Israel-Hamas War’s Dead Remembered On Elm St.

A big thank you to this group of activists. They took time to memorialize all of the victims and recognize that "winning" and "losing" are inextricably linked in this context. Peace now.

I'd think no one could possibly be opposed to a demonstration like this, but I'm sure there will be plenty of people in the comments section here to prove me wrong.

Thanks for coming, Tom. I only wish you had been there to hear the names of some of the babies killed every day in Gaza: age, 5, age 4, age 3, age 2 age 1, age less than 1. We want Rosa to call for a ceasefire, not just a "pause," after which Israel will go back to bombing civilians (if Israel even agrees to a "pause").

It boggles my mind that intelligent people do not see that the culprit and enemy of peace here is Hamas. I look at the posters in these photos and implore people asking for a ceasefire to leave their news and social media silo and learn that Hamas builds tunnels under schools, hospitals, and mosques, encourages innocent Palestinians to remain in harm's way, and hoards fuel and supplies to serve its terrorist and anti-peace agenda. I implore you, read Hamas's charter. The way in which the left (of which I until recently considered myself a part) has gotten in bed with the most extreme, fanatical, terrorists groups in the world would be comedic if it were not truly tragic. Why does Gaza not have water, jobs, etc.? Because Hamas and its allies have no interest in anything but the destruction of Israel.

As to this gathering, of course we can all mourn the death of each and every innocent. It is a tragedy of immense proportions for Israelis and Palestinians. A ceasefire will not solve this. It will allow Hamas to regroup, regain false moral high ground, and continue the cycle of violence that leaves Israel vulnerable and Palestinians ignored. If Hamas and its allies put down their weapons, there would be peace in short order.

And to boil this down to a cynical numbers game? Six for every one? Is this some kind of sick dead Olympics? As if morality hinged on arithmetic? What a shameful ploy masquerading as virtue.

Finally, to cover this gathering at Rosa DeLauro's office without mentioning the vandalism at the same place today (“Blood on ur hands” and “Free Palestin”) is a major journalistic failure.

It's good to name the dead. There is a real cost to wanton irrational slaughter of innocent Israelis with a bloodlust I've never seen in my 60 plus years. Hamas should rethink its strategy of using its own citizens as human shields.

Again we have people here crying about their disbelief that Hamas is not being condemned for their act of violence as if Israel is totally justified in the brutal annihilating attacks that have been unleashed on the Palestinians. Today's total 9,227 killed, 9,227, 3,826 of them children, who are by nature innocent, 2,405 of them women and a total of 32,516 human beings injured. All in the name of defending Israel, the occupying colonizer? We sit in the comfort of our cozy homes here in the USA, sipping our coffee and tea and bemoaning why the terrorist state of Israel must be allowed to bomb refuge camps. Every single one of us in these United States of America is complicit in this abomination and will be called to account for witnessing it and not a least speaking out against the atrocities that are unfolding daily. Israel bragged that it dropped 6000 bombs two weeks ago on people who have no other means of defense but to run even as they are being targeted. Hamas will always exist as long as the evil side of humanity is allowed to ransack the souls of the innocent. Israel is not innocent nor are the European countries nor is the USA, as we walk lock step in compliance with denying human beings, and yes they are human beings, the basic means to survive, access to clean water, food to feed their families, electricity to keep hospitals open and functioning and to live without racist discriminatory laws that keep them restricted in a concentration camp in the so called only democracy in the region. Do you realize that according to the Geneva convention and International law we are witnessing a genocide?

A United States congressman was interviewed and asked how many people must be killed to justify this carnage and he couldn't give a number as if to say that there is no limit. These are the people who supposedly represent us. Where has the soul of humanity gone?
Nagasaki, Hiroshima, even the American history during Jim Crow and the slave trade are in the same category as the Israeli government's genocide of the Palestinians. Emmett Till was brutally killed with the same rage we see coming from the IDF as an example to anyone else who would dare cross the line that has been set to restrict and control people whether they be Palestinians, African American or any group that stands in the way of their agenda. The lack of respect for humanity will continue to see such atrocities and unfortunately there will be people who will support them.
Free speech is being limited in this country, students are being threatened with expulsion when they take a stand against the terrorist regime of Israel.
How do you sleep at night knowing that what is happening is wrong ? Are you saying its okay to drop bombs on children?

