I am writing out of a sense of overwhelm and curiosity.
The genocidal violence happening in Gaza, both the terrorist attack on Israelis by Hamas, and the decades of violence against Palestinians that bookends this tragedy, is reprehensible.
I reside so far away from the conflict, as far as I could possibly be.
Though I'm no expert, I know the difference between world powers, extremist groups, and civilians. I know the difference between powerful men, powerless children, and the women stuck in the middle who must choose themselves, their lovers, or their babies. And there's something I know all about; the end game of white supremacist delusion, which has had a significant role to play in this ancient conflict since the invention of the firearm, is securing itself at the top of the pyramid, while everyone else is just a means to an end.
What's most curious to me, though, is the way in which the minds of white people around the world have been so thoroughly marinated in white supremacist delusion for so long that they believe picking a rhetorical, intellectual side has any material or moral value. The intellectualization (or worse, the nationalization) of this genocide is truly sickening because, in order to participate in the debate, you must offer up a severed limb of your soul. To choose, in the words of some government officials over the last week, between "Israel" (the State Power) or "terrorists" (the Palestinian Power) is spiritual suicide. It is heresy against humanity.
In the Christian Scriptures, Ephesians 6:10-12 says, "...be empowered by the Lord and by the force of his might. Put on God's panoply, so that you are able to withstand the Slanderer's wiles, because we are not wrestling against blood and flesh, but against the Archons, against the Powers, against the Cosmic Rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the celestial places." Evil cannot be defeated through murder. And please understand the difference between murder and violence.
Violence: the use of physical force to cause harm to people, animals, or property, such as pain, injury, death, damage, or destruction. According to US law, violence is "the unlawful exercise of physical force or intimidation by the exhibition of such force." (Wikipedia & Oxford Dictionary)
Murder: Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as manslaughter. (Wikipedia)
All murder is violence, but not all violence is murder. Obvious things like this are routinely brushed aside in our discourse because they clash with the urgent ignorance supremacist delusion carries at its center. Supremacist delusion says, "We don't have time for diplomacy! We can't trust THEM to be fair. We can't leave anything to chance! We must erase them NOW or they will erase US!"
My Lord, the lies!
There is always time for life! There's always time to put weapons down and make a table of peace. There's always a choice that truly benefits all. It's not naive and idealistic to think this way. What has war brought us? Has murdering children brought any country closer to real peace? Not once. Every nation that has sacrificed its (living, breathing, outside the womb) children for the political upper hand is paying the price to this day.
If anything, murder multiplies evil. As far as I can see, to murder another is to crush your own humanity. To sanction the murder of entire groups of people is to mutilate your own soul and mangle your genetic imprint for generations to come. To defend murder is to sip the vile poison of indifference.