I’ve always found something quite perplexing about the debates surrounding Israel in the Middle East conflict. Merely by looking at the identifications people use to show which “side” of the conflict they are on indicates a lot about the peace process — or lack thereof.
Generally, there are two sides: pro-Israel and anti-Israel. Here is where I get really confused. Do the names of these views mean that one side supports that Israel exists and the other side believes that Israel be annihilated?
Whenever I hear the word “anti-Israel,” it stings me a little bit. It implies getting rid of a country, wiping out a group of people, annihilating seven million Israeli citizens, Jews, Christians, Atheists and Muslims alike. The hardest part to think about is that I am not just reading too much into a label, but Israel’s existence faces real and legitimate threats.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly called for the destruction of the Jewish people. He has continuously denied the existence of the State of Israel and that the Holocaust ever happened. He’s not trying to hide it either. He has referenced wiping Israel off the map on his personal website more than once in the past decade. In 2008, he vowed to continue supporting (including financially) Hamas until the “collapse of Israel.”
Hamas is one of, if not the, biggest threat toward Israel. Of course peace will remain unachievable when a section of the Hamas charter calls for the destruction of Israel. The opening paragraphs states, “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.” The ethnic-cleansing-type claims in the charter not only endanger Israel but are a direct violation of human rights.
Hamas is a terrorist organization that is proud of its murderous acts. Hamas members use human shields and put the people of Gaza and Israel in danger constantly. A quick trip to YouTube will show videos of Hamas terrorists escaping a rocket by hiding in a mosque or nursery school or launching a rocket from the roof of a hospital building, where Israel will not fire back.
The hardest parts for me to see are the comments written on Facebook or on the bottom of articles about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Whenever I see an Internet debate about the conflict, I am astonished to see comments calling for death of Jews and the removal of Israel. Instead of debating human rights, military action or equal opportunity, the anti-Israel movement spews racist and dangerous comments.
By now you have probably guessed that I identify as pro-Israel. But that is not all that I am. I am pro-Palestine and pro-peace. I advocate and look forward to the day when there will be two neighboring states, living in peace despite their religious differences. I am for equal rights for Palestinians living within Israel’s borders and I am for pleasant peace talks and the end of the thousands of rockets that have been launched into Israel over the last decade.
Unfortunately, someone who identifies as anti-Israel cannot say many of those things just by the nature of the term. How will we be able to have peace talks or peace at all with this attitude? The next step that needs to be taken is much more simple: supporters of a Palestinian state and those with negative views about Israel need to admit Israel’s right to exist before we try to create a peaceful Middle East.