Today a gunman with ties to Hamas shot and killed a man, while also injuring an additional 4 people. The shooting took place in Jerusalem’s old city, and it was stopped when Israeli security forces killed the gunman. The shooter was identified by Hamas as Fadi Abu Shkaydam, praising him as a hero and martyr. The attack took place near the temple mount, which has been a source of contention between the Israeli and Muslim populations. Fadi Abu Shkaydam was a participant of Hamas’s political wing and not the military. This portion of Hamas is focused on social programs for those in the Gaza strip and governs the area. This means that Hamas probably did not sanction this attack, which is supported by some sources showing that Hamas did not take credit for the attack. Regardless if Hamas ordered this attack, it has stirred up fears in the Israel government with the prime minister worrying that there may be upcoming “copycat attacks.” Well, currently there hasn't been much evidence to support that there will be continued attacks of this nature. Many are connecting this incident 4 days ago when a palestinian teenager stabed two border cops (though the connection to the Hamas is still questionable). Also, some Israelis have used this incident to justify further need to crack down on Hamas because the shooter came from a member of the Hamas political wing and not the militant one. In a statement to the public, President Issac Herzog said, “The fact the terrorist was from Hamas’ ‘political wing’ compels the international community to recognise it as a terror group.” It should be noted that the president is an important figurehead position in the Israeli government, and this type of rhetoric will most likely have an influence on the national stage as countries may reconsider how they view Hamas. One example is the United Kingdom who recently decided to list the Hamas’s political wing as a terrorist group (this occurred before this shooting). Further attacks like this may only continue to strengthen Israel’s argument against Hamas.
I think these kinds of attacks will continue to occur as Palestinians begin to feel discontent with the current situation as time moves on, but it may prove detrimental to garnering wider support from foreign countries. For further details on the attack the links below give a more in depth report on the attack.
Do you think that attacks similar to this will continue as some fear will happen?
Do you think Israel is justified in continued crackdowns on Palestinians in the wake of attacks such as this?
Should America differentiate Hamas's political and military wing?
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/21/middleeast/jerusalem-shooting-attack-intl/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-59365512
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13331522
10 comments:
While I understand that Israel is receiving attacks from Hamas, that does not give them the right to continue prosecuting Arabs that still remain in Israel. According to council on foreign relations (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-know-about-arab-citizens-israel), Arabs face large amounts of discrimination, making their poverty rate increase to about 36%. To learn more about Arabs living in Israel I recommend reading the full article. Mistrust is what is making living conditions between these communities so hostile, however it is difficult to earn that trust when both are being equally violent towards one another. Each has their own reasons for why they are fighting in this conflict. Palestinians were forcibly removed from their land after WWII to make room for Jewish people without their consent. Being upset is valid, but does not require violence. Both have ties to Jerusalem, however, each refuses to recognize and accept that they are not the only ones who have rights to it. It is a tough topic to discuss, especially because I am not as educated on this subject matter, but I think that each is responsible for their actions, and I only hope that one day a conclusion will be made.
I believe that there will continue to be attacks similar to this one in the future. People will most likely continue to take action if the government continues to face the same issues. Israel has a problem with the different political groups in the past, and people like this will continue to act as long as they continue to be dissatisfied and feel threatened. I believe that the fact that Israel continues to crackdown on Palestinians is continuing to cause problems and insight more violence. There was a huge problem between Palestine and Israel last year, and it seems to be continuing to carry over into the coming year as well. I do believed that Hamas should be differentiated from a political group and could even be considered a terrorist group if their members continue to insight violence. In the case of the United States, other terrorist groups such as the Taliban and ISIS continue to be a greater issue. This does not put a shadow over Hamas, however, if they continue to stay relevant in the current political news.
I think that attacks like this will definitely happen in the future with rising tensions between Israel and Palestine. And with Israel’s first strike mindset and the probability of miscalculation within all countries involved, these attacks will be amplified.
Time and time again, the Israeli administration has shown its propensity for first strike. Last summer, Israel launched flurries of attacks on Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon with drones and airstrikes. When Israel’s enemies have developed nukes in the past, they have struck first; Iran’s recent nuclearization has led to the most military offense from Israel in the past year.
