Uncomfortable questions about Gaza and Israel

War is terrible. The images coming out of Gaza bring tears to our eyes. We cringe when we see the massive destruction and the number of casualties rising daily. 

We can all agree that the violence in the region has to stop. But every time we start discussing why there’s violence in the first place, and who’s to blame, we get lost in the complications of this conflict. The arguments throw us back in history and confuse our common sense. 

So let’s simplify it just a little bit: One side aims for genocide, and the other side resists and fights to maintain its freedom. I’m sure you can guess which side is which. And I’m also sure you find this completely over-simplified, exaggerated, and one-sided. I mean, after all, there are two sides to every story, right? And both sides have blood on their hands.

Keep asking questions! 

I get it, you are against all forms of violence. Still, you feel the need to compare, so you can decide which side is less wrong. Here’s the thing, you don’t need to take sides. It’s not important that you take sides. But it is important that you stick to your own values. 

What’s important is that you understand the truth and don’t let yourself be swept away by popular, dangerous narratives. Ask questions that others don’t ask. Ask questions that feel uncomfortable. Ask questions that help expose who’s telling the truth, who’s hiding the truth, and who’s flat-out lying and when.

So let’s ask some of these questions.

What kind of war?

It’s been 10 days since the massacre. 10 days of continuously unfolding horror stories. Whenever I think I’ve heard the worst, there’s more. The news and my social media feeds are packed with videos and reports of survivors and victims’ family members. An endless stream of sickening, frightening accounts of what people went through and are going through.

At first, it was the pictures of missing people. Family members were desperately asking for help in locating their loved ones. Then the media was filled with images shared by the terrorists of their atrocities and barbarianism. Slowly, the focus shifted to the eyewitness footage taken by survivors. They are telling unfathomable stories, together with the heroic actions of people who had saved or helped them. 

My October 7th, 2023

We had planned a day trip. Through the stunning desert along the Gazan and Egyptian border and back across the Ramon Crater.

At 6:45 my alarm goes off.

I’m immediately aware of the distant rumbling. I know what this is. It’s the sound of rockets from Gaza and the iron dome intercepting them.

“Can’t be!” my mind refuses to accept, „There have been no signs of tension, no warnings from our side, and no threats from the Gazan side. It’s been calm.”

But the rumbling doesn’t stop. It’s continuous, and even though it’s far, it’s intense. I get out of bed to wash my face. There are notifications on WhatsApp already. Sure enough, the trip is cancelled – there’s rocket fire from Gaza.

I make coffee. „It’ll be over soon, no reason this should escalate.“ 

Little did I know!

The text messages didn’t stop rolling in. Video after video of Hamas terrorists, armed to their teeth driving through Israeli towns, appear in WhatsApp groups.

Honestly, I thought they were fake. This looked like ISIS back in the day. I never believed it was possible here.

Soon after, the media confirmed they were real. That’s when I realized, this was worse than anything I’ve experienced in over 30 years in Israel. Whatever happens next, there’s no going back to the normal we have known.

The sirens started going off all over the center of Israel. We made sure all our family members were safe and taken care of. We prepared our security room and, just as we had closed the heavy iron window shutter, the sirens in our village squeaked.

For the next three hours, they went off every fifteen minutes.

At the same time, we kept getting news of Hamas invading the south of Israel, shooting everyone, burning down houses and murdering entire families in their homes. Some got murdered sleeping in their own bedrooms.

Some were taken hostage and held in their living rooms. Parents saw their children shot in front of their eyes.

Hamas kidnapped small children, teenagers, and old women and shot men who were trying to defend their families with their private guns (if they had any).

Soon people reported dead bodies lying around in the streets of towns.

And in the desert? There was a big music festival where over 3000 people danced and celebrated life. Hamas terror squads barged in, heavily armed and shooting into the crowd. People ran for their lives in all directions. But where can you run to in the middle of the desert?

The terrorists caught them, killed or kidnapped and dragged them on motorbikes and trucks back into Gaza. The bodies of young women were stripped naked and pulled onto the trucks to be displayed to a cheering crowd driving back into Gaza.

I’ll stop here.
It brings me to tears and turns my stomach inside out.

At the end of the day, there were 300 Israelis dead, about 1800 wounded (numbers still rising), and hundreds are still missing. No one knows how many were taken hostage into Gaza.

I wrote this on October 8th. By the time of publishing, the number of people killed in the massacre had risen to about 1300 – with about 300 still not identified, that’s how badly they were mutilated. Around 200 people are being held hostage, among them citizens of Europe, the US and more. We stopped counting the injured.

Science in the shadows

Two headlines caught my attention this morning at the beginning of what promises to be a totally routine week after the wonderful, long weekend of Shavuot holiday.

„Israel to ally with Arab neighbours around Red Sea in bid to save world’s corals“ Was one headline.

The second one, I did not fully understand. Clear was only, that the article was also about science, in this case, archaeology. However, this one did not talk about cooperation, but rather the opposite.

Reading the two pieces draws a fascinating picture of what is going on aside from – but always in the shadow of religiously infected politics.