If you care about the Palestinians, you should be pro Israel.
If you are pro Palestine, you need to read this.
Despite whether you believe that the people of Gaza are innocent victims of a genocide or that they have reaped what they have sowed, there are indisputable facts that must be acknowledged. The Palestinians are suffering.
Due to the ongoing war since October 7, much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, and the civilians are more dependent than ever on the benevolence of the international community for essential food, medical supplies, and basic necessities.
The healthcare system is on the edge of collapse, entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, and families and communities have been displaced. It is without a doubt a disaster. This level of destruction should never be allowed to happen again, and the only way to ensure that it wont is with the complete destruction of Hamas and the intifada ideology imbedded in the identity of the Palestinians.
If we are to interrupt the perpetual cycle of violence and bleak living conditions of the people of Gaza, the only solution is for Hamas to surrender. And surrender in war only takes place when one side wins and the other side loses — unequivocally.
If the Palestinians are to have any hope for a future, free from corruption, hatred, poverty and an over-reliance on charity, the current governance framework established by Hamas encompassing ministries and agencies responsible for public services, security, and civil administration must be dismantled — in full.
The end of World War 2 was only possible due to the total annihilation of the Nazi Germany regime and the complete decimation of Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We can acknowledge the horrors of the innocent civilians caught in the bombing of Dresden Germany, and the utter despair of the innocents caught in the nuclear bombings of Japan, while still understanding that it was only the comprehensive defeat of the Axis powers by the Allies that ended World War 2, and paved the way for reconstruction.
After the end of WW2, the Allies then provided economic and technical assistance to help Germany rebuild. Japan was occupied by the Allies, disarmed, and transformed into a democracy. Japan's economy was rebuilt and has since become a global economic power.
If any nation had a reason to carry resentment against their enemy forces it was the Japanese. By the end of 1945, the bombing had killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki.
In the years that followed, many survivors suffered from leukemia, cancer, and other devastating effects of radiation. Yet, since the end of World War II, Japan has maintained a resilient democracy and surpassed expectations in its recovery and growth.
In contrast to the success of Japan, Gaza has barely progressed in 75 years. The complete rejection of its people to recognise the State of Israel, and accept the border partition has caused endless pain and suffering — to the people of Israel who have spent billions of dollars attempting to protect their borders from terrorism and attack, but mostly to the Palestinians themselves.
“Sometimes you have to do things that don’t feel good but will actually begin to do good. So, if we want to get out of this conflict … we need to go to the core ideology that sustains it and begin to transform it.” Einat Wilf
The Palestinians must come to terms with the reality that a large-scale right of return to what is now Israel is not viable. Allowing six million Palestinians to return would effectively dissolve Israel, replacing it with another Arab state — one likely to struggle with the same issues of religious intolerance, misogyny, corruption, and terrorism.
The only way forward is to acknowledge the barriers to peace, which primarily lands on the Palestinians. There can be no peace without the eradication of terrorism and generational ideologies of revenge and retribution. The Palestinians need to decide whether they want to hold onto an almost century-old grudge and continue to live in misery, or choose a new path to peace and prosperity. They cannot have both.
Simply calling for a cease-fire right now in the midst of a century-long war without significant ideological change would be ineffective and short-term at best. At worst the endless cycle of death and destruction continues indefinitely .
“Peace has to be based on the mutual recognition of the two sides to the right of self-determination,” she said. “There’s a clear Jewish state that is embraced, that is accepted, and there is an Arab Palestinian state that is embraced and accepted.” Einat Wilf
Every human being deserves to live with dignity and respect, free from oppression, and with equal opportunities to thrive. The Israelis chose that path decades ago, and have offered their neighbours terms of coexistence time and time again — it’s now time for the Palestinians to choose a new path. The mere fact that Israel has the firepower to annihilate Gaza in a day, but have not done so, should be evidence enough that Israel has no desire to eradicate the Palestinians.
The children of Palestine deserve to dream of becoming doctors, lawyers and scientists rather than to blow themselves up on an Israeli bus and become a Shahid. They deserve to have a childhood that doesn’t include guns, grenades, terrorism and celebrating over the coffins of a four-year-old and a nine-month-old baby.
The de-radicalisation of Gaza will not happen overnight, but we only need to look to Nazi Germany to know that it is achievable. However it will only be made possible if Israel are permitted to complete the task of dismantling Hamas’ control over the region, and just as the international community banded together after the end of World War 2, it is imperative that we support Israel to implement a zero tolerance policy on terrorist ideologies and sympathies and create a better future for the children of Gaza.
It’s time for the Palestinians themselves to self determine their own future. It’s time they chose a way forward that doesn’t include terrorism or violence. For the sake of their own humanity, it’s time for them to choose peace.
As Golda Meir one said, "there will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us." So sad that nothing has changed. They still think the Jews are going somewhere else. As Golda also said, "our secret weapon is that we have nowhere else to go."
Ah, but that’s exactly the problem—the world as a whole does not want the Palestinians to stop “doing what they’re doing”, because that same world wants the Jews to die every bit as much as the Nazis did. Only now, they euphemistically call them “Zionists”. The end goal is the same and they will keep at it until the last Palestinian dies.
Is this a depressing thought? Absolutely. But, it’s an accurate one, I fear.