and too many Americans have
seized upon this twisted ethos. After all, it's easy to be a victim.
No one expects much of you, aside from perpetual complaint,
demonstrations and outrage. Hamas and the population living under
their rule are seen as victims, and that is attractive to those who
identify as such.
To
be clear, there has never existed a country of Palestine. Both the
Jewish and Arab peoples have an ancient history in the region, with
periods of domination under a great variety of ruling factors, the
land in the area carved and re-carved into swathes of ever-shifting
populations, both Muslim and Jew. But never has there existed a
country called Palestine.
In
more recent history, Israel has extended the opportunity to establish
neighboring states several times. All have been rejected by the
Palestinians. They have no desire to live in harmony beside the
Jewish state. They want all Jews to die, simple as that. They want
them obliterated. They are a people consumed with hatred, who show
their little children entertaining cartoons depicting death and
decapitation of Jews. They teach hatred, they harbor and nurture it.
And yes, not all people living under the rule of Hamas are
hate-filled, but the majority certainly hold resentment and ill-will
toward the Jewish people. How could they not, living in such a climate of visceral hatred?
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| (image: tasnimnews.com) |
To
be a victim is indeed easy. You don't have to strive for anything
aside from relief from your perceived persecution, you don't have to
accomplish anything, you don't have to improve or grow or build
anything up. You don't have to struggle to achieve your dreams, you
only have to whine about your inability to do so.
On
the other hand, people who refuse to be victims, such as the Jewish
people, require much of themselves. Despite an eons-long history of
hatred against them, of persecution, discrimination, displacement,
enslavement and genocide, the Jewish people have been determined not
only to survive but to thrive. They have endeavored to create a state
where they can honor their religious beliefs, but also respect the
beliefs of others. Many Muslims live in Israel, participate in the
society, run businesses, even serve in government offices. Zero Jews
live in the areas ruled by Hamas. They are not welcome.
Israelis
are resented by American “victims”, because they know that they
look pathetic when held up against the standards of a determined,
successful people. Victims look for sympathy rather than advice or
encouragement. They passively elicit pity rather than putting forth
effort to gain praise. Much, much easier.
Living
as they do, next to a nest of simmering hatred, the Israelis have
been forced to engage in military defense measures on a depressingly
regular basis. When they do so, it is always the case that minimizing
damage and injury to innocent people is a priority. The IDF is
instructed to make their targets precise and calculated to avoid
impacting those not involved in attacks against them, to do their
best not to harm women and children.
What
does the Palestinian leadership do? It is well known that they use women and
children as shields in response to Israeli policy. They know, if they
force women and children to populate their military installations,
headquarters, tunnels and bases of operation, that the Israelis will
hesitate to attack these areas. They often build their bunkers
beneath hospitals and schools, so Israelis would necessarily have to
kill hundreds of innocents in order to reach them. Hamas has little regard for human life. While Israel has provided the
people of Gaza, for example, with supplies of clean water, Hamas has
dug up the pipes to use for making pipe bombs against their
neighbors, leaving their own people without clean water.
And
which side of this conflict are Americans demonstrating for? It seems
impossible to believe that there is so much blind support for the
“victims”, for Hamas, for the animals who laugh and cheer and
celebrate as they rape, slaughter and tortuously decapitate their
Jewish neighbors.
Israel
has concluded that the possibility of a peaceful two-state solution
is no longer on the table. And who can blame them? No country can
live with the ever-menacing prospect of a brutal attack such as was
suffered on 7th October 2023.
How
this deadly conflict will ultimately be resolved remains to be seen.
It is up to Israel to determine its own future. We Americans,
however, have a role to play. First and foremost, we must support our
friends and allies, the Israeli people, and support their mission to
safeguard their population.
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| (image: middleeastmonitor.com) |
What
to do about the seemingly swelling groups of Americans inexplicably
supporting Hamas? The damage has apparently been done. A generation
or more has been convinced that victim-hood is the way to go, the
path of least resistance, the life of relative ease and freedom from
any need to put forth effort on one's own behalf or for others.
All
that remains is to do what we can to turn this Titanic around before
it hits the iceberg. It will be slow, awkward and difficult, but if
it is not turned around, our country full of victims will no longer
exist, certainly not as the beacon of freedom we have been, not the
home of the brave.
Instead
of showing hateful cartoons of murder and mayhem to our children, we
must instill in them a sense of duty, to themselves and others, a
yearning to achieve, to grow, flourish and become. We must teach them
that they are never victims, only strong people who can overcome the
most onerous struggles. We must instruct them in love, that we, as
Americans and as human beings, can never justify the kind of
brutality seen on 7th October in Israel. We must extend
our hands to our friends and enemies alike, do everything we can to
foster peace and understanding, even toward people whose motives may
be difficult to understand.
In
short, we have to reclaim our American legacy, our heritage, our
shining city on the hill. It is only in remembering our cause and
championing our values, generation after generation, that we will
survive as a nation and lead the world toward that ever-elusive
status of peace and prosperity for everyone. At the moment, it all
seems perilously close to eluding us entirely.
Kat
