A life is a life…whether Arab or Israeli, Muslim or Jew….

A life is a life. There is no life on earth that was not created in G-d’s image. What is going on in the world are tragedies in every corner.

When it comes to the Israeli-Hamas conflict (note my careful choice of words), there is a glaring difference in how each side is handling themselves. One side is doing what it can to avoid human life costs, while the other is doing what it can to increase the cost to human life. By no means am I commenting on the validity of Palestinian claims for a homeland. They have gone far too long without one and there is no doubt in my mind of the human suffering they have endured at the hands of other Arab countries or Israel. Nevertheless, when rockets purposely target civilians, and when their own population supports such tactics, there is little that one can counter with to tell Israel to stop. It has a right and duty to defend its people, and while the citizens of Gaza can be extremely right in their claim that there are other forms of aggression (economic, border control, etc…) there is still absolutely no excuse for supporting rockets flying into civilian areas purposely.

The difference between this time around and the previous outbursts has nothing to do with 4 teens dying (3 Israeli and 1 Palestinian). The difference is that this time Hamas will not have the support of Egypt. At some point, Hamas will run out of ammo. As it nears the tipping point of what percentage of its arsenal it wishes to retain, that’s when you will see movement on truce talks.

My prayers are for all of the humans suffering through this time, Palestinian and Israeli. May the real leaders on both sides stand up and be heard louder than those who choose the war drums.

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