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An American mom, 67, spent her life advocating for Palestinian rights. Then, Hamas came for her. (www.usatoday.com)

submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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They exchanged text messages and emojis. Brief status updates with words of encouragement. A picture of the beloved family dog "Tutsi."

Until no more messages came.

And then, Cindy Flash, an American, and her Israeli husband Igal vanished into the violence, presumed kidnapped by Hamas.

Four days after Hamas attacked Israel, more than 100 Israelis and potentially dozens of foreign nationals are thought to be held captive in the Gaza Strip. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been killed and an unknown number are still unaccounted for.

Flash, 67, originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of them. She lives in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel near Gaza, where some of the most harrowing and grisly stories have been emerging during the last few days.

"They are breaking down the safe room door," Flash said in one of her final messages to her daughter Keren, 34. "We need someone to come by the house right now." She had been communicating with her parents from a few houses away.

Keren described her mother, who worked as an administrator in a local college, as someone who had the "sweetest biggest heart," who everyone knew and loved, and who had spent a lifetime advocating for the rights of Palestinians, including those who live in Gaza where she may now be held.

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[-] avater@lemmy.world 208 points 9 months ago

Hamas ≢ Palestine

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[-] TinyPizza@kbin.social 130 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

This seems more like an example of wrong place wrong time because nowhere in the article does it state that they were specifically targeted. What it does say is that they lived right next to the fence ~~and that they and their neighbors both had safe rooms. To me, when you (and your neighbors) feel the need to build a fortified room to protect yourselves during a potential attack that says~~ this area is potentially very dangerous.

Also, stop conflating the Palestinian people with Hamas. Not all Russians are committing war crimes in Ukraine. Not all Americans stormed the US capital on J6. Not all Saudis were on planes on 9/11. We do not need to further dehumanize ANY of the people who are now suffering through this now and the MANY who are continuing to have suffering brought upon them.

Nobody can excuse attacks on civilian populations for revenge. This goes both ways. And whether or not this poor sweet lady and her husband are still alive, I'm sure she would be equally abhorred that her life's work is being used as an excuse to undo the very thing she worked towards.

Edit: I've been informed all homes in Israel must have safe rooms by law.

[-] a_new_sad_me@lemmy.world 91 points 9 months ago

Israeli here:

Every house in Israel has to have a safe room by law
The place where she lived was close to the border but completely within Israel. It wasn't a settlement at all.
Most kibbutzim in Israel are known to be centre-left. This is well-known to anyone who even vaguely follow the Israeli media (and Hammas follow)

Hammasb (not the Palestiniens, Hammas) knew exactly who they murder. There is no excuse to wash their hand.

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[-] donuts@kbin.social 54 points 9 months ago

nowhere in the article does it state that they were specifically targeted.

Basically nobody was specifically targeted. Hamas simply flooded in and started raping, murdering, destroying and taking hostages indiscriminately. People from various countries and religions, old women, children and babies, even pro-Palestinians advocates like these people. It was straight up terrorist madness, and now innocent people in Palestine are suffering as a result. A textbook cycle of violence.

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[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 108 points 9 months ago

I really don't understand why people decided to live in these kibbutz right next to the Gaza border and never realize that this might happen.

It's like sitting right on the very edge of the shoulder of a very busy highway. Eventually you will be hit by a fast moving car.

It's disputed territory with the potential of becoming a war zone at any moment and people decided to buy expensive real estate and build beautiful homes next to impoverished people that have nothing.

And we should be surprised that this happened?

What the Palestinians did was terrible ... but we should all be reading the headlines with a lot of history and context. None of it is justified by any side ... but at the same time, none of it is a surprise.

[-] ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 9 months ago

Seoul is 11 km from the North Korean border. People just assume things won't go wrong until they do.

[-] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago

Moving a city is quite the feat compared to just not building houses blocks from a military DMZ

[-] donuts@kbin.social 16 points 9 months ago

If you're a lifelong Palestinian advocate, as this women was, it makes a lot of sense to live near the Gaza border.

