Israel and Hamas

The conlfict between Israel and Hamas is not a new one. Unfortunately it has led to the situation which we observe in the news. Many would agree that Israel has a right to defend itself from the attacks by Hamas. Many would also say that Hamas is a terrorist group. And although I would not disagree with the last two statements, I have a problem with the way that Israel seems to be conducting this war, which begins to bring back memories from the war in Lebanon in 2006. The Catholic Church has spoken about the need to end this conflic, and it is now speaking boldly on behalf of the Palestinians. Since the beginning of the war it seems like the amount of civilian casualties increases day by day at alarming proportions. The living situations for the Palestinians are described as inhuman, no water, no electricity in many places, no food, and no medical supplies. The world cannot simply remain quiet and again not speak on behalf of our Palestinians brothers, and yes, we must remember that not all Palestinians are members of Hamas, and that not all Palestinians are terrorists. In fact many of the victims in this war have been defenseless children and women, innocent victims. But the world is afraid to criticize Israel for its inhuman actions. Many Catholic Bishops suppported by the Pope are traveling right now to Bethlehem to speak on behalf of the innocent. Violence as they say is specially evil when it blocks humanitarian relief efforts badly needed to provide for the most basic needs of the Palestinians. We cannot ignore the unjust attack of Israel to a school under the care of the UN that has bombed by Israel killing about 40 children, because according to Israel some men from Hamas had sought refuge there. We have lost the sense of justice, and we cannot remain blind to some of the atrocities being committed in the name of self-defense. To fight terrorism we cannot become terrorists ourselves and destroy the lives of innocent people as terrorists do. That is a contradiction. And again, unfortunately, it seems like Israel did not learn its lesson from the Lebanon war. We must pray for an end to this conflict and for and end to all violence and unjust aggressions both from Hamas side and the Jewish state as well.