“Israel intensifies Gaza bombing”… “Hostages taken by Hamas”… “Israel declares war on Hamas”… Have you been reading the news headlines?
There are a lot of students who don’t know too much about what’s going on in the Middle East. “I do know Hamas attacked Israel, are killing… and holding hostages,” says an MBA freshman. But there is definitely more to the story.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,400 people and injuring 5,400, according to the Washington Post. They have also taken hostages. Right after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared war on Hamas.
What is Hamas? They are recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and first took power in the Gaza Strip by winning elections in 2006 against “the main Palestinian party that still controls the Palestinian Authority,” says the Washington Post. Hamas got rid of the Palestinian Authority and took control, eliminating future elections in 2007.
Hamas and Israel have had a history of violence, though such current violence hasn’t been seen before. Their violence is due to the fact that Hamas wants to take over Israel and does not acknowledge the right of Israel to exist.
Israel has responded with violence in the past as well, but now its goal is to completely get rid of Hamas. It has responded to Hamas attacks by sending troops to Gaza.
“It also blocked supply lines of basic necessities to the Gaza population, including fuel and water,” says CNN. People living in Gaza have been told to evacuate, but some have either refused, have no place to go, or just can’t leave. While the Gazan borders have been shut, 4,385 people have died, according to CNN.
Israel has also taken an estimated 4,500 Palestinians from the West Bank and held them in prisons. This could be another reason for the Hamas attack, claims BBC.
“I feel sad for the Palestinian people, who don’t have a choice in how things are being handled, but this is one of the worst things that we’ve seen happen in Israel in a long time,” says Ms. Karni, the AP stats and F.S.T. teacher here at Millikan. She has family living in Israel, luckily she hasn’t lost anyone, but her cousins have lost their loved ones.
While this war can be confusing, with different reasons and attacks, it is also very stressful and disheartening. All this violence can leave youths and adults everywhere feeling powerless or discouraged, but there are many ways to ease the ache in your heart.
You can visit the Millikan Wellness Center, talk to a trusted adult or friend, or take a break from watching the news.
It’s important to know that not all Palestinians or those living in Gaza are a part of Hamas. There are a lot of innocent deaths on both sides of the border, deaths from Israel’s bombs, and deaths from Hamas’ rockets.
Biden has also visited Israel and tried to “get aid into Gaza as well as passage out for Americans wanting to leave,” says NPR.
What’s really important to realize is that there is violence coming from both sides and hurting innocent people in Israel and Gaza.
Kylie Montiel • Nov 29, 2023 at 1:07 pm
Walker did a good job of taking different views and perspectives into account when writing about the conflicts between Israel and Hamas, specifically by asking people on campus about their thoughts on this war. She also did a good job of catching different perspectives by using different sources such as CNN, West Bank, and BBC. These sources allow for less bias to be present in this article as her sources are diverse. Furthermore, I also appreciated her acknowledgement of the struggles of both sides as some people would be very radical and one-sided. The different statistics she provided allowed for the students reading to gain a better understanding of the damage that has been done to both groups, while also providing them with information to form their own opinions. Walker’s inclusion of available help in Millikan’s Wellness Center also allows the students reading to feel as though they have access to help and that they are not alone in the pain of this issue.
While the article provided students with information and statistics to analyze the deaths and captures in this conflict, I think it would also be helpful to have included other sources that students can visit in order to encourage further research. This allows students to grow in their own opinions and gives them the freedom to collect their own information, a practice that could prove to be helpful beyond highschool.
Frida Santiesteban • Nov 29, 2023 at 1:06 pm
I really enjoyed this new information on a serious topic. Some people may know of
the war going on in Israel and some may not. So this is a great addition to the Millikan Corydon.
There are not many places where students can access this type of information so articles like
these are key to help educate students.
Adding on, all the facts and background information is a great addition to the article.
Bhree did a good job on discussing what this issue is and how dangerous a war like this can be.
One key thing that she’s added that I really appreciated was how she discussed that not all
Palestines are part of Hamas so that people don’t just jump to conclusions and blame all the
issues on them. Along with this Bhree reached out to a fellow teacher who has some family
members over there which shows us how people in our everyday lives are being affected by such
a great issue. It is so sad to see that people’s families have been so affected and have no other
choice but to stay in hopes that this war will soon come to an end. As there was so much great
information in this article I feel like one more thing should have been added. A place where
people can help, it could even be something little as sharing this information or maybe even
donations that people can make to help out. It starts with us, we need to see if in any way we can
help out.
