Two sides to every story

Violence in all of its forms is undoubtedly unfortunate and difficult to endure; however, the blanket characterization of Israel as a callous, war-mongering state is completely incorrect. Israel withdrew its presence from Gaza in 2005, and since then Hamas has fired over 6,300 rockets and mortars – more than 1,000 in the past month – into southern Israel.

This resumption of violence by Hamas has forced Israel to take action to defend its citizens. In addition to defending their own citizens, comprised of Palestinians, Israelis and persons of various religious affiliations, Israel has been committed to assisting those living in the Gaza Strip.

Israel puts the lives of its own soldiers at risk by providing Palestinian civilians with advance warning of impending operations in specific locations. Alternately, Hamas continues to deliberately attack Israeli civilians.

Israel is working closely with humanitarian organizations and is setting up a special situation task force to deal with aid requests. During the first 10 days alone of Israel’s operations, it has facilitated the delivery of more than 450 trucks loaded with more than 10,000 tons of food and medicine to Gaza.

In carrying out its defensive operations in Gaza, Israel is using an appropriate application of force and is taking dramatic action to minimize civilian casualties while decreasing Hamas’ military capabilities. This offensive is not about targeting civilians; it is about disabling Hamas and the stranglehold they have on the people of Palestine.

Unfortunately, civilian casualties are a negative externality of any large-scale military operation.

If the United States was being terrorized by daily, indiscriminate rocket fire, we would take steps to defend ourselves and would expect nothing less from our government.

So, before you quickly turn to demonize Israel, look into the multifaceted history of the region and take a thoughtful approach to understand both sides of this unfortunate and highly complex issue.

Chelsea Kane
IU Junior