I don’t consider myself to have very polarized political beliefs. Though I am liberal, I certainly would not consider myself to be as “far left,” and while I have an opinion on most issues, it generally is moderate and tolerant of opposing views. However there is one issue that, despite the view of my party, I truly feel passionate about. The Israel-Gaza conflict.
Plain and simple: I believe Israel is completely justified to retaliate in its defense, and anyone who denies that America, or any other world power for that matter, wouldn’t react in the same manner is delusional.
To give some background information, Israel controlled the Gaza territory from 1967 until 2005. Hamas, the terrorist organization that now controls Gaza, has been firing rockets into Israel. On November 12, Israel responded to increased rocket attacks by launching “Operation Pillar of Defense,” a series of “surgical” strikes in which the head of Hamas’ military operations was killed.
The media has made it appear as if Israel is the aggressor in this situation, a statement that is simply not the truth. The news site Al Jazeera stated in an article, “The children are playing outside again, despite the torrential rain. They were stuck indoors during eight days of relentless Israeli bombardments.” Relentless Israeli bombardments? Oh please, let’s look at the facts.
According to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Hamas, the terrorist organization that is currently in control of the Gaza strip, has fired nearly 7,000 rockets into Israel since 2005. Israelis have been living in fear of Hamas’ rockets for years now. Would we tolerate this same situation in America? Would we hesitate to retaliate if even one rocket was fired into American soil? Absolutely not.
We tend to view Israel as some far away exotic country, and this is a problem. We must put ourselves into the Israelis’ situation. What if we were living each day in fear of hearing the deafening boom of a rocket exploding? I would hope that my government would take whatever actions necessary to preserve my safety, as Israel has done.
Furthermore, Israel has been criticized for causing vastly more casualties with its rocket strikes than Hamas has caused with its own. It’s been made to appear as if Israel has been using excessive force in this situation, but once again, this is simply not the truth.
Israel has invested billions of dollars into a program known as the “Iron Dome,” a missile-deflecting security system that is able to shoot down over 90 percent of the rockets fired at it. Through this amazing technological advancement, Israel has, luckily, been able to protect its citizens. This isn’t to say that there have been no casualties, due to the sheer quantity of rockets that Hamas has fired, there have been many casualties.
On the other hand, Hamas has spent no money trying to create any sort of missile defense system. Instead it has pooled all of its resources into bombarding Israel with rockets.
In fact, Hamas has hidden its military bases in civilian areas such as hospitals in an attempt to use civilians as a human shield. It is not Israel that has been inhumane in this situation. The terrorist organization Hamas has shown a disgusting lack of care for human life.
