“I will never forget Saturday, Oct. 7. I will never forget what Hamas did to my people,” says 14-year-old Israeli Boris Fridman to The Forum, in response to the attacks by Hamas.
At around 6:30 a.m. local time, air raid sirens began to sound all over southern Israel as over 2,200 rockets flew in from the Gaza Strip, fired by the terrorist organization and government of Gaza City, Hamas. The rockets killed around 1,400 Israelis, the most Jews killed in one day since the Holocaust.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war the same day. The U.S. said that they will support Israel during the conflict, and has sent the biggest carrier in the world to aid them. President Joe Biden visited Israel and met with Netanyahu about a ceasefire. Some large political figures, including the Pope, have urged Biden to call for peace instead of showing full support for Israel, causing controversy in world politics.
Around the world there have been marches, runs, and protests supporting both sides, including right here in Atlanta. Institutions around the country have struggled to respond to the issue, including universities. Harvard struck controversy when over 30 students signed a letter that indicated Israel was at fault for all of the violent attacks due to the history of this conflict.
Here at Paideia, students have participated in pro-Palestine and pro-Israel marches over the weekends since the conflict. One student who wishes to remain anonymous says, “Acts of terror are never the answer and not to be sympathized with, but when a group of people is persecuted and confined to what is, in essence, an open-air prison, it should be noted that living conditions like that are always bound to breed resistance.” Another says, “You don’t have to be pro-Israel or [pro-]Palestine, or Democratic or Republican to know that innocent civilians don’t deserve to die, and these were brutal terrorist attacks.”
“Jew Crew,” the Jewish club at Paideia, as well as other affinity groups such as the Asian-American Alliance, hosted meetings for students on Friday, Oct. 20 to express their feelings and reassure each other about the conflict. In Monday Morning Meeting on Oct. 30, administrators announced that teachers Miranda Knowles, Amy Manlapas, and John Terry would be hosting sessions with up to 100 students about creating “Empathy in Time of Conflict.”
While the Middle East has been a region filled with conflict for decades now, the concerns over how much worse the Israeli-Hamas conflict could become continues to rise. In Israel, there are constant rushes to bomb shelters as more rockets are fired into southern Israel. In the Gaza Strip, conditions only worsen as the blockade of essential materials for life remains firm. Around the world, antisemitism and Islamophobia continue to rise.
