FRAN PAPPAS: Hamas actions reminiscent of Holocaust

THE HAMAS-ISRAEL WAR AND THE RISE OF ANTI-SEMITISM

“I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” — Socrates

It’s not for politicians or the media to tell us how to think or what to do, but for each of us to look for truth in history and act accordingly without fear. The attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, by Hamas, the militant group of Sunni Arabs in Gaza, was heinous, vicious brutality at a time of peace, a horror that shocked the world.

The word “hamas” in the Old Testament translates as “violence.” Allah’s Apostle Mohammed’s statement, “When the Jew will hide behind stones and trees … come and kill him,” called for the annihilation of the Jews worldwide, and made me aware of the importance of addressing anti-Semitic injustice, described as a prejudice, a discrimination against Jews as individuals and as a group based on stereotypes.

The 2,000 assassins Hamas sent into Israel was an act of war. Not only were Jews killed, but Gaza’s own civilians as they fled to what should have been safe havens — hospitals, mosques, schools — but instead were carefully planned complexes under which weapons were strategically placed, leaving no one a place to survive the brutality.

Why is the world eager to blame Israel? If Hamas had come out of the tunnels, released its surviving Israeli and American hostages, and surrendered the organizers of the Oct. 7 massacre, no Gaza civilians would have died, and no Americans would be held hostages. Where is the demand of the United States government to release the Americans?

Hamas succeeded in its objectives: The world accused Israel of the genocide of Gaza’s citizens, forcing world sympathy for itself, and instigated anti-Semitic protestors to begin screaming slurs on campuses. “Free Palestine” was heard, but there has never been a state called Palestine, a term first documented in 12th-century BCE for neighborhood people. In reality, the protestors were referring to the region of the Gaza Strip located in Israel, a democratic country with its own government and the world’s only Jewish state.

Historically, Israel traces its roots through the Bible back 4,000 years when 900,000 Jews were ethnically cleansed from Judea, known today as Israel. It became a land without people, and the Jews, a people without land. By contrast, the Arab invasion and arrival occurred much later, and the Arabs who settled that land did not call themselves Palestinians. There were Arab invasions with attempts at negotiations every decade from 1914 to 1939, and 22 Arab states offered peace treaties, all refused by Hamas.

All the other Arab countries boycotted Gaza, and Egypt closed its borders, leaving Gaza completely under Hamas control. More rockets were launched into Israel in a few weeks than Nazi Germany managed to launch V-2s into Britain in five months. 15,000 Israelis were killed, hundreds wounded, a couple of hundred held hostage, and an estimated 1,000 executed, including 31 Americans.

There were also 74 attacks on U.S. troops since Oct. 17, 2023. Where is the outrage of the United States government? 

These deliberate attacks reminded me of the Holocaust, the extermination of more than 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany, a horrific atrocity of one of the darkest chapters of history. Regretfully, it’s being forgotten. How do we deal with something so horrific? Avoid the truth and pretend it didn’t happen? Or speak out, teach, and take action?

President Regan warned about the consequences of neglecting the teaching of history in his 1989 farewell address to the nation: “If we forget what we did, we won’t remember who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could ultimately result in an erosion of the American spirit.

“It was that spirit that led millions to fight against the evils of Nazi Germany. It’s that spirit that has faded as the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who fought for freedom are now calling for the persecution of those whom their ancestors valiantly fought to liberate.

These student protesters didn’t have the knowledge or context from which to understand history. In “Life of Reason” George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s that history that is now being repeated on campuses across our country by those who don’t know it. Young minds are formed, and sadly sometimes uninformed, in our colleges and universities.

Students can protest in civil disagreement; however, not by intimidation and harassment. Calls for genocide are against human value. The quotas for admission of Jewish students that began in 1920 are now prevalent in more than 700 private colleges and universities. How would you react if there were racial or religious quotas?

Freedom for all is slowly being stripped away. As Americans, we can no longer condone anti-Semitic injustice. We must not be afraid nor silent, but instead must speak out, regardless of the consequences. As long as Hamas is in power, it will be one of the greatest offenders against humanity in the world.

The people of Gaza want to establish an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza strip, and the Israelis want to protect their homeland, the state of Israel. Instead of demonstrators shouting “Free Palestine,’ they should seek to address the members of the United Nations, request that all funds and support to Iran cease, that Hamas cease its terrorist violation upon Israel, denounce its horrors regarding human rights, and end all violence.

The world will celebrate the day that the geographical territory called the Gaza Strip will be recognized instead as the state of Palestine. This is my hope. This is truth as I believe it to be. The strength and fortitude of the amazing Jewish people is unprecedented. The establishment of the modern state of Israel will someday fulfill the predictions of the ancient Hebrew prophets. Let there be peace on earth. In God we trust.