8 | APRIL 25 • 2024
J
N
opinion
Why Does Hamas Not Care
About Gaza’s Children?
I
sraeli children’s safety
does not seem to
preoccupy the world.
This may be understandable.
Israel is a
militarily
powerful
country and
should manage
to protect its
own kids. Why
should the
world worry?
On the other hand,
Palestinians, and especially
children in the Gaza Strip —
the manifest “underdogs” —
evoke a tremendous amount
of compassion and empathy.
The world is in agony
about their suffering. Their
images haunt the collective
consciousness like almost no
other children around the
world.
It would seem logical then
that compassionate people
who so worry about Gaza’s
children would want the
defeat of Hamas.
So, why don’t they want
to free them from a suicidal
indoctrination that teaches
them to sacrifice their
lives and to become jihadist/
suicide bombers from a
very tender age? Why do
they allow these children
to be robbed of their
innocence and be taught
hatred as a desired menu for
life? Why not fight for them
to be able to have a normal
childhood, to play with toy
guns and learn life-building
skills?
Why is the world not
demanding that Hamas take
the children and women
with them in the more
than 300 miles of tunnels
to protect them from the
Israeli missiles they have
provoked? Hamas has
risked the destruction of its
territory and population by
launching missiles on Israel,
committing such acts of
terror that demand reprisals
and promising many more.
Why is Hamas not con-
demned and ostracized by
Western media, academia
and international bodies for
committing war crimes by
using their own children as
human shields, as well as
risking their lives when they
send them out to spy or plant
bombs on enemy tanks?
Or do they feel that
Hamas owns its population’s
children and thus has
the right to use them as
they wish — to risk and
sacrifice their lives? Does
such ownership allow them
to promote the belief that
the most honorable way to
ensure one’s family’s financial
viability and subsequent
place in heaven is to kill as
many Jews as possible? Is this
the best future for a child?
Why have Gaza children
and women not been allowed
to escape the battle zones
and be temporary refugees
to save their lives, like other
countries at war were able
to do?
Egypt and other Arab
and Gulf countries have
understandably refused to
allow entry of a population
trained to destabilize their
countries. But what about
shelter for women and
children in Africa, Europe
or even just in huge boats on
the Gaza coast?
There would be no
humanitarian crisis, no
civilians killed, and the
war would have been
over long ago. The houses
booby-trapped with guns
and explosives that were
destroyed can eventually
be rebuilt like normal safe
homes.
Compassionate people,
countries and international
organizations that have
shut their eyes to the
incredible cruelty toward
these children must dig deep
into their hearts and figure
out to which cause they have
been willing to sacrifice
the lives of Gaza kids.
Having an opportunity
to blame the Jewish
state cannot justify such
blindness or callousness. A
whole generation has been
brainwashed and cultivated
in the glory of death. It has
been open knowledge from
the beginning.
It is time to care about
these kids truly — and not
only during times of war.
They need a real childhood.
They need their innocence.
They need their spiritual
salvation and idealism to be
more than hatred, killing and
getting killed. Can people
overcome their hatred of the
Jews enough to save Gaza
and its children?
Gina Ross, MFCC, is the founder/
president of the International Trauma-
Healing Institutes in the United States
and Israel, and co-founder of a Trauma
Center in Jerusalem.
Gina Ross
JNS.org
Palestinian women and children in Rafah, the southernmost city in the
Gaza Strip, April 4, 2024.
PHOTO BY ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90
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