January 14 marked 100 days since over 200 Israelis were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists just over the border of the Gaza strip. 130 of those hostages are still held in Gaza. While little has been disclosed publicly about the conditions of their current captivity, we know that those still held include children, women, and men of multiple nationalities, among which are at least 6 American dual nationals. The hostages who have been released have reported gruesome details of captivity, including especially horrifically, the rape, dismemberment and torture of women. The attacks of October 7 not only started the current war, but both the attacks and the brutalization of the hostages continue to this day.
What would Americans - including college students - say if the tables were turned? What would we think if, for example, those celebrating life in a Coachella music festival were invaded by marauders from across the border in Baja California, dragged (some by their hair and many on video) across the border where they were raped, dismembered and brutalized - some in front of their children and other family members? What if they were still held in underground tunnels with barely enough food or water to stay alive? Would we be celebrating the drug cartel bandits who captured and continue to hold them 100 days later? Would we be arguing the case of the oppressed in Baja who were, after all, only reclaiming the land that once belonged to them and uprooting the colonialists who now dare to engage in a celebration of life on “their” land?
It is crucially important to remember history - especially recent history that gives rise to ongoing brutality. It is possible to decry the current killing of innocent Gazans and at the same time, remember the unspeakable, continuing brutality that motivated it. It is hard to imagine any people; American, Russian, Swiss or Swedish, who would not want to bring home their hostages still underground, still being tortured, 3 miles from their border.