From Patrick Hardyman

Blanchardville

To the Editor:

In the early morning hours of October 7, 2023, Hamas, the governing authority (since 2007) in Gaza, launched anywhere between 2,500-5,000 rockets into Israel. This provided cover for Hamas militants to cross the border into Israel at a number of different entry points, where they brutally killed over 1,400 Israelis, including soldiers, civilians, women, and children. In an attack at an outdoor music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, there were at least 270 concert goers that were slaughtered. Hamas also took over 200 hostages including Americans.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken had visited Israel the week following the attacks. In some of his comments: “It’s impossible for me to look at the photos of families killed — such as the Mother, Father, and three small children murdered as they sheltered in their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz — and not think of my own children... Parents executed in front of their children, children in front of their parents.  How are we even to understand this?”

According to Wikipedia, “The Hamas Covenant or Hamas Charter formally known in English as the Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, was originally issued on Aug. 18, 1988.” Three of the four main themes are “1. Destroying Israel and establishing an Islamic theocracy in Palestine. 2. Unrestrained Jihad is necessary to achieve this and 3. Negotiated resolutions of Jewish and Palestinian claims to the land are unacceptable.”

Hamas wants nothing more than the elimination of Israel. Have we forgotten the six million Jews slaughtered by Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party? I can’t imagine what it’s like to be living in Israel and surrounding by terrorists, including governments who want to destroy you.

As a Christian, I abhor war and the loss of innocent human life. I hope and pray for a ceasefire in Gaza before this war spreads like wildfire throughout the Middle East and beyond.