It’s easy to make Israel look like the bad guy in the current conflict in Gaza. At least, Hamas thinks so. They keep sending out the news feeds, drawing attention to Israeli aggression. But Hamas are terrorists, self-serving, remorseless, incapable of seeing the devastation their own actions have caused. Because they want the world to believe the lie they perpetrate: they are the victims.
I will be the first to admit that the images of Gaza break my heart. Nobody wants to see children suffer and die, or families struggle without the necessities of life while the only home they have known is being blown to bits around them. Benjamin Netenyahu said exactly that on CNN’s State of the Union this past Sunday. The people of Gaza deserve peace, education, homes as we all do. However, Hamas has chosen to use them in their real battle plan against Israel. And it’s working. Hamas is firing rockets at Israel from within crowded civilian locations, knowing that Israel will fire back. Because Hamas wants the world to see those bodies, to feel the pain and anguish of innocent lives lost, and then have the international community pressure Israel into backing down.
But Israel warned the residents of Gaza what was coming, and urged them to move to safety before the conflict happened. Hamas told the people to stay. And the residents of Gaza made their choice. They stayed, knowing Hamas would fire rockets near schools and markets. They knew Hamas hid weapons in these schools funded by international money. Hamas took money from ,many international sources, but instead of building schools and infrastructure, they built an elaborate network of concrete tunnels leading from Gaza to Israel, to further carry out their acts of terrorism on their neighbour. And yes, the residents of Gaza know this too.
I believe that Israel understands what they up against, better than anyone else in the world. Their strong and unwavering stance is their best weapon against the intangible offence of hatred. How do you broker peace when one side is capable only of hatred? This is a fight that cannot be fought on rational grounds. Prime Minister Netenyahu made his stance very clear on CNN when he explained how the only approach his country could take was to remove the tunnels, and eradicate the source. Because like a deadly weed, the hatred of Hamas only keeps growing back. The Jewish people of Israel are firmly behind their leader’s plan, and genuinely believe that Hamas will always be a threat. “Operation Protective Edge” and the Iron Dome defence system are proving themselves effective on a daily basis in the escalating conflict, with an unprecedented level of national support. As has been said before, and must be said again, the people of Israel have the right to defend themselves.
When we think of war, we think of physical battlefields and weapons. With clear demarcations, this kind of war is much easier to decide. But psychological warfare is not so easy to win. And it spills out into physical conflict. Until the psychological causes are resolved, the physical conflict will continue to play out, resulting in prolonged violence, casualties and inestimable destruction. In a word, Gaza.This battle isn’t being fought on the ground. It exists in the minds and very souls of the people of Gaza. All they have ever known is “imprisonment” under Israeli guard, and several violent and devastating conflicts. That is what the people of Gaza have to say, under the tutelage and endorsement of Hamas. Hatred is the enemy Israel has always fought. Hamas continues to build insurrection and fuel aggression, rejecting ceasefire attempts over rocket fire, forcing Israel to fire back. And still the citizens of Gaza remain, united in their hatred. As the death toll mounts, and images bodies in rubble fill screens, this conflict has moved from dividing the region; it is dividing the world. For Gaza, there is no peaceful solution.
Issues and Intersections 