Shit is going down in the Middle East. Now, shit has been going down in the Middle East for centuries, but I'm referring to the particular shit that has been going down these past few weeks. In this post, I'm gonna attempt to answer some of the FAQ about the recent flare-up between Israel and Hamas.


Disclaimers: 1. In the pantheon of complex geopolitical conflicts, this one is a particular doozy. Naturally, I'm not going to be able to discuss every minutia of this one. I'm not gonna be able to come close. But I'm gonna do my best to hit the major points. 2. It's worth mentioning right off the bat that I am an American Jew with many friends currently living in Israel. There is very little objective truth to be found in this one, and each side has its own narrative. Again, I'm gonna do my best to get at objective truth, but it bears repeating that I'm coming at this from a very specific vantage point.

Ok, let's do this:

This conflict goes back a long time, right? Yes.


So this is a religious conflict? No. Stop that. Yes, the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is certainly rooted in each side's religious backgrounds (and we'll save the complicated conversation about to what extent Israel is a "Jewish state" and whether or not it represents Judaism's interests for another day), and they are fighting over sacred grounds, this is not a religious conflict. This war is over land, not over God.

But land that each side thinks God wants them to have? Well, yeah. But I think it's a cop out to simply chalk this one up as a holy war. Geopolitics are far more complicated than that, man.


Fair enough. Ok, so what is this about? Well, to give you an EXTREMELY oversimplified version of history, in the late-19th century to early-20th century, for a whole host of reasons, there was a massive influx of Jews into the land now known as Israel, then known as Palestine. There were already some Jews there, but there were also a whole lot of Arabs. At the time, the land was owned by the Ottoman Empire, and then held under charter by the British following WWI. The Jews bought and developed a shit ton of land in Palestine at a rapid pace, in the hopes of eventually establishing a Jewish state there, which made the Arabs uneasy. The British didn't do a great job of easing tensions between the two groups, simultaneously promising to help both sides achieve statehood.

That was dumb of them. Yes, it was. Anyway, tensions keep mounting, but England stops paying attention because World War II. The war ends, the British have had enough of being an empire, and agree to give up their charter in the region. The UN draws up a partition plan to establish neighboring Jewish and Arab states in the region in 1947. The Jews like it, the Arabs do not. The Jews establish Israel in 1948, the Arabs pretty much attack the young state immediately, claiming Israel has no right to exist. Israel wins. This happens a few more times. Many of the Arabs living in what would become Israel fled the land in the face of racialized violence by pre-IDF militias, hoping to find refuge in surrounding Arab countries. Many of these people were forced into refugee camps, leading to an epic humanitarian clusterfuck in those surrounding countries (that is also a discussion for another day). And then there is the West Bank (which has remained more or less under Israeli military control since 1967) and the Gaza Strip (also under Israeli military control, beginning in 1967 until about 2005), which have long been home to what we now call Palestinians, who have never been granted Israeli citizenship.


I get it. But what does any of this have to do with what's going on today? Everything! So many of the dumb, misinformed opinions about this thing ON EVERY SIDE come from a lack of understanding about the basic history of the conflict. Anyway, I'll stop with the background and flash forward to today.

Great. So what's going on today? Well, this particular version of shit has been going on since 2007, when Hamas (their political wing) was elected into power in the Gaza Strip. That's when Israel (with the help of Egypt from time to time) implemented an economic blockade over the region, and the two sides have basically been shoving each other, back and forth, ever since.


More history. Hey, what'd we say about that? Anyway, on June 12th of this year (Finally. Sh.), three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped, allegedly by Hamas militants. Israel launched a massive investigation into the kidnapping, arresting around 350 Palestinians. Hamas responded with a dramatic escalation of rocket attacks on Israel. The teenagers were found dead, and Israelis, naturally, went bonkers. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel (who has consistently been accused of being a warmonger for his rhetoric concerning Iran and the Palestinians) vowed swift retaliation. With no sign of the rocket attacks letting up, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge.

What exactly has that entailed? It started as a series of Israeli airstrikes against alleged Hamas strongholds, but has escalated into a ground invasion.


What does Israel hope to achieve with all of this? According to a statement released by Prime Minister Netanyahu's office announcing the ground operation, the goal is to "establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security without continuous indiscriminate terror."

That sounds rather vague and open-ended. That's because it is rather vague and open-ended. But it's supposed to be a "targeted" operation.


"Supposed to be"? Well, as of the posting of this blog, over 500 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, the majority of whom have been civilians, including many women and children.

Oh fuck. Yeah, but here's where it starts to get hairy (as if it wasn't already): Hamas is hiding in a densely populated area amongst civilians, using schools and hospitals as arsenals, building tunnels under civilian areas, and using civilians, as the Israeli government alleges, as "human shields". Though there is debate over to what extent that is true.


So the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is bombing people's houses? Yep. And they're making no apologies for that by claiming that this is where Hamas is. But, as the IDF routinely points out, they at least knock first.

No wonder the Palestinian civilian death toll is absurdly high. I know.


What about Israeli casualties? As of this writing, 13 Israeli soldiers have died in Operation Protective Edge, and no civilians.

That feels disproportionate. I'll give you that. But it's not for a lack of effort on Hamas' part. They have continued their incessant rocket campaign and made numerous attempts to infiltrate the Israeli home front through the tunnels that the IDF is currently targeting. The only reason they have been unsuccessful is due to Israel's massive technological and infrastructural advantage (Thanks, America!). Israeli citizens are living under the constant threat of imminent rocket attack, having to retreat to shelters on an almost daily basis. Israeli civilians are running for their lives everyday.


Didn't Egypt try to negotiate a ceasefire recently? Yeah, but Hamas refused to come to the negotiating table, for a whole host of reasons.


Who's the Good Guy in all of this? If only it were that simple. There is a legitimate argument to be made that the IDF's air and ground operations have been far too indiscriminate, that Israel can be doing way more to ensure the protection of civilian life and property in Gaza. At the same time, Hamas has been regularly attacking the Israeli people for years, with no sign of letting up. Something needs to be done about that.

So anybody on either side who is trying to make this conflict seem simple is... Trying to sell you something.


What's next? Hope the fighting ends soon.


*EDIT at 9:23 CST: My initial description of what happened to much of the Arab population was inaccurate and oversimplified, caught and corrected by a friend of mine. Edits have been made to more accurately reflect this important history.