He condemned the Israeli retaliation against Hamas because the people of Gaza would be the chief victims of the massive military operation in the territory. 

"This is not a war against Hamas. This is another war against the Palestinian people. I wish all the war criminals in this region would be sent to the ICC [International Criminal Court]. But it will not happen because every side is ignoring war crimes," said Skaletzky, who allowed me to quote his messages for this column. 

Muslims across Indonesia usually pray for the people of Gaza in their Friday prayers. They must now pray for the Palestinians who now have to face Israel's reprisals. The Israeli bombings have claimed hundreds of lives.

In his open letter, Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Zuhair Al-Shun appealed to all Indonesian Muslim preachers to speak about the suffering of the Palestinian people in their sermons.

"We hope that during Friday prayer in mosques on Oct. 13, the preachers will talk about Palestine, Baitul Magdiz (Jerusalem) and the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque and emphasize that Israel's occupation of Palestine is a violation of human rights,” the Palestinian envoy wrote in his appeal letter.

Many Christians in this country have also called for special prayers for the victims of Hamas' atrocities, as they believe the group has committed evil acts.

Why don't we pray for all victims of the gross crimes against humanity, who include those killed in Hamas’ assaults and Israel’s airstrikes? 

Civilized people should condemn the brutal acts of Hamas, which mercilessly butchered hundreds of people, including Jews, Arabs and people of other nationalities.

But are Hamas militants the only ones who have committed such crimes during the decades-long conflict? How about the Israeli military? Are Israel’s acts against the Palestinians justifiable?

An article in the French newspaper Le Monde, says, "No country can allow a deliberate attack on its citizens to go unanswered." But should ordinary Palestinians pay for the uncivilized acts of Hamas? In the past, at least in public, the Israeli military used to claim to try to minimize civilian victims. Now some high-ranking generals and government officials seem to have abandoned that position.

United States President Joe Biden initially said the Israeli victims, including children, were beheaded by Hamas, but later he was informed there was no evidence to back up the report.

"Let's be real, clear: There is no place for hate in America, not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against anybody. We reject – we reject – what we reject is terrorism. We condemn the indiscriminate evil just as we've always done. That's what America stands for," Biden said in his speech.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a total war against Hamas, including a ground offensive, if necessary, to flatten Gaza to the ground. This brutality will be similar to the act of terrorism Hamas committed against hundreds of innocent people.

Netanyahu appears to follow what is written in the Biblical Book of Exodus, "If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

In a BBC interview, an Israeli military general shocked the interviewer with his answer that "the responsibility to protect the inhabitants of Gaza is solely the responsibility of Hamas". The BBC crew had reminded him of international law, which requires the protection of civilians during war.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the Hamas massacres against the Jewish people were the worst after the Holocaust.

"Not since the Holocaust have we seen such images of innocent Jewish mothers and children, teenagers and old women loaded into trucks and taken away into captivity,” said the president.

But my Jewish friend had a different opinion.

"Currently, Israel is blocking food, medicine, electricity and water from all Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Two thirds of the population of the Gaza Strip are descendants of the Palestinians who lived in current Israel, whom the Zionists stole their land and property," he said.

Palestine has been fraught with division among its leaders. Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist group by the West, controls the Gaza Strip, while the occupied West Bank is under the Fatah's Palestine Authority (PA). 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is recognized internationally, leads Fatah.

Hamas may be celebrating the damage it has done to Israel, but very soon the Palestinians, including those who live in the West Bank, will blame the group for causing their misery. The Oct. 7 attacks have given Israel justification to take much more severe action against the Palestinians

Israel's systematic brutality against the Palestinians has lasted for decades, and the world has not been doing enough to stop it. The two-state solution reached between Israeli and Palestinian leaders 30 years ago has been reduced to a document as Israel refuses to share the land with Palestine.

"I remembered a long time ago an Indonesian politician saying, 'Do not ask who burned the wood, but why it became so dry...',” my Jewish friend texted me.

Israel is waging a total war on the Palestinian people because it wants to find who has burned the wood, but it ignores the fact that it has caused the wood to dry in the first place.

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The writer is a senior editor at The Jakarta Post.