{"id":458,"date":"2023-10-10T19:23:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T19:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/?p=458"},"modified":"2023-10-10T21:35:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T21:35:09","slug":"editorial-rep-tim-hernandez-shouldnt-stay-silent-on-the-murder-rape-and-torture-of-innocent-israelis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.seyyahizcilik.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/10\/editorial-rep-tim-hernandez-shouldnt-stay-silent-on-the-murder-rape-and-torture-of-innocent-israelis\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial: Rep. Tim Hern\u00e1ndez shouldn\u2019t stay silent on the murder, rape and torture of innocent Israelis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newly appointed Colorado state Rep. Tim Hern\u00e1ndez clarified that he was rallying for support of Palestinians<\/a> and not for Hamas on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol only a day after Hamas militants murdered, raped, and kidnapped hundreds of innocent Israelis near the Gaza border.<\/p>\n

While we appreciate the clarification, and while we also pray for the hundreds of innocent Palestinians who were killed in recent days as casualties of the war sparked by Hamas, we cannot help but note what Hern\u00e1ndez has refused to do \u2013 condemn Hamas\u2019 terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI condemn war for any loss at all,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez wrote in a prepared statement responding to both accusations that he was tacitly endorsing violence by his presence at the rally, and to a video recording a conversation he had with a counter-protester where he appeared to refuse to condemn the violence. \u201cWar threatens the dignity of life for citizens in all of Gaza, in all of Israel, and across the Earth, and I hope one day soon we may build a world free from war entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallying with violence and terrorism and acts of pure evil by mincing his words makes us realize that Hern\u00e1ndez considers this an abstract exercise in political gamesmanship \u2013 perhaps the type of contrarian debate a freshman philosophy major would engage in during class as an exercise, not the real-world response needed in the face of beheadings and torture.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez has played this game before \u2013 albeit on a much smaller scale of importance \u2014 refusing to condemn the actions of some bad actors during the Black Lives Matter protests who vandalized buildings in downtown Denver and Aurora. He told 9News when asked about whether he thinks violence is necessary that he personally isn\u2019t a violent person but that he wasn\u2019t \u201chere to police protest<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now he says \u201cI\u2019m against attacking innocent people\u201d but refuses to say that Hamas doing just that over the weekend is wrong.<\/p>\n

As a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, appointed by a few members of a committee to fill a vacancy<\/a>, his words and actions carry the weight of his constituents.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez has clearly decided somewhere in his life that ugly means justify righteous ends. In this case, Hern\u00e1ndez is going so far as to stay silent on terrorism because it is a means of smashing the apartheid state that exists in Israel and Gaza for Palestinians.<\/p>\n

We also support an end to the cruel conditions and inhumane treatment Israel has imposed on Palestinians. But to be clear Hamas is not seeking a political end to restrictions on travel and dependence on aid. Hamas \u2013 as a matter of policy \u2013 refuses to accept Israel\u2019s right to exist and is seeking the destruction of the country and the claim of holy lands. Hamas leaders have refused peace talks in its call for Israel\u2019s destruction. Israel must defend itself from such attacks and protect its innocent civilians simply trying to exist in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The actions of Hamas fighters and leaders in recent days are so clearly evil, so hate-filled and so ignorant that basic human decency requires their condemnation.<\/p>\n

Had Hern\u00e1ndez unequivocally said these things during the pro-Palestinian protest this week, we would not have been spurred to single him out for such derision, although we find such judgment questionable.<\/p>\n