By GEORGE HAWKINSON
Snohomish resident
I was 10 years old during the spring and summer of 1945. The horrible Second World War that had taken the lives of tens of millions, mostly innocent civilian bystanders was finally coming to an end. Everyone, young and old, was on board to totally annihilate and totally disarm the despicable enemy who initially created the mayhem on Dec. 7, 1941; a date that would go down in infamy as President Roosevelt so eloquently stated. There had been no declaration of war by our adversary. Instead, a sneaky and cowardly surprise attack.
After we destroyed the Japanese stronghold on Okinawa, many had hoped the enemy would surrender before the battlefield shifted to the mainland of Japan, where tens of thousands of civilians were in line to be needlessly slaughtered.
But that was not to be. So we firebombed Tokyo and Osaka, hoping the Japanese would see the futility of extending the devastation. But still no surrender flag. So after ample warning, we dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands of more innocent civilians and still no white flag. So a few days later we dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing thousands more. Finally the Japanese Emperor and High Command decided to put the protection and human rights of their own civilian population before their own vanity and pride. And so the horrible war came to an end.
During the summer of 1945, it would be unheard of for students on college campuses or pacifists to be protesting our country’s right and obligation to totally destroy the war machine that had so unmercifully caused the death and mutilation of so many millions of people.
We have a similar situation going on in Israel right now. Most adults who know even a little bit about history support the Jews and their protection of their little sliver of land completely surrounded by an adversary who will never be satisfied with a peace agreement, only the complete destruction of Israel and its tiny population.
I strongly suggest that our colleges and universities immediately begin to teach and enlighten their students about the history of Israel, especially since the Belfour Declaration in 1918, Israel’s statehood in 1948 and the second World War, where over 6 million innocent Jewish civilians young and old were starved and murdered in the gas chambers. If these students knew history, they would be protesting vehemently against Hamas, Hezbollah and warmongering Iran.
The proud and arrogant terrorists of Hamas have no concern for their own civilian population, upon which they have brought so much death and destruction. They cowardly hide behind civilians and build their fortifications in or under schools and hospitals. All the protest marches and rallies by our uninformed college students to end the unwinnable war against Israel should be directed against Hamas and their allies, namely Hezbollah and Iran.
