500 Days
That’s how long it has been since Hamas terrorists attacked the nation of Israel and its citizens, and how long dozens remaining have spent in captivity—500 days.
This is not a skirmish started by a militant group. This is not a war declared by two sovereign nations. This is at every turn a terrorist operation, including attacking on the Jewish Sabbath and insisting on returning Israeli citizen hostage on that same Sabbath, in full disrespect for the people and what they hold sacred.
The fact that it happened at all is shocking. The fact that it has gone on for 500 days is an abomination, one for which all the world shares in the blame.
The official United States stance has been embarrassing. If this is how your closest ally over time treats you…I’m guessing Israel can only imagine how an enemy would act.
Actually, that’s not true…from the attack on a peaceful music festival, to a communal kibbutz, to the killing of innocent civilians…yet again Israel does not have to imagine how an enemy would act, because they have graphic evidence of it, painted with the blood of martyred citizens.
Many are citizens of this country, as well…and while there used to be a time that if an American was wrongly held anywhere in the world, the full force of the United States would immediately be mobilized to get that person to safety. Now we measure the reaction time in hundreds of days, spanning multiple presidential administrations.
There is no easy answer to resolving this latest attack on the Jews; you don’t fix thousands of years of persecution overnight. But the response of the world has been far too disjointed, far too tepid. And it is what has led to pro-Hamas protests on American soil, something that was unthinkable right up until it happened.
Five hundred long days, with no meaningful end in sight, I fear.
