10/09/23

Good morning! It’s Monday, October 9th. Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Now, technically the federally-observed holiday is Columbus Day, but more and more states are fading that observation out since Christopher Columbus was a genuinely horrific monster who couldn’t read a map and then stole land, and then continue to be a horrific monster on the land he stole.

Only 16 states, as well as the territory of American Samoa, still call it that. Instead, most everyone else observes Indigenous Peoples’ Day, to instead recognize the native populations that were displaced and decimated by Columbus, and other European explorers.

And now, the news.

Special Edition: Israel

-via NY Times, Council on Foreign Relations, Director of National Intelligence,

On Saturday, the world watched in shock as the news came in that Israel was attacked by Hamas, the terrorist group established in 1987 that governs more than two million Palestinians.

I’m going to attempt to explain how we got to Saturday, and where we are as of this recording on Sunday night, in this episode but first – a disclaimer.

This may honestly be the first episode I’ve ever been nervous to put out, because it’s important to get it right. It’s also so emotionally charged that it’s impossible to get it right in everyone’s eyes.

This is an incredibly complicated situation. It’s political. And it’s emotional. I’m going to do my best to explain what’s happening here, but it’s dang near impossible to try and explain a story that is as once hundreds of years old, seventy-four years old, and still just a few days old, in seven-ish minutes. So as always – I’m going to do my best, but this is big and it’s important. Please, please, please don’t let me be the only place you’re learning about this.

Okay, so let’s start with some background.

In 1947, the United Nations adopted the Partition Plan, which divided the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, and in 1948 the State of Israel was created, which sparked the first Arab-Israeli War. When Israel won the war in 1949, 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

Here's where it gets tricky. The West Bank and Gaza Strip are known as Palestinian territories, Together with East Jerusalem and Israel, the areas formed the area known as Palestine since Roman times.

In the bible, however, they are also the lands of Jewish kingdoms.

Even though Israel was declared a state in 1948, it is still referred to as Palestine by those who don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.

In December of 1987, a Palestinian Islamist militant group called Hamas was formed after the first Palestinian uprising by Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The group is sworn to the destruction of Israel, and Hamas and Israel have been in conflict since the group’s creation. It is recognized by the United States as a terrorist group.

In 2007, the group won Palestinian legislative elections and became the governing power in the Gaza Strip. Early on, they were embraced by Palestinians as they were seen as being less corrupt than the Palestinian Authority (as well as being more willing to stand up to Israel). However, as their lives have worsened under their power, Hamas has lost the support of some Palestinians.

And just like with every international conflict, everyone’s got allies. Hamas is frequently united against Israel with Islamic Jihad. They are also allied with Syria and the Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah in Lebanon in their opposition against US and Israeli policies. And, most vocal in their support is Iran, which regularly supplies the group with weapons, tech, and training.

On Israel’s side, they are a member of the U.N., as well as maintaining full diplomatic relations between Egypt and Jordan.

So in summary… this is a biblically-old conflict, with major players on either side, and in the middle is the Gaza Strip – where more than 2 million people, in a 25-mile long area, are being governed by a terrorist group and surrounded by conflict. 80% of Gaza’s population relies on international aid.

Again, I truly cannot stress this enough – calling this a Cliff’s Notes summary is like calling “I don’t know, it’s just hotter now,” the Cliff’s Notes version of climate change. Does that work? The point is… this is like the Cliff’s Notes version of a Cliff’s Notes Note about Cliff’s.

But that is kind of where we are, broadly, in regard to the conflict between Hamas and Israel. Though many, including many an American president, have attempted to bring a peace treaty to the area, both unofficial and official wars, conflicts, and attacks have waxed, waned, but never truly left.

Still though, what happened over the weekend was unprecedented and truly shocking, as Hamas launched a massive, and highly coordinated, attack on Israel that killed, as of this recording, at least 700 Israelis. Expect that number to be, unfortunately, outdated by the time you hear this.

The attack includes a music festival, where 250 bodies have been recovered, and a currently unknown number of hostages, likely including Americans. What we do know is that Americans are dead from this attack.

Following the attack, retaliatory Israeli air strikes have killed at least 413 Palestinians. A number that, again, is unfortunately likely to be outdated by the time you hear this.

So what’s next? Who knows. President Biden already came out to voice support for Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu (who has, since January, seen hundreds of thousands of protestors in the streets over the government’s proposal to neutralize the Supreme Court), has officially declared what he calls, “a long and difficult war.”

Netanyahu also urged Palestinians to leave any area of the Gaza Strip where militants may be hiding, ahead of Israel’s retaliation. A difficult task made more difficult by the 16-year-old blockade Israel imposed, which restricts the imports of goods, including electronics, and prevents most people from leaving.

So the future is unknown, but scary.

Here in America, our hands are a little tied as far as how we can help, since without a Speaker, it’s genuinely unclear whether even a resolution, let alone money or policy, can be passed. The House returns tomorrow to try and get a Speaker to 218 votes.

This is a rapidly developing story and again, I am begging you – please do not let me be the only place you’re learning about this. Don’t let one single place be you’re only source of information.

And above all – remember that we’re talking about hundreds dead on both sides in a wildly complicated conflict.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I tried.

Get some good sleep tonight, this is going to be a big news week I think.

I’m proud of… you.