Our Topic:

The continuing conflict in Gaza has resulted in a significant loss of life and widespread anger around the world towards the loss of life in Israel and Palestine, reflecting the need for peace and justice within our community. Our goal is to spread awareness and perception on the current events taking place right beneath our noses.

The Beginning: What Happened? Pt. 1

The Holocaust was a mass genocide led by Adolf Hitler, killing anybody who was Jewish or of Jewish descent. If a person had character traits of a Jewish person, such as dark eyes, or dark hair, they would be put at risk of death. The Holocaust lasted from 1941-1945.

Many Jews fled to Palestine to seek refuge. Many Jews and Arabs live in Palestine and Gaza. Countries all around the world took oaths to never let another mass genocide happen again under their watch. 

In 1948, the Israel and Palestine conflict began once Israel expelled all of the Palestinians within the state.  This was possible because, if Palestines didn’t leave the country, they were either threatened or killed. The expulsion caused many innocent Palestinian civilians to seek refuge into what is now known as- The Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has oppressed Palestine and the Palestinian people within the Gaza Strip territory by installing walls and borders to close in the Palestinian community.

Out of the entire population in Israel, the Jewish population is 74%, while the rest of the population consists mainly of Arabs and non-Jewish or non-Arab people. While remaining unbiased, it is safe to say that not all of the Jewish population in Israel is supportive of the genocide. However, silence is still a great issue within every person throughout the world, and its common for people to not speak up. Elie Wisel, who wrote the memoir Night, echoes this sentiment, “Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes” (The Perils of Indifference 1999 speech at the White House). This emphasizes the idea that it just happens to be more convenient to not say anything about the things going on in the world rather than to say something. 

Many Americans are already going through countless struggles on their day to day basis, and to speak out is just another struggle seeing how much hatred there is around this topic. Many choose to stay silent, but what Gaza needs is for people to speak out and share their stories.

October 7th, 2023

On October 7th, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestine nationalist groups launched a coordinated and planned attack from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza Envelope of southern Israel. This was the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In addition, Hamas started what is called the “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, this was a mission that fired over 5,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel. This was all in a span of 20 minutes. 

The October 7th attacks killed 1,139 people, 815 were civilians. A further 251 people were taken hostage during the initial attack on Israel into the Gaza Strip. 479 Palestinians, 116 of which children, and 9 Israelis have been killed in the occupied West Bank.

The Beginning: What Happened? Pt. 2

To this day, almost ⅔ of the Gaza population live in poverty. In the last year, poverty rates have gone up 114.2% from what it used to be. On April 1st, 2024, aid workers were sent to Gaza to try and help Palestinians. 7 of these aid workers died due to Israeli airstrikes within the country. With the repeated attacks from Israel, Gaza is left with little to no resources, being forced to survive with the bare minimum.

The so-called “war” between Gaza and Israel is just a one-sided genocide. Israel is seemingly trying to create a ghetto within the Gaza Strip, enforcing a wall/border around the Gaza territory. Israel is watching over the Gaza population by heavily controlling the Gaza border with military force

The United States: Do We Play a Role?

The United States has mixed opinions on whether Joe Biden is favoring one side too much, or maintaining balance. Overall views have changed little since researchers asked that question. Many adults under 30 feel like Biden is more in favor of Israel. 

Since Israel’s founding in 1948, Israel has received $158 billion in military aid from the United States. Out of the 150 billion dollars Israel has received, 3.8 billion dollars have been given to Israel this year, further worsening the mass genocide. Israel has asked the United States for Iron Dome interceptors, which are missiles that typically detect any incoming fire or rockets, and intercepts them with a seperate missile by predicting the range and landing point. President Joe Biden said that Washington quickly provided extra resources such as ammunition and additional equipment.

Hours after the start of the Israel-Hamas War on October 7th, the United States started sending warships and warplanes into the country, prepared to give Israel whatever it needed. By October 10th, more ships and troops were on their way to Israel, providing additional support and stability. 

