Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
President Joe Biden is right to strongly support Israel after Saturday’s brutal terrorist attacks launched from the Gaza Strip against the Jewish state, saying Tuesday that “we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack.”
The newest war against Israel has so far killed more than 1,200 people there — including at least 14 U.S. citizens — and wounded about 2,900.
Israeli officials said the dead included 40 babies and young children, some with their heads chopped off, slaughtered at Kibbutz Kfar Aza less than a mile from the Gaza border fence. Chillingly, I visited the same kibbutz with a group of American women in 2011.
As many as 150 more people — including Americans — have been taken hostage by the terrorist group Hamas and its allies.
Palestinians say Israeli air strikes on Gaza, which were launched in response to Hamas attacks emanating from the territory it controls, have killed at least 920 people and injured about 4,500. Israel says it targets only terrorists, but Palestinian civilian casualties are inevitable because Hamas fires rockets from apartment buildings, mosques, schools and other civilian areas.
The deaths of noncombatants in Gaza, who are used as human shields by Hamas, are as tragic as the deaths in Israel. Most Palestinians aren’t terrorists and want to live in peace, as do Israelis.
I believe in the two-state solution…
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