More military developments from either side could escalate ongoing Middle East conflicts into nuclear exchanges, and spur other regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Egypt to develop nuclear weapons/more threatening conventional weapons themselves as a deterrence. It seems likely that such a conflict would quickly become existential in the sense that both sides would seek to inflict the maximum possible casualties on their opponent, and to destroy its ability to recover as a nation. War would spillover to a nuclear war as miscalculations over intentions in war will lead to a nuclear war between the two parties involved, especially with the ongoing tensions.
I hate to make this connection but attacks like seem similar to school shootings where one big event like Columbine spreads the idea to other individuals who want attention or simply want to cause harm. I do think that the basis for this specific attack is a result from the conflict between Israel and Palestine which differs greatly from motives school shooters might have, however, both are still acts of terrorism in a way. As the tensions between the State of Palestine and Israel escalate I'm almost certain that similar attacks will increase.
It certainly makes sense that Israel would crackdown on Palestinians but I think it's very clear that it would only cause more conflict. Also as Amanda mentioned, Israel has a tendency to strike first so the "crackdown" was most likely inevitable. Arissa mentions that Palestine and Israel shouldn't resort to violence and recognize that both of them have claims to the land. While it is a nice concept, I think it's very unreasonable to expect citizens and government to suddenly drop everything and try to negotiate a middle ground simply because it's "bad". Even if government could do so, the citizens of both sides are part of this deep, complex conflict and will not let go of their hatred/beliefs so easily. Unfortunately, the situation doesn't seem to have any clear end and I too can only hope will come to a conclusion eventually.
I think that it would be fair to classify Hamas as a terrorist organization but America should not lump the actions of their political and military wing together. It is unreasonably optimistic to continue trusting one side of the same organization after a terrorist attack like this. Assuming that the military wing is completely uninvolved with the processes of the political wing is pretty ignorant. While I am not completely knowledgeable on Hamas' operations, I can confidently assume that they are not a goodwill organization.
I do believe that over time, attacks will continue to occur, while tensions continue to rise between Israel and Palestine. Israel and Palestine can definitely "crack down" crack down on one another because as Arissa explains, they both have claimed land. I do believe that the continuation of attacks like this one will create more tension and ultimately lead to more detrimental outcomes. That aside, I wouldn't say anyone is justified to "crack down" on one another, but instead should come to a consensus for the safety of their citizens. I agree with Edan's argument that America should not lump the actions of their political and military wing together because it is unreasonably optimistic to continue trusting one side of the same organization after a terrorist attack like this. In short, I am thinking more long term in what efforts I think should be made in order to create a more safe environment for Israeli's and Palestinians.
Even if there were violent attacks from the hamas on the palestine side I do not think that the israelis have a right to continue to persecute Arabs and the palestinians, the israelis have continued violent attacks and have oppressed the people of palestine and they are retaliating, so attacks like this will most likely continue to happen as this oppression continues. The Israelites are having violent attacks on them because they are continually violent towards the Palestinians, the continued oppression will continue these violent retaliations and resistance from the Palestinians , as long as they stay in this land and there is tension there will be continued battles and conflicts. The people of palestine were forced out of their land from the british military after the second world war, there were constant wars in this region and there are little to no talks of peace, I think that the military of the hamas and the political side should be seperated, many people who agree with the beliefs of the hamas should not be labeled as terrorists if they are preaceful and do not wanrt vioknce and people should have the freedom to decide what party they want to align themselves with, however I am not too educated or sure how this would happen.
