Fire from Hell in the Holy Land

By Ethan Hay

‘The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’- The Covenant of Hamas (1)

Since the 10th of May, rockets have been falling on the nation of Israel. These bombs were launched by the Islamic fundamentalist organization Hamas, and according to the Times of Israel, nearly 2,500 rockets have been fired. These rocket launches have resulted in the death of nearly ten people. (2) What is the cause of this sudden outbreak of violence? It begins in the small Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Israel has since its inception as a nation in 1948, been embroiled in conflict. Whether it be the numerous wars that it has fought, (3) or the continuous and random attacks by terrorist organizations, (4) and even international pressure by figures like American Congresswomen Ilhan Omar, (5) and Rashida Tlaib. (6) Not to mention that terrorist organizations like the Iranian supported Hamas, officially called the Islamic Resistance Movement, launches attacks against Israel constantly for little to no reason. (7) However, the Hamas reasoning for this series of attacks is due to an Israeli case that is before the Supreme Court of Israel. In this particular case, Jewish property owners of land in Sheikh Jarrah for thousands of years, but whose families were forced to leave in 1948 during the Israeli war of Independence, are seeking to evict several Palestinian residents who have not paid rent in decades. (8) It has obviously escalated from that point.

Despite the deaths of ten people, including two Israeli Arabs, a 21 year old soldier, one Indian caregiver, and a five year old child, and hundreds of various injuries, (9) the damage for Israeli property has been minimal. Israel’s missile defense system, the Iron Dome, was able to destroy most of the rockets while they were still in the air. Nearly 90% according to Wall Street Journal. (10) Sadly, things have not been as fortuitous for Hamas, which is being targeted by Israeli missiles in their home base of Gaza. Ironically, the Associated Press which had a building in Gaza that it shared with Al Jazeera was bombed, (11) reports that nearly 188 Palestinians, 55 of whom were children, are dead. (12) Israel has also made a concerted effort to try and attempt to not launch strikes in populated areas, even going so far as to call off an attack when there were reports of children in an area, (13) on top of seeking to destroy the Hamas tunnel network. (14)

How has the international community responded? Well, interestingly enough, while Hamas has the support of Iran, it has seemingly been abandoned by the Arab world. Due to a cooling in tensions between the Arab world and Israel, leading to the signing of the Abraham Accords. (15) However, the Arab world has condemned the violence, but little action has been taken. (16) In fact, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) went as far as to potentially withdraw aid from the Gaza strip. A UAE official actually call out the Palestinian Authority (PA), saying “if Hamas does not commit to complete calm, it is dooming the residents of the Strip to a life of suffering. Its leaders must understand that their policies are first and foremost hurting the people of Gaza.” (17) That being said, there are still attempts to punish Israel by the United Nations which are being spearheaded by the Chinese foreign minister. (18) President Biden has reached out to both the leader of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging them to stop the violence. (19)

This violence is also being seen in other western countries in the forms of protests. One of the most sickening took place in London. In a convoy of protestors supporting the state of Palestine, there was one man who shouted “f*** the Jews! Rape their daughters!” (20) Former presidential, and now New York City Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang was also unable to avoid the vitriol of the twitter/ social justice warrior mob. He had initially posted a statement in support of Israel, only to state later that he “felt that my tweet was overly simplistic in my treatment of a conflict that has a long and complex history full of tragedies. And they felt it failed to acknowledge the pain and suffering on both sides.” There was even a hashtag that was trending for a while which said #YangSupportsGenocide. (21)

One other thing worth asking is whether the terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank feel emboldened due to the United States restoring foreign aid to Palestine? (22) It seems to be the norm of this administration to not only disregard our own interests and the interests of our allies, but it seemingly seeks to actively empower our enemies. Especially the Palestinian Authority, that goes out of its way to reject numerous attempted peace deals authored by both Israel and the US. (23) What do you think?

Sources:

Ethan Hay

Ethan Hay is a retired Navy veteran, who is one of the cofounders of Truth Matters. He is an author, and student at Utah Valley University, who is studying communications with the intention of furthering his career as a journalist.

Fire from Hell in the Holy Land

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