Sarah Morra (11) | STAFF REPORTER
Executions, rape, and the suffering of civilians are all vile elements of the ongoing Israel and Hamas conflict. This is an issue that requires tenderness and caution, all while requiring grit and animosity. The civilians of both Israel and Palestine are in urgent need of support and it is unwise to avoid a subject with such gravity at hand. The Israel and Hamas conflict has a plentiful history detailing past outbursts of violence, unjust treatment of civilians, and the endangerment of human life. All of these factors must be considered when evaluating this conflict, and in ignorance of neutrality – above all else, we must be on the side of the civilians.
The latest bout of violence in relation to Israel and Hamas appeared on October 7th, when Hamas launched its deadliest attack thus far on Israel. In turn, killing over 1400 people and capturing over 200 individuals. As a counteroffensive, Israel has been fighting back with various airstrikes on the Gaza strip, taking the lives of over 2800 Palestinians.
Though, in order to understand these attacks, one must evaluate some of their recent history and observe the cause and effect of various accounts of Israel’s actions. The planning of this attack by Hamas has presumably taken years, and the magnitude of it was absolutely unprecedented. One must question, why did Hamas attack the people of Israel to begin with? There seem to have been various aims and motives within this attack. Some short term goals of this heinous attack would have been to take Israeli hostages and bargain for the release of Palestinian political prisoners on Israeli grounds – as Israel has had the reputation to do what is necessary to retrieve their citizens. However, there does not seem to be a foreseeable end goal.
Various threats sent by Hamas to Israel are clearly in order to gain back unjustly imprisoned Palestinians in Israeli prisons, however, the hostage situation has been taken to an inhumane level. Various videos of Israeli hostages have been released to the public and have truly illustrated this dire situation. In response to this, Israel has sealed off the Gaza strip. In turn, depriving it of its water, fuel, food and electricity resources. All of these elements are contributing to the collapse of Gaza’s health system.
Despite the heinous acts committed by Hamas, one must also evaluate the atrocity of the acts committed by Israel as well. In both cases, the citizens are a target. Both the Israeli government and the Hamas organization have imposed cataclysmic attacks upon their citizens, and in turn have both violated the rules of warfare. The torturing, harming, and killing of innocent civilians is the result of these events caused by both sides of this conflict.
Despite the hostility of both countries’ actions in this time of warfare, and the unjust treatment of each other’s civilians, it must be noted that within Western media and journalism there is an inherent favoritism towards Israel due to the U.S. and Canada’s support of the Israeli government. There is an apparent lack of information given regarding Palestine’s history with Israel and the causation for the acts done by Hamas. It is important to distinguish bias within different types of media and journalism and to separate it from the content one is consuming. However, neither side may be left unscathed in the political world as they both have blood on their hands.
The support of the civilians is vital over all else. Picking sides of a specific government only enforces segregation between two cultures and religions and creates an unhealthy atmosphere for those experiencing the effects of this conflict even in America. Both countries have undeniable amounts of wrongdoing and must be held accountable. Instead of further encouraging warfare between two cultures and religions, it is in each other’s best interest to focus on the preservation of said cultures. Such as, embracing the differences of one another and celebrating the sanctity of both cultures. This will allow communities within America to reduce prejudice and bias, which in turn will enable the further support of civilians in these countries at a time like this.
Overall, this is a consistently progressing issue that must be addressed in order to provide the support necessary to those in need. The civilians’ lives are at stake, on both ends, and for their sake the eradication of ignorance and favoritism must be considered.
