‘U.S. has to have a more balanced view of the situation’

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking another  250 Israelis hostage. Israel retaliated by raiding Gaza, and war has raged in the region ever since.  

As this October marks the one year anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, American voters are looking to the new president, to be elected this November, to put an end to the conflict.

According to Pew Research Center data, 22% of Americans think that President Joe Biden’s administration has been favoring Israel and 21% reported that Biden is “striking the right balance.” 

According to the same study, 33% of voters under 30 stand with Palestine. 

What does the war mean for young voters?

While the issue of the Israel and Hamas war is still heavy on the mind of voters heading into this election, different generations have different viewpoints.

As shown in the Pew Research Center data, there is a stark contrast between what the younger and older generations think of the war. Roughly 38% of adults under 30 said they believe Israel’s reasons for fighting Hamas are valid, and the percentage is even lower when asked if the way Israel is responding is acceptable (21%). 

Young voters were also particularly vocal on their support of Palestine at college protests last year, through marches and encampments. Michigan universities saw their own share of demonstrations during the last academic year. Some campuses across the country are planning demonstrations during the week of the anniversary, despite their colleges attempting to restrict protest rights.

However, this year, Zainab Naaz, a president of Muslim Student Association of CMU, said she doesn’t hear much talk about Israel and Palestine on Central’s campus. She said, as a new president, her goal is to bring awareness and educate people about the conflict.

“You do not have to be Muslims,” Naaz said. “You do not have to be from Palestine or their heritage. Just come out, educate yourself … Help the people out there who are suffering in the best way we can.”

Naaz also said that she sees young voters supporting Palestine more, but there are still those who support Israel in the United States. 

“I would say the younger generation is obviously gonna … think with an open and broad perspective,” Naaz said. “And every vote counts. At the end of the day, when you're casting it, you vote for the right person, a person who's gonna … put an end to it … (and) it's gonna make a bigger difference.”

Naaz said that if she could speak to whoever the future president is -- and if the war is still going on in a year after they’re elected -- she would ask them to bring peace for Palestinian people.

“I would just ask them, 'How cold is your heart to be taking part in this?'” Naaz said. “How can you not be affected by what's happening? … They are aware about this, the numbers of the kids and the babies dying and the women dying.”

The latest death toll reports over 42,000 Palestinians killed, according to Al Jazeera. Over 16,000 of those are children, and over 95,000 people have been injured.

“They are beautiful people with beautiful hearts,” Naaz said. “We have a long history of them in our religion and how kind they are, and how brave they are, and how they've been fighting against this for such a long time.” 

Students on campus said that the conflict is still weighing on their minds as the election approaches. Maddie Roush is one of them, as she will be voting for the first time this November. 

A sophomore majoring in communication sciences and disorders, Roush described the conflict as “crazy,” and said it escalated more than it needed to.

“I know a terrorist group started it,” she said. “But (Israel is) attacking civilians too, and that’s insane.”

Roush said she tries not to consume much content on the war because it makes her feel depressed. At the same time, she said it’s hard to ignore it entirely when it’s a key part of this year’s election.

Roush also said she believes the United States shouldn’t be funding Israel the way it is, and said the country should take a neutral stance. She said if the U.S had to fund Israel, she’d want it to do it in “a different way,” such as sending aid to citizens as opposed to weapon packages to the military.

“I think if (U.S citizens) are going to pick a side, they should do their research,” she said. “But that’s still hard when people are dying on both sides.” 

Close to home

Elizabeth Meadows is a psychology professor on campus, who specializes in trauma and anxiety disorders. She is also a member of Temple Benjamin, the Jewish synagogue in Mount Pleasant, and a member of a Jewish congregation in Lansing. 

Meadows grew up Jewish in Long Island, New York, with half of her schoolmates being Jewish and the other half Italian-Catholic. She said when she was coming up on her Bat Mitzvah (a coming of age ceremony for Jewish children when they reach 12 or 13), her family joined a local synagogue. She recalled being very involved in the religion in high school, and she took a trip to Israel while in college to visit many different religious and historical sights. 

When the Hamas attack occurred on Oct. 7, she said it wasn’t until later in the day she realized how serious the situation was. She said Israel was attacked regularly prior, so at first she didn’t realize the situation was different.

“I had friends reaching out to check on me, and I was puzzled,” Meadows said. “It took me several days to appreciate being reached out to, and it became really clear that this was a horrible event.”

Now, Meadows said she feels “exhausted and demoralized” watching everything unfold. She said she feels like there is a disconnect between the Jewish community and the rest of the world when it comes to the perceptions of Israel.

“It’s been a really hard year,” she said. “And part of that is the reactions of people, staying silent or saying ‘Oh, Israel had it coming.’”

According to the latest news reported by the Associated Press, on Oct. 2, Iran fired over 180 missiles into Israel. 

Meadows said she believes those of the Jewish faith may have more historical knowledge on Israel’s founding, and that shapes how they think about the conflict.

“We pay attention (to it) more,” she said. “And that affects our perception in different ways than it does for non-Jews.”

Meadows used Israel’s defense measures, such as its “Iron Dome,” as one of the historical examples Westerners may not be aware of. She compared Israel's level of protection to Hamas' lack of protection, and said there is evidence the terrorist group has used “human shields” throughout their years of operation.

