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Most recent Gallup polling in March shows that 36% of Americans “approve of Israeli military action in Gaza” and 50% disapprove. Last November, a month after the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel that claimed the lives of more than 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians, 55% approved of the military action that Israel initiated.

What has happened over the last few months that now barely more than a third of Americans support the clear case of the right of Israel to defend its country? We might also ask why only 55% last November supported Israel’s military action to defend itself.

Let’s again recall that Americans were strongly united to condemn and retaliate against the horror of the terrorist attack against our own country on Sept. 11, 2001, that took the lives of almost 3,000 American citizens.

The 1,200 Israeli victims of terror, in that tiny country of some 9.5 million, equates to more than 40,000 in our country of over 330 million.

Why is it not equally clear that Israel must defend itself as we must defend our homeland?

Per Brown University’s Costs of War project, total casualties in Afghanistan, and subsequently in Iraq, as a result of U.S. retaliatory military action in the war against terror, amounted to 177,000, some six times greater than casualties reported in Gaza.

We must also note, again, that we’re not just talking about murder, regarding the 1,200 Israelis that were killed.

We’re talking about subhuman brutality, documented in video, in which rape, beheadings and desecration of bodies occurred. The Hamas terrorists celebrated

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with joy every Israeli murder and atrocity.

Hamas has long been recognized by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.

Why are Americans not united in condemning the sickening murder and brutality of the Hamas terrorists, demanding the release of the now estimated 130 hostages they still hold, which include six U.S. citizens?

How could our country abstain in the recent United Nations Security Council vote demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, with no condemnation of Hamas terrorism and with no demand of unilateral release by Hamas of the hostages they hold?

What is the disconnect that can explain the absence of uniform support among Americans for clear-cut action by Israel to defend itself against brutal terrorists, committed to the destruction of its state and homeland?

Freedom House is a nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based organization that issues an annual report of the state of freedom around the world.

Freedom House, in this annual report, grades countries worldwide regarding the extent to which they are free. Per Freedom House’s methodology, each country is graded on a scale of 1-100, based on political rights and civil liberties in that country.

In the Middle East region, there is only one country that Freedom House scores as free — Israel.

Out of a possible 100, Israel scores 74. For perspective, the United States has a score of 83.

Looking at the Middle East neighborhood where Israel exists, we see it standing alone as free in a sea of unfree countries.

Freedom House scores for Israel’s neighbors: Jordan 33, Egypt 18, Lebanon 42, Syria 1, Iraq 30, Saudi Arabia 8.

Why does the clear lack of freedom across the Middle East not seem to bother anyone while the only free country in the region elicits protests and condemnation? Why, 76 years after Israel’s founding, and its miraculous emergence as a modern thriving nation — a world center of innovation and technology, boasting 13 Nobel prize winners — do many still reject its right to exist?

Amid this craziness, let’s recall, again, that Israel is the only Jewish country in the world.

There are 49 countries with majority Muslim populations.

There are 15 million Jews in the world and 1.8 billion Muslims.

Yet, worldwide, there remains antipathy to this lone, tiny yet successfulway- beyond-its-size Jewish country.

Something is wrong. Very wrong.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators. com. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS. COM