The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) runs many schools in Gaza and other areas with Palestinian refugees.
https://www.unrwa.org/activity/education-gaza-strip
The UNRWA Education program in Gaza is the largest of all UNRWA programs in the five fields, serving 291,100 students (150,608 males and 140,492 females) from Grades 1-9 in the 2021/2022 school year. Students study in the 278 UNRWA schools across the Gaza Strip, of which 80 operate on a single shift basis, 198 on a double shift, staffed by some 9,443 education personnel.
Despite claims of “isms” by many political leaders, the West, especially America, continually demonstrates compassion for others of different nationalities, races, religions, and belief systems. American dollars generously support the UNRWA and the overall humanitarian effort in Gaza (and elsewhere). The UNRWA aims to help these kids, ones who would be termed “at-risk” in our own school systems. It sounds like a wonderful story so far, but who actually controls what is taught in these schools the money supports?
palestinian-kids-at-unrwa-school-they-teach-us-that-jews-are-bad-people
Do the children learn that Hamas is a terrorist organization as well? It’s highly doubtful.
Western culture believes all children should have opportunity: to go to school, have three meals a day, be loved by others, make a difference someday. We attempt to share these values with others, but something is going wrong in Gaza.
Stabbing and running over Jews is not terrorism, but rather an action that brings dignity? Really?
As a child, I wanted to be a sports star. These kids want to be terrorist stars. I wasn’t taught to run over and hate my enemy with such passion.
The international community has sent billions of dollars in aid to the Gaza Strip in recent years to provide relief to the more than 2 million Palestinians living in the isolated, Hamas-ruled territory.
The US sends them money for schools and they teach their kids to hate. I think more strings should be attached to this aid.
Hamas terrorists who on October 7 burned alive a group of Israeli children, cut open the belly of a pregnant woman and then stabbed her child were once taught the same hatred as today’s Gazan children. Who knows what today’s Gazan children will be willing to do and what capacity they may have in the future?
Self-sacrifice, Martyrdom, and Values
We elevate those who die for their country, their faith, or their family or friends. In elementary school, I learned of Nathan Hale who died for American freedom. As a Christian, I have learned of many martyred for their faith. These were noble acts.
Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude. “Let me become the food of the beasts, through whom it will be given me to reach God. Catechism of the Catholic Church 2473
We rightly admire those who sacrifice their lives so others who come after may have a better life, but is dying for the cause something we should aspire to? Hamas doesn’t correctly define the notion of self-sacrifice. They have bastardized the term martyr, turning it into something not truly heroic at all. We should not seek death only to bring glory to ourselves or our family, and we definitely should not seek the harm of others in the process.
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=8633
But the Christian cause is in fact objectively true, and not a subjective illusion, as are many of the causes for which persons die sincerely but deludedly. Thus those who die for the sake of fanatical religious cults, or as terrorists, or for their own glory, however sincere, are not genuine martyrs, but are objectively suicides.
Thus the Christian martyr does not die out of hatred of the enemy as a soldier might, but out of love for his killers, as Jesus taught and lived (Mt 5:43-48). “No man has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13),
Westerners value life and individuality. We sacrifice for our kids and want them to have lives better than our own. What do Palestinian parents desire for their kids? It seems their values are different than ours.
Entertainment teaches young Gazan kids the same ideology. The Arab version of Mickey mouse proclaims the glories of war and killing the enemy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mickey-mouse-rip-off-spreads-hamas-message/
A giant black-and-white rodent — named “Farfour,” or “butterfly,” but unmistakably a Mickey rip-off — does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and Israel on a children’s show run each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas. The militant group, sworn to Israel’s destruction, shares power in the Palestinian government.
hamas-mickey-mouse-farfour-teaches-Palestinian-Children
We can pity these children being taught to hate and kill, but can we be shocked when yesterday’s children glory in their killing of Israelis as on October 7? This is what they have been taught to value their entire lives. Why would they not celebrate their chance to prove themselves on the battlefield? Americans celebrate in this same manner when their team wins a World Series or a Super Bowl, not when victorious in war, not when killing civilians.
