They exchanged text messages and emojis. Brief status updates with words of encouragement. A picture of the beloved family dog “Tutsi.”
Until no more messages came.
And then, Cindy Flash, an American, and her Israeli husband Igal vanished into the violence, presumed kidnapped by Hamas.
Four days after Hamas attacked Israel, more than 100 Israelis and potentially dozens of foreign nationals are thought to be held captive in the Gaza Strip. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been killed and an unknown number are still unaccounted for.
Flash, 67, originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of them. She lives in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel near Gaza, where some of the most harrowing and grisly stories have been emerging during the last few days.
“They are breaking down the safe room door,” Flash said in one of her final messages to her daughter Keren, 34. “We need someone to come by the house right now.” She had been communicating with her parents from a few houses away.
Keren described her mother, who worked as an administrator in a local college, as someone who had the “sweetest biggest heart,” who everyone knew and loved, and who had spent a lifetime advocating for the rights of Palestinians, including those who live in Gaza where she may now be held.
Hamas isn’t in any way working for Palestinian rights. Hamas is not a synonym for Palestinian.
As an elected government, it’s a synonym for “most of Palestine”. AFAIK it’s direct representation with no gerrymandering fuckery like the states to make it only questionably true.
Pootie was elected in a land slide in Russia. Kimie was Elected unanimously in North Korea. Pooh Bear, oops, sorry, Xi was elected by a large majority. Nyet 'n Yahoo was voted into power by a good margin. Fat Joffrey was elected by mostly empty land. None of those leaders represent anyone but themselves.
You are simply trying to justify your bigotry.
Ceausescu won his last elections with 96% approval. In the same year he escaped the capital, was captured, sentenced to death, and immediately executed, which promted a coutry-wide celebration
exactly
I really don’t understand why people decided to live in these kibbutz right next to the Gaza border and never realize that this might happen.
It’s like sitting right on the very edge of the shoulder of a very busy highway. Eventually you will be hit by a fast moving car.
It’s disputed territory with the potential of becoming a war zone at any moment and people decided to buy expensive real estate and build beautiful homes next to impoverished people that have nothing.
And we should be surprised that this happened?
What the Palestinians did was terrible … but we should all be reading the headlines with a lot of history and context. None of it is justified by any side … but at the same time, none of it is a surprise.
Hamas isn’t Palestine. They don’t represent the Palestinian people. It’s not because Hamas took her that she was betrayed by Palestinians.
Hamas was elected in 2006. The destruction of Israel was clear on its agenda. They are representing people of Gaza.
Do they represent the Palestinians who voted for them? I mean, I get it, Nazi Republicans don’t represent me. But there are some Americans these fascists do represent.
Also, the pro-Hamas supporters are also Palestinians., right?
I think it’s best highlighted that not all Palestinans support Hamas instead of pretending there’s none who do. You can also point out that in the west Bank Fatah is the dominate party, and the West Bank are Palestinians also.
There’s endless threads lately trying to equate Hamas with all Palestinians, and lots of threads trying to say they represent none of the Palestinians. Neither is true.
No I guess you’re right. I mean if they represented no one, there wouldn’t be a Hamas. But I’m fairly certain that’s a minority. The rest, the regular people, just want peace and a normal life.
It does not matter in this case whether they have support or not. Israel funded Hamas against the PLO, hoping to deter a two state solution by pointing to the angry Islamists they funded. Netanyahu openly said it, and bragged.
They even assassinated other leg secular leaders. Netanyahu and the Mossad are responsible for tying the fate of the Palestinians to Hamas. And they share responsibility for the slaughter too.
