ISRAEL IN PARTY; DEATH AND DESOLATION IN GAZA

Starting this Thursday, December 7, the Jewish community around the world will celebrate “Hannouka”, one of the most important festivities in Jewish culture. This year, unfortunately, will coincide with the wave of bombings that cause hundreds of victims in southern Gaza.

Until December 15, for eight days, people of Jewish faith will celebrate the “festival of lights.” “Hannuka” reaffirms the ideals of Judaism and the “dedication” of the temple of Jerusalem, in the second century before Jesus Christ. It is customary to place candles and illuminate the nine branches of the traditional candelabra.

It might be expected that during this holiday, Israel would suspend bombing in Gaza as a gesture of commiseration: but no indication has been given in that regard, and it is to be imagined that the deaths of Palestinian civilians, refugees in the south of the enclave, will continue to occur.

Jews express their happiness for the arrival of “Hannuka” with symbolic songs for this holiday, while exchanging gifts. Maintaining traditions represents the strength of Jewish beliefs and culture. Of course, the horrors of the Gaza war will have no place in this scenario.

In the midst of the atrocities that Israeli forces continue to commit in Gaza, at least the condemnatory voice of some of the leaders who do not close their mouths in judging the Jewish state has emerged. The President of Turkey, Racip Erdogan, stated this Monday during a meeting of the Islamic Organization of Cooperation (OIC) that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “will end up being tried as a war criminal; in the same way that he was tried and convicted in The Hague, for genocide, by the Serbian, Slobodan Milosevic.

“Those who accept the death of so many innocents, using the excuse of Hamas, have nothing to say to humanity,” Erdogan added in his speech, later pointing out that he was referring to the Western powers “that appear deaf and blind.” The Turkish president also praised the position of Antonio Guterres, regretting that “his speech has been sabotaged by the members of the Security Council.”

The bombings on the south of the Palestinian enclave have been growing in intensity in recent days, without completely ceasing in the northern part, despite the fact that spokesmen for the Israeli army have declared that the objectives in the capital of Gaza have been almost met. In its whole.

Of the six existing hospitals in the capital of the enclave, only one of them, Kamal Adwan, remains operational, although with great difficulties in treating the hundreds of wounded that accumulate in its facilities.

At least a hundred Palestinian civilians would have died in the air attacks against the vicinity of the aforementioned hospital, in the opinion of the medical group that works inside.

This year, Bethlehem will not celebrate Christian Christmas, in solidarity with the population of Gaza. The nativity scene has been placed, but it is very different from other times: The baby Jesus appears wrapped in a traditional Palestinian scarf and is placed in the middle of a mass of stones that symbolize the bombings on Gaza. The rubble surrounding El Niño has been moved from the Jabaliah refugee camp, destroyed by bombs dropped by Israeli aviation.