Who speaks for the Palestinian people?

There is widespread death and misery throughout Gaza rendered by the Israeli Defense Forces. There is now reporting that more than 14,000 Palestinians have perished, including a vast number of women and children through absolutely no fault of their own and simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe it’s a lot more dead than estimated and how can we ever know? The Israeli people must be aghast to see the work of their government and military.

The Israeli government set out to destroy Hamas following their hideous and murderous attack on innocent Israelis and others on October 7. In unleashing their retribution they are destroying the entire contents of the bucket in order to kill the proverbial drop in it. They have bombed the entire pasture to eradicate a weed. The photo images of death and destruction are truly shocking.

Conventional wisdom tells us that they will not succeed in this quest to rid the world of Hamas; instead they have put fertilizer to that same pasture which will surely invigorate future generations with nothing but reprisal as their mission in life.

Suppose a person with murderous intent fatally injures a member of our family. I response do we attack and attempt to kill that perpetrator with extreme prejudice and furthermore kill all innocent members of the murderer’s family and community…