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Palestinian students take part in a demonstration demanding the reopening of a United Nations school after the facility was damaged by Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Gaza on May 7, 2024.
(Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A Math Test on Gaza
If “x” = Israelis and “y” = Palestinians, calculate the value of “y” for a given “x” based on widely available data.
Dec 14, 2024
It is easy to lose sight of humanity in numbers, particularly large numbers, but we can also gain moral clarity using the exactness of numbers and mathematical calculations.
Here is a self-test:
Question #1: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have bombed apartment buildings, hospitals, and schools in Gaza almost daily for more than a year. Hypothetically, if sounds could travel worldwide, how long would it take for victims’ cries to reach Washington. The speed of sound is 770 miles per hour. The distance between Gaza and Washington D.C is 5,878 miles.
Question #2: Would your answer be the same if Joe Biden, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris were president?
Question #3: In the year following October 7, 2023, the U.S. has sent more than $20 billion worth of military aid to Israel. In this period the IDF killed more than 44,000 Gazans. In other words, it roughly costs U.S. taxpayers $454,545 for each Gazan killed by the IDF in a year. How was this number calculated?
Question #4: A terrorist group is defined as one that “may be motivated by political, religious, racial, or other ideological goals and threatens or commits violent acts against civilian targets.”
4a: In addition to killing more than 44,000 people, mostly civilians, the IDF has injured more than 100,000, largely women and children. Many are amputees or with other lifelong challenges. Based on the definition above, is the IDF a terrorist organization?
4b: If so, would it be correct to say that U.S. companies manufacturing weapons sent to the IDF profit from terrorism? Are our governmental leaders by supplying planes, bombs, weapons, and munitions guilty of supporting terrorism? If so, is this a violation of U.S. and international law?
Question #5: How many defenseless people must be injured or killed before a force becomes a terrorist organization? Does your answer depend on who is carrying out the violence or the identity of the victims? Does your answer differ based on the numbers of children killed or losing limbs?
Question # 6: On October 7, 2023, Hamas and related groups committed terrible acts of terrorism including the murder and kidnapping of civilians: 1,200 were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. They included children, women, and the elderly. After prisoner exchanges, deaths, and a handful of rescues, it is estimated 60 survivors remain in captivity languishing under cruel and abusive conditions. Many Israelis believe their release should be the paramount goal of negotiations. Since October 7 Israel has locked up more than 9,400 “security detainees” including men, women, and children without access to lawyers or respect for legal rights. They are held in appallingly crowded cells. According to a United Nations report, in addition to beatings, many have been subjected to “waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, dogs set on them, and other forms of torture.”
If “x” = Israelis and “y” = Palestinians, calculate the value of “y” for a given “x” based on widely available data. Convert your answer into plain English—that is, how many times greater is the value of Israelis and the hostages compared to Palestinians and security detainees?
Question #7: There were 10 commandments. The sixth commandment was abolished. How many commandments remain?
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Steve Minkin
Steve Minkin is the author of "Blood, Race, and the Missing History of AIDS" and of two poetry collections, "Moral Oblivion" and "Where People Are Trees."
It is easy to lose sight of humanity in numbers, particularly large numbers, but we can also gain moral clarity using the exactness of numbers and mathematical calculations.
Here is a self-test:
Question #1: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have bombed apartment buildings, hospitals, and schools in Gaza almost daily for more than a year. Hypothetically, if sounds could travel worldwide, how long would it take for victims’ cries to reach Washington. The speed of sound is 770 miles per hour. The distance between Gaza and Washington D.C is 5,878 miles.
Question #2: Would your answer be the same if Joe Biden, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris were president?
Question #3: In the year following October 7, 2023, the U.S. has sent more than $20 billion worth of military aid to Israel. In this period the IDF killed more than 44,000 Gazans. In other words, it roughly costs U.S. taxpayers $454,545 for each Gazan killed by the IDF in a year. How was this number calculated?
Question #4: A terrorist group is defined as one that “may be motivated by political, religious, racial, or other ideological goals and threatens or commits violent acts against civilian targets.”
4a: In addition to killing more than 44,000 people, mostly civilians, the IDF has injured more than 100,000, largely women and children. Many are amputees or with other lifelong challenges. Based on the definition above, is the IDF a terrorist organization?
