I posted on Facebook that it's okay not to have a political opinion about what is happening in the Middle East right now. That it's fine to just feel deeply for everyone involved.
And I've seen a lot of that. Just people who are sad about all of it. Whose hearts break for anyone in a situation like the Palestinians and the Israelis find themselves in right now.
And then there are the others...
The ones who have a side and fuck the other guys. That their guys are the good guys and the other side are not even human guys just awful ghouls who deserve what they get.
And when you see people like that they often will accuse anyone who isn't firmly in their only one side is deserving of life side of being either anti semitic or anti Palestinian depending on whose side they are on.
And a lot of times it starts when someone is trying to put a little context in to a post or a statement.
For instance...
Israel is very militaristic. And will use the full force of their military at any point. Strength and fire power is a big deal to them. That's part of why you see all out retribution as retaliation against even smaller acts of aggression, let alone against what Hamas did this past weekend. The context for that is pretty simple to see. The State of Israel, the country, the land they hold, was created after WWII. And WWII, as horrific as it was, was not the first time anti semitic harassment and killings happened. It was just the largest mass scale. And it didn't end with WWII. We still see anti semitism all the time. It's incredibly common. It's coded into a lot of standard shit. Like when people talk about Soros controlling everything. Or the Rothschilds running the world. That's all anti semitism. It's so common we don't even notice it at times. Like JK Rowling coding the bankers in the Harry Potter universe with anti semitic tropes.
The context for why Israel is extremely self protective is that Jewish people have not been protected through history. They've been scapegoated and driven from land and killed. If that was your ancestry you'd be pretty sure to know how to protect yourself as well.
And then there is there is the acknowledgment that the people are Jewish, the country is Israel and the leader right now of Israel is Netanyahu who does not speak for all Jewish people in the world. He's very conservative and militaristic all on his own. Leader doesn't equal country. Country doesn't equal people.
Context.
Now, about that creation of the country of Israel. There were already people living on that land. Palestine and the Palestinians were moved. The land was divided into an Arab piece and a Jewish piece. There were hundreds of thousands of Jewish people that migrated during and right after the war. The Arabs that were living there had originally been assured that they would be consulted and considered and that migration would be limited. Well...not so much. And then to add to it there have been multiple wars since the creation that has moved the borders of Israel even further into Palestine. And the Israelis have maintained a pretty strong lock on the area.
Especially the Gaza strip. It's been blockaded from Israel and also from Egypt. It's been described as the world's largest prison. Add to that Hamas coming to power in the early 2000s and the people who live there have lived under the boot of Hamas, strict militaristic rule, and the boot of Israel. It's been tense for a long time.
Hamas is the governing body, but there hasn't been an election since the early 2000s so who knows if they would be voted in again. A lot of polling says no. And again, a government is not the same as a people. And a country isn't the same as a people. Hamas does not equal all of Palestine. All Palestinians are not terrorists (many countries have classified Hamas as a terrorist organization). But they have been living in a police state and under threat of Israel completely taking over all of their land for the past 75 years.
Context.
When someone shares context with you; there is a reason why Israel is so tough, there is a reason why Palestine is volatile. They aren't being apologists or saying one side is better or more deserving of life than the other. Or maybe sometimes they are. But you can take the context and form a more well rounded view of what is going on.
It's much more complicated than anything I've said up there as well. There are layers upon layers and thousands of years of history. But you don't need to understand any of that to understand that what is happening right now is a tragedy.
For everyone involved.
There are a lot of horror stories coming out about what has happened and even in that you need to be careful. There are a lot of false stories in there. Things designed to make you feel one way or the other about the whole situation, but that never happened. Get your news from a variety of legitimate sources. Almost all news in the US is going to be pro-Israeli news. They are a major ally of ours. But that doesn't mean it's the full story. Read something from Al Jazeera (a Qatari owned Arabic news source so a pretty good counterpoint to US media). Read a few perspectives and try to gain more context about what is happening.
I have my own beliefs about the situation. Other people have theirs. But try to understand when someone is giving you more information you don't have to lock your head up and refuse to listen. Just add it as more context for a complicated situation.
There are no good things happening right now. People are dying. Lots of innocent people who just want to live their lives and go about their day are dying. More people will die before this is over. And it could very well spread from an Israel/Palestine clash to a full scale world war. Countries already have sides they support. It could go very badly. Even worse than it already is, and it's already bad.
So don't add to it by screaming at people who are trying to give you some context for what is happening.
It's okay to just feel badly about anyone dying. It's okay to understand that war is never good. And it's okay to add context to what you think you already know.
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