Israel-Palestine misconceptions

Callie Clibanoff

On June 30, the bodies of three Israeli teens, who had been kidnapped when hitchhiking home from school were found murdered. Some com- mentaries suggest that the boys put themselves in danger by entrusting their lives with the hands of Arab drivers. This is misconception #1. Though uncommon here in the U.S., hitchhiking is a com- mon form of transportation in Israel. So, it is more appropriate to consider that these young Israeli men were innocent civilian victims of terrorism. While Israelis and Americans grieved about this loss, many Palestinians celebrated. They even fash- ioned a symbol of conquest by holding up of three fingers to their support and solidarity for the ab- ductions and the murders.

Next, six Israeli extremists committed a revenge murder of a young Palestinian teen, Mohammed Abu Khdeir. Here is misconception #2. Unlike the Palestinian three-finger response, Israelis across the political and religious spectrum, from top rank- ing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu down to the general public, condemned the killing of the in- nocent Palestinian boy.

Israeli officials swiftly identified the suspects of the murder and immediately imprisoned them. Then things took a turn for the worse. War broke out in full force. Hamas, the terrorist organization that has had control over Gaza, started firing rock- ets at Israel. Their mission was to destroy the tun- nels that Hamas had been building into Israel; the sole purpose of the tunnels was to infiltrate Israel and murder or kidnap Israelis.

Misconception #3. Some people may believe that the tunnels were used to smuggle goods into impoverished Gaza, but it was proved that the tunnels were in fact equipped with special rooms, handcuffs, and tranquilizers for Hamas to use to kidnap Israelis. The existence of these tunnels poses a le- thal threat to Israel that no civilized nation could tolerate, and thus their destruction is justified.

The most common is misconception #4, that Israel is creating a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. Parties including Canada and some members of the United Nations state that Hamas itself is the party responsible for the disaster. For example, it has been shown that Hamas diverted tons of cement intended to build schools and homes to, in- stead, build cross-border attack tunnels. The 350 truckloads of building materials used to build just one attack tunnel could have been used instead to construct 86 homes, 19 medical clinics, seven mosques, and six schools.

During my visit, Israel consistently sought to protect civilian Palestinians by warning them to get out of harm’s way through leaflet messages, phone calls, and even SMS short text messages. Should Palestinian civilians lie in harm’s way, the IDF routinely aborted missions to avoid harming non- threatening civilians. By contrast, if Israeli civilians lie in harm’s way of missiles and artillery fire (due to the limited coverage afforded by the Iron Dome Missile Defense System), Hamas instructs its mili- tary personnel to ignore Israeli calls for help. Furthermore, Hamas uses human shields, calling their own civilians to venture into Israeli target areas and become martyrs.

While Hamas strives for the obliteration of the Jewish state, Israel strives for co-existence with Hamas in the Middle East. Until a stronger agree- ment can be made between these peoples, anyone traveling to this region cannot expect to escape the incessant threat of conflict and violence.

Nina McKay

Misconception #1: People who are Pro- Palestinian support Hamas’ cause.

This, in fact, is rarely true. It is extremely rare to find a person who supports Hamas, mainly due to their violent methods. Many people, who are Pro-Palestine, do feel that Palestinians who were forced out of their homes should be allowed to return, but they usually want a peaceful solution to be reached; they do not at all support terrorism.

Misconception #2: Supporting Palestine means supporting all Palestinians, including members of terrorist organizations.

Most people who are Pro-Palestine picture the families who were forced to leave their homes and the refugee children who don’t have beds to sleep in, not the people who enter Israel with the intent of harming civilians who are just as innocent.

Misconception #3: People who support Palestinians have no qualms about attacks on Israel.

People who support Palestine do not gen- erally celebrate when a war results in more territory for displaced Palestinian refugees. They would like Palestinian refugees to gain their land back but only through peaceful means, not at the expense of the safety, mental well-being, or rights of Israelis. Every person negatively impacted by the conflict is one person too many, regardless of which side they are on.

Misconception #4: Pro-Palestinians be- lieve that Israel has no right to defend itself.

Most people understand that Israel is quite a populated country and designed to be a safe haven for all Jewish people. In order for the large population to be safe, and for the country to function as it was designed, Israel must be able to defend itself. People who support Palestinians generally disagree with the tactics used by the Israeli military in defending its country and are horrified by the sheer number of Palestinian civilians killed.

Misconception #5: A person who supports Palestinians believes that Israel should not exist.

There are many supporters of Palestine (a large number of whom are Jewish) who ab- solutely believe that there should be a Jewish homeland, but they do not believe that it should exist as it does today. They are uncomfortable with the fact that the land Israel occupies was formally inhabited by different people, who were forced off of the land after their families had lived there for generations.

Misconception #6: Palestinian civilians brought their situation on themselves.

This is a fairly common belief among people who are not Pro-Palestinian, as they believe that people who elected their leaders are responsible for whatever that leader does while in office. But leaders aren’t elected unanimously and close to half of the population of the United States at any one time did not vote for the current president. The Palestinian leaders are not supported by all of their people, and that isn’t even taking into account the high probability that people are scared to show resistance toward a terrorist group.

#opinion