Being in the music space, I see a lot of sentiment for the people of Gaza right now. I see a lot of condemnation of Israel and calls for a ceasefire. I see hoards of people in the halls of congress putting pressure on our government to pressure Israel to stop dropping bombs. I’m seeing very emotional Instagram posts of supposed activists showing videos calling what is happening now a genocide.
I see all of it. It’s what I’m not seeing that is bothersome.
It’s what I’m not seeing that, as we are almost a month into this war, is bringing me to conclude that most people are willfully misinformed, cowards, or both.
What I don’t understand is how people can call for Israel to stop fighting when Hamas broke into Israel, raped women, dragged their dead bodies all over the streets, admitted to raping dead bodies of children, burned people alive, and most of all, kidnapped over 200 Israeli civilians as young as 7 months and as old as holocaust survivors.
And it’s that last part that gets me. Hamas took over 200 people, refuses to give them back, records videos of them and sends them out just to taunt their families, and is abusing them as we speak. One holocaust survivor who was released by Hamas speaks of her brutal treatment; that she was beaten with sticks as she was taken.
How can we even fix our mouths to call for Israel to ceasefire when:
Hamas started the war
Hamas stole civilians, including babies
Hamas continues to rain down rockets on Israel, and was doing so before Israel dropped bombs
How does that even work?
Israel hasn’t even begun a ground invasion to look for the hostages. Partly because they’re still trying to neutralize Hamas rocket fire, which is the reason bombs are falling on Gaza. This is not a revenge attack, and everyone depicting it that way is spreading disinformation. If Israel was attacking Gaza for revenge, Gaza would have been wiped out within a matter of hours on October 8th. The reason bombs are falling now is because even before what Hamas did on October 7th, they were shooting missiles into Israel. If a ceasefire is to be had, it would have to start with Hamas. Otherwise, every single bomb that lands in Gaza is Hamas’ fault.
And this is the thing that none of the #FreePalestine activists want to acknowledge. I have not seen a single one of them acknowledge that Hamas is the one keeping this war going by shooti”ng rockets and refusing to give back the 220 hostages.
I also have not seen a single one of them condemn their counterparts around the world celebrating… Yes, celebrating what happened on October 7th. That and worse. Don’t believe me? Here are links below:
Students for Justice in Palestine activist, Naya Idriss in Times Square, New York
Cornell University history Professor Russell Rickford said the Hamas attacks were “exciting” and “exhilarating.”
Columbia University professor who called the attacks “awesome.”
Students for Justice in Palestin at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill celebrate October 7th attacks with approval from professor
With that, we have people tearing down posters of missing Israeli children
And many more…
To my fellow artist friends, Jewish or otherwise, who choose to lend their voice to what is happening right now, my call to you is quite frankly to grow up. People are going to pressure you to say what they want you to say, despite what the actual truth of the matter is. Stop caving in. No matter how nicely you say it, or how sweet of a person you are, when you use your voice out of fear, peer-pressure, or to simply follow a trend, you run the risk of running cover for evil. And that’s what a lot of you are doing right now.
I’ve written 13 articles since this war started, and this is my 14th. In a few of those articles, I shared something that doesn’t really get any airtime, and that most people are either unaware of, or unconcerned with; and that is the Hamas’ treatment of the people of Gaza. Here is another video I found recently of a mother in Gaza crying out against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. She even calls out the fact that young Hamas officials are rich and live lavishly while she and most of her people suffer with almost nothing. Please listen carefully to what she says and note that some of the “activists” from Gaza you may encounter on social media and in real life are being paid handsomely by Hamas to travel the world and spread propaganda.
This brings us all the way back to my original point. Hamas started this war. Hamas won’t return the hostages. Hamas is firing rockets. People, including a 7 month old baby (who is probably 8 months old by now) have been missing for almost a month. Who knows if Hamas sold some of them into slavery or harvested their organs? They are in the business of doing that in Africa, by the way. Every bomb that lands in Gaza is the fault of Hamas. If you are unable or unwilling to even wrestle with these truths, you have no business lending your empty, hollow voice to this fight.
Thank you for your courageous voice. I met you in LA at an event that your father spoke at. I admire you both and your strong, beautiful wife.
You all speak the truth. Gd bless you.