BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
MILLIONS of good, peace-loving people around the world are working to bring a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. These include Israelis, too, but they are failing to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or the leaders of Hamas to agree to a permanent ceasefire.
Israel is determined to totally destroy Hamas, an impossible goal, since every killing of a Hamas fighter and civilian is recruiting more fighters to join Hamas. Netanyahu is facing legal problems of corruption allegations in court and is prolonging the war to survive a conviction in Israel.
The International Court of Justice warned of real genocide crimes charges to be made against Israel because of the mass killing of civilians and because of war by starvation and the massive bombing. The International Criminal Court is ready to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his defense minister, and three Hamas leaders.
The television is full of horrific images of the dead and wounded, most are civilians, women and children, from bombing and shootings. These are images of human atrocities, a frenzy of killing and bombing by Israel. This is in retaliation of the killing and atrocity done by Hamas on October 7, 2023 when they killed 1,200 Israelis and captured and abducted 1,251 people from Israel, half of them Israelis and the other half with foreign citizenship. Hamas took them into the tunnel complex in Gaza.
Israel, for all its US-supplied military might and power, has failed to rescue all the hostages or defeat Hamas. The ongoing battle will kill more of the hostages by Israeli gunfire or bombs.
The heart and cause of the hostility and war is 48 years of cruel, oppressive occupation since Israel forces drove Palestinians from their homes and lands and occupied them for themselves. This is the root cause of the war today.
Amnesty International says: “For half a century, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, has resulted in systematic human rights violations against Palestinians living there. Since the occupation first began in June 1967, Israel’s ruthless policies of land confiscation, illegal settlement and dispossession, coupled with rampant discrimination, have inflicted immense suffering on Palestinians, depriving them of their basic rights.”
This mass land-grabbing and forcing the Palestine people to live in refugee camps and suffer deprivation imposed by Israel is no justification for the violent killing of 1,200 Israelis and foreigners by Hamas. The greatest failure of the Israeli army and Netanyahu was to protect their people. Nor is criticism of Israel’s war antisemitic. We recall Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish person. He challenged the authorities for their cruel oppression of the poor.
Fanatics on both sides will not agree to a ceasefire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will destroy Hamas, but having allowed money to be funneled to Hamas for many years to control them, he in fact armed them, according to a BBC Panorama report. Now, with his extreme fanatical political supporters in his cabinet who seem to want to kill every Palestinian, he is destroying the respect, reputation and the dignity of Israel. (To be continued)/PN
