President Joe Biden was right. Israel has an absolute right to defend itself. And the fact that Israel was largely protected by the Iron Dome from more than 4,000 rockets Hamas sent its way in the latest round of fighting, while Gaza is largely unprotected from Israelâs air response, doesnât mean that Hamas didnât attack Israel. Whatever Hamasâ reason for unleashing its arsenal, every rocket launched constituted an act of terror and a war crime. Those crimes cannot be ignored or excused simply because Israel struck back.
Nor is the comparison of lives lost a proper measure of anything. Would anyone really suggest that Israel should shut down the Iron Dome to prove just how destructive indiscriminate Hamas rocket fire really is? But the foolishness of that suggestion and the need for Israelâs self-defense shows why the call by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and others to block arms sales to Israel are dead wrong. Last week
A truce halted the bloodshed, but the frustration of young Palestinians is stronger than ever
A young Palestinian boy in thick eyeglasses stood dumbstruck as Israeli police dragged his grandmother, Rifqa, out of his family home. His eyes shifted between the uniformed men and the 92-year-old woman who squirmed in their clutches. Shouts rang out and, within minutes, the family was driven out of half of their home in East Jerusalem.
It was a hot August day in 2009. CNN witnessed those scenes, which the then 12-year-old Mohammed el-Kurd says he can barely remember today.
Abutting his current family residence is the part of the house his grandmother who died last year at the age of 103 once lived. A Jewish man lives there now a settler, according to international law. Outside, a playground that was once an island of serenity for the Kurd children is strewn with litter and thick overgrowth. An olive tree which his family planted in 2000 stands in the middle of the garden.
After the declaration of a ceasefire brought an end to more than 10 days of conflict between Gaza and Israel, Palestinians can rest a little easier. But they say their day-to-day reality hasn't changed.
A truce halted the bloodshed, but the fury of young Palestinians is stronger than ever
A young Palestinian boy in thick eyeglasses stood dumbstruck as Israeli police dragged his grandmother, Rifqa, out of his family home. His eyes shifted between the uniformed men and the 92-year-old woman who squirmed in their clutches. Shouts rang out and, within minutes, the family was driven out of half of their home in East Jerusalem.
It was a hot August day in 2009. CNN witnessed those scenes, which the then 12-year-old Mohammed el-Kurd says he can barely remember today.
Abutting his current family residence is the part of the house his grandmother who died last year at the age of 103 once lived. A Jewish man lives there now a settler, according to international law. Outside, a playground that was once an island of serenity for the Kurd children is strewn with litter and thick overgrowth. An olive tree which his family planted in 2000 stands in the middle of the garden.