According to the stats page of WordPress, the platform I use for A View from this Wilderness, more than four percent of the weekly readers view it from Israel. None from Gaza. I have been in support of and have promoted the work of Israeli writers for four decades now, including both the journal Ilanot, based in Tel Aviv, which has posted more than a few of my works, and my late friend, best-selling Czech author Arnost Lustig. On the other hand, I have no personal ties at all to Gaza or anyone living there. This is not pro-anyone. This is not anti-anyone. Honestly.

But…

I am not a fan of needless, widespread, pointless killing. Call me quirky like that. So if anything about the following numbers, acquired from the Jerusalem Post, the UN and the WHO, bothers you, you either have difficulty facing the truth or you’ve not done your homework. I have; these are the undisputed numbers.

Killed in attack on Israel October 7^th: 1139 people.

Israelis killed since then, 700, nearly all soldiers. Roughly 6000 wounded.

Palestinians killed in Gaza since then: more than 25,000

Including 10,000 children killed in Gaza.

Another 1,000 children in Gaza had at least one limb amputated.

62,000 people in Gaza wounded in life-altering ways.

96% of water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption.

90% of people in Gaza in life-threatening situation from lack of food. (“If your enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty, water to drink! ” ~~ Proverbs (Mishle) 25:21)

16 hospitals still remain out of the 36 pre-October 7^th. Of those 16, none have power from more than a generator, and all are “critically close to zero” of medical supplies.

85% of the people of Gaza have been displaced beyond any ability to return home. (“Who is a hero? The man that turns an enemy into a friend.” ~~ Avot Derabbi Nathan)

Honestly, the moment anyone starts defending Israel’s right to kill 10,000 children their argument falls apart.

No one I am aware of has ever spoken against Israel’s right to retaliate after the senseless and horrible attack by Hamas on October 7^th, 2023. But their mission has slid definitively over the line from retaliation to annihilation. Simply put, with numbers like those above, the military’s mission is to obliterate not only the citizens of Gaza in their attempts to destroy Hamas, but also to eradicate future generations of Palestinians. Why else on earth would anyone have any reason to kill children—10,000 of them. (Please be clear; this is a reference to the leaders of the government and army in Israel, not the Israeli population at large or Jewish people anywhere). (“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” ~~ Isaiah (Yesha’yahu) 2:4)

That’s it. If anyone disagrees that the only recourse for Israel was to kill more than 25,000 people including 10,000 kids, I have no interest in a conversation with you. Get your own blog. (“Even on the threshold of war, we [Jews] are bidden to begin in no other way than with peace, for it is written: “When you draw near a city to fight, first offer it peace.”” ~~ Midrash Leviticus R. 9)