I personally believe that similar attacks will continue happening. Because of the historical tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, it’s inevitable that there will be some complications between the two groups. The two groups have continued to fight fire power with fire power, an endless cycle of violence. Given the obstacles our world has faced, one would expect that we would be able to learn from our mistakes and effectively carry out compromises. However, despite the drafted proposal of the two state solution which was advocated by the US government administration among other countries, it was never effectively adopted. (https://insidearabia.com/annexation-and-the-two-state-paradigm-two-different-paths-to-colonization/)
Therefore, tensions will persist as it appears no group is looking to cease expansion for more settlements. Additionally, I don’t believe that Israel is justified to continue pursuing such barbaric action on Palestinians. Considering how Israel has more resources (armed forces, influence, etc), Palestinians are at a significant disadvantage. As Freja mentioned, Palestinians were driven out of their home, forcing them into a poor condition. Although violence is typically tied to war, the level of disrespect is inhumane at this point. As an article from the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner conveys, the excruciating conditions are unjustifiable. The article mentions how “Israel’s policy of usurping Palestinian natural resources and disregarding the environment has robbed the Palestinians of vital assets.” (https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24349&LangID=E) Thus, reinforcing how the Israeli’s actions toward Palestinians is not justified. I do agree with Edan that in an ideal world, these violent actions would end. But, I don’t see these two groups stopping in an abrupt manner considering the deep rooted history they have with each other. Finally, America should differentiate Hamas’s political and military wing as they don’t represent all Palestinians as a whole. Rather, the Hamas are a terrorist group that symbolize the extreme discontent Palestinians have cultivated over the years.
Israeli Palestinean relations have been a decades-long conflict, and this is only the most recent attack. For some background on the current state of Israeli Palestinean politics, currently, Naftali Bennet, who does not believe in a Palestinean state and wants Isreal to take over the West Bank that is occupied, is the Prime Minister. Bennet is more right-wing than his predecessor, Netanyahu, and made an interesting agreement to get his coalition together. Under this agreement, he serves as PM until 2023, and then a centrist, Yair Lapid will become Prime Minister. Lapid, who is in favor of a two-party state, currently serves as the foreign minister. This is quite an interesting agreement between these two people and parties with such differing views and I am interested to see whether this switch will happen.
In regards to the most recent attack, I am not at all surprised. Naftali is not at all helping resolve Palestinean and Israeli relations, and thus I would expect more events like this to occur in the future. Furthermore, I disagree with Edan that by Israel striking first, it means that logically they should crack down on Palestineans. It, in fact, means the opposite. Because Israel currently holds both the political and military power in that region, it means that their continuous human rights abuses against the Palestinean people are uncalled for and should be paid more attention. These attacks will not cease, as long as both sides continue becoming more and more polarized.
I agree with the lot of the comments above. I think the Israel-Palestine conflict is immensely complex, with religion playing a large role but also often used as mask to shield political and economic motives. As outsiders, it's really difficult to comment on the exact ongoings in the region but we do know that Israel has substantially more money and resources than Palestine. Also, Israel likes to claim innocence now but back when a two state plan was on the table, they made sure that Palestine had no chance of claiming Jerusalem, even the part (East Jerusalem) that it now considers as it's capital. I also wanted to point out that any deals since then, including Donald Trump's most recent deal during his presidency was immediately shut down by Palestine because it was so one-sided. Although I'm no expert on this topic, it seems like the tricky part of this conflict is that both sides have faced immense persecution and feel incredibly threatened by the other. Israel maintains their need for a stable Jewish state after facing the Holocaust and needing their own soverign nation. On the other hand, Palestine as an Arab state was kicked out of Gaza and has faced persecution throughout their history.
In the future, I'm interested in seeing how conflicts end. In the past we've seen this continuous pattern of battles where both sides claim victory and spurts of violence are sprinkled in between. While I hope we can obtain peace as soon as possible, I would be surprised to see an actual agreement reached by both sides because of the unwillingness to compromise over the fragile territories of Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396
Over the years I've heard so much about the conflict going on in the Jerusalem and Gaza strip area, that this incident is not surprising. These areas are like rule-less warzones one would find in video games like call of duty. Violence is present almost 24/7 and freedom is close to non-existent there. As a result of Isreal getting attacked by Hamas, I think that this will lead to revenge-based attacks and may even just strengthen the hatred both groups hold towards each other, which would result in a continuation of fighting. This situation doesn't concern or involve Americans, so I think it would be best for the U.S. to stay neutral and for them to stray from helping either side. If the U.S. were to intervene it would only give us more problems to deal with, which would not be smart because we already have enough on our hands.
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