Israelis, Palestinians caught in crossfire don’t deserve to die

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet over the last few days, you are certainly aware of the horrifying atrocities taking place in Israel as the result of an attack from Hamas, a Palestinian military group committed to violent resistance against their Israeli neighbors. The conflict in the Middle East is intensely complex and multi layered, and is one of the longest running and world history. 

Tensions reached a boiling point over the weekend when Hamas initiated just a terrifying, brutal attack on Israeli citizens, killing hundreds and taking dozens more hostages. The images and videos that have been circulating on social media, they’re very hard to watch. They’re important to watch to understand the gravity of what’s happening. There is also an element where Hamas is using these images and videos as propaganda. So with regards to consumption of social media, I would take care, I would take care.

Israel is currently launching a counter offensive against Palestine. But a lot of people have very conflicting feelings about that. You know, I think it’s very hard for us on the outside to have a full understanding of what is going on, apart from the reality that innocent people, children, elderly people, disabled people are being slaughtered. 

Look, I, I am Jewish and I am I’m heartbroken by what I’ve seen as a Jew, as a mother, as a human. And I also am trying to be aware that what we are seeing what we are being fed by our social media algorithms is a small piece of a larger truth. I think it’s important to understand that atrocities like those that are taking place in Israel, and in Palestine are both an affront to humanity and a cry of desperation. 

There’s no excuse for murdering entire families for slaughtering innocents attending a dance party for kidnapping kidnapping elderly people and babies. You know, I watched an interview with the mother of the woman whose broken body was displayed in the back of a pickup truck by Hamas and spit on while people cheered. And I don’t know how she’s even breathing. I don’t know. But there is so clearly pain on all sides. There is fear. 

I’m not talking about Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization that we should all agree must be stopped. But but overwhelmingly, both Israeli and Palestinian citizens, the people like you and me they want peace. The horrors are being inflicted by terrorists, and aren’t being helped by the refusal of the Israeli prime minister to work for peace or by the failure of the international community to urge them to do the same. I stand with Israel. Of course I do. I just want to remind you that these are humans that we’re talking about human lives on both sides of a conflict that they never asked to be born into, and they deserve to live