On Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel. They fired thousands of rockets and invaded Israel with paragliders and ground attacks, slaughtered hundreds at a music festival, went house to house in towns near the border murdering entire families in their homes, and even beheaded infants and children in their beds and cribs. They threw grenades into bomb shelters, killing innocent people who had taken shelter in them. They also abducted over 150 people, including the elderly, children, and infants to be used as hostages and human shields. The death toll from the attacks now stands at 1,200 with thousands more injured.
Since this attack, Hamas has continued firing rockets into Israel on a nearly daily basis from Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon, killing hundreds more civilians in Israel.
Israel announced an impending ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza, and in an effort to minimize civilian casualties, encouraged people living in the targeted area to leave before the offensive began. Hamas not only encouraged the people NOT to leave, but even set up road blocks to prevent people from leaving.
Supporters of Hamas accuse Israel of apartheid, and oppressing Muslims, and the Palestinians in particular. So is this true?
In Israel, 18.1% of the population is Muslim.
There have been Muslim members of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) ever since the first elections which were held in 1949. And there are currently 10 Muslim members of the Knesset.
Israel agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state. They also withdrew from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in 2005.
Meanwhile, Hamas continues to call for the destruction of Israel and the death of Jews. They have also fired rockets continuously into Israel since the Israeli withdrawal in 2005.
Yet Palestinian supporters are insisting Israel are the aggressors.