Members of the Bucks community expressed their shock and sorrow over the horrific Hamas terroristic attacks in Israel.
On Oct. 7, Hamas launched a barbaric and gruesome assault against Israel. Hundreds of people were killed, and hundreds more were taken hostage.
“The Jewish community is deeply connected to Israel, and many people in our area have family ties there—extended family living there, as well as friends and colleagues—and many people have lost someone, or know someone who has been called up as a reservist,” said Paula Raimondo, an assistant professor in the Language and Literature Department.
Raimondo said her daughter “was studying in Israel when the conflict began. She decided to leave, but she hopes to return in a few weeks.”
Gillian Lane, one of two presidents of the Hillel Club for Jewish students at Bucks, was asked about family members or friends being in Israel, and said, “No blood-related family no, but I have friends that I grew up with over there.” She added, “One of my best friends from middle school’s 16-year-old sister is currently in a bomb shelter in Israel.”
Hamas, officially the Islamic Resistance Movement, is a Sunni Islamist political and military organization that currently governs the Gaza Strip. The group was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin who was a Palestinian refugee that at the time was living in Gaza. Hamas has vowed to annihilate Israel and has been on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations since 1997.
In 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, violently overthrowing the Palestinian authority. The Israeli government in response used a blockade in an attempt to subdue Hamas. The blockade however only trapped the innocent Palestinians with Hamas and destroyed the local economy within.
In response to the Hamas attacks, the Israeli military has vowed to launch a ground incursion into Gaza to utterly destroy Hamas.
As of press time, news accounts estimate that more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since the war began, mostly civilians killed in the initial Hamas assault. The United Nations estimates that more than 5,000 have been killed in Gaza, amid intensifying Israeli airstrikes.
Lane said Hamas was “using the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine as an excuse to attack. … It is important to really emphasize the fact that Hamas does not equal Palestine and that the citizens of Israel do not equal the Israeli government.”
When asked about how people can help the innocent parties, Raimondo suggested donating to the American Red Cross as they are a neutral humanitarian agency that helps both the innocent Israelis and Palestinians who are being affected.
Lane suggested going straight to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency, medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service, to support the innocent Israelis who are being affected.
“There was always going to be some sort of conflict. It was conflict from the beginning but the bombs and everything else was because no one can communicate,” Lane stated, referring to the inevitability of a conflict between Hamas and the Israeli government.
“It’s scary,” Lane said. “It’s scary for everyone, and with the amount of hate and misinformation being spread around we are en route for World War III and that is so scary.”