OP-ED: Stand against hatred
I stand with Israel.
How much time should Israel take to lay waste to the perpetrators of the recent terrorist attacks? About as long as you’d like to have if it were your child that had been brutally massacred and proudly displayed on television.
However, am I suggesting that the Palestinian people don’t have valid grievances, or that the families in the Gaza Strip are not in a terrible situation themselves? Of course not.
But these attacks and Israel’s response have nothing to do with Palestinians. Like all terrorist organizations, Hamas has neglected and betrayed the Palestinian people they claim they care about. Hamas is predicated on the hatred of Israel. Period.
Since the most recent attacks on Israel began, I have been confused as to why some in our country have not more vehemently condemned the carnage. Numerous college campuses across America have organizations that support the attacks. Some American politicians continue to fly the Palestinian flag outside their federal offices. At best, they are explicitly in support of Palestinian people; at worst they are implicitly in support of the attacks.
But why do so many Americans implicitly support the actions of a brutal terror organization? I’m not convinced these individuals are listening to their consciences. Could it be that their consciences have been distorted and manipulated?
Supporting Palestinians should not mean hating Israelis and wanting them dead. Supporting any cause should not mean hating fellow humans and wanting them erased.
The problem is that the vitriol in our country is so pervasive that most of us don’t take the time to pause, think, and connect the dots. Our country’s youth – our future – on college campuses today have been taught that if they support one side of something, then they must hate those on the other side, no matter how stupid or how unholy the cause.
Or, said another way, no matter how sympathetic one might feel to the plight of the Palestinians, supporting Hamas and Hezbollah is supporting pure evil – terrorists who rape, murder, and decapitate helpless babies and elderly people. We cannot turn a blind eye to evil and hatred.
Hate is not something to build on. Hate does not produce goodness or any other positive outcome. Hate destroys.
I pray we all open our eyes. I pray we learn again to love our neighbor.
Jason Camilletti is a McMurray resident and a candidate for the Peters Township school board.