Bombing Children is not Self-Defense
A huge number of protestors opposed to the horrendous bombing of Mosques, hospitals, schools, and children in Gaza, Palestine marched across the country this weekend, but perhaps the largest demonstration was in Washington, D.C. Protestors flooded the streets by the thousands and included Jews, Blacks, Browns, Arabs, Palestinians, Native Americans, women, Christians, and whites demanding an end to the killing of some 10,000 Palestinians, mostly children, in the illegally occupied territory of Gaza. For over 56 years Israel has illegally occupied land that they stole from the existing Palestinian population. Protestors called for a “Cease Fire” and an end to the support given to Israel by the Biden administration to a 12th Century mindset that says it is ok to murder children. This is not to say that what Hamas did was correct, it was not, but one must also remember that Israeli settlers and their government have been killing Palestinians for decades. The bottom line is the clear understanding that the life within a Jewish skin is not more valuable than the life within an Arab skin.
Israeli settlers, often supported by armed thugs, have long persecuted Palestinians and have participated in bulldozing homes of Palestinians so they could steal the property. This is a crime against humanity but many supporters of this madness just ignore it and then scream bloody murder when violence erupts in their direction. Extremist Israeli settlers have also attacked Christians and Christian Churches, and in one case were seen spitting on Christians. The leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, turns a blind eye to these outrages and follows a policy of genocide in the occupied territories. Israel is fighting a major war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but we doubt all of that talk since Israeli troops have killed more civilians than Hamas fighters. Hamas launched a surprise attack on Oct. 7 and killed more than 1,400 Israelis while taking more than 200 hostages, and the response was to murder children! This is insane and smells of ancient barbarism. Killing 1,400 Israeli citizens was wrong, but killing 10,000 civilians is more than wrong, especially since Israel has stolen land and killed people in the West Bank and Gaza for years.
Netanyahu has vowed to completely destroy Hamas, and apparently as many Palestinian children as possible, in old-type Testament revengeful retaliation, while rejecting calls for cease-fires and humanitarian pauses to get supplies to a starving population. The U.S. claims to support the idea of protecting innocent Palestinians and to get aid into Gaza but Netanyahu will not stop the bloody carnage. Most of us would agree that Israel has the right to defend itself but not murdering children and civilians. Many Americans are fed up with support for Israel and Netanyahu who is facing criminal charges in Israeli courts and wants to be a dictator much like Trump.
What Israel is doing to the Palestinians is similar to what racists did to Black folks in America. When a single black man killed a white person, mobs of racists killed blacks at random. Israel is guilty of the same crime. Racists slaughtered hundreds of Native Americans in revenge for killing a single white man. How is this any different from the killing of civilians in Gaza with bombs? Bombing children and civilians in Gaza is not self-defense; it is a crime against humanity. Instead of going directly after Hamas, Israeli leaders with snarling teeth and foaming at the mouth attack civilians. Violence is not born from nothing. It comes from the violence of others.
