“Yesterday, children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war. I want to say it because it touches my heart.”- Pope Francis, condemning the bombing of children in GazaRachel Corrie was a young American peace activist who, in 2003, was crushed to death in Gaza by an Israeli armored bulldozer while trying to protect the home of the family where she was staying.In an interview just two days before her death, Corrie explained: “In the time I’ve been here, children have been shot and killed.
I feel like what I’m witnessing here is a very systematic destruction of people’s ability to survive.And that is incredibly horrifying.”Notably, this was before Hamas came to power in 2006.Gabor Maté is a Jewish-Canadian physician, Holocaust survivor and trauma specialist. His grandparents were killed at Auschwitz.According to Maté: “In 2005, there was a study that appeared in the Journal of World Psychiatry looking at traumatized populations under war conditions.The most traumatized children in 2005, this is before Hamas gained power…The most traumatized kids were in Gaza.”A recent Associated Press article is titled, “Tens of thousands of Palestinians seek shelter after Israeli assaults across the West Bank.”Moreover, a February press release by the humanitarian aid organization, the International Rescue Committee, states: “Children in the West Bank are facing increasing levels of violence, displacement, and deep trauma.The very places meant to protect and support them-schools, safe spaces, essential services-are disappearing before their eyes.”Remember that Hamas is in power in Gaza, not in the West Bank.On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists committed horrific crimes against humanity in Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages.
On October 8, 2023, The Times of Israel published an article titled, “For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces.”The article explains how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bolstered Hamas, even allowing millions of dollars of “Qatari cash” to enter Gaza. The ultimate goal was to foster divisions between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, thus thwarting the development of a Palestinian state.Israeli historian Adam Raz asserts that, since he was first elected prime minister in 1996, “Netanyahu has been working hard to strengthen Hamas.”Raz explains that, in 2009, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to stop its cooperation with the Palestinian Authority security forces in their fight against Hamas.Furthermore, according to Raz, when PA President Mahmoud Abbas stopped transferring money to Gaza in 2018, “Netanyahu saved Hamas by allowing in suitcases full of cash from Qatar.”When he served in the U.S. Senate, current Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced the “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad International Terrorism Support Prevention Act of 2024.”
At that time, Rubio stated:”The barbaric terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7th by Hamas savages, reaffirms the importance of sanctioning the group’s enablers and the governments who provide material support to these terrorists.”In a morally consistent world, at the very minimum, Benjamin Netanyahu would be deemed a persona non grata and forbidden entry into the United States.In such a world, the numerous standing ovations Netanyahu received when he addressed a joint session of Congress last July would be considered acts of shame.I continue to be amazed by how ideology and selective perception can blind us to truth.A December needs assessment sponsored by the charity War Child Alliance found that death feels imminent for 96% of Gaza’s children.
In addition, almost half of the children in Gaza want to die as a result of war-related trauma, 92% of the children in the survey were “not accepting of reality,” 79% suffer from nightmares and 73% exhibit symptoms of aggression.Dr. Samah Jabr is a psychiatrist, who is chair of the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s mental health unit.She explains that, for the children of Gaza, the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder is a misnomer.According to Jabr, “there is no ‘post’ because the trauma is repetitive and ongoing.”Author Adam Hochschild wrote that “The politics of empathy are fickle.”Blaming Hamas should not be a get-out-of-jail-free-card for committing crimes of war.This includes Israel’s bombing of hospitals and depriving civilian populations of food, water and medical supplies.In the words of United Nations Humanitarian Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher: “Parties to conflicts must protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. Even wars have rules…If your principles apply only to your opponents, then they are not humanitarian principles.
The Leahy Law, named after Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), asserts: “No assistance shall be furnished to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.”Annelle Sheline was a foreign affairs officer at the U.S. Department of State, who resigned in protest over the Biden administration’s unconditional support for the war in Gaza.In her April 9 report for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Sheline wrote: “Congress has still never successfully voted to block a weapons sale.Today, the myth that American power upholds human rights lies buried beneath the rubble of Gaza.”Terry Hansen is a retired educator. He lives in Milwaukee, USA.
Opinin: By Terry Hansen
Comments