OPINION
Elliot Mathias
Basic facts you need to know to combat the disinformation and outright lies about the situation in Israel.
The disinformation, confusion, and outright lies about the situation in Israel is pervasive. I worked with students for 17 years on university campuses helping them educate and advocate for Israel, and the accusations and claims we are hearing today on campus, on social media, and beyond, is nothing new. The specific circumstances might be current, but the claims against Israel are not.
Here are 10 facts that every college student (and others) should know.
1. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Israel is fighting against Hamas, a terrorist organization with a similar Islamist worldview as Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Hezbollah. Their charter1 calls for the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews. They believe that the Land of Israel is Muslim land that only Muslims can control. They have no interest in negotiations, compromise or peace settlements.
2. Israel is not “occupying” Gaza. Israel fully left the Gaza Strip, which Hamas controls, in 2005. Israel removed 8,000 civilians and all military presence there. Immediately after Israel left Gaza, Hamas and other terrorist organizations began shooting rockets at Israel. If the reason for this conflict is Israel’s “occupation” of Gaza, why has Hamas continued to attack since Israel left?
3. Israel’s blockade is to prevent terrorism. Many people cite Israel’s blockade of Gaza since 2005 as causing the conflict. Israel has only blockaded Gaza to prevent materials that could be used for terrorism from entering. Israel has continued to provide electricity, water, fuel, and other necessities, even while being attacked repeatedly by Hamas rockets. Additionally, approximately 15,000 Palestinians from Gaza were permitted to enter and work in Israel in 2022. Israel has intensified their blockade since the Hamas terror attack on October 7th to prevent any materials from reaching Hamas. On October 21st, Israel agreed to allow humanitarian aid to enter through Egypt.
4. Israel is attacking terrorists, not civilians. The accusation that Israel is “indiscriminately” targeting Palestinian civilians is a lie. Israel has urged Palestinian civilians to leave the conflict zone. Sadly, Hamas has told Palestinians not to leave and the terrorists hide behind and literally under civilian locations. Israel is allowed under international law to attack military targets even if civilians will be hurt or killed, as long as there is a legitimate and necessary military objective. Destroying Hamas terrorists and strongholds is legitimate and necessary. It is horrific and disturbing that Hamas hides behind their civilians. Their death is the fault and intention of Hamas, not Israel.
5. There is a clear moral difference between Israel and Hamas. Israel is protecting Israeli civilians and doing all they can to avoid harm to Palestinian civilians. Hamas targets Israeli civilians and hides behind their own civilians, causing their death and harm.
6. Jews are the indigenous people in this land. Many claim the root of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is that Israel is a foreign, colonialist power that has come and taken the land from the indigenous Palestinian population. In fact, the Jews are the indigenous population. There has been a continued presence of Jews in the Land of Israel for over 3800 years. Even when the vast majority of Jews were exiled from their homeland by the Romans, there still remained a population of Jews in the Land of Israel. This doesn’t mean that Arabs or others can’t also live in the Land of Israel or don’t have a history there. But it does mean that Jews have just as much, if not more of a connection and right to the Land of Israel.
7. Israel has made many attempts at peace. Anyone who tries to justify Hamas terrorism by claiming they are “fighting Israeli oppression” is ignoring Israel’s multiple attempts to give the Palestinians independence. In addition to the previously mentioned complete Israeli evacuation of Gaza, Israel has had many other attempts at reconciliation. In 1947, the United Nations created a partition plan to divide the Land of Israel into two countries – one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected the compromise.
If Israel put down their arms tomorrow, there would be no Israel; if the Palestinians put down their arms, there would be peace.
In the 1990’s Israel engaged in the Oslo Accords to create Palestinian independence but continuous terrorist attacks by Hamas derailed the process. In 2000 at the Camp David talks, Israel agreed to give the Palestinians 97% of the land they desired, and the Palestinians rejected it. The bottom line – if Israel put down their arms tomorrow, there would be no Israel; if the Palestinians put down their arms, there would be peace.
8. This has nothing to do with race. Many claim Israel is a “racist” or “apartheid” country. Israel’s population is 20% non-Jewish, the majority of which are Arab Muslims. These Arabs have Israeli citizenship and full access to and participation in Israel’s democracy, as well as full freedom to practice their religion. Palestinians don’t have the same rights as Israelis – not because they are Arabs or Muslims – as the fact that Israeli Arabs do have these rights. The reason they don’t have the same rights is that they are not Israeli citizens. Just as a Canadian doesn’t have the same rights as an American citizen when visiting the USA, so too the Palestinians don’t have the same rights as Israelis. The conflict has nothing to do with race or religion – it’s about Hamas’ desire to destroy Israel.
9. All loss of innocent life is horrible, but there is no genocide happening in Gaza. Israel haters claim Israel is committing a “genocide”. Since the Hamas terrorist attack killed over 1,400 Israelis, over 4,000 Palestinians have been killed (as of Oct 21). Again, the loss of any innocent life is terrible, but genocide is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. Israel is trying to destroy Hamas – not Palestinians. That distinction must be made clear.
10. Now is not the time for a cease-fire. Some well-meaning voices are calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. While no one wants to see innocent people killed, a cease-fire would leave Hamas in power and a threat to continue their deadly attacks against Israel. Israel must be given the ability to destroy Hamas to ensure it can no longer attack Israeli civilians. This ultimately will save the most innocent lives in the long run.