To Those Who Will Listen

To those who will listen,

I know this letter will never make a difference, I can see from the things people say, the way they say it and the way in which certain things are portrayed that my little voice will never be heard. But I feel so deeply saddened and so deeply angry but most of all so deeply frustrated that the world is so blind, so closed minded and so foolish. How has a terrorist organization managed to win the hearts and support of the majority of people, while a country, a democratic country, a member of the UN takes the blame.

I do not understand how you cannot see what is so blatantly obvious to me. These people revel in the death of their women and children. They are happy when an innocent child dies, rejoice when a school full of children is destroyed. This is what they wanted. To hide behind their protective shield of innocent people, knowing that the more innocent lives taken, the more their twisted PR campaign is working. Every tear you shed for a dying Palestinian child is a step up for Hamas militants. Is this so difficult to see?

Do you think Israel wanted to take these lives? No. Because they are not terrorists, and right or wrong they did what they had to do to protect their innocent civilians and their country. And I ask you this . . . name any country, any country, France, Spain, America, England, any country which would sit back and say ‘sure, go ahead, fire rockets at us, we’ll do nothing.’, can’t think of one, thought so. Israel is not a terrorist organization. Hamas militants are. The majority of Israeli soldiers do not enter the army out of choice, they are conscripted, they are just innocent children, so when you see the harrowing sights of the injured don’t forget to shed a tear for them too. Just because they are soldiers doesn’t make them guilty, they are somebody’s child, somebody’s brother, sister, cousin. The biggest difference, they don’t want to die, they want to live and fight to protect a country they believe in.

Hamas militants on the other hand enter the war by choice, because they want to cause maximum destruction and take as many lives along the way. For them death is not something to fear and hide from but something to embrace. For a promised better life awaits them, or so they are brainwashed into believing. The more lives they take along their path towards death, the better their next life will be. Doesn’t this sound like the kind of people you want to be supporting?

Israel had one objective when attacking Gaza and that was to stop the rocket fire showering down on Israel. They took a decision to protect their people at all costs, a decision that should be admired and not condemned. They even went as far as to go on Palestinian television pleading to Hamas not to use civilians as protection. They didn’t listen, instead they set up their rockets in schools, mosques and areas swarming with civilians. Knowing that when their rocket launchers were destroyed, the civilian casualties that went with it would be broadcasted all over the world, blinding people with disturbing images and blocking them from seeing the truth.

I know most of you won’t listen. Most of you too pulled in now to the Palestinian PR campaign to understand. But imagine this, your in your home, sitting down to dinner with your family, the people you love. Suddenly, you hear the piercing sound of rocket fire, and the deafening blasts of one landing only a few houses away. You knew the neighbors who lived in that house. But still the noise continues and you live in fear everyday of where will the next one land? Is it your turn next? What would you want your Government to do? Nothing? I think not. So I plead with you, try and open your minds, try and see beyond the tears of the children, the screams of grieving mothers and the bloodshed all around. There is another side to this tragic story.

Remember this, an Israeli would not walk onto a bus and blow it up on a suicide mission. An Israeli would not sit in a restaurant or stand outside a nightclub strapped to a bomb. An Israeli does not march its own people off the top of a building because they are not in agreement with their cause. An Israeli does not brainwash his children in training camps to become suicide bombers. An Israeli will not believe in ‘death to all infidels’. Hamas militants, these terrorists would do all of the above.

I do not think it is right that these innocent civilians died. But Hamas made it impossible to avoid. So don’t be foolish, these people do not like you, they do not like anyone who is not them, they detest anyone who does not conform to their ideals and regime, seeing us as so called ‘infidels’ unfit to live. And you can mark my words, they will turn on you too. Supporting them is only helping their cause. So I can only hope that you will try to see Israel not as a killer, but as a protector, one with no other choice, you cannot reason with terrorists.

Anon.