I am Furious!

I am furious!

I’m furious at the Israeli government’s decision to exile 6 Palestinian families from East Jerusalem. Israel knows quite well that such actions are an extremely sensitive topic to the Palestinians. They know the consequences. Yet they proceed anyways. The Trump-like Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is more concerned with retaining power and avoiding prison for corruption, than keeping his own citizens safe. He knows damn well that removing Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem is going to get a response from Palestinians, and especially from Hamas. He is aware that they will be firing Kassam rockets at civilians. Yet he provokes them, for his own political aspirations, at the cost of the safety of Israeli lives. Also, why the hell was the Israeli police shooting worshippers at Al Aqsa mosque, even if they were throwing rocks at them? They should have more nonviolent responses to handle a threat than shooting people inside the 3rd most holiest for worship in Islam. What did they think would happen? The rock throwing would stop, and everyone holds hands and sings kumbaya?

I’m furious at the Hamas terrorists, who are shooting HUNDREDS of rockets into Israeli cities, targeting civilians, DAILY. Not military targets. Not part of collateral damage. Literally shooting at civilians. The ONLY reason fewer Israelis are being killed is because of the “Iron Dome” protection….catching of rockets before they hit. That, plus the bomb shelters Israelis are literally hiding at. I have family in Israel who were literally hiding out in bomb shelters last night. Saying that Hamas terrorists are justified in trying to murder civilians because of Israel’s actions is like saying that BLM protesters are justified in throwing bombs into white-owned houses and businesses because they have legitimate grievances against racism. No matter what your grievances are, no matter how unjust the cause, terrorism should NEVER be tolerated, nor excused. When you resort to terrorism, you lose credibility to fight the causes behind the very issues you are concerned about, becoming even worse than what you are fighting against!

I’m furious at the Israeli response with airstrikes all over the Gaza Strip. In a 4-mile, densely populated area with 4 million people, full of apartment buildings, it is outright irresponsible to carry out airstrikes. They are not just assassinating terrorists, they are knowingly causing collateral damage of civilians, including children. It definitely can’t be compared to Hamas literally targetting civilians for maximum damage, but the IDF has a responsibility to minimize civilian casualties, and the fact that they are not is messed up. Instead, Israel should immediately nix the expulsion of the 6 Palestinian families from their own houses, and reign in the settler extremists mocking Palestinian families; in return for Hamas immediately ceasing all rocket attacks.

I’m furious at the non-Israeli, non-Palestinian celebrities, politicians, and the media, taking propaganda and running with it, often without even knowing anything about the complex situation. They are conveniently only showing the Palestinian suffering and pain, blaming Israel for it, yet completely ignoring the ongoing attacks by terrorists against Israel. When you pretend that people celebrating a festival are instead celebrating a burning mosque, then refuse to remove fake news, you perform a disservice to the public. When you pretend that police just decided to shoot worshippers at a mosque, while conveniently ignoring the fact that they were throwing rock at those same cops, you manipulate your followers with false “facts”. When you spread falsehoods, while refusing to correct them and present actual fights, you gaslight the public, by keeping away vital facts from them. Sharing and resharing emotional, out of context, even sometimes fake, videos, on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, spreads falsehoods more rapidly than wildfire, and unless you are also sharing and explaining facts from both sides, and provide context, it is actually better to nor share anything until you understand the whole truth.

I’m furious with pro-Israel newspapers illustrating terror inside Israel, while pretending that the civilians at the Gaza Strip are not experiencing that same terror, with bombing raids. This propagandanized media is still in denial on why these rockets are now coming down on Israel. They also conveniently ignore reporting on the Israeli racist settlers caught on video mocking the Palestinian families about to be evicted, as well as Netanyahu’s government continuing to support these same settlers, both politically and financially.

I’m furious at all these celebrities, politicians, and random redditors and twitterers, whose anti-Semitism has been exposed. If you are tweeting daily about Israeli evictions and airstrikes, but are quite as a mouse on concentration camps in China, authoritarian dictatorships in Russia and Turkey, the conflict and displacement of human beings in Tigray, or the plight of the Rohingya and Kurds in Burma and Iran, respectively, you are an anti-Semite. If you publicly call out companies to stop doing business with Israel, while consuming products made by slaves in China, and supporting the 2022 World Cup to be played in Qatar, with stadiums literally built by slaves, you are an anti-Semite. If you call out politicians for supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, but are silent on Saudi involvement in Yemen, Russia’s aggressions on the Ukrainian border, or China’s military exercises on disputed islands, you are an anti-Semite. If you are the UN expressing “deep concern” over Israel, while you have Syrians, Saudis, Russians and Chinese on your “human rights council”, you are an anti-Semite. No, valid criticism of Israel does not make someone anti-Semitic. I do it often. But double standards, hypocrisy, singling Israel out every time it does something bad, while ignoring or even justifying other countries who do the same, makes you one.

Most of all, I’m furious at both the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, as well as the morally bankrupt, bloodstained Netanyahu regime, for upholding, supporting, and actively promoting extremism, conflict, and violence. I am outraged that they put the lives of my family and friends in danger. The majority of both Israelis and Palestinians want to just live in peace, to be safe from attack by their neighbors, to live and laugh, and love, but the government extremists from both sides keep pitting us against each other, putting their own citizens, as well as their neighbors, in danger, trading their morality and the security of their families, friends, and neighbors, for power, money, and political prestige. This alone should infuriate not just me, but all of you, too!