Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

I was recently downtown when I noticed a huge mob of people congregating in front of the ROM on Bloor St. There were barriers set up and riot police everywhere; the tension was high and the excitement of a fever pitch. Then I realized what I was passing by; a giant pro-Palestinian demonstration. 

I had never really been to any real demonstration before, and so this was a first for me. People were shouting, pushing and shoving against the line of policemen holding back the mob from the small group of protesters waving Israeli flags. Cries of "Shame, shame, Israel" and "Shame, shame USA" filled the air. I realized then that the majority of the protesters were of middle-eastern descent, many of them Palestinian (I think). I also noted among this huge mob many locals supporting the Free Palestine movement. It seemed that the small group of Israelis were about to be overwhelmed if not for the line of police separating the two groups. I certainly feared for their, and our lives as the giant mob began to move towards us.

It is clear to me that the popular opinion in this topic of debate is to side with oppressed, weak, Palestine and the inhabitants of the Gaza strip, but I must consciously remind myself that taking sides without learning of the issue is no good at all. Indeed, I was trying hard not to pick up a poster with pictures of dead children on them, knowing that often the information given by one side or the other isn't completely true. Who really fired the first shot? Who are the real terrorists? Which side refuses to back down when what we need most now is a period of peace and reconciliation in the middle east?

I am still in the process of discovering the answers to these questions myself, and until then I shall remain neutral in this conflict. From what I can see, both Israel and Hamas have committed grave crimes in this conflict, and I doubt anyone will disagree when I say that more allegations of human rights violations are soon to be tabled in the political conflict that exists alongside the fighting and death.

I do hope Israel finds another way to defend itself without the extensive collateral damage that has become synonymous with the Israeli attacks. I wish to see no more pictures of soot-covered bodies.

kamster