Eli Ilan was a tour guide for many of us during our ECE-RJ trip to Israel in 2018. He recently wrote of a former participant on another trip, and how she had begun posting misinformation, even as the purpose of “…her college trip was geared towards exploring the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” This misinformation shared more and more posts condemning Israel with absurd accusations. Eli said, “It hit me hard. She's been here. She knows me and other Israelis. How can she think that way about us?
Here is his response to her, and his request, that “… my message needs to be shared with everyone. Everyone who feels blindsided. it's time to wake up before it’s too late.”
Eli’s response is hard to read, but necessary for us all. It is in his words, and unedited.
“Hi *****, thanks for thinking of me. It breaks my heart to see the posts and stories showing support for the murderous terrorists of Hamas with abrupt lies (the equivalent of 2 nuclear bombs? What does that even mean?) and complete oversight of the horrific massacre brought upon hundreds of innocent Israelis on October 7. Not to mention the 240 kidnapped men, women, children, and infants!
The attacks in Gaza would cease if only Hamas cared about the innocent Palestinians in Gaza and let the hostages go. They do not do so. On the contrary - they shoot their civilians trying to head to the south of the Gaza strip where Israel (yes, Israel, the attacked side) has organized a safe place for them to go - with food, water, and shelter - because they want this war to keep going. Until when? Until the world, that doesn't realize what's truly happening (or doesn't want to realize, because it's the Jewish state… good old-fashioned antisemitism), will put pressure on Israel to ceasefire leaving the situation unresolved neither for Israelis nor innocent Palestinians, and of course painting a picture showing Israel as the aggressor, the bully that had to be constrained. Not anymore. For the people of Israel and the innocent people of Gaza.
Nobody likes war but this one is inevitable. Hamas is the bully, and they are using the discourse of human rights to get the liberal West to condemn Israel while denying those rights to their people. The hypocrisy is painful. And it's devastating to see that this tactic works for them. Even with people who have been here, and met Israelis like myself... do you think we, the Israelis, myself included would stand for a merciless bloodhound the way it is presented on media/social media? That makes me so sad.
Hamas has vowed to destroy the State of Israel. It is on their charter, look it up. They will stop at nothing until they obtain their goal. They took over the Gaza Strip after Israel completely withdrew from there in 2005 and invested all the money that went into the strip in digging tunnels under schools and hospitals to use as underground command centers and getting weapons. Their whole operation is geared toward the annihilation of Israel. How would you act if you had neighbors across the border, 2 miles away, who were set to destroy you and your people at all costs?
Israel is perceived as the representative of the West by the extreme Islamic bodies in the Middle East. They refer to us, Israel, as "the little devil", and to you, the US, as "the big devil" (look it up, very common phrases in the Middle Eastern local media). This is what the West doesn't get - that after Israel, comes Europe, the US, and anyone with a Western set of values like democracy, equality, and (real) human rights.
Please pray for justice and for the world to wake up and come to its senses. Best of luck to us all. “
Eli Ilan
Tour Guide
Israel Experience
Dale Dides Coomperman
Director of Early Childhood Education
Congregation Albert Early Childhood Center
Albuqerque, NM
