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Blair Oliver
Sep 254 min read

Has America Lost its Morality?

Day after day for the past year, my social media timelines have been filled with videos, pictures, and anecdotes of the atrocities occurring in Palestine. From hundreds of thousands of miles away, many of us get a front-row seat to the absolute terror innocent civilians have been facing as they watch their family lineages disappear at the hands of the IDF and American weapons. Now, as Israel begins what they are calling their "new phase of war", not only are Palestinians continuing to be killed, Lebanese civilians are starting to endure the brutality. This leads me to wonder: Has America lost its morality?


PALESTINE

I often find it hard to understand why the moment you exclaim the words “Free Palestine”, a multitude of people begin to refer to you as “Anti-Semitic” or claim you support terrorism. Simply stating you support a ceasefire can lead to this. Automatically, you become a villain in their eyes, even though nowhere, in either of those statements, are there any indications of being antisemitic or supporting terrorism. They automatically demand you condemn HAMAS.

One should be able to point out the atrocities Palestinians are facing without being grouped in with hate groups. One should also be able to criticize a country's regime that, just like HAMAS, which is a terrorist group, has been deemed responsible for war crimes. 


Let me make it clear: Supporting Palestine is not equal to supporting HAMAS. 


The truth, though, is a large majority of people who support a free Palestine, like myself, support freeing an apartheid state and ensuring all innocent civilians on both “sides” are free from harm. 


Despite the avid demand for those who are "Pro-Palestine" to condemn violence, no one seems to bat an eye when Pro-Israel Politicians or normal, everyday humans, write "finish them" on an artillery shell, claim that "we shouldn't assume all civilians are innocent in Palestine", or even chant "Death to Arabs" months before October 7th even occurred. This is essentially allowed, because many of those across the world thanks to mainstream media, specifically in the United States, have dehumanized Palestinians. They adhere to the idea that all Palestinians support HAMAS and that they are one and the same. This is not true, HAMAS was deeply unpopular before October 7th. It also doesn’t help that xenophobia and an anti-middle-eastern sentiment is rampant in the western world. 


LEBANON

Along with this comes Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon, beginning on September 17th with an attack on pagers utilized by some Hezbollah members*, that injured a multitude of civilians, which many experts are now claiming is an act of terrorism.  Lebanon faced its deadliest day since 2006 just a few days ago with 569 killed** including women and children, and thousands injured. A country already dealing with immense instability economically, Lebanon is reeling from the continued strikes. 


We are already seeing the rhetoric unfold with this attack. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has announced that he "loved" the pager attacks on Hezbollah, despite the fact these attacks wounded hundreds of innocent people. 


FACING REALITY

There is no doubt that in the same way pro-Palestine activists are attacked, those who are pro-Lebanon will face the same reality and cruelness. It's just a matter of time until these attacks break into the mainstream landscape and college campuses.


However, as horrible as it is to be attacked and criticized for supporting innocent civilians, our reality in the United States is no match to the nightmare both the Lebanese people and Palestinians are facing, alongside those who are hostages.


ANSWERING THE QUESTION

This brings me to an answer to my question, Has America lost its morality? 


Morality, unfortunately, has been seen as fluid in terms of the United States. The good news is there is room for change. 


America claims we are “fighters” for the oppressed and support freedom for all. We fought on the right side of history in WW2, for example. So, then, why can only Israel be deemed “worthy” of empathy? Are Palestinians not the oppressed? Do they not deserve the right not to be slaughtered? Has this country gotten so far to be pro-killing? Pro-genocide, even? 


As I spoke about in a previous article, America is not exactly a country with demonstrated well-meaning involvement in wars, and by standing with a country committing war crimes, how can we keep up this facade? 


There is a way to fight for what is right and regain morality, even if it is almost a year late. All violence is abhorrent, no one should have to clarify that. Therefore, an arms embargo, if not an immediate ceasefire (which seems unlikely as of now) that returns all the hostages, ensures sovereignty for Palestine and stops the killings, is the only solution. 


America has the capability to do better and make the right decision, but whether or not that decision will be chosen is the true thought we should reflect on.




*Israel has not publicly confirmed their involvement with this attack, yet it is widely believed they are the perpetrators, as of September 24th, 2024. 

** As of September 24th, 2024. The death toll continues to rise.


Photo Credit: Canva

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