By Daniel Nardini

A six-year old boy was murdered and his mother injured because they are Muslim. Marches, rallies and demonstrations are being held just about everywhere in Illinois because of Israel’s war against Hamas. On October 7th, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. The Hamas fighters killed, maimed, raped, and mass-murdered for the most part innocent unarmed civilians; both Jewish and Arab. This has prompted retaliation by Israel. Whatever the grievances of Palestinian Arabs of how the Israeli government has treated them in the past, there can never be a justification for this attack by Hamas. As the Middle East is fast becoming more embroiled in another bloody war, the hate and animosity that both sides are feeling in that part of the world has come to the United States and to Illinois.

Whatever the conflict is taking place over there, I must point out that the people here have nothing to do with it. It does not matter whether we are Jewish or Arab, we are all in the United States and in Illinois—thousands of miles away from what is happening. The war is not happening here. Hamas fighters did not attack and kill and butcher unarmed people here. Israeli tanks are not amassing along the borders of Illinois. Thousands of innocent people on both sides are not being killed here. Unfortunately here, innocent Jewish people as well as innocent Arabs are being attacked and in one case killed because of what they are by people filled with nothing but hate and prejudice. The hate from another part of the world has poisoned so many peoples’ souls here. What happened to that poor innocent boy is a criminal matter that must be handled by the police; not the national guard or the army. For those who support Hamas and their actions, these calls for hate and revenge should not be allowed to touch our shores.

My readers are in Illinois; in the United States of America. No matter what our backgrounds may be, or where we or our ancestry may have come from, we are Americans. We have to learn to live in peace with ourselves first and foremost. If we cannot always like each other, can we at least live with each other? Do we want to recreate the same conflict that is happening in the Middle East here in Illinois? We already have more than enough hate and racial and religious prejudice here in Illinois against Jews, against Arabs, against Muslims, against Blacks, against Latinos, against Asians, against gays and lesbians, and against people of mixed racial ancestry. We as Americans should deal with helping people who are suffering here in our own communities, our own state, and our own country. Perhaps, if Jews and Palestinian Arabs can get along here, it might help with what is happening now in the Middle East.