There are two polls that attempt to highlight who Americans support in the Israel/Hamas conflict.
An AP Poll conducted in the first week of November 2023 and an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll conducted on October 11th four days after Hamas killed 1,300 Israeli’s (the number has vacillated between 1,200 and 1,400) in a Jewish Sukkot celebration.
According to these two polls, Americans’ support for Israel has remained constant at about 66% support for Israel vs Hamas.
You would not know this from the huge crowds gathering to support Palestine. This is where I believe this story has gotten muddled. When I’ve watched interviews of protestors on the news, the responses are all over the place.
Protesting is Fun
The most shocking interview responses come from younger protestors who seem to be protesting because a friend invited them, and they thought it would be exciting to get involved in such a movement. They are given a sign with a slogan that they don’t understand; and a Palestinian flag to wave to show their support for a people they don’t know. When asked, they admit they are not fully aware of why they are protesting at all.
Israel is Oppressing Palestine
The next level is the protestor who echo’s anti-Israel sentiment that conveys concern that Israel is an occupier of the Palestinian state, and they must be defeated by Palestine. You will hear chants like, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. This implies that Palestine will replace Israel, and Israel will be no more. Rashida Talib was censured in the House of Representatives for echoing this statement on social media.
Israel is Committing Genocide of Palestinians
Then you have the folks chanting, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.” Genocide is the killing of an entire ethnic group of people so that they cannot procreate any longer. While such an act would be appalling, and is in fact, what the Nazi’s tried to do to the Jews in the Holocaust, it is not even close to what Israel is doing in Gaza. There are close to 800,000 people living in Gaza made up of Egypt, Lebanese, Jordanian, and other ethnic heritage. Worst case, Israel may injure or kill 20,000 of these people. Some of those deaths will be purposeful deaths of Hamas fighters, and other deaths will be civilians that Hamas desires to use as targets.
Israel is an Apartheid State
An apartheid is where a country segregates and discriminates against people based on their ethnic heritage, or race. Protestors chant, “Tell the truth about 75 years of apartheid in Palestine.” The history of this region is long. However, Israel is the most diverse country in the middle east. Most countries in the middle east are Muslim countries who do discriminate against non-Arabic, and non-Muslims. Israel happens to be the most diverse and equitable country in the region. For this reason, they are being called by Arab Muslims an apartheid state.
Israel is Killing Innocent Civilians
The report from Hamas is that over 10,000 civilians have been killed by Israel bombings. This number has not been verified, but Israel acknowledges that it will be impossible to avoid civilian deaths. However, these deaths are primarily the responsibility of Hamas. Hamas wages war from civilian spaces that are the targets of attack by Israeli’s. If Hamas fought this war in designated areas free from civilians, there’d be no civilian deaths. Israel has also claimed that they will implement a cease fire if the 240 American and Israeli hostages are safely returned. Hamas refuses to do either of these actions that would prevent any civilian deaths in Gaza.
Cease Fire in Gaza
Aligned with the concern for civilian casualties is the call for a “cease fire” by protestors. These protestors understand Israel’s right to protect itself but desire some balance to allow innocent civilians safe passage out of the war zones in Gaza. This is also not as easy as it sounds. While the U.S. has been working with Egypt and Israel to give civilians safe passage to safe zones, these actions are also being resisted by Hamas. Hamas realizes that if they lose the shield of innocent civilians, they are in trouble. For this reason, Hamas terrorists have fired at civilians attempting to leave war zones.
Antisemitism
I hesitate to mention this, but I have run out of ways to rationalize the large amount of anti-Israel sentiment around the world. Antisemitism is the hatred of Jews. It is one of the oldest ethnic biases and it has existed around the world. I honestly don’t know why it exists, but it does. There are folks who don’t want Jews in their home country, and they don’t want Jews to have a country of their own. The implication is clear… they don’t want Jews to exist. There is no defense for this position, but it is common, and many protestors are vocal about it.
The Truth
War is ugly. There will be those who pick the sides of the rebels believing they are fighting for a just cause to release their people from oppression. There will be those who agree with the target of the rebels believing they must protect themselves. When war breaks out, there are no winners. Innocent civilians will be killed in a war. There has never been a war in our world’s history where this has not been the case. And yet, Israel has been patient for a very long time as they have been the target of militant attacks for the past seventy years. Frankly, the action they are taking against Hamas is long overdue. If you want to learn more about the history of the Jewish people and the area we call Israel or Palestine, you can refer to my blog post entitled The History of the Israel/Iran Conflict.
If protestors want to protest, they’d protest Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. These are the people using the innocent Palestinian people as pawns in their antisemitic war against Israel.
People are free to protest if they’d like. This is the American way. However, it would be nice if people educated themselves on this critical topic before they start waving Palestinian flags and shouting chants that are not true and cause great damage. Can you imagine if there were this many protests with white hooded Ku Klux Klan members in the streets? We want to respect free speech, but we are shocked and disheartened that so many people are so ill-informed and bigoted. And we wonder, “Do this many people really hate a group of people so much that they would pronounce their hatred publicly?”
About the Author
Jeff Schuster is an accomplished businessman, engineer, and writer. Three of Jeff's books are attempts at helping people understand and solve political problems that are being made worse by political partisanship. His first book, Trial & Error, is a collection of 14 short stories. ReEngineering Education is a story of innovative education reform in the midst of political corruption. Engineering Unity is Jeff's most recent book published in August 2023 addressing political polarization on wedge issues that politicians use to divide us. You are welcome to join our private Facebook group called Reengineering Politics where we discuss politically polarizing topics in a civil manner.
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