Israeli Defense Force Reserve Major Elliot Chodoff, a Middle East scholar and military strategist, spoke at the York Jewish Community Center in January about the Gaza conflict. Here are a few major facts he stressed that are essential to understanding Israel's position, especially in light of the recent media bias against Israel.
Hamas' charter, or their statement of beliefs, clearly proclaims that their main mission is to destroy Israel. How can any country possibly make a peace treaty with an organization whose entire purpose is to wipe it off the map?
Hamas fired approximately 1,800 rockets into Israel during a six-month ceasefire, which ended in mid-December 2008. Israel - a country the size of New Jersey - decided to "tolerate it" before defending itself. If a country were to fire just one rocket into the US, would we wait for 1,799 more? Or would we declare war on them right away?
Hamas employs the terrorist tactic of using innocent Palestinian civilians as shields and targets. For example, Hamas' headquarters is underneath a hospital, and they have routinely stored weapons and munitions in a United Nations school. It's not as though Israel is purposefully bombing civilians; they are targeting only terrorists. Hamas purposely mixes among the civilian population to make it difficult for Israeli strikes to avoid injuring or killing civilians. While reports estimated in mid-January that 1,000 Palestinians had been killed, the media did not mention that about 800 were Hamas terrorists. Gaza City is about the size of Detroit, and eighty percent of the casualties were targets. Israel is not just randomly bombing; they are tactically striking targets that are a threat to the safety of Israeli citizens.
Tragically, humanitarian aid for the Palestinians has also proven to aid terrorism toward Israel. When Israel gave the Palestinians self-rule over Gaza, they left them with plenty of resources to grow their economy. However, Hamas uses these resources to make bombs, rockets, and smuggling tunnels for weaponry. Remember, Hamas will sacrifice the welfare of their own people for the sake of destroying Israel. As Chodoff accurately put it, "They love death more than we love life." Potentially, any aid Israel gives the Palestinians might be used to terrorize and destroy them.
The tragedy is that Israel wants peace and acknowledges the need to coexist with a Palestinian state. But how can there be peace when terrorists and extremists infiltrate Middle Eastern politics and diplomacy? There is only one predictable outcome: This conflict will continue until the Palestinians, with the support of the Arab world, denounce terrorism and formally declare that Israel has a right to exist.
You're still the best, Ariel. Thanks for posting this. It's about time someone in the media considered Israel's point of view rather than the Palestinians.
I am an uninformed Jewish teen looking for information regarding both parties involved and I still cannot find a single neutral article online..
All of your selling points contain very questionable information.
I see parallels when both passionate sides write about this topic and the extreme biases need to be tamed.
On both sides of this spectrum, there are non-violent activists that go unmentioned. There are people thinking critically on the most logical means of agreement. BUT unfortunately, biases (like this one) continue to cripple their message, and leave masses of people (like ones who read your article, or hear your lecture) passively pointing fingers.
All I'm saying is, you might be lecturing people who have no prior knowledge to the situation. It is not helpful in any instance of conflict to be partial to the opposing point of view.
I just don't think you realize how powerful your words can be while speaking in Jewish community centers with people who will be easily influenced.
I actually thought you were the lecturer.
Either way, the point is made as you seem to be easily influenced, and passively pointing fingers in your online 'rant'.
Considering the headline contains the words "from Israel's point of view," I am wondering why you seem to be criticizing me for being biased in the first place.
Also, I wouldn't consider this a rant at all. This was categorized as a "rant" because there are a limited number of "topics" you can write for on Teen Takeover.