October 7, Hamas (a militant group occupying Gaza) launched a sneak-attack against the nation of Israel by means of air, sea, and land. Since then, the two sides have exchanged missiles and gunfire with an estimated death toll at 1,400 in Israel and 3,000 in Gaza and climbing.

Israel made a promise to its people to destroy the militant group and return the peace of their land.

Although the most deadly and serious, this isn’t the first conflict between the nation of Israel and the terrorist organization. For the last 15 years, there has been a cycle of on-and-off violence exchanged and a turbulent coexistence—The Washington Post states that the relationship could be described as “[a cycle] between bloody escalations and periods of relative peace.”

The most recent conflict began like this: Hamas terrorists stormed the border fence between Israel and Gaza, took control of Israeli communities, paraglided over the border and gunned down civilians at a music festival, all of which violate the Geneva Convention, which is a sort of “rule book” for war agreed upon by most nations following WWI.

In response, Israel laid siege to Gaza via air strike, which not only killed and displaced thousands, but also cut off electricity, food, and fuel supplies.

Should we be concerned? Obviously, any time any sort of major conflict erupts in the world, the United States is bound to be involved eventually in some way, shape, or form, and it is a matter we should always take seriously.

However, we also must remember that, because of its status as the Holy Land, Israel faces violent political disputes every couple years. This is nothing necessarily new. As I previously said, conflicts between Israel and Hamas have been off and on for the last 15 years, as well as conflicts with Palestine as a whole. However, I don’t believe that this means we have the right to brush the situation aside like it's high school drama. Israel is a ticking time bomb.

But does America need to intervene?

Absolutely not.

We’d be better off letting Israel figure things out on their own. We don’t need to send them funds, weaponry, troops, or tanks. We need to learn to keep our nose out of another country's business. In our current political state we’re on the brink of a decisive election year, as well as having a president who is not likely qualified nor capable of mediating a peace deal in such a complex and long-running dispute.

We’ve stuck our nose too much into Ukraine, let’s not do the same thing with Israel. We can’t afford more of this.

I wish Israel and its people peace and safety. Let’s hope it’s just another rotation of their turbulent cycle, and that they quickly return to a mere coexistence.