In reading yesterday's article regarding the UF student reaction to the conflict in Gaza, I felt that Naomi Fireman's comments were extremely insensitive to the plight that the Palestinian people now face.
She claimed that the attacks were not meant to hurt civilians, but can she explain how three UN schools - used primarily by civilians - were "accidentally" bombed, killing more than 40 civilians? How about the hospitals that have been bombed with patients in them recovering from the same Israeli onslaught that put them there in the first place? Or maybe the Israeli army didn't mean to kill any civilians when they bombed a mosque with noncombatants praying inside?
Fireman also mentioned her cousins who are not allowed to play soccer because of intermittent Hamas rocket fire, which rarely hits anything except the dirt in Israeli-occupied territory north of the Gaza Strip. Although I sympathize with her cousins not being able to play soccer, everyone needs to take a good look at the Gaza Strip, where at least 100 members of my family can't leave their homes even to buy food and Palestinians risk death staying in hospitals to recover from their Israeli-inflicted wounds.
How is Israel defending itself by arbitrarily bombing houses, hospitals and schools left and right?
It is in everyone's best interest for the fighting to stop immediately - not for Israel to hide behind its claims of self-defense in making Palestinian lives a living hell.