Culture Clash
Other cultures view the world differently than we do. This is the point the West must understand. Palestinian culture is explicitly demonstrating their values, yet a great many Americans, albeit a minority still, make excuses for them: there are just a few evil people running Hamas, but the majority of the people of Palestine are just like us and want peace as much as we do. When they so clearly demonstrate their values, we should believe them.
Yet, many in America sympathize with this perverted system promoting theocracy and the glory of dying for it. Only a quarter of today’s American youth see Israel as the good guys. They side with the Palestinians. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/20/palestinian-rights-groups-public-opinion.
Roughly the same percentage of House Democrats refused to condemn Hamas’s actions on October 7.
I don’t understand why these myopic American responses to Hamas are tolerated. To this point, Israel has suffered an unprovoked attack and has not yet responded (more than two weeks later as of this post). Why can’t so many also recognize that Israel is taking a very carefully measured response? There is no doubt Israel’s military capacity far surpasses Hamas’s and Hamas has limited options once Israel strikes back. The Israelis delay only to limit civilian casualties. This same level of restraint was not given when the US attacked Dresden or Tokyo in WWII. It was not given when Sherman marched through Georgia. The demands placed on Israel–to have no civilian deaths at all–by these idealistic folks are unprecedented and impossible. In my last post, I discussed how the US lost the Vietnam War by tying the military’s hands war-in-the-middle-east-who-is-spreading-misinformation. I pray our own government doesn’t tie Israel’s hands in the same manner.
Why can’t the USA officially condemn Hamas for the brutality displayed? Hamas’s goals, are all about civilian deaths: kill as many Israeli civilians as possible and sacrifice as many of your own to generate outrage at your enemy. But so many can’t or won’t recognize this reality.
Democrat Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer took the necessary strong stance in support of Israel: do what you must to eliminate Hamas. https://nypost.com/2023/10/15/schumer-denounces-us-anti-israel-protests-and-calls-for-ceasefire/. President Biden too in recent days agreed Hamas should be eliminated. The US eliminated ISIS by allowing its military to do its job effectively within the boundaries of the Geneva convention. The same applies here. Why can’t three-quarters of House Democrats and dim-witted American youth get on-board?
Presidential candidate Niki Haley told CNN’s Jake Tapper this week: “America has always been sympathetic to the fact you can separate civilians from terrorists.” Governor Haley added half the Gaza population still supports Hamas. I wonder though: how do you separate the peace-loving Gazans from the rest given the following numbers?
Overall, 57% of Gazans express at least a somewhat positive opinion of Hamas—along with similar percentages of Palestinians in the West Bank (52%) and East Jerusalem (64%)
Egypt shares a border with the besieged Gaza, yet they are not accepting Gazan refugees. Perhaps they see Gazan’s militant views as potentially destabilizing their own regime. Jordan, another Israeli neighbor, has also refused Gazan refugees. Instead Europe, Australia, and the US have absorbed vast numbers of Arab refugees the last thirty years. We see the manifestation of this during the last two weeks when protestors in places like London, Dearborn Michigan, and Sydney Australia, chant “gas the Jews” and “Hitler was right.” Last Friday was declared “A global day of rage”, rage not over the killing of innocent Israeli civilians, but rage at the occupiers who they say shouldn’t have been there to be killed in the first place.
By the way, Israeli occupiers possess one small strip of land slightly larger than New Jersey while Muslim majorities are found in 55 countries.
The US has imported these outrageous views and, despite Governor Haley’s assertion, we haven’t effectively separated terrorists and terrorist sympathizers from peace loving citizens who just want to tend their gardens. Many Americans in Washington DC responded to the global day of rage by occupying a Senate office building next to the Capitol. Hundreds were arrested (dare we call it an insurrection?). https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pro-palestine-demonstrators-swarm-inside-capitol-hill-demand-ceasefire-police-begin-arresting-protesters.
