Protest War and Its Destruction, Instead of Choosing Sides

The Archangels Talk about the Loss of Innocent Lives

I severely limit my exposure to the news for two reasons.  First, I don’t consider news outlets reliable anymore, and second, listening to, reading, and seeing the news threatens my peace of mind, which I guard carefully.

Still, I read the headlines – rarely the articles – just to keep up with current events.  Lately, I’ve found even the headlines to be very upsetting, specifically the cancelling of VISAs of college students who protested – as far as I know, peacefully – in protests that were pro-Palestinian and wrote editorials of the same nature.  They’ve been labeled as anti-Jewish, which I’m also against, but are they? 

Just because you protest the treatment of the people in Gaza doesn’t mean you’re anti-Jew, does it?  I’m not anti-anyone, but I think the deaths in Gaza, over 50,000 people, including innocent civilians, including children, is unacceptable. Having said that, I also think Hamas’ kidnapping and murdering of innocent Jewish kids was unacceptable, but as my dad used to say, two wrongs don’t make a right.  Cutting off food, water, and medical supplies to those families who live there is also acceptable, as far as I’m concerned.

Regarding the revoking of VISAs, I find this troubling for a couple of reasons.  First, the government has said that being issued a student VISA is a privilege, not a right, and while that’s true, as long as they were protesting peacefully, they weren’t breaking any laws and haven’t been charged with anything, so why shouldn’t they be allowed to voice their views, also?  Secondly, they were immediately flown out of their state and home to, I believe, Louisiana, which tends to support and indulge the current administration’s agenda more than the states in which they lived, and I don’t think that’s right, either.  You shouldn’t be able to pick and choose the court and judge that hears a case, and you shouldn’t be able to remove people from their homes.  One of the students arrested is married to a US citizen who is eight months pregnant.  I asked the Archangels to comment on the situation, not in terms of who is right and who is wrong, but regarding choosing sides in a war.  The following is their response. 

Question:  Can you please address this idea that there is a right side and a wrong side when it comes to conflicts, including war?  I’m thinking of the college students who are here on VISAs, who have been arrested for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and in writing.

Answer: 

This is a multifaceted injustice and simplifying it to suggest that if you support one group, you are against another is an injustice on many levels.  The conflict between Israel and Palestine goes back many generations, and there is nothing simple about it.  People who are descendants of either side but have never lived in that area and dealt with the oppression and hostility on both sides cannot begin to fathom the intricacies or the history involved, so they are quick to designate a right side and a wrong side based on incomplete knowledge and experience.  When you are not directly involved, it should be easier to consider both sides, but that has not always been the case.  Personal and generational biases are often in place.

The situation is not as simple as terrorists kidnapping youth and the right to protect and defend a country and its people.  There are many innocent victims on both sides, including the kidnapped victims from Israel who were innocent of any wrong doing, and the thousands of innocent civilians, including children from Palestine who were killed in retaliation, who had nothing to do with the kidnappings.  The innocent victims from both sides were harmed and killed in order for political statements to be made and no other reason.  None of them deserved to suffer and die.

The people who are to blame for this war and the continued violence are not the ones being killed or suffering for the most part.  The victims had nothing to do with the planning or implementing of these decisions that led to so much harm.  Who among the children on either side of the conflict deserved to suffer and die?  What had they done that could possibly justify their destruction?  Children are innocent and should be protected, regardless of where they live or what their ancestors have done.

To wish to protect and defend the innocent is a worthy practice and goal, but to destroy more innocent people to accomplish this goal negates its element of justice.  Taking exception to the actions of others, then performing similar violent, unjustified acts against them does not equal justice.  It makes both sides equally wrong.  It does not matter who acted first or last.  It is simply a tragic loss of innocent lives, and it is unacceptable.

Those who protest the Gaza war fall into at least two categories.  The first involves protesting the loss of innocent lives and the demand that it be stopped.  This does not require choosing, favoring, or condemning either side of the war.  It is a call not for retaliation, but for assistance and respite for those innocent people who are suffering for the actions and choices of others. 

Then, there are those who protest the treatment of others, innocents though they are, and demand revenge or retaliation against still others.  They wish to see and add to the violence.  They blame more innocent people who had nothing to do with the deaths of the innocents and often persecute them, even though they did not contribute to the violence.  There are people like this representing both sides, and they are all wrong. 

You cannot put an end to violence with more violence.  If one side is mightier than the other, perhaps they can shut them and their actions down for a time, but eventually, they will rebuild their armies and feed their hatred until another conflict breaks out.  This is not a sustainable solution, which has been proven again and again.  If it was sustainable, there would be no more wars. 

Until the needs of all the people involved are taken into consideration and lasting solutions are found that satisfy both sides overall, war will continue to reassert itself, and innocent people will continue to suffer and be killed, while the people behind the scenes continue to feed their coffers, their egos, and build their personal power.  Most of them will escape the death and destruction they are responsible for, yet they will leave much of it in their wake.

We tell you that the energy in the fifth dimension does not support this process of war, but until the masses unite and refuse and condemn it, it will likely continue, and those who promote it will continue to prosper, while more innocent lives are lost.  It does not have to be this way.  Stand together, and demand better.

