U.S.A. - Home of the ... Victims?

Jerusalem 

(image: pixabay)

In the early morning of 7^th October 2023, a rocket barrage attack began on Israel, perpetrated by Palestinian Arabs in the neighboring Gaza strip. Members of the paramilitary Hamas organization, about 2,900 of them, followed up with an invasion of Israeli territories, attacking civilian communities with unmitigated and merciless brutality.

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?

(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?

(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.

(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 7^th 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