Everyone has the right to defend themselves from opposing forces. This is Newton's Third Law of Action & Reaction which states that for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. If object A exerts a force on object B, object B also exerts an equal and opposite force on object A.
When we analyze the present Middle East crisis, it beckons diplomacy because of the long history of conflict within the region. However, in a time of peace one would expect diplomatic relations to discuss the situation to find amicable solutions. Clearly, it wasn’t going in the direction that the Palestinian side wanted. Well, we all know what happened next on October 7th, 2023.
No declaration of war was waged, though an offensive strategy had been in the making, evidently for some time in consideration of the scale of the attack. What followed was barbarism and savagery that would defy belief in a civilized country of the Western World. Israel had the right to declare war and respond. Now though nations in the region are saying the death count is unproportional. Some people in the Western World are also defending against the increased proportion of Palestinian deaths which they say constitutes war crimes, genocide, and the killing of innocent children.
Clearly the scale of Newton’s law is being tested, as no one in their right mind wants to see people in the crossfire die for something they themselves have not been directly responsible for. I think it prudent to remember World War II and the holocaust when six million Jews were senselessly murdered barbarically.
The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September, who infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team, and took nine others hostage.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people and injured thousands at the World Trade Center
The Hebron massacre was the killing of sixty-seven or sixty-nine Jews on 24 August 1929 in Hebron, then part of Mandatory Palestine.
However, wars include the death of innocent victims in the crossfire, as seen in the following reports:
Due to German bombing raids during the Blitz in World War II 40,000 civilians died in the seven-month period between September 1940 and May 1941, almost half of them in London.
In World War II civilian deaths totaled 50–55 million. Military deaths from all causes totaled 21–25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war.
So, although the thought of Palestinians dying is moving, when we consider other wars, the death count is expected. The fact remains, that if Hamas, the Palestinian representative had not carried out terroristic barbarities which killed well over a thousand innocent people and the there were additional hostages, then Israel would have had no reason to declare war and fight back with the objective to destroy the extremist organization and get those abducted back home.
Palestinian sympathizers, although shocked and grieved have to accept the consequences of a nation that fired the first bullet. Hamas has not returned the hostages, so well-wishers should complain to them, and insist they return the hostages to their Israeli homes before more Palestinians are killed.
Have a great day!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Barbarism and savagery = “Barbarism” denoted those cultures in transition towards civilization who still had some “backward” ways to correct. “Savagery” was the lowest, most undesirable state that was equated with a complete absence of law, order, and morality.
Western World = originates in the Mediterranean basin and its vicinity; Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are generally considered to be the birthplaces of Western civilization—Greece having heavily influenced Rome—the former due to its impact on philosophy, democracy, science, aesthetics, as well as building designs and proportions. In practical terms, this means the Western World typically includes most countries of the European Union as well as the U.K., Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. However, there are also two sub-regions that may or may not be included.
Raids (n) = attacks, searches, break-ins, incursions, invasions, forced entry
Moving (adj) = touching, poignant (emotional), heartbreaking, sad, stirring
Abducted (v) = kidnapped, snatched, seized, captured, make off with, hold somebody against their wishes