The U.S. is in quite a sticky situation since Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East; United States political leaders feel it would be best to keep funding Israel since the Israel territory gives them access and alliances that they want with countries in different areas. The United States has been partners with Israel’s security and intelligence for many decades, further pushing the U.S. to support Israel. 

According to a speech on October 20th, 2023, Biden claims that, “American alliances are what keep us, America, safe.  American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with.  To put all that at risk if we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel, it’s just not worth it” (Biden, 1). Biden notes that the risk of turning our back on Israel may put us in danger and cause us to lose allies lying within the Middle East, creating more chaos and danger. 

Biden also exclaims that he is “going to send to Congress an urgent budget request to fund America’s national security needs, to support our critical partners, including Israel and Ukraine” (Biden, 1). Further emphasizing the situation Biden is stuck in is more complicated than we may think. The safety of the United States lies in his hands, and making, what many see as the wrong decision may impact us in a negative way, or result in more chaos.

The United States: Do We Play a Role? Pt. 2

By November 2023, a Republican plan was approved by the United States House of Representatives, which allocated 14.5 million dollars in military aid to Israel. With all of this being done, no money, no equipment, and no troops have been funded to Gaza. Every government representative continues to seemingly favor one side, leaving many in dismay.

The Effect: How is the War in Gaza impacting the Community?

Gaza is being heavily impacted by the War. Many people have lost their families. Hospitals and houses have been blown up, decreasing the amount of help available to Palestines, and they do not have access to medical care due to the lack of caretakers and special aid workers within the territory. There are no safe havens available to any person in Gaza. 

There is limited media presence in Gaza. Electricity and Internet are cut off to everyone in the country, making it harder for the Gaza population to share their stories with the public. While this conflict is happening in full sight of the world, it makes the Palestinians in Gaza feel alone and betrayed. They want their stories to be heard, and it’s sad how political powers all around the world have turned their back on Palestine. 

Many writers and authors across the globe have taken silent oaths to not talk about the genocide, yet it is greatly worth talking about. For example,  Elizabeth Spiers, a new york times writer says, “I am neither Jewish nor Palestinian, and none of my six regular gigs have anything to do with foreign policy, but the other day I opened Twitter (now called X) after some time offline to find people I don’t know demanding that I make a public statement about what’s happening in the Middle East. It seemed that most of the people on social media had made a statement, including various corporate brands, celebrities and miscellaneous lifestyle influencers.”  (“I Don't Have to Post About My Outrage. Neither Do You”)  This trend shows that when persuaded to speak up about the topic of Israel and Palestine, authors, writers, and many other people are scared of backlash and decline to speak up or do anything about it.

The Voices from Israel and Palestine Their stories

The young adolescents throughout the Gaza strip struggle every day due to the lack of advocacy surrounding the community of the Gaza strip. According to a young girl named Duha, who is living in Gaza with a hearing loss disability, “Access to the bathroom is a journey fraught with fear, a journey Duha bravely takes only once daily due to the distance and isolation” (UNICEF, 1). 

Many children with disabilities throughout the Gaza territory do not have access to service to better their lives. Duha expresses how hard her life has become, especially being hard of hearing with minimal resources. 

According to an article by UNICEF, titled, The Unheard Voices of Adolescents, “UNICEF partners report of children who have lost their hearing due to blasts, children who have lost limbs due to amputations, and children who have lost their speech from shock and trauma” (UNICEF, 1). Emphasizing that the bombings and constant attacks are causing generational trauma amongst children within Gaza. These attacks are destroying lives and leaving innocents with long-term health consequences and mental issues.

How Does the Public Respond?  

The public is mainly divided when it comes to the Israel and Gaza War. Many Americans are more likely to say that Israel has gone too far in its war with Hamas than to say Israel actions are justified. People also say that military actions in Gaza are not justified. Many people think it’s smart to restrict military aid to Israel so they cannot use that aid in future military operations. 

