Heed the president’s words: ‘Reject all forms of hate.’ This is how we help Israel, Gaza | Opinion
“Something doesn’t jive. Hamas attacks Israel, takes hostages, kills civilians indescribably, and what do we see? Palestinian flags!” — a Miami reader.
In South Florida, we’re often one degree of separation from world conflicts.
In hundreds of thousands of homes, people are more tuned in to international developments than they are to City Hall — and, right now, the unfurling of war in the aftermath of the devastating massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas in Israel — is no different.
To many among us, like the Aventura mother whose son has gone to Israel to fight Hamas, the war is personal. To many among us, like the Lebanese Bricklell dentist who lost his job after he was seen on video taking down posters of the Hamas hostages, there’s another side to the violence.
Our neighbors, be they Jewish or Muslim, are angry, deeply hurt and dazed by the loss of life, not only in Israel but also in the Gaza Strip, where the horrendous bombing of the al-Ahli Hospital, run by the Anglican church, left a huge death toll of Palestinian patients and healers.
While many across the world immediately blamed an Israel airstrike and placed the dead at an ominous 500, the U.S. government said satellite images and ground evidence points to a misfired rocket by another terrorist group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which had joined Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack.
The lesson here for us all: A flood of misinformation, including old videos, made its way around the world in a very short time — and people in Arab nations and communities took to the streets in protest, hence the flood of Palestinian flags my Miami reader didn’t understand.
Similarly, after the vicious and shocking Hamas attack, reminiscent of our 9-11 and so horrific it echoed the Holocaust for Jews, word spread that babies were decapitated ISIS-style. But while there were cases of Hamas militants carrying out beheadings, the Israeli government hasn’t confirmed the specific baby decapitation claim.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas the same way the United States went after Al-Qaeda in 2001 — and they’re right to do so. But the loss of innocent Palestinian lives is also tragic.
Those black, white, green and red Palestinian flags waved at a Miami rally last week near the Torch of Friendship represent the hope of Arabs and Muslims around the world that Israel also takes the lives of ordinary, peaceful humans into account when they invade Gaza. And they represent the demand that people and families evacuated to the border with Egypt aren’t forever banned from returning to their homes.
Just like the blue and white, David-stared flag stands for Israel’s right to exist.
READ MORE: Support Israel with all our hearts, but also make room for Palestinians’ views | Opinion
‘What nations do’
There will be more bloodshed and heartbreak to come — and, at stake, is the future of the Middle East, a region of the world “vital to American security,” as President Joe Biden said in his Thursday night address to the nation.
“American leadership is what holds the world together,” Biden said, before turning to address our internal reaction to the conflict, warning that acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia are giving “too much oxygen to hate.”
“Here in America, let’s not forget who we are,” Biden said. “We reject all forms of hate. That’s what great nations do.”
It would do us all well to heed his words.
Many in our community understand this conflict deeply, historically, and personally, but others who are sometimes the loudest only see it through the prism of their political alliances.
If we don’t step back from our own agenda, we stand to lose more than a street argument.
Miami’s diversity is its strength.
So then, why, oh why, can’t we understand and have compassion for the plight of victims on both sides in this endless cycle of death and destruction? At the very least, why not think before we exercise knee-jerk reactions — like taking down the posters of children and women hostages, two of them, a grandmother and her granddaughter, found dead precisely this week at the Israel-Gaza border?
Garland visit to Miami
And please, stop applying extremist Republican-Democratic party rhetoric to somebody else’s war when even Washington is showing some restraint.
In a rare visit to Miami on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland — the top law enforcement official in the country — warned of the rise in hate crimes and “potential threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism” in the United States.
“Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel have created understandable fear among communities across the country,” Garland said. “As the FBI has noted, we’re seeing an increase in reported threats against faith communities, particularly Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities and institutions.”
READ MORE: Amid Hamas-Israeli violence, AG Garland warns in Miami of rising hate-crime threats
We know this is true in Florida, where acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia have been on the rise, north and south, east and west.
Our local and state leaders must put divisive politics aside and help people better understand the conflict and its shifting and evolving dynamics.
Over decades of committed community relations work, we’ve learned to understand Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua as if these countries were Miami suburbs.
It’s our turn to extend grace and open hearts and minds to the Jewish and Muslim Americans enduring nightmarish days.
Resist the urge to enter the fray without facts at a time when disinformation reaches people way before substantiated news does.
“When I was in Israel yesterday, I said that when America experienced the hell of 9/11, we felt enraged, as well,” Biden said. “While we sought and got justice, we made mistakes. So I cautioned the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage.”
The president urged us not to give up on peace — or the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It has never been more important to remember who we are in South Florida: a multi-culturally diverse community where all are entitled to our voices, our flags, and a safe place to call home.
