The Spire

Sean Rego ’26

Staff Writer

As we come upon Christmas and the New Year, and everything gets frosty and cold (and sometimes miserable), I wonder about our future. Although there may well be many bright spots in the years to come, I also am concerned by the current actions of our country and especially people of my own age. Specifically regarding geopolitics, there have been certain popularized views concerning world events that for me shows how easily we fall to hypocrisy and how willingly we are blindfolded against what is right.

 Last week on the Hoval, there were flags and signs put up in support for “river to the sea” ethnic-cleansing, as well as larger anti-Israel sentiments. I was upset at seeing this, for I could not understand how some of our fellow students (or administrators) could so openly side against a nation that was so brutally and shamelessly attacked by a terrorist organization

Of course, I can understand that many pro-Palestinian supporters are genuinely concerned about the condition of Gaza and the West Bank, but attempting to discredit Israel’s effort to rid fundamentalists is extremely counterproductive and, frankly, dishonest to the cause of a free Palestine. To deny the evil of Hamas and other similar organizations, and instead blame Israel, is wrong. If we want to better the lives of Palestinians and Israelis alike, surely we can agree that terrorists are not the best choice in guidance. 

Most of the Middle East agrees with this (which is why neighboring Egypt has refused to take in any Gazans out of fear of Hamas infiltration). The fact is that under the rule of authoritarian Islamists, the lives of Palestinians have been hijacked and forced into war-torn, poverty-stricken circumstances. To call Hamas freedom fighters is inaccurate, as they have (and will) continue to fight against liberty. Afterall, they’ve had since the mid-2000s to better the lives of their people, and what have they done so far (besides launching intifadas)?

First and foremost, the best way to help Gaza and Palestine is a swift removal of Hamas, and to do that requires force. Secondly, to call that removal of terrorists a genocide against Palestinians is absurd. In that case, Britain’s choice to bomb Nazi cities in the Second World War was a genocide against Germans, and America’s march to the sea during the Civil War was a genocide against Southerners. We can’t just label anything we want a genocide or ethnic erasure just when it suits our agenda, because then those terms lose all meaning.

Again, I can sympathize with activists who demand no blood spilt, but to believe that is possible is to deny reality and to subjugate the free world to danger. The fact is that Palestinian terrorist organizations want us to hesitate and turn on one another. The short lived truce Israel accepted was a great example, during which Hamas carried out yet another fatal attack on civilians. And Hamas leaders continue to promise more attacks, even greater than October 7. We cannot give them that opportunity. 

With all of this in mind, it depresses me that some youths are so ardently pushing for the collapse of Israel and the endangerment of all her people. If we really were concerned with international injustice, why are we fighting so backwardly and on one issue? Why, for example, aren’t we concerned with actual ethnic-cleansings, like the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, where entire regions have been wiped of ancient groups. What about the longlasting Yemeni Civil War, where Iran is funding the destabilization of the Middle East? What about China’s appalling genocide of minority religions and ethnicities, or the fact that much of Third World still has various forms of slavery? In a world with so many terrible things, why are we concentrating energy and anger into an Islamic extremist narrative that calls for an intifada?

I’d like to think that we simply aren’t able to sift through all the information properly, but that isn’t entirely truthful. In many cases, we simply get bored of global issues after a while. Remember when we cared only for Ukraine and we believed she had a right to fight back? Now with Israel taking the spotlight, why can’t we agree that she also has this right as a nation? 

Those questions lead me to believe that there is a more malevolent side of the stand against righteousness, one that simply just doesn’t care for the truth. Not all of its followers may be aware of it, but certainly it is not a complete secret. If you don’t believe me, I’ll once more reference the fact that the Palestinian terrorist organizations (whom many support) are still openly calling for death and evil. 

The world isn’t perfectly black and white, good and evil– a simple fact of human and animal nature. But in most cases, there is a better side pitted against an immoral opponent. In our case, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and all others who willingly kill their own are not the side we should back. This is why I am upset when I see the right side being so put down and vilified in my own community.

In such a powerful and fortunate country, if we want to engage on the world stage, we must stand by liberty and justice. And for those values to remain with us, we must be authentic in our actions. It is unwise and dangerous to pick and choose for which events to stand, especially when we know better. Considering these things, I question the actions of those who choose to support immoral and dishonest fundamentalists and disregard the better bits of the world. 

It is a sad and perhaps coarse reflection with which to end the year, but as Dostoevsky wrote, “the darker the night the brighter the stars, the deeper the grief, the closer to God.” Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Copy edited by Lilly Baumfeld ’27

Image courtesy of Google Images