Overall, your article is such a great use of spreading information to those around us who
lack the resources. Students can truly benefit from this article and all the examples you used.
Some students can now better understand what problems are going on in the world. Thank you
for taking the time to truly go into depth about this subject and informing others about what is
happening. I personally learned so much about this topic that I had no idea about.
Sincerely,
Frida Santiesteban
Francesca A. • Nov 29, 2023 at 11:07 am
I appreciate that this topic was covered and I think it’s important to have background knowledge on this situation. Walker did well in explaining the very basics of the problem in Israel, though I would’ve liked it to be more descriptive. Though it does outline the main problems and people/groups involved in this war, I’d suggest adding more background such as where exactly Gaza is and which territory it’s a part of. I believe it’s very vital to share knowledge such as this and appreciate that this war is shared in a way that is simple to understand for someone who doesn’t know much about it. If anything, I’d like there to be more of the “why.” “Why does Hamas want to take over Israel?” “Why don’t they acknowledge Israel?” “What is truly the root to this problem?” Also, “Why was Hamas created?”
After reading this, I feel that I have more knowledge on this topic and it helps to understand this from an unbiased perspective. I appreciate the addition of who Hamas is and that they’ve had a history of violence with Israel. All of this information truly helps in understanding this war and this is something I’d definitely like to learn more about.
Anthony Lopez • Nov 29, 2023 at 10:58 am
In the article, Walker talks about the war going on between Israel and Hamas and how it has been impacting the countries and the world around us. The author starts off very well by giving background information on the event that they are talking about. I believe this is a very good article as Walker has used multiple and very trusted sites such as The Washington Post, CNN, and BBC. Walker has given very good information as they have given various numbers to give the reader an idea of what they are talking about. For example, “Israel Has also taken an estimated 4,500 Palestinians from the West Bank and held them in prisons.” This helps me, as a reader, understand the severity of the situation as 4,500 people is a very large amount and they are being taken as prisoners. I believe that this is a very well composed article, and I wish them the best of luck.
Ezekiel Zaldivar • Nov 29, 2023 at 10:58 am
This article is well-written and effectively informs someone who has little background knowledge about the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. This conflict is extremely controversial and the author did a good job of keeping bias out of the article by just presenting facts about what has already happened. Additionally, it was a good idea to include quotes from people around Millikan to show what some other people’s thoughts are on the subject.
I think it was a good idea to include methods of dealing with the stress or sadness from the war such as the Wellness Center or talking to a trusted adult or friend. I agree that turning off the news would be a good method because the news only shows you the bad that is happening in the world and I believe it is important to sometimes take a break from just seeing the bad.
Jonathan Gonzales-Heyer • Nov 29, 2023 at 10:51 am
I was really impressed by the well-backed research done for this article, and how it manages to synthesize a rather complicated issue into an understandable summary. I think it was relatively objective, and didn’t provide too much of an opinion, which is a good thing. One suggestion that I would have for The Corydon as a whole is to write more of these style of articles. I could see articles updating us about the Gaza conflict, the Syrian Civil War, the Russian special operations in Ukraine, and other conflicts, like the threat of war in the South China Sea being very interesting reads, and could provide some information about the world to us younger people, who may not watch the news or read news articles often. I loved that such an important topic was discussed however, and it would be great to get more articles like this one. Overall, between the dedication to research done for this article, and the possibility of more on the way, I’m very glad that I read this article.
Alex • Nov 29, 2023 at 9:44 am
On November 29, 2023, Bhree Walker wrote an article titled “The War Between Israel and Hamas”. I thought this was a great article and was very informative. This is good because people who don’t know much about this topic are able to learn good information from this article. I liked how you encouraged people to take a break from watching the news and take time to themselves. The quotation from the Washington post was good and added an extra sense of security that the information was reliable. I was concerned at first that the article would be a heavy read like other articles I have read but was pleasantly surprised how it was written. I liked how it wasn’t too graphic or dense and really just got the information through about what was happening and why it was happening. This was a great read if you didn’t know or didn’t understand what was currently happening between Israel and Hamas.
