Heartfelt Reflections on Gaza and Lebanon

Living through Dark Moments

What’s happening in Lebanon and Gaza is occupying my mind and heart. The ongoing war has deeply affected Palestinians, Lebanese, and many other people in the Middle East.

The past few months have been among the darkest and heaviest of my life. When the world hoped the Gaza war would end, the opposite has happened – the war expanded into Lebanon.

Historical Context of the Israel-Palestine Conflict

One of the main reasons people rush to take sides and cheerlead wars is that the context is often missing, either wittingly or unwittingly, especially in legacy media reporting. During the Second World War, Jews suffered terrible atrocities and genocide at the hands of the Nazis in the Holocaust. They were treated as second-class citizens, separated from society, and sent to concentration camps where horrific crimes were committed against them, including burning people alive, gas chambers, imprisonment, and torture.

After the war, the Zionist project gained popularity among Jews, promoting the creation of Israel as the promised land, a dream supported by Western allies, specifically France and Britain under the Sykes-Picot and Balfour Agreement, and later by the Americans after the fall of the British Empire (each for their own reasons). For many Jews, it was a dream come true to have a country, uniting them from different parts of the world.

However, realizing this dream required significant harm to the indigenous people already living in that land, effectively erasing a whole country—Palestine—from the map. Ironically, Israel was founded on occupation, displacement, and oppression. The slogan "never again" was one-sided, failing to prevent such crimes against any population, not just Jews. Israelis justified occupying, killing, and displacing people through a sense of superiority and war of aggression, supported by the West, particularly the United States. They have committed apartheid, expanded settlements, detained innocent people, tortured prisoners, created checkpoints, separated the West Bank from Gaza, and imposed a siege on Gaza, described by David Cameron as the largest open-air prison.

"Never again" should apply to all humanity, not just Jews. The world should never allow such atrocities to happen to anyone.

Historical Context of Western Support

It’s no surprise that many Western governments supporting the ongoing wars have a history of colonization and horrors against indigenous peoples. The present atrocities fit into a long history of Western colonialism.

This isn't a condemnation of people but of governments. Notably, the positive outcome of this darkness is that more people in the West are waking up to this reality. Many lies, hypocrisies, and double standards are being exposed.

Livestreaming Atrocities on TV

I’ve heard Dr. Gabor Maté, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, say that watching Gaza is like seeing Auschwitz on TikTok. Unless you choose to turn a blind eye or are irrationally optimistic, or unless you are brainwashed by propaganda, it’s clear that justifying crimes against humanity by citing the events of October 7th is wrong. We should seek long-lasting solutions instead of adding more horrors.

The Impunity of War

When you have warmongers leading a state like Israel, a state that operates with impunity, above human laws, and with infinite global support, the situation worsens. Since the beginning of the conflict, Israel has received $17.9 billion in military aid from the United States.

Aside from the moral consideration, people should question their governments about where this money comes from, as the global economy is tied to the U.S. dollar. Increased spending on wars leads to more inflation, and ultimately, we all bear the cost.

The Futility of War

To those optimistic about wars, celebrating victories, and thinking war is a solution, history shows that while you can win battles and oppress people temporarily, you can never kill the human spirit. Eventually, the oppressed will revolt. There’s nothing heroic about dropping bombs on defenseless people in Gaza and Lebanon. The history of resistance movements ?shows that they arise from oppression. The occupation justifies and legitimizes resistance. The more crimes you commit, the more trauma and injustice you inflict, the more you push people to extreme responses and extreme choices.

A 2020 study showed that 53.5% of Gazan children had PTSD even before the current conflict. Considering the ongoing war, constant bombardment, displacement, and loss of family members, it’s likely that over 90% of children now suffer from PTSD, anxiety, and depression. What do we expect from these children when their families, dreams, and futures are destroyed?

By understanding this, the events of October 7th are no longer an unsolvable riddle. This isn’t to justify the acts of violence but to expose the root causes of the problem. The killing of civilians should be condemned and must stop everywhere.

Peace Or Justice?

Peace cannot be achieved without justice; they are inseparable. You might have periods of calm, as before October 7th, but to resolve the core problem, there must be a just solution for everyone. Equal human rights, reconciliation, and a fair solution to share the land, allowing people to coexist in peace and harmony, are essential for lasting peace.

The End Game?

I often wonder, what’s the end game? How will this all resolve?

Think back to school, when a bully went unchecked. As long as no one spoke up or acted to create accountability, the bully’s aggression went on. The same dynamic is playing out now, but on a state level. The state of Israel, built on oppression, occupation, and the displacement of indigenous people, continues its actions with near-total impunity.

But there’s a problem with this: winning battles and oppressing a people doesn’t lead to peace. True peace is only possible with justice. Israel’s rise and continued dominance rely heavily on support from the United States—generous aid, military backing, and protection from international accountability. Two prevailing theories explain this relationship. Some believe Israel has the upper hand, steering U.S. policy through a powerful lobby of influential supporters. But I find the second theory more plausible: the U.S. uses Israel as a strategic proxy to project power in the Middle East, thereby justifying its support. For Israel, this arrangement offers unprecedented military and financial backing, creating a mutually beneficial, if short-sighted, alliance.

This alliance may seem ideal for Israel now, but it’s not sustainable long-term. History shows that empires, no matter how powerful, don’t last forever. From the British Empire to the Roman Empire, all have risen and fallen. The American empire, too, shows signs of decline, facing economic struggles, endless war expenses, rising global rivals, and economic coalitions. This raises a legitimate question: what becomes of Israel if U.S. power wanes? Perhaps it will last 100 or 200 years more—but what then?

This brings us back to the end game. If the situation continues, buried resentment and the drive for revenge will intensify. Once American influence fades, Israel’s adversaries and the displaced people of Palestine may seize their opportunity for retribution, setting the stage for an even darker chapter.

The other path is for Israel to recognize that survival in the region depends on good relations with its neighbors, not just on endless financial and military support from abroad. Real peace requires open, fair negotiations to address and restore rights and land that have been taken by force. I’m not prescribing a particular solution, whether one-state or two-state, but advocating for genuine reconciliation—not the type of?agreements like the Oslo Accords, which has been one-sided and spurred further expansion of settlements by Israel.

This is the only viable path to a lasting peace. We can look to history for guidance. Germans, even today, bear collective guilt for the atrocities committed under the Nazi regime and continue to pay reparation bills related to WWII. Perhaps 100 or 200 years from now, Israelis and their allies will feel a similar remorse toward Palestinians and the broader Middle East. The hope is that by reflecting on history, Israel will choose a path of reconciliation over one of endless conflict.

How to Deal with Emotions During the Conflict?

Many people, including myself, experience mixed feelings of anger, sadness, frustration, and desperation. While we can empathize with the people of Lebanon and Gaza, we aren’t in their place, enduring bombings, displacement, and destruction.

This has heavily affected me as a Lebanese living abroad, leaving me with a feeling of helplessness. But I realized that I have to learn to deal with these emotions rather than suppress them.

Allow yourself to feel what you feel and then decide what to do about it. There's a significant difference between being enmeshed, affected, and completely paralyzed by what's happening, and deciding to be engaged, which means taking responsibility to say something, speak up, write, and make an influence to support justice and innocent people in any way you can.

This approach is more liberating, fulfilling, and effective. I have been caught up in a state of inaction and desperation, constantly checking the news. Now, I have decided to break that cycle and start doing something. This is why I am writing this article.

"We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.” Epictetus.