Heartbreak. Shock. Agony. Devastation. Confusion. Rage. These are just a few of the emotions flooding the hearts of millions of Israelis in the midst of an unprecedented terrorist attack by Hamas. This is a time to stop and pray for the merciful intervention of God.
What makes this attack all the more insidious is that it comes almost 50 years to the day of the infamous Yom Kippur War in 1973. At that fateful time, Israel was attacked in the midst of 24 hours of prayer and fasting on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The current attack, on Oct. 7, 2023, did not just come on Saturday, the Sabbath, but on what is called Simchat Torah, “the joy of the Torah,” the greatest day of celebration on the Jewish calendar. This is the culmination of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), a day of singing and dancing and rejoicing.
But this day, instead of dancing there is wailing and mourning. Bloodshed has filled the land.
First there were reports of a limited number of casualties. Then shocking news of as many as 40 Israelis killed and 700 wounded. Then informes of more than 700 people dead and 2,300 wounded, as of Monday morning. And the battles still rage as I write, with reports of Israeli soldiers taken hostage by Hamas.
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And consider that the Jewish population of Israel is roughly 45 times smaller than the population of America, meaning that, proportionally, Israel has already suffered far more casualties than our nation suffered on 9/11. Talk about devastation.
A report from friends in Israel, sent out in the midst of the hostilities, stated that, “At approximately 6:30 a.m. Israeli time, on a quiet Shabbat morning, we were awakened by the repeating wailing of air raid sirens. For the past four hours the Islamist terror group Hamas has been firing rockets across southern Israel (Beersheva, Arad, Dimona, Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod, etc.) and also at the Greater Tel Aviv area and at the outlying suburbs of Jerusalem.
“Simultaneously, at least 10 white pickup trucks driven by Hamas suicide squad jihadis crossed into Israel (as well as some on ultra-light single-place powered parachutists) and attacked approximately 21 sites, including kibbutzim and moshavim [farms], small towns (including police stations). They have been slaughtering civilians, including mothers and children, breaking into houses and indiscriminately killing the inhabitants. We have friends who have terrorists in their house as I write.”
What an indescribable nightmare.
And remember: Slaughtering women and children and innocent civilians in cold blood is a major goal of these murderous terrorists. This is how they wage war.
To the unsuspecting Israelis, this onslaught must surely have looked and felt like an invasion from hell — from the air, on the ground, from house to house. Paragliders. Motorcycles. Vans. Rockets. All with venomous intent, and every single terrorist ready to die for the cause. For them, this was a holy war. What a satanic perversion.
¡No!
Israeli medic reveals horror of seeing '200 bodies' at festival https://t.co/SzBDqPmQH9 vía @MailOnline— Dr. Michael L. Brown (@DrMichaelLBrown) October 8, 2023
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed “Operation Swords of Iron,” stating, “Since this morning, the State of Israel is at war.” Without a doubt, the response will be fierce, intense, and unrelenting. Much more blood will be shed.
Of course, there are endless questions and, at this early stage, few definitive answers.
What, specifically, provoked this attack? Was it Israel and Saudi Arabia finding more common ground in their shared hostility to Iran?
It is well-known that Iran helps finance and support terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad who serve as proxies in their war against Israel. And the Saudis, who are Sunni Muslims, recognize that their greatest enemy in the region is not Israel but Iran, which is Shiite.
Our friends in Israel write, “Iran is catalyzing terror attacks against Israeli civilians to threaten Israel, Saudi Arabia and the USA about the warming of military ties between the Saudis and Israel. This is a warning shot across the bows.”
This could well be true.
On Israel’s side, what happened to the nation’s fabled intelligence systems? How could an attack like this, which doubtless required months of careful planning and coordination, catch Israel by surprise? And what of the right-wing Israeli government’s promises of greater national security? How on earth could this happen?
More broadly, what can be done to stop this cycle of violence? Hamas wants to exterminate or drive out every Jew from Israel. The Jewish nation simply cannot exist.
So, it would seem that Israel must permanently break and disable Hamas, and America has assured Israel it will have everything necessary to strike back.
Yet Hamas governs Gaza Strip by democratic elections, and this terrorist organization continues to have great influence in the West Bank, which is currently governed by the Palestinian Authority.
Worse still, every Hamas terrorist who is killed by Israel becomes a martyr for the cause, inspiring the next generation to fight back against what they perceive to be the evil occupier. And every attack by Israel on Hamas in Gaza, no matter what precautions are taken to avoid civilian casualties, is perceived as an attack on the populace as a whole. It almost feels like a lose-lose situation.