Kylie M. • Nov 29, 2023 at 9:43 am
The article was very insightful, giving information about the war between Israel and Hamas. Though there is media attention on this event, the article allows students to better understand what is happening, since many news articles only focus on what is currently happening. Rather than the lead up, which is given in this article. One thing I really liked about this article was that it was neutral, not giving opinions such as who is in the wrong or siding with one group. One suggestion I would make to this article is including more background information, as well as previous events that could have affected this war. Such as why Hamas believes Israel doesn’t have the right to exist. Though there is some background information, more would really help the reader really understand the reason behind the conflict. Overall this article is very informational and very necessary to have. It expands the knowledge of the current events happening in the world, though it is not in the United States it is still very prevalent.
Michael Bravo • Nov 29, 2023 at 9:43 am
On November 14, 2023, Bhree Walker wrote an article titled “The War Between Israel and Hamas”. The first thing that I noticed was how eye-catching the first sentence was. I was immediately captivated by the surprising tone that it set. The only thing I would really fix with that first sentence is that the headlines she picked are somewhat repetitive. Putting “Israel Intensifies Gaza Bombing before”, “Israel declares war on Hamas’ ‘ sounds slightly convoluted.
I like how much information is presented to us immediately after those opening sentences. The background information is given to us in a very clear and organized manner. One thing that I suggest doing is to incorporate the sentence “ they have also taken hostages” better. It feels a little shoehorned and out of place. A possible fix would be simply to add a little more detail to that sentence.
I think it is very nice how she actually talked to and recorded the words of different people from around the school, like how she asked the AP stats teacher what she thought about the whole situation. I think she could have possibly asked maybe one or two more people, but I do think it’s fine as it is.
Overall I think this is a very well written article with only a few minor suggestions.
Natalia W Bonilla • Nov 29, 2023 at 9:28 am
I believe that this article did a great job at addressing a very complex and controversial topic. This Thanksgiving, I heard heated discussions about this very topic; all of those who debated the topic had a bit of a black-and-white view on the conflict. I appreciate the author’s gray scale approach: the struggles and perspectives of both groups of people are equally represented and discussed. I also liked the overall lack of bias, which is incredibly important when informing people about such serious, life affecting topics.
However, I think that the article could have touched more upon the root cause of the conflict.
During the early 1900s the Zionist movement, one that advocated for a homeland/physical nation for Jewsih people, gained extreme traction after the anti-semetic horrors of World War II. Due to this movement “U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized David Ben-Gurion’s (head of the Jewish Agency) establishment of the State of Israel” (U.S. Department of state website. This turned the former British territory of Palestine into the territories we know now, current day Palestine and Israel. However, in order to make these new borders were heavily controversial, and a war was fought over its legitimacy (The 1947–49 Palestine war). As a result of the war, the state of Israel was fully recognized and 80 percent of the native Arabs who lived in the now Israeli territory for generations upon generations were expelled. This war resulted in resentment and conflicts between the two countries.
By knowing the background, this conflict goes from a war over land to a war about two groups of people who just want a place to call home.
Justin Marchese • Nov 29, 2023 at 9:09 am
This article stresses the fact there is death ever-present in our world, especially in the Middle East. I find it amazing that someone has taken the time to inform the students at Millikan that are uninformed about this topic because it is most definitely needed in order for them to understand this entire conflict. Walker’s stressful tone regarding the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine exemplifies how worrisome this issue is and almost simultaneously attempts to fabricate hope for the future. I also like how Walker addressed the Millikan Wellness Center in this article. I found it very considerate and it lets the students here, especially those with family in Israel and Palestine, know that they have a safe space to confide in others during this tough time. In addition to that, Walker’s words evoke emotion in the reader, which I think is phenomenal. She brings a call to action to her work and it makes not only me, but others feel the need to help. The article did an amazing job at providing the facts about this global crisis, but I also feel as if there is more to the story that we just don’t know yet or we don’t have enough information about. People may still be confused about what really is happening.
Overall, I think this is great work and it is very educational. I think that the students here need to know what’s happening around the world, especially during this dark time in the Middle East.