The Morality & Geopolitics of Israel’s Bombing of Gaza — Thoughts on Discourse Moving Forward

It’s been one month now since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its heinous attack on Israel, killing approximately 1,200 Israelis, and taking 200 hundred hostages. It’s also been a week since Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza.

This month has been difficult for many. Because of that, I once again write about this topic with great care. The intention here is to promote dialogue that aims to listen to different perspectives.

I interact with a lot of Jewish students and many of them are severely distressed. They most certainly do not deserve any hatred or blame. I feel the utmost sympathy for them. Some — perhaps many — who are protesting for an end to violence in Gaza seem to dismiss their suffering. I am not doing that here.

The Holocaust was a unique culmination of the highest form of violence humanity has managed to express. Its impact on Jewish people should never be forgotten.

We are at a point when discourse around this topic revealed how little we are willing to understand each other, however. It is the intention of this post to show that we can indeed understand where each side is coming from and condemn both Hamas’ terrorism and Israel’s bombing of children in Gaza.

Indeed, we must be able to stand with the principles of international law at this time due to the serious geopolitical and moral implications.