Prolonged humanitarian crisis in Gaza is turning the world against Israel.
When Israel first launched its response to the deadly Hamas attacks on its soil in October, their stated goal was to get rid of the terrorists and secure peace for the Israeli people. Many countries were initially very supportive of this effort – until it became clear that they didn’t care who they had to kill in the process.
Now, with the body count of innocent Palestinians in Gaza climbing catastrophically and much of the Gaza Strip obliterated, they are actually inspiring even more of the type of anger and disillusionment toward them that they aimed to eliminate.
Last month, Israeli protesters gathered en masse to try to physically block aid that the Palestinian people desperately need from entering Gaza. Some of them drove several hours to try to stop medicine, food and fuel from making its way into the enclave, bypassing armed soldiers and concrete blocks. They succeeded in stopping the trucks that were waiting to cross, cutting innocent people off from a much-needed lifeline.
A survey carried out by Israel’s Channel 12 found that an unbelievable 72% of Israelis think Gaza should not get any aid as long as they are holding hostages, ignoring the fact that many of the people who need this aid the most have nothing to do with taking or holding hostages.
This is exactly the type of behavior that radicalizes people. Those who have no hope and nothing to lose are highly vulnerable to being recruited by terrorist groups like Hamas. With more than 30,000 deaths in Gaza reported so far, thousands of young Palestinians are finding themselves without homes or families and with little to live for.
Experts warned more Palestinians would seek revenge
As the death toll started soaring in November, a senior associate fellow for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, H.A. Hellyer, warned: “The cycle of radicalization cannot be thwarted by operations like the one Israel is carrying out, which only makes the cycle deeper, wider and uglier.”
Not only could they end up creating “Hamas 2.0”, he cautioned, but they could inspire violence from another group that hasn’t made a name for itself yet.
Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi agreed, saying: “You’re going to radicalize more people. And you’re not only going to increase the trauma — you’re going to increase the demand for revenge.”
In fact, the anger toward Israel is extending far beyond the Gaza Strip. In a rant about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)’s request for Congress to give another $14 billion to Israel, Ana Kasparian of The Young Turk pressed Americans on whether they accept this use of taxpayer money.
After calling AIPAC “evil”, she said: “Are you okay with a lobbying group representing the best interests of a foreign government telling you [that] you need to bust your ass every day, work a job that you likely hate, and have a portion of your earnings taken from you by our federal government and funneled to the Israeli government so they can commit atrocities in the Gaza Strip?”
Prolonged humanitarian crisis in Gaza is turning the world against Israel
How are people supposed to react when people like Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin openly called for leveling Gaza, saying: “Gaza needs to turn to Dresden. Annihilate Gaza now!” What about when Deputy Knesset speaker Nissim Vaturi wrote on X that the common goal of Israelis is “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth”? And let’s not forget Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, who suggested Israel drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip.
As Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue, living conditions for Palestinians continue to get worse. A newly released report indicates that 70 percent of the population of northern Gaza is dealing with catastrophic levels of hunger. With half of the Strip’s population overall on the brink of starvation, there are warnings of a “major acceleration of death and malnutrition.”
People are scavenging, drinking polluted water, and eating grass just to survive, and Israel is keeping life-saving aid from making its way to the people. Footage of the ongoing suffering and humanitarian crisis there is only serving to turn what little support Israel had left around the world against it for good.
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