Whatever your usual politics, it’s time to stand with Israel
If you can’t stand with Israel now, it’s time to ask yourself how much you really know about the situation.
Note: Unsurprisingly, this was not what I was planning to write about this week. Which is the reason for its brevity. I am very aware that information contained below is not up to date with the most recent numbers, and you will have for forgive me for that. I just knew I had to say something now, even if I say something more fulsome later.
I woke up on Saturday morning to a forwarded email from mom with an article explaining that while I had been sleeping, on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Hamas launched 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel, had killed 40 Israeli civilians, and were breaking down the fences to take Israeli villages hostage. By Saturday evening in North America, 200 Israelis had been killed, more than 1,400 wounded, and at least 50 taken hostage.
Hamas has cited desecration of the Al Aqsa mosque as the motivation for the present attacks, which news sources, including Al Jezeera, have acknowledged were commenced unilaterally by Hamas.
Watching with horror on Saturday, as videos of women being taken hostage by Hamas, and reading accounts from bomb shelters in Jerusalem, I couldn’t help but wonder how long it will take for the tide of public conversation to turn away from being supportive of Israel. How long will it take for whatever counter strike defense is coming to be framed as Israel overstepping; until we start we hearing the same narratives we did in May 2021, painting Israel as the big guy attacking the little guy (Sunday afternoon is the answer).
There are a lot of people who, will, and are trying to tell an all-lives-matter version of events. Loss of civilian life is always tragic, whatever side it is on. But that just cannot be the point right now. The number of Israeli civilians murdered is growing by the hour, as are the number of hostages, and injured. If you, or someone you know, is currently buying into the narrative that this is being done because of the Al Aqsa Mosque, then ask the simple question of why rockets are being fired at Jerusalem, the very site of the structure they claim to be wanting to protect.
Israel is by no means a perfect country. But if you, or someone you know, has unquestioningly bought into the narrative where Israel is the bad guy. Look at what is happening right now. Can you really look yourself in the mirror and say in good conscious that you are not going to stand with Israel right now?
Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas. Israel has the right to defend its citizens, Jewish, Arab, and Christian, from violence. We cannot repeat what took place in May 2021 where we were discussing the power disparity between a sovereign nation and the terrorists next door.