On October 7, 2023, Israel communities were invaded and citizens were randomly murdered in their homes by gunmen running through the streets. Families have been taken hostage..The terrorist organization Hamas has boasted responsibility and encouraged other international actors to also join in their violence. The attack has come from the city territory of Gaza, also from the sea, and the sky with thousands of indiscriminate rockets raining down on residential suburbs inside Israel..The media will cover the burning buildings and the many deaths. Hamas proudly streams videos of their exploits, while we hear their Islamic boasting Allahu Akbar (God is great) as they move forward with guns. In response, Israel has said that they are now at war..The declaration of war means greater fighting ahead..Will Israel launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties and international condemnation? Meanwhile, in northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon's Hezbollah militants fanned fear that the fighting could expand into a wider regional war..Will other outside factions get involved, as actions bring reactions?.I feel the emotion deeply, for in times past I have stood at the fence and looked at Gaza City. Then a hidden machine gun rang out from a field in Gaza and one in our group was seriously wounded. So, the emotional connection to what we are seeing on TV remains. It is not a far-off abstraction. I am deeply reminded of the trauma residents feel..Do Canadians understand …really?.There is a background to everything. There have been violent attacks and wars against Israel, especially since the reestablishment of the State of Israel on its traditional lands in 1948. There never was a distinct Palestinian country. However, as far back as the late 1800’s, locals became violent against Jews who started to return to the region in significant numbers to buy land..The short historical version is evil ideas can take hold of populations and be translated into murderous behaviour and cultivate a societal culture of false victim vengeance..Hamas' declared objectives are to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation (colonialism) and transform the whole region into an Islamic state. Their charter commits to waging an armed struggle to destroy the state of Israel..Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Government of Canada lists Hamas as a terrorist entity, establishing it as a terrorist group in 2002..In the early intifada period, children in Gaza and the West Bank were instilled by Hamas with Islamic and military values. Evidence shows that kindergarten children attended ceremonies where they wore emblematic uniforms and bore mock rifles..Some were dressed up as suicide bombers, whose readiness to die for the cause was held up as a model to be imitated. The preschoolers would swear an oath to pursue jihad, resistance and intifada. At summer camps, alongside Quranic studies and familiarization with computers, courses were given that included military training..Hamas's use of child labour to build tunnels to attack Israel has been revealed, with at least 160 children killed in the tunnels..The Independent Commission for Human Rights based in Ramallah published a report whose findings included Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were subjected to an almost systematic campaign of human rights abuses by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, with the security forces belonging to the PA and Hamas being responsible for torture, arrests and arbitrary detentions..On May 26, 2015, Amnesty International reported Hamas carried out extrajudicial killings, abductions and arrests of Palestinians and used the Al-Shifa Hospital to detain, interrogate and torture suspects during the Israel–Gaza conflict in 2014. It details the executions of at least 23 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel and the torture of dozens of others, many victims of torture were members of the rival Palestinian movement, Fatah..The roots of the modern Arab–Israeli conflict lie in the rise of Zionism and the reactionary Arab nationalism that arose at the end of the 19th century. Territory regarded by the Jewish people as their historical homeland is also regarded by the Pan-Arab movement as historically belonging to the Palestinian Arabs..The Arab–Israeli conflict has a religious aspect and their ideas regarding the 'Promised Land' and the 'Chosen City' of Jerusalem..The Land of Canaan or Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, promised by God to the Children of Israel. This is also mentioned in the Qur'an. In his 1896 manifesto, The Jewish State, Theodor Herzl repeatedly refers to the Biblical Promised Land concept. Present-day Israeli political parties include the Biblical claim to the Land of Israel..Muslims also claim rights to that land by the Quran..Contrary to the Jewish claim this land was promised to the descendants of Abraham's grandson Jacob (Yisrael), Arabs argue the land of Canaan was promised to what they consider the elder son of Abraham, Ishmael, from whom Arabs claim descent. Additionally, Muslims also revere many sites holy for Biblical Israelites, such as the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Temple Mount..In the past 1,400 years, Muslims have constructed Islamic landmarks on these ancient Israelite sites, such as the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. This has brought the two groups into conflict over the rightful possession of Jerusalem. Muslim teaching is that Muhammad passed through Jerusalem like an angel on his first journey to heaven. Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, claims all of the land of Palestine is an Islamic waqf that must be governed by Muslims..The Zionist movement of the 19th century called for the establishment of a nation-state for the Jewish people in Palestine, which would serve as a haven for the Jews of the world where they would have the right to self-determination..Zionists claimed this state should be in their historic homeland, which they referred to as the Land of Israel. The World Zionist Organization and the Jewish National Fund encouraged immigration and funded the purchase of land, both under Ottoman rule and under British rule, while Arab nationalism was the dominant local tendency with loyalty to the Ottoman state of the area..The first recorded violent incident between Arabs and the newly immigrated Jews in Palestine was the accidental shooting death of an Arab man in Safed, during a wedding in December 1882, by a Jewish guard of the newly formed Rosh Pinna. By 1908, thirteen Jews had been killed by Arabs. Resentments deepened into multi-generational hatred and revenge..Since the declaration of national independence in May 1948, the State of Israel has fought eight recognized wars with its neighbouring Arab states, two major Palestinian Arab uprisings known as the First Intifada and the Second Intifada and many other violent incidents rooted in the intractable Arab–Israeli conflict..Israel has been involved in many wars and large-scale military operations, including:.1948 Arab–Israeli War of Independence (November 1947 – July 1949)Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency (1950s–1960s)Suez Crisis (October 1956)Six-Day War (June 1967)War of Attrition (1967–1970)Yom Kippur War (October 1973)Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon (1971–1982)1982 Lebanon War (1982)South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)First Intifada (1987–1993).Second Intifada (2000–2005)2006 Lebanon War (summer 2006)Gaza War or Operation Cast Lead (December 2008 – January 2009)Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012)Operation Protective Edge (July–August 2014)Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021)October 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict (October 2023- ).Regardless of politicians who have been seeking compromise and peace arrangements, Hamas is a group dedicated to wiping out the Jewish State of Israel and refuses to recognize Israel’s legitimacy..Blaming Israel does not work, since the motives for Hamas’ attack had little to do with anything President Netanyahu did or did not do and everything to do with Hamas and Iran intending to sabotage the potential normalization of relations and peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia..One can appreciate the depth of intractable conflict, when even in Canada where there should be reasonable perspective, there are people who will protest on behalf of the deeds of Hamas. When tragedies around the world occur, one can observe who supports a particular narrative. In past times we have even heard it in the House of Commons..Remember how surprising it was to observe some in Canada supporting the 9/11 airplane attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York? The evil dark hearts in our midst were revealed then. Sadly, it is happening again. We must expose these people and remember them..Remaining quiet without responsive verbal denunciation is not an option..“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer.Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
