For some, the war Israel is waging against the people of Palestine is complicated, citing the kidnapping of citizens of Israel by Hamas against the retaliatory acts by Israel’s government against Hamas.
For others, it’s not complicated at all. They contend Israel’s attacks are not on Hamas as their government and U.S. media report, but rather upon all Palestinians. And those who hold this view point to the fact that the Palestinians were ruthlessly removed from their own homeland, with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, murdered by Israeli forces over the decades.
Those who see this “war” as being a modern-day genocide, with upwards of 30,000 Palestinians reported killed thus far, the majority of those being women and children, and men who had no link to Hamas, are at a loss for why more people don’t speak out against what they say is a blatant crime against humanity.
One thing that colors many U.S. Christians’ views on the matter, especially white evangelical conservative Christians, is they connect their belief in Jesus coming back to this conflict and interpret it as a divine act blessed by God and foretold by scripture.
Those who hold a counter to that position ask the question, “What kind of ‘god’ would ‘bless’ and back actions that lead to the death of tens of thousands of human beings?”
Thus, many voices are calling for an end to the killings even as those of the gazillionaire class make comments like Donald Drumpf’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who said the quiet part out loud regarding how little he values the lives of the Palestinians.
“Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable… if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner told an interviewer. “It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up… I’m sitting in Miami Beach right now. And I’m looking at the situation and I’m thinking: what would I do if I was there?”
He answered his own question, referring to totally removing all Palestinians from their land and converting the land that was taken from the Palestinians decades ago, and turning it into beachfront property to create another global playground for the hyper-wealthy.
And since this issue is a big deal to potential November 2024 presidential election voters, the Defender asked its readers for their thoughts on the situation.
“It’s a sin and a shame that tens of thousands of innocent people have been killed by the Israel forces, and ain’t nobody really checking them.” Clivis Simpson
“How the hell is that the Holy Land? Nothing they’re doing over there is holy.” Janice’aye Thompkins
“My heart goes out to those families whose lives will never be the same. I saw one video that showed two Palestinian children after a bombing, and they were shaking like I’ve never seen human beings shake before in my life. You could see and feel the horror in their little eyes. How do you see that and then say Israel is justified in its actions?” Monique Alfred
“The Palestinians shouldn’t have kidnapped those Israeli people. They brought this on themselves.” Joe Patone
“Have you heard what some of those Israeli leaders have been saying for years now, and even more, more recently? They say they want all of the Palestinian people gone, basically by any means necessary. So, when I hear them saying Hamas is all the Palestinian people, I hear them justifying genocide.” Latrice Blakey
“It’s not a war like they say on the news, it’s a slaughter. And we’re partly to blame. That’s our tax dollars paying for those bombs. The blood is on our hands, not just who’s in the White House or who’s in Congress.” Eddie Earle
“The Jewish people never let anybody forget about the Holocaust. But goddamn, it looks like they forgot about those atrocities that their people faced, because they’re doing damn near the same thing to those people who were already living there, if I’m not mistaken.” Faison Collins
“I don’t know much about what’s going on except a lot of people are dying I hear, and I’m like, ‘For what?’” Trayniece Frazier
“I’ve had a few friends visit that part of the world, and they told me years ago that Israel was running that apartheid game on those arab people, not letting them vote, telling them where they can and can’t live. I seen one video where a group of Jewish people just bum-rushed a house, kicked the arab family out, and took it for their own. That’s gangster at another level.” Phillip Jonas
“I hear people saying they’re not voting for Biden because he hasn’t stopped this. But none of these U.S. presidents over the years have stopped this. This aint some new phenomenon. It’s been going on for years. And not voting for Biden isn’t going to change that. You think Donald Trump, who don’t care about anybody, is going to change that? Trump likes them political leaders who act like thugs and mob bosses. He won’t stop it. He’ll be like, ‘Bomb them some more.’” Henry Sutton
