America's Complicity

By Avery Heverly 

America is complicit in genocide, and it is time we stop tiptoeing around it.

For the sake of humanity, a ceasefire must be enacted. Immediately.

I am tired of the retaliatory, “an eye for an eye” rhetoric that has been spewed regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I am enraged at the lack of compassion for human life.

I understand that it is a privilege to be “tired” of this anti-humanitarian rhetoric. I understand that it is a privilege to be “enraged” at the complicity of the United States. This is the lived experience of Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, and Muslim people, and my tiredness and enrage are minuscule in comparison. I understand that.

I also understand that there is no way for me to fully comprehend the complex history that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict holds, which, again, is a privilege. I acknowledge the privilege that I have in writing this post. My hope is that my freedom to be able to share this collective call for a ceasefire can aid in impactful change. This post is not to harp on the past, but to push for a more just future from a humanitarian perspective; a perspective that we should all share.

Evil should not be matched with evil. Wrongdoing does not warrant even more wrongdoing.

On Oct. 7, 2023, the terrorist organization, Hamas, took hostage more than 200 innocent individuals, brutally murdered more than a thousand innocent lives, and subjected humans to heinous acts of physical and sexual violence.

Shortly thereafter, Israel launched a war on Gaza in an act of defense from the threat of Hamas. In an effort to defend themselves, Israel has murdered tens of thousands of innocent lives and continues to launch attack after attack on the Palestinian people. Without a targeted means of attack, innocent Palestinians are being wounded and killed at an increasing rate with no end in sight.

While the murdering of innocent lives warrants action, I do not believe that the factualities of these statements warrant the genocide that has been taking place in Gaza.

The factualities should be separate from one another, not to “defend” or “rationalize” this anti-humanitarian conflict.

I am not defending Hamas’ attack on Israel, and I am certainly not defending Israel’s means of “defense.” I am defending the humanitarian effort of a ceasefire; a stop to the horrendous violence and brutality that has been taking place since Oct. 7, 2023.

The United States’ adverse to the calling of a ceasefire is cowardly, unjust, and irreparably damaging, and it is time we hold them accountable for it.

Sign petitions. Educate others. Amplify voices that have been personally affected. Donate. Contact your representatives. Demand a change.

Humanitarians for ceasefire.

Humanitarians for the freeing of Palestine.