What’s Wrong With This Picture?

There is something wrong with this picture. The picture I’m talking about is one that, on the surface, might seem quite clear.

It’s the incessant bombing by Israel of Hamas targets in Gaza, resulting in unintended but massive numbers of civilian casualties. That, along with gut-wrenching images in the media of hungry Palestinians groveling for handouts of limited food supplies, makes Israel appear guilty of the genocide its critics are accusing them of. While the mainstream media does not use the word genocide, it is clear who they blame for the death and starvation of so many ‘innocent’ civilians - most of whom, we are told, are women and children.

This is little more than a passive-aggressive way of demanding that Israel end its ‘genocidal’ war.

With these terrible images being broadcast in the mainstream media so frequently, it’s really hard to argue with the emotional reaction. Are these reactions not coming from sincere feelings of compassion?

The answer is yes. They are. People want the carnage to end. And since Israeli bombs are responsible for the destruction, it is logical for them to blame Israel.

But if that’s the case, then what is it that’s so wrong with this picture?

What’s wrong  - what makes me so angry - is that the people who are truly to blame are entirely off the hook for this crime against humanity.

Amid all the calls for Israel to cease fire, I’ve hardly heard any mainstream media figure suggest that the quickest way to end Palestinian casualties and starvation is to demand that Hamas release the hostages they kidnapped as part of the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

If Hamas were to do that, I am convinced that Prime Minister Netanyahu would end the war - if assurances could be made that Hamas would never again govern Gaza. Assurances that might be guaranteed through a coordinated effort by Israel’s Arab neighbors, many of whom have no love lost for Hamas either.

But among the ‘ceasefire’ crowd, demanding that Hamas release the hostages is never considered an option. Nope. Blame the Jews is what they always do. And by ‘they’ I mean the left and their willing accomplices in the media, as well as European allies like French President Emmanuel Macron, who pretends to be a friend of the Jewish people but has, from the outset, proven to be a much better friend of Hamas.

That Palestinians in Gaza don’t publicly blame Hamas for their suffering is not surprising. I think they must realize that what Hamas did on October 7^th is what precipitated all their unimaginable pain. But they are literally afraid to death to say it out loud.

But what about the Palestinians outside of Gaza? Like the Palestinian student protesters on campuses across the country? Do they not know that Hamas is holding hostages - and that releasing them could end the carnage?

Of course they know. But in most cases, they justify what Hamas did, letting all the blame fall upon the Jews, who they claim usurped their ancestral homeland - Palestine. You will never hear a single protester blame Hamas for the suffering of their ‘relatives’ in Gaza since October 7^th. Nope. For them - as for the left and our European allies - it’s all about blaming the Jews.

I would love to hear just one proponent of a ceasefire demand that the hostages be released as the path to peace. That should be the hue and cry of anyone with a conscience.

That their collective consciences see only the Jews as genocidal "Nazis," and refuse to even suggest that releasing the hostages would end the war more quickly and more justly, proves to me what I already know: that when it comes to the Jews, nothing has changed in over 2,000 years of persecution. The only thing that has changed is who is doing the persecuting - and why.

It used to be the domain of the Church, blaming the Jews for killing their god. Now it’s the Muslim world, for ‘stealing their land’.

Thankfully, a sizable number of people in this country have not fallen prey to the antisemitic bias that permeates so much of the world - and the American left. That sentiment is reflected mostly by conservative members of the Republican Party and a select few Democrats.

When I listen to the most articulate among them, they actually say the right things about who is to blame. Whether it’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham or Democratic Senator John Fetterman, they saw what happened on October 7^th. They understand why there are so many civilian casualties and starvation in Gaza. They consistently blame Hamas and have called - not for Israel to cease fire - but for Hamas to release the hostages as the solution to ending the suffering.

I am thankful to live in a country where that sentiment is as mainstream as the one on the left. I’m also thankful that we have a President who has, thus far, not called for a ceasefire without the release of the hostages. Thankful as well that there is no daylight between Netanyahu and the president as his chief negotiator Steve Witkoff clearly and unambiguously stated today.

What happens next remains to be seen. Until then, if Hamas does not release the hostages, and Palestinians continue to blame Israel instead of Hamas for their suffering, then Gaza must face the consequences of Hamas’s actions.