Around 58 people were tragically killed in the event, with series of tear gas, tanks, and gunshots. The horrific massacre resulted in more than 2700 injuries and possibly more dead that have not been found.
The protesters were protesting against their outrage of the new Trump administration’s controversial relocation of the Embassy from Tel Aviv, which was favored by the Israeli government but not by Palestinians and America’s Arab allies. The Israeli government took it into their hands to open fire, near the border, and commit the horrible murder of those 58 people, the biggest number of fatalities to occur in one day since the demonstration of the Palestinians had started.
Israeli Forces attributed their attack to a counterattack of a Palestinian militant group who were possibly conducting terrorist attacks, which was not proven to be true. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the military’s actions, tweeting Monday evening that “every country has the duty to defend its borders.” Another Israeli government official defended the tragedy by stating that the actions taken by the forces allowed for a prevention of a breach on Israeli borders. Their accusation and statements only goes to emphasize their fault in the recent events.
The events were all as a result of the recent opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, which has been a long time coming according to Trump. He has just recently begun to recognize Jerusalem, the holy city, as the capital of Israel. However, this was deemed controversial since the international community does not officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel since it is claimed by both Palestinians and Israelis. That is why many embassies were kept within Tel Aviv to allow for neutrality. The move could lead to a disallowance of the reduction of tensions between Palestinians and Israelis, since it would be difficult for the US to mediate peace talks in Jerusalem.
Some have argued that Trump keeping his promise of moving the embassy has permitted him to forever be remembered as the president who kept his word. Other presidents, like George W. Bush and Bill Clinton had also pledged to move the embassy, but never fell through with it. “He will be remembered for thousands of years for his act of courage to treat Israel like we already treat other nations,” said Pastor John Hagee on Fox News. It seems to be a topic that is opposed by half, and favored by half by Americans. Trump’s bravery in acting on it must be taken into consideration.
However, the move still led to one of the worst days in Israel and Palestinian history. The US could also appears just as guilty as Israel is since they have been enabling Israel with billions of dollars for a long time to commit human fight crimes. It was the worst day, and the future does not look too hopeful for Palestinians. I stand in solidarity with them right now, in memory of those that died. I stand in solidarity and hope the world will too.
