On October 7th of this year, the terrorist group, Hamas, launched a surprise attack on Israel. They broke past the barriers into Israel and proceeded to kill over 1,000 civilians and kidnapped over 100 people, with the numbers increasing by the day.
As an issue that will always be intertwined with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is hard to see these situations as separate, but in this situation, it is imperative to understand that these Hamas attacks are not a political dilemma but a slaughter of innocents. Hamas has killed not only Israelis, but Palestinians, women, children, tourists, and any civilian who stands beyond the barrels of their guns.
A former leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, declared October 13th to be Global Jihad Day. This was meant to be a protest to support Palestine, but encouraged violence towards both Israeli and Jewish people and only supported the terrorist organization. Jews were encouraged to not go to school or synagogue and if they did, they could potentially be harmed. The death toll has been on the rise every day since the first attack, and the Boulder High administration has yet to say anything.
During this time of fear for safety, the administration at Boulder High still maintained their silence, instead of providing any support for the student population. Besides a vague announcement on the morning of the 13th about hate speech, they have kept quiet and left students worried.
The student who prompted this announcement, Sydney Selvin, 24’ shared that in her opinion, “Boulder High as a whole has not done enough.” There hasn’t been a single attempt to reach out to the Jewish Culture Club, or any students who might have been affected by this genocide, and the situation seems to be getting worse by the day, especially online.
Considering the popularity of social media and sharing news about this tragedy, it is very common to see people online posting infographics, or other information that may come from irrefutable sources. This is only contributing to the overall problem of social media and misinformation online.
Any post with any type of statistic can be easily reposted and shared with thousands of people, so posting must be taken seriously when regarding this conflict. I implore my audience to do thorough research on the current situation in Gaza, and to refrain from posting unless they have done the work. Misleading posts distract from the topic at hand, and pit people against each other, when instead, during these times of stress and hardship, people should be providing support for the civilians of both Israel and Palestine.
Instead of fighting, serious conversations need to be had and reliable information needs to be distributed to the student body. These are tough times for everyone, and we should strive to make sure to create a safe community to do what the Boulder High administration could not.