Choosing sides in a war is neither necessary nor helpful.  Instead, choose the side of the innocent on both parts. Protect the civilians, especially the children, on both sides.  Reject the violence and harm being done to both sides.  Find a better way and a permanent solution.

Humanitarian aid should be implemented, indeed demanded, for all sides of a conflict.  Basic necessities, such as food, water, shelter, and medical supplies and treatment, should always be given to all who need it, because all human beings should be treated with care and dignity, no matter where they come from.

If you must vent your anger on someone, give it to those who are directly responsible for the violence being done to innocent people and who make them suffer.  Hold them accountable, instead of blaming others whose only crime is being born in a particular place or who have ancestors from a particular region.  Why should children suffer for the sins of others?  They should not.

One last thing we will say is that advocating for those who are suffering does not automatically indicate either the choosing of a particular side or supporting terrorism.  In truth, there are acts of terrorism on both sides of this conflict and being for or against the side that was attacked first does not excuse the murder of more innocent victims.  Advocating for human assistance does not make one a radical.  On the contrary.  Again, humanitarian aid should be made available to all people on all sides of a conflict, and the lives of innocent people should never be forfeited to appease or avenge others. 

Do you realize there are protests against the governments of both sides of this conflict by their own people?  They are choosing the sides of the innocent who are suffering for atrocities they did not commit, rather than siding and remaining compliant and supportive of their own leaders.  They protest for peace and an end to all the human suffering, rather than supporting what their politicians are doing.  There is much to be learned from this.  They see the wrong on both sides and the costly prices being paid that continue more suffering. 

It is not always about choosing sides and trying to justify behavior.  Sometimes, it is and should be about defending the innocent, regardless of which side of an imaginary boundary they reside.  This is the way of the future, the way forward.

Final Thoughts

We need to evolve and begin to think of some of these issues from another angle.  Instead of choosing sides in a conflict, be it a war or an argument between people, maybe we need to offer compassion and try to understand both sides without endorsing one and convicting the other.  Above that, we should be supporting all innocent victims, regardless of which side they represent.  How many of those 50,000 people who have been killed in Gaza were involved in the kidnapping of those innocent Jews?  How many victims were themselves innocent?  Why should they have to pay a price for something in which they played no part?  Collateral damage?  That’s a hell of a price to pay. 

Instead of protesting one side or another, let’s just protest war in general, especially when innocent people are being hurt on both sides.  Instead of an outcry against one side or the other, why not an outcry in support of all innocent victims on both sides?  People in Israel are complaining about the inhumane treatment of those in Gaza, and people in Gaza are protesting against Hamas.  Maybe we can learn something from them.

Lastly, I don’t have all the information about the students who were arrested, whose VISAs are being revoked.  If they acted violently or encouraged violence against others, I agree there could be a problem, but if they simply supported people who were suffering or disagreed with supporting a government who was responsible for the deaths of innocent people, I don’t see that in the same light.  To my mind, there’s a big difference between advocating for those who are suffering and protesting their treatment than there is in condemning everyone with ties to a particular side of the conflict and calling for actions that could result in yet more innocent people being threatened.

These people are students, here legally.  Why shouldn’t they be allowed to peacefully protest in a country which supposedly supports the right to free speech and peaceful demonstrations?  And this is what really keeps me up at night; how long before American citizens are arrested for committing the same “crimes” and denied the rights that are supposed to be guaranteed.  Actions have already been taken against universities for allowing peaceful demonstrations, and companies, including law firms, are already being threatened for hiring people and taking on certain cases that disagree with the current administration.  They want everyone who ever went up against the current administration to be blackballed and punished, including those who were just doing their jobs, assigned by others.  This is a concern.

This is my second article with political undertones I’ve written since the election, and I swore I was done with political articles, but damn, there are things happening that are hitting a little too close to home for me.  If the current administration ever reads the articles I wrote before the election, I could conceivably be targeted if they figure out a way to target American citizens who voice opposing viewpoints.  After all, the law firms being targeted for hiring American citizens for their opposing viewpoints already suggest that trend.  Scary times.

My friend, Ted Czukor, wrote an intriguing article recently reflecting on some of this stuff, called Too Late to Take it Back.  It really made me think.  Ted suggested that between social media and the internet, whatever you post is on permanent record.  It’s an article worth reading if you’re so inclined.

Meanwhile, I’m going to continue avoiding most of the media, but I am going to try to keep track of what happens to the students whose VISAs were revokes and were sent across the country to judges who are more willing to indulge the current administration’s pursuits.  I hope they’re returned to the places where they were arrested and get a chance to defend themselves, because the plan is to ship them off before they get that chance.  Good luck to them.

Before I start getting angry comments from conservatives, I just want to point out that this article is not meant to pick sides or condemn anyone.  The Angels never choose sides, and I’m trying to be as charitable as I can regarding what’s been happening, acknowledging that I don’t have all the facts.  Maybe there’s a good reason for some of the stuff that’s happening, but if it’s a case of students supporting innocent victims of war, that’s a weak argument at best, if you ask me. 

Blessings, all.