It has been a year since the horrific surprise attack from Hamas that killed over 1200 Israelis and kidnapped over 200 people.
It was the largest attack on the Jewish People since the Holocaust from the World War Two era.
Over the last year, while some of the hostages have returned home (thanks to a cease-fire deal that unfortunately did not morph into a permanent solution,) others still remain in Hamas terrorist hands in Gaza, waiting to be reunited with their families and friends. Hamas is known to have executed several hostages while Israeli troops have accidentally shot some while trying to reach those same troops for safety.
Israel has been subjected to largely unsuccessful bombing attacks by Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, Gaza, and Iran that have been thwarted, with American and other allies' assistance, and the Israeli's Iron Dome.
No one should deny that Israel has the right to defend itself.
If people launched attacks on the United States or its territories like Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the East Coast on 9/11, there is no doubt this nation would retaliate.
People can not expect Israel to not do otherwise. Innocent Israelis living on the Gazan and Lebanese borders should not have to worry every day if a bomb will hit their house or a terrorist will storm in and kill them.
Unfortunately, the scope of the Israelis response has come under serious and justifiable criticism.
While no one is shedding tears for the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist leaders and members (these were not freedom fighters) Israelis' precision bombs and special forces missions managed to neutralize over the last year, their overall strategy begs questions.
Are they defending their country and residents from terrorists or launching a war to reclaim what religious fanatics in and outside the Israeli government says is theirs, both Biblically and from historical commitments made in the last century and then altered.
It can not be denied that the people of Gaza have been subjected to unbearable suffering as Israeli bombs and troop incursions have resulted in tens of thousands of civilians, many of them innocent children being killed while Hamas leadership cowardly hides in Gazan underground tunnels and Qatar.
Large swaths of Gaza, a narrow strip of territory, have been turned into a wasteland as Hamas leaders are perfectly willing to sacrifice the people and lands they are supposed to care for so they can get favorable press coverage for a war they started and sympathy from people that do not know the history of the region or understand the actual motives of the terrorist players.
People should recognize that this war would have been over if Hamas and other fringe forces that launched the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, had surrendered and returned the hostages after the first Israeli bombing attack on Gaza.
However, it does not help that there are extremist white nationalist Fascist Israelis in the current government of Benjamin Netanyahu, including the Prime Minister himself, who look to retake Gaza (where many of these people think earlier Israeli governments erred in leaving,) the former security corridor in Lebanon that they withdrew from, and formalizing their hold on the West Bank with the assistance of settler vigilantes attacking innocent Palestinians.
Netanyahu and his band of extremist expansionists are also probably hoping that this war hurts the Harris/Walz ticket in places like the Arab American areas of Michigan so they can get their friends Donald Trump and Jared Kushner back in the White House.
The people of Israel, the areas that will make up a Palestinian state, Lebanon, and frankly the whole Middle East deserve better.
They deserve leaders who will care for them and provide safety, order, peace, and full Democratic rights.
Time will tell if such a thing is possible.
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