I am seeing a whole lot of misinformation under this post, so let's make some things crystal clear here.
Stop conflating the Arab Israeli conflict with the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Those are not the same thing. Right now I am talking about events relating specifically to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. I am using this terminology "conflict" because that is how it is referred to by the majority of the international community, not because I believe that the situation is an "equal conflict" between Israel and Palestine. I agree that the terminology referring to this situation is flawed and inherently biased, but I do not know of a better way to generally refer to these situations. The Arab Israeli conflict is a regional conflict between Israel and surrounding Arab States. The Israeli Palestinian "conflict" is specifically about the relationship between Israel and Palestine. Palestine is not responsible for the actions of surrounding Arab countries. Too often Palestine is used as a pawn in the Arab Israeli conflict, too often Palestine gets blamed and attacked for actions of neighboring countries against Israel.
This is not about religion. If you have been led to believe that the Israeli Palestinian "conflict" is a "religious holy war" or is about anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, then you have been misled. Of course there are people on all sides of this situation who hold bigoted views of all religions involved, however this is not about religion. This is about land, and this is about human rights. There are Jews, Muslims, and Christians all of whom range in race, ethnicity, and nationality, on both sides of this "conflict".
I have not claimed that either side is "100% innocent" nor "100% guilty". The Israeli Palestinian "conflict" is an ongoing and developing situation, and there have been both good and bad actors on both sides for decades. Right now, I am talking about the events currently unfolding in May 2021 in Palestine, and I am talking about innocent civilians. This is not blaming Israeli civilians, this is not saying that Israel is the only sole country responsible for this overarching "conflict". This is stating that the current events happening right now encompass the Israeli military attacking unprotected Palestinian civilians in the Gaza strip and claiming "self defense". Those are the current events, you not liking them does not make them not real.
Stop making generalizations about Hamas and applying it to every civilian in Palestine. Firstly, Hamas gained prominence in the early 1990s in efforts to derail the Oslo peace accords, and grew to more prominence during the Second Intifada. In the earlier days of the "conflict", Hamas was often seen in opposition to the more secular Palestinian organization Fatah, which was founded in the 1950s by Yasser Arafat. Hamas has developed into many different areas, including political, social, and cultural services provided to the Palestinian people. I am not here to discuss Hamas' "intentions", nor to say that those in Hamas who carry out terrorism are "innocent". For decades, Palestinian civilians have been blamed and used by both Hamas and by Israel, and it is the Palestinian civilians who always get the short end of the stick. And to be clear, I am also not saying that Hamas is "100% bad" either, because Hamas rose out of colonialism and there is a lot to unpack there. But again, this is about civilians of Palestine, I am not discussing military operations, I am discussing innocent children who are being bombed. Right now this is not about targeted strikes against Hamas operatives, this is about Israel sending hundreds of missiles into civilian areas of the Gaza strip.
This is not an "equal conflict on both sides". Many have pointed out that Hamas too has sent missiles towards Israel. That is obviously correct, and I am not disputing that reality. However what I will point out, is that Israel has one of if not the best missile defense systems in the world, one which has been funded through billions of US dollars. Israel has highly sophisticated weapons systems and advanced military missiles. Israeli citizens, albeit yes are not entirely safe and I do truly hope that no Israeli citizens are harmed, have bomb shelters and the Iron Dome to protect them. Palestinian civilians do not have any of this. Nearly every missile fired at Israel is intercepted; nearly every missile fired at Palestine hits its target. Below you can find a graphic demonstrating the difference in casualties for one instance of the overarching "conflict", this is for "Operation Protective Edge" in 2014. You can also do your own research to visualize the vast differences in casualties. Here are a few sources you can start with: 1 2 3
Israel is an apartheid state. This context is important. I suggest everyone read this Human Rights Watch explanation. Below you will find some graphics visualizing the ID card system that exists in Israel/Palestine, along with graphics demonstrating the progression of land grabs by Israel. In Israel, you are treated differently based on your religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Furthermore, this is why I have personally referred in the original post to these current events as "watching genocide unfold". Genocide is defined by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court in the 1948 Genocide Convention as: "In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." (source) Looking at this "conflict" as a whole, and then looking at the current events unfolding, I believe that this applies. You can disagree about this terminology if you would like to, but let us not dispute the facts of this situation.
Last night, the Israeli military spread information that they were leading ground forces into Gaza. A few hours later, they released a statement that they had not yet entered Gaza, and that the prior information had been used as a way to push Hamas into the tunnels, which they then bombed. At 12:20pm EST on May 14 2021, the Israeli military has now deployed ground troops into Gaza, reported by the New York Times (source). The New York Times has also reported that as of the writing of this, the death toll in Gaza is officially 120, with over 900 wounded.
This is not an excuse for anybody to be anti-Semitic, nor to be Islamophobic. As stated above, this is not about religion. This is about land, this is about power, this is about apartheid and colonialism and human rights. Do not use this tragedy as an excuse to be an evil human being.
