By Kayla Bartsch
Thursday, October 26, 2023
While at Cornell University earlier this week for a
speaking engagement, I stumbled across a large gathering of students in the
center of campus. I use the word “gathering” here intentionally — this meeting
was not a protest or a rally. There was no screaming, pushing,
shoving. No incendiary rhetoric. There was no speaker exhilarated by Hamas’s attacks. No one was sprayed with bear mace or hidden in an attic. Rather, the atmosphere was one of
grief combined with firm resolve. Students toward the front of the crowd —
presumably the organizers — stood by stoically. Many had Israeli flags draped
across their shoulders. The attendees were quiet, listening, still. At the
front of the group, professors, students, and local legislators took turns at
the microphone, recounting stories of grief, support, and solidarity. So here,
in the twilight of the Ithacan hills, was a scene of hope.
War is a horrible thing. The load that visibly hung upon
the shoulders of the gathered Jewish students illustrated this truth. I’m sure
many students were thinking of friends and family in the Israel Defense Forces,
soon to engage in bloody urban warfare. I’m sure many were mourning those
killed or taken hostage by Hamas. I’m sure many felt the weight of the mounting
death toll in the region and the Palestinian civilians killed in the crossfire.
This too is a horrible thing.
These sentiments were echoed during a White House press briefing today. John Kirby, the National
Security Council coordinator for strategic communications (and retired United
States Navy rear admiral), was asked by a journalist if the president will
apologize for his “harsh” recognition that more innocents will probably die as
a result of the war. Kirby’s response is notable for its clear-sightedness:
What’s harsh — what’s harsh is the
way Hamas is using people as human shields. What’s harsh is taking a couple of
hundred hostages and leaving families anxious, waiting and worrying to figure
out where their loved ones are. What’s harsh, is dropping in on a music
festival and slaughtering a bunch of young people just trying to enjoy an
afternoon. I could go on and on. That’s what’s harsh. . . . And being honest
about the fact that there have been civilian casualties, and that there likely
will be more, is being honest, because that’s what war is. It’s brutal. It’s
ugly. It’s messy. I’ve said that before. [The] president also said that
yesterday. Doesn’t mean we have to like it. And it doesn’t mean that we’re
dismissing any one of those casualties; each and every one is a tragedy in its
own right, and that is why we’re in close contact with our Israeli counterparts
to do everything we can to help them minimize the risk to civilians that are in
harm’s way.
A swift end to Hamas is the only way to produce a swift
end to violence in the region. Israel’s work won’t be easy — Hamas has
notoriously carved out miles and miles of barricaded tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip. When Israel
commences its expected ground invasion, Hamas militants will have a labyrinth
of supply chains and escape routes already in place. (The IDF has targeted
different spokes of this underground network in its air strikes.) Those calling
for a cease-fire in the region are calling for the continued reign of Hamas
over Gaza — one that has been detrimental to the well-being of the civilians
there.
Like the students I saw at Cornell, I will pray that the
lives of innocents are spared and that this conflict comes to an end soon.
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