This post is indisputably much different from previous posts referencing contemporary events concerning how respect for life and the dignity of the individual is denigrated in our time. However, this post is timely in the context of the recent murders of people simply because of the parents to whom they were born or the place in which they were residing. Of course, I am referring to the murder of some 1400 persons living in Israel near the border with Gaza on October 7. Some 240 hostages were taken so that the terrorists could torment their relatives. Some of those hostages have been tortured and murdered already. Since those innocent people, including some children, are still held by murderous terrorists, their fate is very much in doubt, inflicting much anxiety and fear on their families, and causing those responsible to be despised.
I will not say anything about all of the circumstances and military responses because these are well reported by news media. However, I do call attention to the shocking hatred exhibited by these terrorists, their total disregard for life, and total absence of empathy, compassion, and mercy. Documents carried on their persons called for killing as many Jews as possible, calling Jewish ethnicity a disease that can only be cured by killing them and mutilating their bodies. Indeed, they carried out that plan, even killing children and babies in most hideous ways.
As horrifying as these events are, the plan also was to provoke a war with Israel in hopes of being able to kill even more Jews…and without regard for the loss of their own lives or the lives of innocent civilians who would inevitably be caught in the middle. Indeed, their plan was to fortify schools and mosques and hospitals where they placed rocket launchers and artillery batteries and under which they built enormous tunnel complexes in which they can take refuge and store fuel, medical supplies, and munitions. Their idea is to force the Israelis to strike such targets and to be sure that civilians are not able to escape these areas. The war is not just to kill Jews, but to cause as many deaths of non-combatants as possible and parade the denigration of Jews before the world, blaming them for the loss of innocent lives.
Not told in the media so far, is that children in Gaza have been taught hatred of Jews from infancy, having no idea what a Jew is, but simple parroting phrases of hate, urging the killing of Jews. The videos of these sessions are still found on the internet. Now those children are young adults carrying out that mission. However, only some are unable to show pity for their victims, unable to show mercy, unable even to spare children from violence.
There is a medical term for violent people who are unable to show empathy and compassion for others and unable to give mercy: homicidal sociopaths. This is a condition for which there is no cure. They must be separated from society, and this often involves their suicide or violent death while trying to evade capture. Such are those who planned and carried out this action, knowing that it would bring down the fury of the Israeli military and result in the deaths of thousands of innocent people. In fact, they were counting on those deaths and have ensured that they will occur for their propaganda value.
As despicable as it is to promote the deaths of innocent people for propaganda, we have also observed an outrageous and unprecedented display of antisemitism in the United States with hate speech, violence, and threats, some of it allegedly because of the propaganda promulgated as part of the overall plan to destroy Israel. We thought we had begun to understand our prejudices in terms of preconceived notions based on lack of education, misunderstandings, and lies. We thought our civil rights laws had contained any acts by fringe elements. Now, we have learned that hatred of Jews is actually being taught in our schools and colleges. This is echoed across the world in predominantly Muslim countries and in several Western countries, in many cases led by Muslim immigrants who willingly believe the lies and also hold hatred of Jews as a part of their religious beliefs.
I cite these events as the antithesis of what I promote in my book “Building a Culture of Life,” in my talks, and in these pages. We must respect life and the dignity of all persons in all stages of life, in all conditions, and in all circumstances. However, societies around the world have disregarded the sanctity of incipient life and wantonly destroyed it. In the United States alone, we have killed 64 million developing babies in the last 50 years. If we kill our children in the womb, why are we surprised when someone kills children in school or when groups of adults are shot down in public places or when our youth shoot each other in the streets. If life is not uniformly valued in a society, then who is it that gets to decide which life has value and which does not?
We have seen an appalling response to that rhetorical question in recent events.
Many groups of people around the world have grievances that they wish to present before world opinion. However, when the motivation is hatred and the eventual goal is genocide of an entire ethnic population, the civilized people of the world must stop it.
About 2860 years ago, the kingdoms of Israel (on the west side of the Jordan river) and of Moab (on the east side) disputed an area between them. On the Mesha Stele, King Mesha of Moab wrote, “Chemosh [the Moab god] said to me: ‘Go! Seize [Mount] Nebo from Israel!’ I went in the night…and slew seven thousand men and boys, women and girls, and pregnant women.” I cite this because we need only change the names, places, and dates in order to write today’s headlines. Has humankind learned nothing? Are we no better now than 3000 years ago?
I have written a book titled “A Timeline of the History of Humankind,” which will be in print within about 2-3 months. In my writings, I bring the reader through events that shaped the modern world. Despite our achievements, that journey is not pretty.
In modern history, over 10,000,000 civilians died in WW1.
The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia also resulted in more than 10,000,000 civilians being killed.
Hitler tried to exterminate many people for many reasons, but he especially wanted to wipe out the Jews of Europe, and about 6,000,000 died, including women, children, and babies. Another 5,000,000 other people were also killed by the NAZI’s. Over 38,000,000 non-combatants died in WW2. Let us be reminded of the German cities bombed by Allied forces in order to destroy the German war machine, causing the tragic loss of many civilian lives.
In Japan, the military establishment wanted to continue the war even after the US burned Japanese cities and used the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Military targets were destroyed, but many civilian lives were lost. The US dropped leaflets warning civilians to evacuate the cities that were to be destroyed in order to minimize needless loss of life. The Japanese military forbade people to pick up the leaflets and tried to keep them from fleeing the cities. The Japanese military was ready to accept the additional deaths of 5,000,000 Japanese civilians in order to fight for an armistice instead of surrender.
In the 1990’s, NATO intervened in the wars in Bosnia where “ethnic cleansing” threatened to exterminate Muslims. Roughly 100,000 non-combatants died.
The point of reciting these events is to call attention to how small groups of people with fanatical ideas backed up by weapons and propaganda led to needless loss of the lives of non-combatants. What we see playing out today is yet another page in this tragic accounting of how hatred leads to destruction and the deaths of innocent people.
We in the United States have traditionally attempted to minimize civilian casualties when necessary to engage in warfare. Weapons have been developed that can target specific objectives rather than cause widespread and indiscriminate destruction. Israel has benefited from these advances in technology and has warned civilians to flee the areas where its military will operate. Israel realizes, of course, that the terrorists plan to get as many civilians as possible killed in order to claim that Israel is engaged in genocide.
While these events play out, we must be sure that hatred in any form is not accepted in the United States, However, we have learned that antisemitism is deeply rooted in the US and is being taught to our youth. It reminds us a great deal of how the NAZI’s promoted hatred of Jews and other groups in Germany. Let us not let our society descend into that hell. It is simply not possible to hate one group of people and respect the life and dignity of all others. We learned that from the NAZI’s as one group after another was targeted and taken away to be killed. There was no place at which to stop the hate. Modern day terrorists and their sympathizers have not learned that lesson and will bring down destruction on their own heads.
Let us renew our commitment to life, promote tolerance of others, and protect the dignity of every person. That starts with protecting the life of the unborn and ensuring that pregnant women have all the help needed to have a healthy baby while retaining all the opportunities in life for education, careers, and experiences that non-pregnant women have.
Just as there is no stopping place for hate, respect for the life and dignity of others is infectious and will be returned in kind. Let us learn from that and build a culture of life.