4b: If so, would it be correct to say that U.S. companies manufacturing weapons sent to the IDF profit from terrorism? Are our governmental leaders by supplying planes, bombs, weapons, and munitions guilty of supporting terrorism? If so, is this a violation of U.S. and international law?
Question #5: How many defenseless people must be injured or killed before a force becomes a terrorist organization? Does your answer depend on who is carrying out the violence or the identity of the victims? Does your answer differ based on the numbers of children killed or losing limbs?
Question # 6: On October 7, 2023, Hamas and related groups committed terrible acts of terrorism including the murder and kidnapping of civilians: 1,200 were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. They included children, women, and the elderly. After prisoner exchanges, deaths, and a handful of rescues, it is estimated 60 survivors remain in captivity languishing under cruel and abusive conditions. Many Israelis believe their release should be the paramount goal of negotiations. Since October 7 Israel has locked up more than 9,400 “security detainees” including men, women, and children without access to lawyers or respect for legal rights. They are held in appallingly crowded cells. According to a United Nations report, in addition to beatings, many have been subjected to “waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, dogs set on them, and other forms of torture.”
If “x” = Israelis and “y” = Palestinians, calculate the value of “y” for a given “x” based on widely available data. Convert your answer into plain English—that is, how many times greater is the value of Israelis and the hostages compared to Palestinians and security detainees?
Question #7: There were 10 commandments. The sixth commandment was abolished. How many commandments remain?
Steve Minkin
Steve Minkin is the author of "Blood, Race, and the Missing History of AIDS" and of two poetry collections, "Moral Oblivion" and "Where People Are Trees."
It is easy to lose sight of humanity in numbers, particularly large numbers, but we can also gain moral clarity using the exactness of numbers and mathematical calculations.
Here is a self-test:
Question #1: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have bombed apartment buildings, hospitals, and schools in Gaza almost daily for more than a year. Hypothetically, if sounds could travel worldwide, how long would it take for victims’ cries to reach Washington. The speed of sound is 770 miles per hour. The distance between Gaza and Washington D.C is 5,878 miles.
Question #2: Would your answer be the same if Joe Biden, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris were president?
Question #3: In the year following October 7, 2023, the U.S. has sent more than $20 billion worth of military aid to Israel. In this period the IDF killed more than 44,000 Gazans. In other words, it roughly costs U.S. taxpayers $454,545 for each Gazan killed by the IDF in a year. How was this number calculated?
Question #4: A terrorist group is defined as one that “may be motivated by political, religious, racial, or other ideological goals and threatens or commits violent acts against civilian targets.”
4a: In addition to killing more than 44,000 people, mostly civilians, the IDF has injured more than 100,000, largely women and children. Many are amputees or with other lifelong challenges. Based on the definition above, is the IDF a terrorist organization?
4b: If so, would it be correct to say that U.S. companies manufacturing weapons sent to the IDF profit from terrorism? Are our governmental leaders by supplying planes, bombs, weapons, and munitions guilty of supporting terrorism? If so, is this a violation of U.S. and international law?
Question #5: How many defenseless people must be injured or killed before a force becomes a terrorist organization? Does your answer depend on who is carrying out the violence or the identity of the victims? Does your answer differ based on the numbers of children killed or losing limbs?
Question # 6: On October 7, 2023, Hamas and related groups committed terrible acts of terrorism including the murder and kidnapping of civilians: 1,200 were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. They included children, women, and the elderly. After prisoner exchanges, deaths, and a handful of rescues, it is estimated 60 survivors remain in captivity languishing under cruel and abusive conditions. Many Israelis believe their release should be the paramount goal of negotiations. Since October 7 Israel has locked up more than 9,400 “security detainees” including men, women, and children without access to lawyers or respect for legal rights. They are held in appallingly crowded cells. According to a United Nations report, in addition to beatings, many have been subjected to “waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, dogs set on them, and other forms of torture.”
If “x” = Israelis and “y” = Palestinians, calculate the value of “y” for a given “x” based on widely available data. Convert your answer into plain English—that is, how many times greater is the value of Israelis and the hostages compared to Palestinians and security detainees?
Question #7: There were 10 commandments. The sixth commandment was abolished. How many commandments remain?
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