This is a fantastic opinion piece by Sanders that lays it out the situation before the Hamas attack, the current situation, and what should be done. He lays out several requirements for peace that aid to Israel should be contingent on. He also notes that Hamas is hurting the Palestinians, which is a detail very few mention.
He’s also one of the first people I’ve seen try to take a stab at what a lasting solution needs to be – two states, Netanyahu ousted, Hamas destroyed, foundations of Palestinian civil government created.
This is why Sanders is invaluable to western politics. He communicates sorely needed context with a level of empathy and wisdom that puts most of politics and journalism to shame.
This is what the majority simply do not comprehend or understand, and why the whole “Israel vs Palestine”, “Muslim vs Jewish”, “Hamas/IDF are inhuman barbarians” propaganda war is utter bullshit; no matter what the reality of the terrorism or warfare on the ground is… When we’re talking about Palestinians (Gazans/Hamas moreso), we’re talking about a population who have been born into, and forced to live their entire lives, in an “open-air prison” created and curated by Western/Israeli/external politics. A population forced to live in poverty and destitution through (mostly) no fault of their own; especially when you consider that half of them are literally fucking children… Obviously they scream “death to the west/Israel”!?! Most of their exposure to the west is glimpsing us through a window; living our lives in a level of freedom, wealth, and opulance they could never hope to experience – while they are demonized by the global community, and live under our boot. These conditions recruit extremists. If YOU were born into the same situation that most Palestinians have been born into, YOU would feel exactly the same – 99.99% of the human population would, no matter what their genetics or religion are.
Until the world can wrap their head around the concept that Hamas (most terrorists, and acts of terrorism) are a direct response to – directly caused by – some extreme level of inhumanity and inequality, instead of distilling it down into some cultural or religious “us vs them”, “good vs evil” war that Capitalism can profit from, the cycle of violence will never end. Instead, we continue to ignore and double down on the crimes of the past, and sow the seeds for future fascism and terrorism.
People are not born extremists or terrorists; every single one of them is created.