The mortality and human suffering in Gaza is horrific, with 0.5% of Gaza’s total population killed and 60%-70% of all Gazans displaced from their homes in the past five weeks since Oct. 7. In the U.S., controversy over supporting Palestine or Israel is on the rise, leading to heated protests and — in some cases — violence.

Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid emphasizes that this war is full of tragedies for both Israelis and Palestinians and that we should be blaming the “power-hungry men in charge,” not the citizens or the children caught in the crossfire.

Punishing the Palestinian people for war crimes committed by a group that was elected 17 years ago — and by the way, Palestinian people don’t even largely believe that they have even the right to peaceful political protests — it just simply doesn’t make sense. Vast numbers of Palestinian people want a peaceful resolution and want Hamas out of power. Let’s add onto that the fact that over half of the citizens of Gaza are children who weren’t even born when Hamas came into power. 

This is intolerable. It is intolerable for Israelis to have to live in fear of a terrorist organization that will stop at nothing to exterminate them. It is intolerable for Gazan children to live in what’s called an open-air prison and to go to sleep wondering whether they’ll be alive in the morning, knowing that there is a serious chance that they won’t. So, as we have these incredibly complex conversations about unthinkably devastating events, let’s please remember, it is the power-hungry men in charge that are creating this devastation, not the citizens, and certainly not the children.