Contributed by: Lakie Derrick
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched its heinous attack on innocent Israeli civilians, including babies, women, and Holocaust survivors. The terrorist attack began when paragliders landed in a music festival in the early morning, raping and murdering as many festival goers as possible. Since that fateful morning—the morning that has since come to be known as the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust—1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers have been killed, 35 Americans have been killed, and 240 Israeli civilians, including women, children and infants, elderly, and possibly 10 Americans, remain as hostages of Hamas. This senseless war, fueled by Hamas’s desire to ethnically cleanse the Middle East of the Jewish existence, is still raging because Hamas will not stop. They will not return the hostages safely. They will not allow innocent Palestinians to leave for their safety. They will not allow the aid sent for the Palestinians to be used by Palestinians; rather Hamas has chosen to sit on the humanitarian aid provided for their people. If Hamas would stop fighting, the war would cease to continue. But, if Israel were to stop fighting, they would cease to exist.
The article published in the East Tennessean titled “ETSU Alumni from Palestine Tells Her Story” is a gross misrepresentation of Israel, the terrorist organization of Hamas, and the history of the conflict in the Middle East. Turning Point USA ETSU and Students for Life at ESTU implore the paper to retract the story or issue a factually correct version, issue a formal apology to all students who read this wrong information, and write a story featuring a Jewish perspective. There is no place for one-sided journalism on this campus.
In the beginning of the article, Strader lays out the conflict as mainly beginning in the 19th century. This is factually inaccurate. The Jewish people inhabited the land of Israel for over a millennium before the Jewish diaspora began. When the Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 BC, the Hebrew inhabitants were scattered from their homeland and forced all over the Middle East. When Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judaeans in 597 and 586 BC, he drove Jewish people from their homeland. This scattering was further increased from 63 BC to 73 AD when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and systematically drove Jews from Palestine. It is important to note that Palestine is derived from the word Philistine, the ancient enemies of the Jewish state. Next, it is important to note that Palestine simply refers to Jewish land at the time of the Jewish exile. After 73 AD, Hebrew history would only be the history of the Diaspora as the Jews, and the Jewish world view spread over Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Strader also left out the important fact that Palestinian authorities refused the Peel Commission of 1937 to create a Jewish and Arab state. In fact, local Arab leader, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission, which ultimately suggested the partition of Palestine: “There is no such country [as Palestine]! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.” Ten years later in 1947, the Arabs once again rejected the UN’s partition plan. In 1967, the Six Day War broke out between Israel and Egypt because Egypt did not want Israel to use the Suez Canal and Red Sea. Israel won this war and gained more territory, and Arab leaders declared the three no’s: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel. In 1993, Israel recognized the sovereignty of the Palestinian Authority over the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Oslo Accords. In 2000, Israel offered Yasser Arafat recognition of a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 94% of the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its Capital; but Arafat rejected the plan, and launched the Second Intifada. In 2005, Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, dismantled all of its settlements in the region, and forced Jews to leave their homes there. Palestinians responded by electing Hamas into power, and they have turned the Gaza Strip into the current terror state that it is. In 2006-2007, Hamas and the Fatah party in Palestine led a civil war that resulted in Hamas’s control of the Gaza Strip and Fatah’s control of the West Bank. As a result of Hamas’s terrorist regime founded in the three no’s and hatred of Israel, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza to keep Hamas from sneaking in weaponry. In 2008, Israel again offered Palestine recognition of a Palestinian state in all of Gaza, as well as 94% of the West Bank with East Jerusalem as their capital. More than that, though, they offered to dismantle all Jewish settlements within that territory. But, once again, the Palestinians rejected it. Since 2010, Hamas has launched periodic rocket attacks on Israel, kidnapped and murdered Jews, and used their own people as human shields. To be honest, that is just a brief overview of the history of this conflict.
In short, the article spreads the lies of Hamas and Palestinian Authority indoctrination. We cannot blame the alumna because she was subjected to both regimes’ lies for her entire life. She was subjected to watching Palestinian television programs that taught children to grow up to kill Jews, to become martyrs, and to hate Jewish existence. Please watch this compilation video of Palestinian TV programs for Jewish children. In order to graduate kindergarten, Palestinian children must perform a play that involves them pretending to brutally murder Israelis. The alumna’s beliefs and confusion regarding this situation, while not okay, simply reflect how she was raised.
This article painted Israel as the aggressor from its very first line, but that is not true. Israel has historically offered recognition, partition, and peace deals to the PLO and other Middle Eastern countries. I implore the editor and author of this story to fact check what has been sent in this letter, and once they have uncovered the truth, we call on them to fix their statements. Issue a retraction, and write a story that highlights the Jewish perspective. Anti-semitism is taking over the world, and this is the East Tennessean’s chance to stand against the typical one-sided media and give an honest look into what this conflict is about. Does this paper care about reporting factually and unbiasedly, or will it remain the same as many news sources throughout this country—pandering to a leftist audience?
