My favorite course I’ve ever taught is public speaking. The first class always began with the same simple question:
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?
Initially, students would respond with a puzzled "yes," seemingly annoyed by what they perceived as a pointless question. Of course, a falling tree makes a sound, they thought. But as I repeated the question, a debate would ensue. The point of this exercise was to stress the importance of an audience—that ideas in your head don't count unless they're communicated. If a tree falls and no one is there to see it, it might as well not have happened.
This debate keeps popping up in my mind as I learn another shocking truth, prompting me to consider revising my opening slides to reflect an even scarier reality:
If a rocket is fired at civilians but is intercepted and doesn't kill lots of people, did the rocket ever exist?
Turns out, the answer is NO.
When I posted a picture of women with their newborn babies packed into a bomb shelter due to an onslaught of rocket fire, one comment I received was, “boo hoo, should I feel sorry for these women? Why? They will all live. The Palestinians die.”
Since October 7th, 19,000 missiles have been fired into Israel, all with one goal: mass casualties. Kill as many Israelis as you can. The more destruction, the better. Yet, no one cares, nor recognizes this reality.
Because it has become clear that these rockets don't count in the world's public opinion. No dead bodies? No mass destruction of property? Then you can’t be a victim.
You can only be a victim if you die like we did in the Holocaust. You are only a victim if you are allowed to be slaughtered. Self-defense is now seen as a liability on the world stage, which has grave implications. The only reason that Israel does not have thousands of deaths is that, like most first-world countries, they invest in their citizens’ welfare. Every home in Israel is required to have a bomb shelter. They invest in technologies like the Iron Dome, not because they want to spend millions this way, but because they must. And isn’t that what ANY responsible nation would do—protect its citizens?
Yet, the Palestinians receive billions in aid and use it to build underground tunnels larger than the London Tube, and are run by an organization of billionaires, yet somehow, they are victims. Huh?
They are victims on the world stage because they have mastered a real twisted truth: to be a victim, you need to play the victim.
This is a new kind of warfare with grave consequences, one we have never understood before. Even the Nazis loved their kids. It was unfathomable that any army would put their children up to die while they sit in tunnels. It’s hard to imagine that growing up to be a “martyr” would be celebrated. But here we are.
So, like the tree that falls in the unseen forest, these intercepted missiles may not make the sound expected by the world. But silence should not be mistaken for absence. Just because the Iron Dome keeps the trees standing, doesn't mean the forest isn't under attack.
This is a just war.
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