Dan Schnieders,
Jefferson City
Dear Editor,
Disturbing shouts of "kill the Jews" at rallies calling for an Israeli ceasefire seem counter-intuitive; yet here we are. Have people lost all historical perspective on this topic?
What passes for Palestine today is essentially the Gaza Strip and a little of the West Bank. Israel gained Gaza after the 1967 Six-Day War. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally removed every Israeli town, citizen, soldier and grave from Gaza in 2005 in an attempt at peace (rejected). The Palestinian Authority (PA) governed Gaza until 2007, when Hamas removed the PA from control in a violent overthrow. Thereafter, Hamas and other terrorist groups, have launched thousands of rockets and mortars toward Israel, used Palestinians as human shields and terrorized Israeli communities near Gaza. Despite their UN charter, Hamas has spent the last 16 years doing everything they can to destroy Israel and even denies Israel's right to exist. These are the proverbial neighbors from Hell. They don't want to be "good neighbors," in fact, they want to wipe Israel off the earth.
Life is Hell for Gazans because Hamas steals international aid to build its terrorist infrastructure. Hamas restricts women's and Christians' rights and criminalizes homosexuality. They use civilians as human shields, hiding terror tunnels, weapons factories and operations centers under schools and in densely populated civilian areas. Gazans suffer because Hamas spends resources fighting Israel rather than improving the lives of their people. Egypt, Jordan and other Arab states won't even accept evacuees from Gaza because they know terrorists will be in the mix.
The IDF has done everything imaginable to avoid casualties but it must defend itself; they've dropped warnings prior to attacks, escorted refugees to the Rafah border crossing and more. Hamas is the same lying blood merchants they've always been, buoyed by increased funding from Iran made possible by the current White House occupant. Apparently saying "don't" a couple times is not a deterrent. Our universities and media outlets have lied to make Israel the oppressor and the TikTok generation have bought it. If Hamas wanted peace, they would release the hostages; a genuinely peaceful Hamas wouldn't have taken them in the first place. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us." She was right!