Planned CHS Student walkout

Bringing this back to the students. 

I think it might be helpful and warranted for the high school to have some kind of educational program about the situation in the Middle East. There are lots of images in the media and online which are hard for teens to process. 

My wife and I need to sit and talk with our daughter. She was not involved in the walkout but she is definitely seeing a lot of online discussion about what’s going on in Gaza right now. It’s easy for a teenager to vilify the IDF because they have no context, and no knowledge of the history. 

We have had many talks with our son.  No one can or should forgive Hamas, but no one should accept this amount of retribution as acceptable without asking questions.  We are going to need younger voices to solve this problem somehow.  Older folks on both sides are unwilling to trust each other at all, and that was the case before Hamas launched their attack.  All Israel is doing now is creating another generation of Palestinians who have lost family members to indiscriminate bombing.  Do you remember how the whole world stood with us after 9/11?  And how we destroyed that support by invading Iraq?  This is what Israel is doing.  They should have changed their approach a month ago at least.

DanDietrich said:

We have had many talks with our son.  No one can or should forgive Hamas, but no one should accept this amount of retribution as acceptable without asking questions.  We are going to need younger voices to solve this problem somehow.  Older folks on both sides are unwilling to trust each other at all, and that was the case before Hamas launched their attack.  All Israel is doing now is creating another generation of Palestinians who have lost family members to indiscriminate bombing.  Do you remember how the whole world stood with us after 9/11?  And how we destroyed that support by invading Iraq?  This is what Israel is doing.  They should have changed their approach a month ago at least.

This really belongs in a politics forum rather than here, but I need to share some of my thoughts with you.  I think the 911 analogy breaks down because, in this case, the terrorists are located a few miles away from their victims' homes, rather than half a world away, because they are still firing missiles every day, and because they hold many hostages.  Imagine if after 911 the terrorist forces and their leaders were holed up in Chatham rather than Iraq, with missile launchers and hostages...

Israel is not waging a war of retribution, although it can feel that way depending on which media you follow. They are fighting for a national security that will allow peaceful citizens to return to their homes and lives, a few miles from the tunnels of a terrorist government whose charter calls for their destruction, whose forces hold their people hostage, whose leadership has made clear that they plan to attack repeatedly until they reach their goal, and whose strategy uses civilians as human shields above a tunnel network that has consumed vast amounts of foreign aid money.  Sadly, Hamas has also used the Gazan educational system to indoctrinate youth in antisemitism, and against cooperation and peace, which makes it so much harder to just turn the problem over to "younger voices". 

In the short term, Israel walking away would likely save lives, but if Hamas remains in control of Gaza, then Israel's only option will be higher walls, more weapons, and more soldiers to prepare for the promised next attack, and the inevitable response to it.  I have to hope for more -- more humanitarian aid now, continued tapering down of hostilities as additional Hamas leaders and fighters are captured or killed, and eventually new leadership and massive rebuilding, with decades of work ahead to forge a better Middle East, where someday the Israelis and their Arab neighbors can find a path to cooperation.  

In the short term, that means getting rid of Hamas and the current Netanyahu government, both of whom have had longstanding reasons to work against peace-seeking compromise solutions. In the long term, it means helping both sides to gain the security that will allow them to begin the hard road to a more peaceful and prosperous solution. 

I could say more, but this is already quite long, and my laundry is ready to fold!

Well said, @susan1014.  Thank you. 

No mention of the parents that were in the parking lot by the pool staging their anti walk-out protest? 

Jaytee said:

No mention of the parents that were in the parking lot by the pool staging their anti walk-out protest? 

?