EDITORIAL: We must not devalue civilian suffering
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Supporting Israel in its ongoing confrontation with Hamas, as we do, does not mean ignoring and devaluing the lives of Palestinians who are dying in the conflict.
Innocent Palestinians — civilians, not combatants — are suffering.
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EDITORIAL: We must not devalue civilian suffering Back to video
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Families are mourning, desperately trying to find out if their loved ones are alive or dead.
The fact that Israel has a right to defend itself and is responding to a massive terrorist attack on innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas, does not mean handing Israel a moral blank cheque in how it responds.
We should all support a ceasefire as soon as possible, no matter where we stand on the issue of Israel/Palestine.
We should all support the establishment of a humanitarian corridor permitting as many Palestinians as possible to escape Israeli’s ongoing military campaign in northern Israel, which could soon expand into an even more deadly ground war.
We do not agree with the logic that all Palestinians in Gaza are combatants because they support Hamas, when it is Hamas that embeds itself in Gaza’s civilian population, as it always has, in carrying out its assaults on Israel.
The vast majority of Palestinians are caught in a crossfire not of their own making and it is important to distinguish them from the terrorists of Hamas.
That said, let’s be clear about the roots of this latest conflict and Israel’s response.
It was the direct result of Hamas’ horrific and murderous rampage and hostage-taking of innocent civilians.
Had that not happened, Israel would not be bombarding Gaza by air, nor would it be preparing for a widely expected ground invasion in which many more innocent Palestinians will be wounded and killed.
Supporting Israel while simultaneously being appalled by the scenes of Palestinian suffering coming out of Gaza and wanting them to end as quickly as possible is not a morally inconsistent position.
It is a human response to a decades-old conflict with no easy solutions, because both the Israeli and Palestinian narratives of that conflict have validity.
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That extends back to the day of Israel’s founding on May 14, 1948, celebrated by Israelis as their day of independence, mourned by the Palestinians as the “Nakba” or “catastrophe.”
We should all want this conflict to end quickly.
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