[The Federalist] Every once in awhile, the Western media finds itself complacent in playing to the narrative of those opposed to liberal values. In an attempt to seem universalist and open-minded, the international press often portrays immensely complicated global conflicts in Leibniz terms that fit their progressive and simplistic paradigm. In the course of such oversimplification, the press becomes increasingly more apt to demonize Western nations in order to fit their reductionist narrative.Take, for example, the recent events in Gaza. This past Friday, before the first night of Passover, the Palestinian-Arab terrorist group Hamas launched a series of protests on the Gaza Strip near the Israeli border. Over the course of the afternoon, the protests turned violent, as Palestinian-Arabs heaved rocks and firebombs towards the border fence and sent tires engulfed in flames towards Israeli soldiers. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) responded in kind by targeting those civilians instigating violence or attempting to breach the border wall. In total, seventeen Palestinian-Arabs were killed in confrontations with Israeli soldiers, while over a thousand others were injured in the clashes.
For context, Hamas labeled the planned six-week insurrection the "March of Return," a reference to the Palestinian-Arab desire to return to Israeli land after their defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and subsequent departure. Hamas planned the protests to coincide with the Palestinian-Arab holiday known as "Land Day," a day in 1976 when Israeli security forces killed six Arab-Israelis who were protesting the appropriation of Arab-owned land in northern Israel.
At the behest and encouragement of Hamas, roughly 20,000 Palestinian-Arab civilians set up five large camps near the border fence, demanding the "right" to enter Israeli land. The final "push" of the six-week protests will involve rushing the border wall on May 15, the day coined by the Palestinian-Arabs as nakba or "the catastrophe," a politically absurd reference to Israeli Independence, which occurred on May 14, 1948. May 15 holds particular contention this year, since it is also the day upon which President Trump will open the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
In response to the Hamas-led protests, the IDF tweeted, "Hamas is responsible for violent riots and everything taking place under its jurisdiction. The IDF will not allow the security fence to be turned into an area of terror." The IDF had earlier alluded to the existence of various terror sites within the rioting encampments, whose chaos Hamas has used to "camouflage" its terrorist activities next to the border wall.
