To the editor:
Let me take a moment to help educate the “Pro-Palestinian” protestors in Lander. I have studied the Middle East for over 40 years and have a clear understanding of all the peoples who live there. It is always better to act with the correct knowledge instead of irrational emotions.
During the second Jewish Revolt in 135 AD…when the Jewish people living in THEIR land of Israel revolted against their oppressors, Rome…the Emperor of Rome, Hadrian, decided he would give the Jewish people a slap in the face. Instead of calling the land Judea or Israel, he mandated a change of the name of the region to Palestine.
Where did the name “Palestine” come from that would cause this to be a slap in the face to the Jewish people? North of present-day Israel along the coast and in Cyprus, there were a sea-faring people called the Phoenicians in the 2nd century BC.
As many cultures have done across the eons, they began to spread out and many decided to find their home on the coast of what is now the legal State of Israel. Over time their name began to morph into what we know as Philistines to make it pronounceable with the local language.
In Hebrew and Arabic, the transliterated name is “Falashtina,” from which the name “Palestine” was derived. This derived name was used to call the entire region “Palestine” by Hadrian. By naming it after the Philistines (who were extinct by 135 AD) instead of Judea or Israel was a great insult to the Jewish people.
Just because a tyrannical dictator changed the name did not change the fact that it was still the Land of Israel or Judea. The biggest point here is that there is not an ethnic group that one can call “Palestinians.”
It is a made up group established by anti-Semites who seek to destroy the Jewish race. And because the name stuck doesn’t mean that an ethnicity was established. The so-called Palestinians are a mixture of every ethnicity from all over the Middle East.
Fast forward to the first half of the 20th century. Jewish people around the world (who began their dispersion from Israel in 135 AD) always spoke of emigrating to Palestine. Hadrian’s naming of the region stuck for 1800 years. And during the time of 1900-1947, even the Jewish people who emigrated to Palestine called themselves “Palestinians.”
What did those “Jewish Palestinians” do when they emigrated to Palestine? They drained swamps to make it fertile farmland and stop the spread of malaria. They built hospitals. They provided medical support to their Arab neighbors. They built communication systems. They built roads and cities. They built water purification systems. They did this hand-in-hand with the Arabs who live there.
After the State of Israel was formed in 1948, the Jewish people then rightly called themselves Israelis. When they were invaded in 1948 by the Arab nations…who lost their war…the Arab armies slaughtered Arabs who had peacefully and willingly cooperated with the Jewish people.
People such as this group of protestors in Lander call Israel an apartheid state. Then why are there Arab members in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament? Why are so many Arab Israelis so much better off in wealth than their counterparts in the surrounding nations? Why did an 83-year old man (see picture) who was kidnapped on October 7th spend every day driving sick people from Gaza (Palestinians) to hospitals in Israel for great medical treatment? That is not apartheid, and these actions are not isolated, but are widespread in the State of Israel.
Several decades ago, the State of Israel offered a two-state solution to the so-called Palestinians. Because the so-called Palestinians were then and are now under the control of groups like the PLO, Al-Fatah, Palestine Authority, Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, etc., the solution for two states was immediately rejected.
Why? Because the anti-semitic terrorists want to wipe the State of Israel and all Jews off the map. And the surrounding countries do not want to give the so-called Palestinians refuge in their countries as the “Palestinians" are so embedded with terrorist groups.
As a side note, the name “Hamas” means “violence” in Hebrew. There is an important clue right there.
Consider the mandate that established the State of Israel. The anti-Israel, anti-Semite crowd claims that the formation of the State of Israel was illegal. After World War II, Britain began decolonization actions around the world.
They drew lines on the map that had nothing to do with the actual ethnic groups living in a given region. And the UN passed several mandates to establish nations that would be in the borders drawn by Britain.
What nations did those UN mandates establish? The mandates brought the nations of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Afghanistan into being. Therefore, if Israel’s mandate is illegal, then so are all of the other countries. Let’s really create some havoc and erase all of the borders and start over! (This was a tongue-in-cheek statement for those who don’t understand.)
If you go back in history over 2300 years ago, you can read about Joshua entering the Land promised by God to Israel. One of the areas that he did not conquer was Gaza, and that wasn’t because he was too tired.
It was simply because it was not part of deed of the land by God to Israel. Come back into the 21st century in 2005. President George W. Bush forced Israel into another failed “land for peace” deal by having Israelis give up all they had established in Gaza. The Israeli Defense Force forcibly moved over 8000 Israelis out of Gaza back into the State of Israel. The void was immediately filled by the PLO, Al-Fatah, Palestine Authority, Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, etc.
And what did this do for Israel? It resulted in October 7, 2023. Israelis burned alive in their cars and homes. Women raped so violently over and over that their pelvises broke. There were 20 babies stacked in two piles of 10 and lit on fire.
One pregnant mother was shot in the back and her stomach cut open and the baby pulled out. Hamas terrorists calling their mommies in Gaza to brag about how many Jews they had murdered. Arabic translations of “Mein Kampf” found on the bodies of dead terrorists. Over 200 Israelis and other nationalities kidnapped, tortured and killed in captivity. All of this is documented in video and by eyewitnesses.
What have Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and Palestine Islamic Jihad done for the civilians of Gaza? They could not leave their homes until Israel came in and destroyed Hamas’ stranglehold on the people.
Hamas put command centers, weapons caches, rocket launching sites under and beside hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, etc.
What did Israel do to mitigate civilian deaths? They made robo calls, dropped leaflets, personal calls, broadcasts, etc. to the civilians who were in harm’s way by the gross actions of Hamas trying to make the civilians human shields. The IDF brought in food and water to these civilians as well. Hamas was murdering civilians who attempted to escape…supposedly Hamas’ own people!
Many schools in Gaza have been paid for and run by the UN. A key set of lessons taught in these schools beginning with 6-year olds is to kill all Jews. These lessons are repeated over and over as the children grow up. Several years ago I watched a video of a TV show host interviewing elementary school children in the Gaza strip.
The children talked about this type of education that they were so glad to receive. The host ask a 7-year old girl, “What are you looking forward to for your future?” Her response should chill all readers to the bone. She said, “I cannot wait to grow up and be shahdada.” “Shahada” speaks of being a martyr. And the children were taught to be martyrs by someday strapping on an explosive vest and blowing themselves up with Jews to kill all around them. Everyone thank the UN for helping promote such hate and violence.
If the protesters in Lander had murderers invade their homes, torture and rape family members, and haul away many family members to their hideouts…for more torture and rape…would they go protest to help those murderers who are just poor, misunderstood, and misguided people who wanted what someone else had?
A prior Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir was once asked, “If Israel put down their arms, wouldn’t that bring peace?” Her response was direct: “If the Arabs put down their arms against us, there will be peace. If Israel puts down our arms, there will be no more Israel.” The biggest mistake by Israel is that they have maintained very strict gun control laws.
If more Jewish people had been able to have guns on October 7th, the carnage would have been stopped before it got started. Israel was invaded by Arabs in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 2023. If YOU were an Israeli, would you lay back and let the evil run over you? Or would you fight for the right to be free from hate and terror as the only thriving democracy in the Middle East?
Sincerely,
Steven Kahne
Pinedale
