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 conflict, calling for the immediate release of all hostages.
Straker, Jr. – born in Brooklyn, New York – told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Wednesday that he also wants “a permanent cease-fire and a peaceful return of all” hostages.
But Straker made it clear that his views are “personal and may not reflect or represent” those of Reflections Church, in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, where he is the founder and lead pastor, or the 67th Police Precinct Clergy Council, Inc. in Brooklyn, otherwise known as “The GodSquad,” where he is an active member and serves as chairman of the Board.
Straker said “The GodSquad” is “the premier clergy-led, anti-gun violence organization in the City of New York,” under its Public Safety Coalition, combating gun violence and other related issues within the confines of the 67th Precinct in Brooklyn and throughout the city.
“I am hard pressed to find any morally upstanding and conscionable human being that can honestly justify the vicious attack on the lives of innocent men, women, and children at the hands of the terrorist organization known as Hamas on October 7, 2023,” said Straker, who also serves on the Advisory Council for the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
“This heinous act of violence not only destroyed the lives of approximately 1200 people, but also the family and loved ones who mourn their loss,” said Straker, a community activist who is “fighting for justice and the human dignity of all those created in the image of God.”
“My heart goes out to everyone enduring unimaginable grief due to the lives that were stolen not only by way of fatality but also some 250 people who were taken as hostages during one of the worst terrorist attacks in modern history,” he added. “Unfortunately, this bloodshed was met with even more bloodshed, predominantly by way of Israeli forces’ counter-attack in response to October 7.”
As any nation, Straker said Israel has a right to defend herself but asked, “Against whom? Is it against Hamas, or is it against all Palestine?”
As the death toll rises in Gaza, with over 23,000 killed and over 58,000 injured, he said many are left to ponder these questions.
“Who is the enemy?” Pastor Straker asked. “If you ask a majority of people with good conscience, they would undoubtedly declare Hamas as the enemy. However, of the approximately 23,000 Palestinians killed, Israeli forces estimate 8,000 Hamas soldiers have been captured or killed.
“This has left many to wonder, how does the Israeli Government justify the disproportionate amount of civilian casualties, all in the name of ‘national security defense,’ and the desire to wipe out Hamas?” he further asked.
Straker said the death toll of innocent Palestinians has caused many to question whether this is “retributive actions taken against Hamas or a mass genocide of the Palestinian people.”
“The answer to this is not as simple as what one would see with their two eyes,” he said, adding that “without the proper perspective, one might conclude that this is an Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when, in actuality, it is not a battle with Palestine, but an Israeli-Hamas war with massive civilian deaths.”
Straker said, “It is no secret that Hamas has been using Palestinians as human shields in hopes of evading Israeli counter-attacks, believing Israel’s discretion in minimizing civilian casualties would result in their favor.
“However, many question if that is truly so,” he said, noting that the media coverage, via social networks that have flooded timelines and news feeds globally, “has been inundated with photography and video footage of heart-wrenching images of innocent Palestinians, who have become casualties of war just as much as those whose lives were initially targeted on Oct. 7.
“This has resulted in a global outcry for a permanent cease-fire and an end to the siege on Gaza,” added Straker, stating that protests from all around the world have erupted, “many in support of the Palestinian people, whose lives have been thrown into chaos due to Israeli air strikes and ground attacks that have cut off valuable resources and destroyed over 100,000 buildings.”
Straker said the conflict has also “stifled the voices of those of good conscience in fear of being labeled antisemitic or Islamophobic for speaking up for what they believe is truth.”
Additionally, he said many politicians have “turned a blind eye to the injustice, as they have become beholden to the support of one particular group over another.”
Straker, therefore, infused the views of slain US civil rights leader, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “who once said, ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,’ that ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’ and ‘The day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die.’”
“Yet, in the midst of all of this, innocent people continue to suffer, and hostages are still unaccounted for,” Straker said. “From day one, I believe the primary focus in this tragic ordeal has been lost and continues to overshadow the return of the hostages kidnapped and separated from their families and homes.
“This should have been paramount in Israel’s mission,” he posited, noting that a global call for a “humanitarian pause” resulted in a week-long cease-fire that culminated in 110 hostages being released.
“Why this was not pursued initially is beyond me,” Pastor Straker said. “I am a firm believer that Hamas must be stopped and eradicated, as with all terrorist organizations, no matter where they are,” he said.
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