The cold hard truth is that innocent civilians in Israel and also in Gaza are being kidnapped, tortured, injured, suffering and killed.
Each death is a terrible loss to their loved ones.
We should have compassion and grieve the loss of lives.
Pointing fingers and trying to justify the deaths of innocent civilians in either country because of their governments choices is unacceptable.
There is no justification for kidnapping, torturing, denying food or water or medical treatment or other humanitarian aid, refusing refugees to leave, or killing innocent civilians.
If the military and the governments of both countries want to fight, that’s one thing, but the targeting of innocent civilians in both countries in the pursuit of war has to stop.
Instead of trying to justify the killings of innocent civilians, the world should be coming together to demand that both countries protect the civilians and that humanitarian aid be allowed safely in and refugees and hostages allowed safe passage out.

It is like a mini-Convention within the Conventions as it contains the essential rules of the Geneva Conventions in a condensed format and makes them applicable to conflicts not of an international character:

• It requires humane treatment for all persons in enemy hands, without any adverse distinction.
  -It specifically prohibits murder, mutilation, torture, cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment, the taking of hostages and unfair trial.
  
• It requires that the wounded, sick and shipwrecked be collected and cared for.
  -It grants the ICRC the right to offer its services to the parties to the conflict.
  
• It calls on the parties to the conflict to bring all or parts of the Geneva Conventions into force through so-called special agreements.

It is remarkable how uniform the U.S. corporate media are in naming this the "Israel-Hamas war." This war is in fact the "Israel-Palestinian war." It started long before Hamas existed - which indeed was helped along in its creation by the U.S. and Israel. It is taking place not only in Gaza but in the West Bank where Hamas is not in charge. In truth this war is being waged by Israel with full backing of the U.S. A one-sided war with the most powerful military in the Middle East and the most powerful military in the world, both with the most modern weaponry, including nuclear weapons, together fighting against a guerrilla army. We are constantly asked if Israel has the right to defend itself, but never if Palestinians have the right to defend themselves. Palestinians refuse to be ethnically cleansed from their homeland. As was obvious in the months preceding October 7, Israel's Apartheid state was being shaken to its roots by internal divisions. Israel's government chose to push further and further to a rightwing dictatorship. And it chose to protect itself rather than Israeli civilians on October 7. Israeli and Palestinian human beings are both victims. And we in the U.S. are being forced to pick up the costs.

It's time for a brief humanitarian pause, but under no circumstances should there be a cease-fire.

"A top official with Hamas has vowed the terror group will “sacrifice martyrs” and will conduct terror attacks against Israeli citizens until the country has been annihilated."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/watch-hamas-leader-vows-to-sacrifice-martyrs-in-another-oct-7-style-attack/ar-AA1jenHn

Resistance to Jewish immigration and rising nationalism among the Arabs led to a revolt in the late 1930s. To stop Arab-Jewish violence, a British commission in 1937 recommended partitioning Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. In 1937, the Peel Commission Partition Plan was laid out. This British report recommended separate states for Jews and Arabs. The Jews accepted the plan; the Arabs rejected it. In the 1947 U.N. Partition Plan, Britain referred the Palestine question to the United Nations. The General Assembly voted for two states in an economic union — the Jews said yes, and the Arabs said no. Soon after the Arabs rejected both plans, Israel declared independence in 1948 and thus began the first Arab-Israeli war. The Arab-Israeli War of 1948 broke out when five Arab nations invaded the territory in the former Palestinian mandate — that period produced more than half a million Arab refugees.
The above information is readily available to anyone who wishes to research this violent and sad part of history.

That Israel was eventually able to develop into a strong, reasonably unified country, with the assistance of several primarily European countries, along with significant assistance from the U.S., also speaks to why this Palestinian population did not receive similar benefits and assistance from the many oil-rich Arab/Persian countries that abound in this area. Possibly, it is because it is well known that the ongoing corruption of the PLO/PA and the use by Hamas of billions of dollars given to it by several Arab countries, monies that should have been used for helping to develop Gaza and the West Bank, were instead used for munitions and war preparations.

Israel has been under constant threat of violence ever since, with ongoing vows of "pushing Israel into the sea."

"I Killed 10 Jews With My Own Hands': IDF Screens Raw Hamas Footage For Journalists"
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/idf-hamas-footage_n_6545662ee4b0e3ecaf897336

If there is any need to understand or, rationalize, or criticize Israel's relentless drive to try and eliminate Hamas, even with all the risks, bloodshed, and death involved, read no further than this article in the Huffington Post, one of the most far left-leaning media outlets possible. If you care to or dare to read more, many other media outlets, both left and right, are carrying similar accounts of the utter insanity shown by Hamas.

Israel knows quite well that unless Hamas is neutralized in Gaza, the threat of this most barbaric behavior happening over and over again will continue to haunt every Israeli, day and night.