The Youngstown Area Jewish Federation has been leading a local effort to provide information about the military conflict between Israel and Hamas through a prayer vigil Sunday and outreach efforts.

Meanwhile, the Arab American Community Center is scheduled to have a question-and-answer period titled “Palestinian Response to Israeli Aggression,” at 6 p.m. today at its facility, located at 15 Belgrade Ave., Youngstown.

Yuval Donio-Gideon, consul for Public Diplomacy at the Consulate General of Israel in New York, during a telephone interview with local media, said the state of Israel experienced the most horrific terrorist attack in its history.

He represents Israel in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Delaware.

“It was one of the most horrific attacks in modern human history,” Donio-Gideon said. “We are still counting the dead. We know more than 900 or so people were murdered and over 2,300 wounded, and 150 people abducted to Gaza, behind enemy lines.”

“In so many ways, Hamas is Isis,” he said. “That refers to its ideology. Its use of the media to promote its agenda. It acts without hesitation against civilian populations.”

Donio-Gideon described Hamas as a terror organization that happens to have a country.

“It is not a recognized country, but its effective control of the Gaza Strip, it is,” he said. “Its purpose is the destruction of Israel.”

Donio-Gideon described the war being forced upon Israel.

“We did not choose to make it,” he said. “We are going to war not out of choice, not due to vindictive emotions. We are going to war, first and foremost, as a responsible state having to make sure this kind of atrocity will never happen again to our citizens.

“We ensure the safety of our citizens,” he continued. “This is going to be a long war. A very intensive war. It will be nothing like we saw in previous rounds of conflict between Israel and Gaza.”

He said Hamas soldiers are hiding among citizens.

“Its headquarters are being placed at schools and in hospitals in order to use people as human shields,” he said.

Donio-Gideon described Hamas firing more than 5,000 rockets into Israeli cites. The population of Israel is approximately 9.3 million people.

“This (attack) would be the equivalent of the U.S. losing 40,000 people in a single day,” he said. “These are horrific numbers. This is unimaginable.”

Donio-Gideon said Hamas acts without hesitation against the civilian population and it also acts against its people, alleging more Palestinians have been harmed by Hamas than Palestinians have been killed by Israel in conflicts.

Donio-Gideon said Israel has been doing three things militarily in response to the attack.

“We have not finished purifying all of the villages and cities,” he said. “There were more than 1,000 terrorists that infiltrated Israel on Saturday. Many are still hiding. We have to go building by building, apartment by apartment, to make sure citizens are OK.”

He said tens of thousands of apartments in the villages and cities need to be searched and inspected.

“Terrorists are being eliminated,” he said.

Israel also has been conducting airstrikes against Hamas headquarters and bases.

“We killed a few hundred terrorists,” he said. “Likely to be followed by physical land actions.”

Because the country has a small professional army, it is calling up its reserves in preparation of a possible ground conflict in Gaza.

He noted the consulate in New York is assisting hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the U.S. wanting to fly to Israel to serve.

“The challenge is we don’t have enough planes to get people to Israel to serve,” he said.

Donio-Gideon said he believes the planning of Saturday’s attacks by Hamas has been ongoing for approximately one year.

“This kind of relatively sophisticated simultaneous attack on eight Army bases along the border takes getting troops into Israeli cities and villages. It takes logistics, intelligence and training. It takes many, many months to prepare for this kind of operation,” he said.

Donio-Gideon said the Israeli government has been looking to find temporary housing for those who lost their homes.

“Regarding the Palestinians, it is not our responsibility because we don’t control Gaza,” he said. “There are 20,000 people from Gaza that go into Israel every day. It is a security complexity.”

Donio-Gideon described Gaza as having 50% to 70%unemployment.

“It is crucial for Gaza citizens to be able to cross into Israel for work,” he noted. “Hamas could not care less about it citizens.”

Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, executive director of community relations and government affairs for the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, said the local organization had a rally Sunday at Temple El Emeth and will continue to provide support to Israel.

Being a part of the national and international Jewish federations, Burdman said the local office has a virtual mailbox in which people wanting to provide direct support can make financial contributions.

“Individual homes and entire neighborhoods are going to have to be rebuilt,” Burdman said. “What has happened is beyond horrific. We are working to keep people informed on what is happening.”

Contributions may be sent to www.jewishyoungstown.org.

“Donations will be sent to those most in need,” she said. “Support for Israel is strong and unequivocal from the White House, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.”

Burdman described this being a war between good and evil.

PALESTINIAN PERSPECTIVE

Meanwhile, members of the AACC extended the organization’s condolences to all lives lost.

“People need to understand history,” Suhad Hadi, president of the Arab American Community Center in Youngstown, said. “Some people seem to believe this was unprovoked. There has been a 75-year history of Palestine being ruled under occupation.”

She argues it began during the 1948 Nakba, when Jewish militias launched attacks against Palestinian villages, forcing thousands to flee. It was from that period that the state of Israel declared independence.

It continued through the Six-Day War in 1967; the first intifada in 1987;, the second intifada in 1993; the 2003 siege of the Gaza Strip; and the 2014 bombing of the Gaza Strip, she continued.

Hadi, a first-generation Palestinian born in Youngstown, has been president of the AACC for two years. The organization has about 500 area members.

After tonight’s prayer vigil, organization members plan to answer questions from residents and media members.

“Palestine has been ruled under occupation,” she said. “It has 2.5 million people that have limited access to roads, to the sea, to food, to work and a basic quality of life.”

Hadi said the allegation that Hamas has killed more Palestinians than Israelis have during its conflicts a lie, built with false statistics. Hadi compares what has been happening to the Palestinian people for 75 years to what is happening to the Ukrainian people from the Russian invasion.

“Yet, one group of people are being called freedom fighters and the other terrorists,” she said. “People have a right to liberate themselves, even with an armed struggle.”

Hadi said the AACC is working to provide a balanced perspective to what is happening in this conflict.

“The loss of innocent lives is never a desired outcome on either side,” she said. “The history of occupation and oppression is long lived and this attack is not unprovoked.

“The oppressed have a right to defend themselves,” the statement continued. “We urge the world to open their eyes to the war at hand and understand the core of the Palestinian resistance. We stand in support of the Palestinian people and their right to freedom, as with all those who struggle under occupation.”