“But you also have to speak the truth, and the truth is in Gaza, it’s a dysfunctional toxic society in part because they teach young people to hate Jews. That is endemic to their culture. It doesn’t mean they’re all members of Hamas, but what it does mean is that’s not something you want to import into the United States.” Governor Ron DeSantis to NBC News, October 17.
How to Conduct a War
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly defined the crisis the West faces following the Hamas attack:
Hamas is part of the axis of evil of Iran, Hezbollah and their minions. They seek to destroy the State of Israel and murder us all. They want to return the Middle East to the abyss of the barbaric fanaticism of the Middle Ages, whereas we want to take the Middle East forward to the heights of progress of the 21st century.
This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle. We saw this in the horrors that the reprehensible murderers perpetrated in Kibbutz Be’eri, in Kfar Aza, in the other communities of the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, and in the killing field of young people at a festival in Re’im.
Many people around the world now understand who stands against Israel. They understand that Hamas is ISIS. They understand that Hamas is the new version of Nazism. Just as the world united to defeat the Nazis and ISIS, so too will it unite to defeat Hamas.
Is Netanyahu’s rhetoric unsubstantiated? You can channel your connection with freedom loving people in Gaza or you can look at the facts to answer that question. I believe we are living through an existential battle between good and evil. We must finally leave the Shire and journey to Mount Doom to destroy the ring and defeat Mordor. We must look evil directly in its face so we can always recognize it. Otherwise, evil will win.
Consider the Hamas war manual which clearly states their goals:
Documents exclusively obtained by NBC News show that Hamas created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth center in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa’ad, to “kill as many people as possible,” seize hostages and quickly move them into the Gaza Strip.
The attack plans, which are labeled “top secret” in Arabic, appear to be orders for two highly trained Hamas units to surround and infiltrate villages and target places where civilians, including children, gather. Israeli authorities are still determining the death toll in Kfar Sa’ad.
The documents were found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists by Israeli first responders and shared with NBC News. They include detailed maps and show that Hamas intended to kill or take hostage civilians and school children.
The Israeli officials said that the wider group of documents show that Hamas had been systematically gathering intelligence on each kibbutz bordering Gaza and creating specific plans of attack for each village that included the intentional targeting of women and children.
Why aren’t such war plans, completely counter to the Geneva convention, highlighted in our media? Probably because the media is sympathetic to freedom-loving resistance fighters and this inconvenient fact might blow up that narrative.
hamas-manual-details-civilian-death-plan-Israel
The Israeli military said it has captured a Hamas manual on urban warfare — called “Introduction to the City War” — that extols the benefits of civilian deaths and openly admits that Israel tries to avoid them.
The Israel Defense Forces also said the manual — whose cover shows images of militants wielding rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons — crows about the propaganda value of the deaths of innocents
“The destruction of civilian homes: This increases the hatred of the citizens toward the attackers and increases their gathering around [to support] the city defenders,” the manual said, according to the IDF.
The Gazan children above demonstrate their willingness to sacrifice their own lives for the cause, but if not willing to sacrifice for the cause, the Hamas leadership is willing to sacrifice them without their consent. They barricade people in Gaza to keep them in a war zone because they want maximum casualties when the Israelis eventually attack. Government compels civilian, non-combatants (elderly, women, and children), to sacrifice their lives, commit suicide essentially, rather than seek refuge. Hamas places no value on their citizens’ lives, only on their deaths.
The terrorists are telling us what they think. Believe them. Furthermore, do not stand ready to condemn Israel’s next step while ignoring Hamas’s last. The value each side places on life is in such stark contrast.
If not their words, believe Hamas’s actions. Hamas has their Gaza headquarters under a hospital, yet another violation of the Geneva convention as they deliberately place their civilians at risk. not-so-secret-Hamas-command-bunker-under-a-hospital (from 2014):
Hamas operates a sophisticated command bunker that is located beneath Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza and despite the fact that journalists are regularly invited to meet with Hamas officials there, the existence of the hospital command center has gone unreported, according to Tablet Magazine.
The media fails to report this open secret when it most matters:
On July 15, for example, William Booth of the Washington Post wrote that the hospital “has become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.”