What doesn't make much sense is someone like her being killed by an indiscriminate Hamas terrorist attack...

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[-] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 15 points 9 months ago

It's not like you have a lot of options in a small country.

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[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 35 points 9 months ago

wow. this is the best comment I have seen on it. I feel sorta similar. Whats been done is just monsterous but man the situation is so ridiculous and I wish the US and the rest of the world had done many different things post ww2.

[-] donuts@kbin.social 20 points 9 months ago

It's a common misconception that Israel and Palestine were created post WW2 but the roots go all the way back to turn of the 20th century. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_for_Palestine

People like to blame America for all things, but this region has been under conflict and conquest for literally thousands of years. It was controlled at points by Egypt, Babylon, Assyrians and Persia, In biblical times it was essentially tribal (Israelites, canaanites, samaratins, philistines who were in conflict with israelites...) until the Roman Empire took over. Then Rome broke up into two and it become part of the (Eastern Roman) Byzantine Empire, then after Muhammad's death it was conquered by the Muslim Caliphate, then taken under control of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Religiously it has been Jewish, Christian and Muslim and I think has historical significance to all 3. I'm sure I've left a bunch of stuff out because I'm no historian.

It's one of the most complicated and protracted conflicts in history, and the people who want to make this out to be simple are either plain dumb or have some kind of alterior motive.

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[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago

WWII will continue to shape the history of the world for generations to come.

[-] flossdaily@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Israel is TINY. EVERYTHING is near a border with one of their hostile neighbors.

[-] wolfylow@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago

Man, if I could upvote this comment more than once I would.

Expresses my sentiments exactly.

I visited Israel years ago - shortly after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin - and remember coming across a class (girls, around 7-8 years old) out on a school trip … and they had 3 guys carrying assault rifles to protect them. And I remember thinking: “whatever it is you’re fighting for … isn’t worth it if you have to live like this”

And sadly I think it’s only got worse since that time.

[-] Aceticon@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Yesterday on TV over here, they showed a satellite picture of an area of Hamas' incursion across the border were you can see both sides of the border line and the border itself.

And the commentator said: "Here you can see the destruction caused by the attack"

And it's only after a few seconds of looking at the area that looks like a junkyard and a mess and thinking "yes indeed, it's all trashed" that you notice that actually the black smoke is all on the opposite side of the border, the one with lots of space and nature, with little villages, which would look idyllic if not for the smoke.

The overpopulated slum on the left side that looks like a junkyard on a satellite picture is the Gaza side and just a wall away on the right side is this idyllic area with lots of space and nature, a place were the people from the left side will never be allowed to live or even just visit.

How could anybody ever imagine that it would be safe to live in spacious homes and comparative luxury, right next an area were people are forced to, since the day they were born, live in what's basically an overcrowded slum?

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[-] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 28 points 9 months ago

Hamas isn't Palestine. They don't represent the Palestinian people. It's not because Hamas took her that she was betrayed by Palestinians.

[-] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

Hamas literally represents Palestine.

[-] MxM111@kbin.social 16 points 9 months ago

Hamas was elected in 2006. The destruction of Israel was clear on its agenda. They are representing people of Gaza.

[-] P1r4nha@feddit.de 29 points 9 months ago

The problem with that argument is that the Israelis have also voted for the fascist, corrupt leader Netanyahu who needed to change the law to not land in prison and completely failed to protect Israel or to deescalate the situation in any way. You wouldn't want to justify the killing of Israeli civilians either, so you shouldn't try and do that with Palestinian ones.

[-] steltek@lemm.ee 16 points 9 months ago

A lot of people are trying to justify the killing of Israeli civilians however.

If there's going to be an "open air prison", we should make one for the far right nationalists of every country so the rest of the world can live in peace.

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[-] jack55555@lemmy.ml 19 points 9 months ago

I voted for a way different party in 2006 than I do now. Opinions change.

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[-] TigrisMorte@kbin.social 21 points 9 months ago

Hamas isn't in any way working for Palestinian rights. Hamas is not a synonym for Palestinian.

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this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023

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