Israelis and Palestinians are human beings. We feel fear and pain just like anyone else. Our lives are on the line, and we do not exist for you to justify your political beliefs.
Disturbing content ⚠️
“Two sets of rib cages, one smaller, with a wire, tied together.”
The bodies of Israeli men, women, children and babies murdered by Hamas were so dismembered that forensic specialists are having trouble identifying them.
📸 @CNN, @jaketapper
Hi Mirna from Portland, like you I’m Christian. Like you I come from a Palestinian family. But if you really cared about the plight of Christians in the Middle East you’d be supporting Israel and condemning Hamas.
In Israel, the Christian population grew from less than 40,000 in 1950 to over 180,000 today – that’s a 450% increase. It is the only place in the Middle East where the number of Christians is rising.
In the Palestinian territories by contrast, the Christian population has declined from 15 percent in 1950 to less than 2 percent today.
Christians are running away from Gaza – I know because I personally helped many of them. Less than 2,000 Christians remain there.
Remember Rami Ayyad? He was a member of the Baptist Church, managed Gaza's only Christian bookstore and was involved in many charitable activities. He was found shot in the head, his body thrown on a Gaza street in 2007.
Remember how in May 2008 a bomb detonated outside a Christian school in Gaza City? This was not the first bombing of the Zahwa Rosary School, maybe you studied there yourself.
Remember how in January 2008, a convoy of over 400 Christians left Gaza for Bethlehem, and did not plan on returning?
Remember how Hamas bans any celebration of Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Gaza?
Maybe you don’t, but here is one thing you must remember:
A Middle East that has no room for Jews, is a middle East that has no room for Christians, or any other minority.
🇮🇱
@abierkhatib
During times of conflict and suffering, we can only hope that outsiders who are not immediately affected will nurture seeds of peace. The job of intellectuals, artists and scholars is to try and go deeper. To try and see the complexity of reality, especially in today's climate of post-truth. It feels intellectually and emotionally lazy to just pick a side.
#quote #war #peace #hope #empathy #truth #criticalthinking