Back in 2006, PBS even aired a documentary showing how gunmen roam the halls of the hospital, intimidate the staff, and deny them access to protected locations within the building—where the camera crew was obviously prohibited from filming.
Nick Casey of the Wall Street Journal, for example, tweeted that “You have to wonder w the shelling how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see media.” Casey then quickly deleted his tweet, which didn’t save him from being put on a list of journalists who “lie/fabricate info for Israel” and “must be sued” – a threat which is surely the least of Casey’s fears.
French-Palestinian journalist Radjaa Abu Dagg was summoned to Shifa by Hamas and interrogated. He wrote about the experience of “attempted intimidation” for Liberation—and then quickly had the paper take down the article.
Nothing has changed in the last few years either. Ben Shapiro on his October 18 podcast discusses this well known fact, not usually discussed in polite company–or by any journalist who wishes to be allowed to report on events in Gaza . https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1069-the-ben-shapiro-show-28178102/episode/ep-1831-how-to-bomb-126071864/
Reporters in Gaza know the rules of reporting on Shifa Hospital, and fear the well-known consequences of breaking them,
Reporters inside Gaza who are risking their lives to bring the world whatever news they can should hardly be blamed for obeying Hamas’s media rules, which the organization has helpfully written down in case anyone has doubts about what they are permitted to show.
Israel could have subdued Gaza any time during the last 18 years. Why did they not after all these years? They contemplate it now, but only after being attacked first. Even still, they hesitate because such an attack will also bring many civilian deaths.
Hamas sees this situation as a win-win. If Israel does not attack, Hamas survives, their atrocities are forgotten once again, and they are emboldened for more. If Israel does attack, many civilians will die and the world will speak of Israelis atrocities (while everyone ignores the risk Hamas created). Hamas relies on the media world-wide to instantly condemn Israel for any attack which harms civilians, a standard which is so much more harshly applied to Israel than to any other. This was demonstrated ever-so-clearly last week.
On October 18, a missile landed near a Gazan hospital. Hamas immediately claimed 500 had died in an Israeli strike on a civilian target. The world-wide media bit the fishhook and ran with the story immediately. Except for the facts that 500 were not killed, the parking lot, not the hospital itself was destroyed, and the damage was caused by a Hamas misfire not an Israeli strike, the story was completely accurate. The world was outraged at Israel until the facts became clear the next day. Many are still outraged at Israel. Who cares about these new facts when we have our preconceived notions? Instead, shouldn’t we be outraged at Hamas for perpetrating this lie and for carelessly endangering their own citizens by firing missiles from the hospital perimeter? Why can’t we see the stark contrast and different standards set for each side in this conflict?
Finally, if you don’t believe Hamas’s words or actions, believe someone who knows the Hamas leadership intimately.
The son of a founding Hamas leader broke his silence on his decision to denounce the terrorist group after he turned on his own family and converted to Christianity when he saw the horrors of the group’s reign firsthand.
“I was born at the heart of Hamas leadership… and I know them very well. They don’t care for the Palestinian people. They do not regard the human life,” Yousef told Brian Kilmeade Thursday.
“Hamas is not a national movement. Hamas is a religious movement with a goal to establish an Islamic state,” Yousef said. “They don’t care for nationalism. Actually, they are against nationalism. But that’s my understanding that they are using the Palestinian cause only to achieve their goals, so the long-term goal… [is] transforming the Middle East and the world into an Islamic state.“
Among those in the West supporting Hamas and freedom fighters, how many also want a world-wide Islamic state? How many even realize that is the goal they are furthering? The progressives, especially the LGBTQ+ folks, will be quickly be abandoned if there ever were a world-wide Islamic state. They are certainly not tolerated in the Islamic state of Iran today.
Should we believe all terrorists? No, when they tell us their cause is about the freedom of Palestine and its people. No, when they pretend they share the same values as the West. However, believe them when they openly demonstrate their goals and ideology. Believe Mossab Hassan Yousef and others who have been a party to their deception and now warn us.
Dave https://seek-the-truth.com/about/
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