“What would have happened in Gaza if Hamas used its resources to protect civilians instead?” she said. “Those are obvious questions to me. But if you don’t know the history of the region, I think you may have a very different perception of what’s happening.

“No one wants to see innocent people in Gaza killed any more than they want to see innocent people in Israel killed,” she said. “But it’s a tricky needle to thread when they (Hamas terrorists) are embedded in civilian locations on purpose.”

For Naaz, the situation in Gaza is disturbing and upsetting. 

“It's been bad,” Naaz said. “It's been happening for over 100 years ... and last year has been really bad. And all of us really feel, I would say angry. … In Islam, we consider every other human being on the planet as a brother and sister to us. So they are affecting our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine.

“I was seeing videos (from Gaza) … and I could not take it well. You have to have a … rock-solid heart to watch and see things like that.”

Meadows also said criticism of Israel’s government is justified: Israelis had been protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for months before the attack happened. She said even now, Israelis have been protesting and questioning where Netanyahu’s priorities lie when it comes to the hostages.

“Clearly it’s okay to criticize the government,” she said. “But over the past year, so many people have reflexively treated Israel as a villain and don’t realize it’s under existential threat. It deserves the right to exist.” 

In United States' politics, Meadows said she does appreciate how the Biden administration has been “unwavering” in its support of Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself. Even so, she said she understands U.S citizens’ criticism of Netanyahu’s government.

As the election approaches, she said she has seen political advertisements targeted at Jewish and Muslim communities with the goal of dividing the religious groups and making voters feel like they have to choose a country to support.

“I’d like to think we’re smarter than that,” she said. “The political vote this year should not be ‘For Israel’ or ‘For Gaza.’”

As the one year anniversary of the attack approached, Meadows said she was very grateful to have shoulders to lean on in Jewish spaces, and to have non-Jewish friends supporting her.

“It’s been comforting to have those spaces,” she said. “There’s been talks every day about the hostages, about Oct. 7 coming up, about the holiday season. … The attack happened on Shemini Atzeret, a Jewish holiday. … It’s hard not to think about it with the holiday season (approaching).”

Explaining Israel and Hamas war

Talat Halman, a CMU faculty member in the Philosophy, Anthropology and Religion department who specializes in Islam and world religions, said the conflicts between Israel and Palestine have been going on for over 100 years. 

He said everything started when the state of Israel was established in 1948 with the help of Britain, and Palestinians experienced “Nakba,” the tragedy.

“Wiping Israel off the map has been an agenda for Hamas, especially because it's in their constitution, their covenant agreement, that they're dedicated to eliminating the State of Israel,” Halman said. “Hezbollah is in the same position, wanting to eliminate the State of Israel. That's why there's been wars.” 

Halman explained that Hamas is a political party in Palestine, and Hezbollah is a social welfare agency that is becoming a local government in Southern Lebanon. 

The Israeli war has recently entered a “new era,” by exploding hundreds of pagers of Hezbollah members in Lebanon, CNN reported.

In response, Hezbollah launched a wave of missiles into the North of Israel, according to PBS story.

On Sept. 20, Israel attacked Beirut, Lebanon, killing a Hezbollah commander and 14 other people. The Israeli military also launched 400 attacks on Lebanon the following night, Al Jazeera reported.

AP reported that Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging airstrikes since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

Iran has also recently fired missiles into Israel, and Netanyahu said that Iran “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it,” according to AP.

Naaz said she would prefer to use the word “attack” instead of “war” to describe the situation, because “war” implies that both sides are attacking.

“What's happening with Palestine is just a one-sided attack,” Naaz said. “It's from Israel on Palestine. It is not a back and forth of any sort. …(In Palestine) there are people who live over there, harmless people --women, men, children -- who have nothing to do with foreign affairs.”

Halman also said that this conflict is going to play “a huge role” in the American presidential election, because of evangelical Christians in the United States who support Israel. 

“Most of them believe that for the Messiah to come, for Jesus to come, second coming, the State of Israel has to be established in all its boundaries,” Halman said. “So this is why American politicians are always falling over each other to declare they have more support of Israel than their opponents.”

About 23% of Americans are evangelical Christians, according to the Pew Research Center data. 

But, Halman said, for Israel and Palestine, the conflict is not religious.

Meadows said it’s important to separate Jews from Israelis, as many Israeli citizens aren’t Jewish. She also explained how some people use the distinction to “weasel out” of their own anti-semitism, saying they are anti-zionist, not anti-semetic. 

She argued that being anti-zionist is still being anti-semetic, as the idea of zionism is to establish and protect the Jewish state. 

“I think it’s part of why Israel is held to a different standard than the rest of the world, too,” she said.

Halman said the only solution he sees for this conflict is a creation of the two-state solution, which would allow Palestinians to have an autonomic government over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Israel to have the rest of the territories. 

“I think it's the only thing that's going to work,” Halman said. “Nothing else has worked. … The closest that we've ever come to having any peace agreements between Israel and Palestine has been based on the prospect of a two state solution.

“I think the U.S. has to have a more balanced view of the situation.”