October 7th was a normal Saturday at home, for us. I generally ignore the news, and even more on the weekend. Then, on Sunday, our priest mentioned attacks in Israel. I thought just one more rocket attack deflected by Iron Dome. Nope. Then I began to learn more, and more. The atrocities keep coming. Let me be clear, there is absolutely no excuse for these actions. I am entirely in support of Israel. These are terrorist actions by an organization whose goal is the eradication of another group of people. This is not retaliation. This is a planned attack by thugs and cowards who hate an entire group of people based on their belief system.

I am a Catholic. The Catholic church, in its 2,000 years of history, has made mistakes. But no where will you find an express purpose or goal of the Catholic church to eradicate another group of humans. Hamas does have written into its charter the goal of eliminating Jews. That, alone, is evil.

October 7th was not just a randomly chosen day when the people of Hamas were just at their tipping point and had to respond. This was coordinated and purposeful. October 7th was the 50 year anniversary of the Yom Kippur war. It was cowardly, then, to attack on the Holiest day of Jewish year, when all Jews are praying for attonement. It was cowardly, now, to attack on the Sabbath when observing Jews are not using electronics. But, October 7th is not just a date of note in recent history, it is also a feast day in the Catholic church. On October 7th, 1571 the Turkish naval fleet of the Ottoman Empire suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the Holy League. Due to the fervent praying of the Rosary by thousands of Christians in Europe, the day was named for Our Lady of Victory, later changed to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. But the battle of Lepanto is remembered. I have no doubt that there are Hamas members who remembered the battle at Lepanto when planning this attack.

This attack has been likened to 9/11 in America. September 11 was also not a randomly chosen day. It was on September 12, 1683 that the Ottoman Empire suffered another massive defeat at Vienna. After sieging the city for 2 months, the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish Army and King Sobieski defeated the Ottomans and stopped their determined march across Europe. They wanted September 12th to feel like a day of defeat in America. It did.

The battle of Lepanto was a military battle to save and protect all citizens of Europe. The siege of Vienna as an attack on civilians that was fought back by the military of the Holy Roman Empire & Poland. 9/11 was an attack on civilians fought back by military. The attacks this year were, again, specifically on civilians. Hamas came across the border, into Israel, and went door-to-door killing as many Jews as possible. Men, women, children, babies. They have beheaded babies. They have raped women. If they didn’t kill or rape the women and children, they are kidnapping them to use as human shields. They kidnapped so many babies (after killing their parents) they were asking for donations of breast milk. These are cowardly and evil actions.

Even with an event like 9/11 in our recent history, I believe that Americans are having trouble fully understanding and fathoming the atrocity that has been inflicted on Israel. 9/11 attacks were on civilians, we had women and children dead. But we didn’t see women dragged by the hair and raped. We didn’t see babies beheaded in their bed. We didn’t see elderly riddled with bullet holes. We didn’t see women’s bodies grotesquely mutilated and then paraded in the streets in celebration. These actions are evil. 9/11 was an evil attack by cowards. The attacks by Hamas on Jews in Israel are cowardly and evil.

Make no mistake, if you support these attacks in any way, if you make excuses for Hamas in any way, you need to rethink your position. Support for these attacks are done by people who are either ignorant of the truth, or complicit in evil. I don’t take these words lightly. I felt personally insulted by Ravelry when I was likened to white supremacists for the sole reason of supporting the Trump administration “in any way.” Ravelry issued a post wherein they said that “any” support of the Trump administration was equal to supporting white supremacy. What absolute garbage. I am 100% pro-life. Ravelry was saying that my pro-life support of Trump made me a white supremacist. That my efforts in supporting minority women to keep and raise their children was the same as white supremacy. What a failure of words.

Therefore, let me be explicitly clear when I say that making any excuses for the actions of Hamas is wrong. These attacks in Israel were not done by an oppressed people. Burning whole families? Murdering entire families with children? Shooting every car escaping a concert? Beheading babies? Raping women and mutilating bodies? These are not done by an oppressed people, these things are done by evil people. Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2006. They forcibly removed all Jews from the region. The residents then elected Hamas to rule them. Israel has been giving them free electricity and water ever since. Humanitarian aid is sent into Gaza, Hamas steals it. Pipes were sent into Gaza for the purpose of creating a sewage system, Hamas stole them and used them to build rockets. Hamas keeps their people in poverty, not Israel.

You have probably heard the excuse that Israel is apartied. This is absolute garbage and nonsense. 20% of the Israeli population is Muslim. There are Muslims in the Israeli government and on the supreme court. Israel is not apartied in any sense of the word. If a Jew traveled across the border of Israel into Muslim ruled land, that Jew can be shot, legally. If a Muslim crosses the border into Israel, he can get a coffee, visit with friends and go back home. If you believe that support for Palestine is the same as supporting the LGBTQ agenda, you are equally mistaken. There is no allowance for homosexuality in Muslim ruled land. It is allowed in Israel.

Every military action taken by Israel will be justified. Hamas is full of cowards and evil people. Israel uses their rockets to protect their citizens. Hamas uses citizens to protect their rockets. Israel goes to great lengths to alert citizens when they will attack. Israel tells Hamas where they are going to bomb and asks them to remove the women and children. Hamas says, “no, we want them there.” Hamas put its headquarters in the basement of a hospital. Hamas stores weapons in Mosques. Hamas has kidnapped women and children so that they can use them as shields and as hostages when Israel responds. They planned ahead. This was planned. This was organized.

I am also ashamed of our current president. Joe Biden claims to be Catholic. I have said before and will continue to state that you CANNOT call yourself Catholic and support abortion at the same time. Joe Biden is not an example of the Catholic faith. Joe Biden is a disgrace to Catholicism and to America. Biden allowed $6 billion to be released to Iran. Iran directly supports Hamas. Hamas has killed over 1,000 civilians in Israel in one weekend for the sole reason of being Jewish. What a disgrace.

My husband has encouraged me to ask for prayers and to not vent my emotions in regard to this situation. I feel it would be an act of moral cowardice to remain silent on this matter. In 2020, I stated that I would not be embroiled in political situations via my business. But the face of my business is being Catholic. The name of my business is Fiat Fiber Arts. It is in honor of Our Lady and her promise to do God’s will. I cannot follow God’s will by being silent while Jews are senslessly murdered. I am not condemning all Muslims. I blame Hamas. I am condemning anyone who would celebrate these attacks. I sincerely hope and pray that everyone would also condemn the death and slaughter of Jews. There will be more fighting. There will be more death. There will be more death of innocents. But, any civilians that die in the Gaza strip will be at the fault of Hamas, not Israel. Israel did not tell its citizens to stay and wait for Hamas to come behead their children. Israel is telling the citizens of Gaza to flee, now. Hamas is telling its citizens to ignore Israel and stay. Hamas wants to use its citizens as human shields and as fodder for news stories claiming that Israel, too, kills civilians.

This is not a “both sides are to blame” situation.

If all of the Jew-hating countries and organizations put down their arms today, there would be peace.

If Israel put down their arms today, there would be NO ISRAEL.