The second tactic being used today is one I learned about very early in life. I had Polio at age two and was on crutches for several years. I was an easy target for bullies. They would attack me by stealing my lunch or kicking my crutches out from under me. When I complained, they said I started it. Their friends would lie and support what they said. All the other kids were afraid to speak up and tell what really happened, because they were afraid the bullies would attack them too. The teachers believed them since there were several of them and only one of me, so I got punished. We see this in the current Hamas war with Israel. The Hamas made a brutal attack on Israeli civilians and when Israel fought back to defend themselves, they claimed that Israel had attacked them first. The other Arab nations then rallied behind Hamas, and the media supported their claims and blamed the Israelis. Many nations are afraid to speak up in support of Israel because they are afraid the Arabs would cut off their oil supply or attack them. As a result, many people believe them, especially young people who have grown up hearing how Israel was attacking its neighbors, but never hear about how Hamas had attacked them first. Unfortunately, many people do not think things through. Any thinking person would realize that a small weak nation would not go around attacking its big strong neighbors, unless it had a serious death wish. There are many large powerful Arab nations surrounding Israel which is very small, only about the size of New Jersey. No nation in its right mind would attempt to attack it neighbors like that and hope to survive. Israel has survived continuous attacks by its neighbors because God has protected it. In the same way I could never understand why my teachers believed the bullies. I would be a fool to attack someone bigger and stronger than me when I couldn’t defend myself if they attacked back. If I attempted to attack them, they could just run away and I couldn’t chase them. In addition, Hamas has been open and vocal about its goal of destroying Israel and wipe it off the face of the earth. All Israel wants is to be left alone. Israel has even given up land to its neighbors in the hope of being left alone but its neighbors have continually broken the treaties and demanded more land. Hamas has clearly stated they will not stop until they have wiped Israel off the map.