There are also many protests being held by people all around the world. The most popular protests have been on college campuses. Some examples of colleges that have held protests are Pomona College, University of Southern California, Cal Poly Humboldt, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, Stanford, and UC Irvine. These colleges are all protesting in favor of Palestine to make a difference today. At some colleges, law enforcement arrests the students and faculty members involved in the protests. For example, at UC Irvine, 26 students were arrested, at Stanford, 18 students were arrested, Lastly, 3 students were arrested at UC Berkeley. This shows that kids CAN and ARE making a difference in the world today, they go as far as being arrested to bring awareness to the topic of the Gaza and Israel Genocide. 

What Can We Do About the Situation?

We can continue to raise awareness by spreading factual information online or to people we know in attempts to get as many people as possible to see the information. We can also donate to AFSCs emergency relief to Gaza. We can also raise awareness about what’s going on by participating in protests and peacefully expressing our feelings about this topic, and we can write to our national representatives. 

This is a survey we want you to complete. We plan to send this too Representative Morgan McGarvey to bring awareness to the topic of the Genocide. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EOy9LysQ_Rg-DD9lqurMCOkDR3kpGkDZM_8Pe-0AZOw/edit 

Sources: 

ABC News. (2023, November 22nd Wednesday). Israel-Hamas War: Timeline and key developments. Israel-Hamas War: Timeline and key developments. Retrieved September today, 2024, from https://abcnews.go.com/International/timeline-surprise-rocket-attack-hamas-israel/story?id=103816006 

al-Mughrabi, N. (n.d.). Gaza–Israel conflict. Wikipedia. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza%E2%80%93Israel_conflict 

Al-Najjar, A. (Jan 21st, 2024). Where is the ‘never again’ for Gaza? Palestinian journalist from Gaza. Retrieved 9 18, 2024, from https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/1/21/where-is-the-never-again-for-gaza 

American Public Divided over US Approach to Israel's War in Gaza. (2024, April 4). Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://globalaffairs.org/research/public-opinion-survey/american-public-divided-over-us-approach-israels-war-gaza 

AP News. (n.d.). A look at the protests of the war in Gaza that have emerged at US colleges. https://apnews.com/article/gaza-war-campus-protests-966eb531279f8e4381883fc5d79d5466# 

BBC News. (2024, April 5). Israel Gaza war: History of the conflict explained. BBC. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396 

Hutchinson, B. (n.d.). Israel-Hamas War: Timeline and key developments. ABC News. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://abcnews.go.com/International/timeline-surprise-rocket-attack-hamas-israel/story?id=103816006 

October 7 Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes by Hamas-led Groups. (2024, July 17). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/17/october-7-crimes-against-humanity-war-crimes-hamas-led-groups 

Serhan, Y., Rajvanshi, A., Gordon, A., & Vick, K. (2023, October 20). 'Our Death Is Pending.' Stories of Loss and Grief From Gaza. Time. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://time.com/6326080/gaza-palestinians-grief-israel-hamas-war/ 

Silver, L., Alper, B. A., Keeter, S., Lippert, J., & Mohamed, B. (2024, March 21). 2. Views of the U.S. role in the Israel-Hamas war. Pew Research Center. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.pewresearch.org/2024/03/21/views-of-the-u-s-role-in-the-israel-hamas-war/ 

Spiers, E. (2023, October 17). Opinion | Posting About Israel and Palestine Is Not a Moral Obligation. The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/opinion/social-media-israel-palestine.html 

Telhami, S. (n.d.). United States support for Israel in the Israel–Hamas war. Wikipedia. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Israel_in_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war 

The Unheard Voices of Adolescents. (2024, May 14). UNICEF. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.unicef.org/sop/stories/unheard-voices-adolescents 

Vinall, F. (2023, December 21). Why younger Americans are more likely to support Palestinians. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/21/us-support-israel-palestine-poll/