NEW YORK, CMC – Pastor Louis Hilton Straker, Jr, the son of former St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Sir Louis H. Straker, Sr., has waded into the battle, calling for the fast launch of all hostages.
Straker, Jr. – born in Brooklyn, New York – advised the Caribbean Media Company (CMC) on Wednesday that he additionally desires “a everlasting cease-fire and a peaceable return of all” hostages.
However Straker made it clear that his views are “private and will not replicate or characterize” these of Reflections Church, within the East Flatbush part of Brooklyn, the place he’s the founder and lead pastor, or the 67th Police Precinct Clergy Council, Inc. in Brooklyn, in any other case often known as “The GodSquad,” the place he’s an energetic member and serves as chairman of the Board.
Straker mentioned “The GodSquad” is “the premier clergy-led, anti-gun violence group within the Metropolis of New York,” underneath its Public Security Coalition, combating gun violence and different associated points inside the confines of the 67th Precinct in Brooklyn and all through town.
“I’m onerous pressed to search out any morally upstanding and conscionable human being that may truthfully justify the vicious assault on the lives of harmless males, girls, and kids by the hands of the terrorist group often known as Hamas on October 7, 2023,” mentioned Straker, who additionally serves on the Advisory Council for the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Middle in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
“This heinous act of violence not solely destroyed the lives of roughly 1200 individuals, but in addition the household and family members who mourn their loss,” mentioned Straker, a neighborhood activist who’s “combating for justice and the human dignity of all these created within the picture of God.”
“My coronary heart goes out to everybody enduring unimaginable grief because of the lives that had been stolen not solely by means of fatality but in addition some 250 individuals who had been taken as hostages throughout one of many worst terrorist assaults in trendy historical past,” he added. “Sadly, this bloodshed was met with much more bloodshed, predominantly by means of Israeli forces’ counter-attack in response to October 7.”
As any nation, Straker mentioned Israel has a proper to defend herself however requested, “Towards whom? Is it towards Hamas, or is it towards all Palestine?”
Because the loss of life toll rises in Gaza, with over 23,000 killed and over 58,000 injured, he mentioned many are left to ponder these questions.
“Who’s the enemy?” Pastor Straker requested. “When you ask a majority of individuals with good conscience, they might undoubtedly declare Hamas because the enemy. Nevertheless, of the roughly 23,000 Palestinians killed, Israeli forces estimate 8,000 Hamas troopers have been captured or killed.
“This has left many to marvel, how does the Israeli Authorities justify the disproportionate quantity of civilian casualties, all within the title of ‘nationwide safety protection,’ and the will to wipe out Hamas?” he additional requested.
Straker mentioned the loss of life toll of harmless Palestinians has prompted many to query whether or not that is “retributive actions taken towards Hamas or a mass genocide of the Palestinian individuals.”
“The reply to this isn’t so simple as what one would see with their two eyes,” he mentioned, including that “with out the right perspective, one may conclude that that is an Israeli-Palestinian battle, when, in fact, it’s not a battle with Palestine, however an Israeli-Hamas battle with large civilian deaths.”
Straker mentioned, “It’s no secret that Hamas has been utilizing Palestinians as human shields in hopes of evading Israeli counter-attacks, believing Israel’s discretion in minimizing civilian casualties would end result of their favor.
“Nevertheless, many query if that’s really so,” he mentioned, noting that the media protection, by way of social networks which have flooded timelines and information feeds globally, “has been inundated with images and video footage of heart-wrenching photos of harmless Palestinians, who’ve grow to be casualties of battle simply as a lot as these whose lives had been initially focused on Oct. 7.
“This has resulted in a world outcry for a everlasting cease-fire and an finish to the siege on Gaza,” added Straker, stating that protests from all around the globe have erupted, “many in assist of the Palestinian individuals, whose lives have been thrown into chaos resulting from Israeli air strikes and floor assaults which have reduce off useful assets and destroyed over 100,000 buildings.”
Straker mentioned the battle has additionally “stifled the voices of these of fine conscience in worry of being labeled antisemitic or Islamophobic for talking up for what they imagine is reality.”
Moreover, he mentioned many politicians have “turned a blind eye to the injustice, as they’ve grow to be beholden to the assist of 1 explicit group over one other.”
Straker, subsequently, infused the views of slain US civil rights chief, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “who as soon as mentioned, ‘Our lives start to finish the day we grow to be silent about issues that matter,’ that ‘Injustice wherever is a menace to justice in all places,’ and ‘The day we see the reality and stop to talk is the day we start to die.’”
“But, within the midst of all of this, harmless individuals proceed to endure, and hostages are nonetheless unaccounted for,” Straker mentioned. “From day one, I imagine the first focus on this tragic ordeal has been misplaced and continues to overshadow the return of the hostages kidnapped and separated from their households and houses.
“This could have been paramount in Israel’s mission,” he posited, noting {that a} international name for a “humanitarian pause” resulted in a week-long cease-fire that culminated in 110 hostages being launched.
“Why this was not pursued initially is past me,” Pastor Straker mentioned. “I’m a agency believer that Hamas should be stopped and eradicated, as with all terrorist organizations, irrespective of the place they’re,” he mentioned.
Associated
