With tensions in the Israel-Hamas conflict growing by the day, are we nearing full-on World War 3?
Top News Today :
When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the earth appeared to come to a devastating standstill. According to reports from Israel, more than 1,400 Israelis were killed on that day during the attack, and at least 199 others (including children) were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza. However, at least 2,750 Palestinians were killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since the initial attack.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the world in a somber statement.
Almost immediately following the attack, sides were taken and lines began to be drawn. The United States raced to denounce the attack and defend Israel as its ally. However, Middle Eastern nations were quick to point out that the Israel-Hamas attack was retribution for years of suppression from Israel. In fact, Hamas called the operation “Al-Aqsa Storm” and said it was in response to Israeli attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and the ongoing siege of Gaza.
World reaction was swift.
The US rushed Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to the region, along with military assistance in the form of tanks and other war armor. This helped Israel to launch an obliterating response.
“We stand with Israel as it defends itself,” Blinken said on social media. “The United States is also actively working to ensure the people of Gaza can get out of harm’s way and the assistance they need − food, water, medicine − can get in. Hamas does not care if Palestinians suffer.”
President Biden announced he will travel to Israel on Wednesday as a show of support.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Israel-Hamas conflict by speaking with leaders from the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Iran, and Egypt.
In a statement on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said unequivocally that his nation won’t stop until it destroys Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities.
“The Prime Minister made it clear that Israel was attacked by vile and cruel murderers, went to war determined and united, and will not stop until it destroys the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas,” the statement read.
Now that conditions in Gaza have deteriorated to dangerous levels, with serious shortages of clean water and food and tens of thousands of Palestinians attempting to flee crippling airstrikes and an Israeli ground offensive, the United Nations is declaring armageddon.
“We are on the verge of the abyss in the Middle East,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a statement Sunday.
The entire world is now taking sides in the Israel-Hamas war and, on a larger level, a conflict that has been nearly a hundred years in the making.
Granted, world nations are choosing to align themselves with either Israel or the Middle East (as a whole). However, the “taking of sides” is also happening on social media and in everyday life.
NBA superstar LeBron James and his business partner, Maverick Carter, issued a statement denouncing the Israel-Hamas conflict and said “the devastation in Israel” was “tragic and unacceptable.”
“The murder and violence against innocent people by Hamas is terrorism,” James and Carter said. “The SpringHill Company family extends our deepest condolences to Israel and the Jewish community. We pray for peace in the region and reiterate our continued commitment to fight hate in all its forms. We all must work to ensure this tragedy does not spread even more hate, racism, and antisemitism.”
Although his words were likely well intended, James was met with instant backlash.
“What about the kids on the Gaza strip that wear your jersey, play ball because of you and look up to you?” a Twitter/X user commented on his post. “Aren’t they not children being oppressed and murdered too?”
“come on man don’t be one-eyed about the situation, go do your research brother,” tweeted another.
“As a man who claims to have recently read the autobiography of Malcolm x and produced a film on Muhammad Ali, this is utterly disgraceful,” an Instagram user responded. “Google the stances of those honorable men on the Israeli occupation of Palestine and reconsider this post that your agent probably wrote for you.”
A Los Angeles Lakers fan account had this to say:
“You may not be with Palestine but Allah will always be, we will not back down until we are finally free #FreePalestine,” the account tweeted.
Additionally, leaders of Black social-awareness groups in education, entertainment, and more have been inundated with calls and messages from their Jewish colleagues demanding that because they backed Black Americans during the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter conflicts of 2020, it’s payback time. Or, in other words, ‘put out a statement in support of Israel now or we will cut ties.’
The current attacks against Gaza with US weapons may satisfy some Israeli emotions, but it won’t solve anything. Middle East forces will simply launch some other future attack as their idea of retribution for this one — and we’ll continue an unending and deadly game of “tit-for-tat.”
The bad news is that with lines being drawn and announcements of allegiance being forced, the world may soon find itself drawn into this Israel-Hamas conflict on a level deeper than anyone could have ever imagined. It’s already happening with world nations. It’s also already occurring on social media, in neighborhoods, schools, and more.
And, that’s when World War 3 could begin.
OK WASSUP! discusses the Top News Today:
Will the Israel-Hamas conflict become World War 3?
NBC: Researchers sifting through social media content about the Israel-Hamas conflict say it’s getting harder to verify information and track the spread of misleading material, adding to the digital fog of war. As misinformation and violent content surrounding the war proliferate online, social media companies’ pullbacks in moderation and other policy shifts have made it “close to impossible” to do the work researchers were able to do less than a year ago, said Rebekah Tromble, the director of George Washington University’s Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics. “It has become much more difficult for researchers to collect and analyze meaningful data to understand what’s actually happening on any of these platforms,” she said. Much attention has focused on X, formerly known as Twitter, which has made significant changes since Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion late last year. In the days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, researchers flagged dozens… Read more »