That’s why we need to pray for God’s merciful intervention and for the hearts of everyone in the region — Jewish and Christian and Muslim and others — to turn to Him as the only One who can save and deliver.
May He guide Israel during these critical hours and days. And may He be near to the shocked mourners who now fill every part of the Land. The day of joyous celebration has become a day of agony and loss.
This commentary, which was originally published at Ask Dr. Brown, does not necessarily reflect the views of The Roys Report.
Dr. Michael L. Brown, who has a doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University, is founder and president of AskDrBrown Ministries and host of the nationally syndicated daily talk radio show “The Line of Fire.” He’s served as a visiting or adjunct professor at seven leading seminaries and has written more than 40 books.
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42 Respuestas
what you are leaving out are the past 75 years of terror for palastianians living under israeli occupation and being run off of thier land so a “jewish state” could be created. israel regularly goes into gaza and kills palastianians , over 250 this past 6 months alone, they are refusing to give them freedom from thier open air prison and refuse them a right to return to israel ( all 2.2 million) becouse that would cause israel to no longer be a apartied “jewish” state. israel is a democracy for jews only, hence thier refusal to allow non jews to immigrate to israel, ALSO israel refuses to allow messianic jews to immigrate to israel, becouse the israeli government hates and rejects the Lord Jesus christ. how can anyone love Jesus christ and support a nation that hates and rejects the lord Jesus christ?
Because the Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew. Without the Jewish race, you Christians would not have Jesus. Stop hating on the people who Jesus was born of.
larry, Jesus died for EVERY human on earth equelly and loves everyone equelly. Jesus doesnt care 2 cents what race /ethnicity of me, you, or any of us. Jews are no more loved or less loved than anyone else. now Jesus and the apositles were all male……so am I as a male more loved/valuable than women?? NO Im not. “hating people who jesus was born of”?? NO Im not. thats like saying if I oppose the KKK Im “hating on white people”
James Buckley, your dislike of Jews has caused you to misuse Scripture to make pronouncements that are not true. I personally know a Messianic Rabi and his wife who were given Israeli citizenship. There are over 20,000 Messianic Jews in Israel. There are Messianic rock groups who perform publicly in the Old City. While living in Amman Jordan we stayed several times in a hostel run by Christians who displayed Bibles, free for anyone interested.
The horrors of Nazi Germany happened in part because most (so-called) churches were either silent about anti Semitism or actually partnered with the Nazi party. Those in the American church who spew hatred of Israel and its people need to be challenged.
Cathy, James is just saying God loves everyone!!! I saw no hate in his statement! Both sides are wrong. The only innocents are the children. Israel should allow a Palestine state and include the west bank. They have 8,thousand miles. The west bank is approx mentally 281 sq miles. Both sides need to respect human life!!!! But this won’t end til christ comes because the bible says it won’t
As a matter of integrity, . Israel does not extend the right to return to Messianic Jews. If anyone wants to check this out for yourself instead or accepting the words of people who say things you agree with, look up Rebecca Floer. Her father was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. She was denied Israeli citizenship. The reason she was denied citizenship was that she was baptized as a Christian as a baby in the hospital and considered herself to be a Jew who believed that Yesua to be the Messiah.
cathie, the horrors of nazi germany was due to a belief system that said the aryn/german race/ethnicity was supperior and more valuable and more loved by God than any other race/ethnic group. hence they ran out of germany and killed everyone who wasnt aryan. this is the SAME thing as modern zionism and christian zionism in particular. I just got through watching a michael brown video and everywhere in the comments section people were saying ” the Jews are special to God”, etc. israel is based upon the belief that Jews are entitled to a ” Jewish homeland” where all non jews are either excluded or are second class citizens. this is evil, it is showing partiality which the bible condemns. no jew today is entitled to that land, why?? 1) the old covenant has been abolished, 2) unbelieving Jews have no covenant with God but Gods wrath is upon them, 3) most “jews” today cannot trace thier linage to jews from over 2000 years ago, most are europeans who converted to judaism hundreds of years ago, 4) the jews were scattered 2000 years ago and they intermarried. how much jewish blood percentage must someone have to be considered a jew? 20%? 50%, 70%, 10%??? this is why israel REJECTS geneology blood tests to determine who a jew is!. NEXT…..Im 100% in favor of ANY jew, christian, palastianian, muslim, arab being able to live in israel!, Im for a ONE STATE democracy for everyone there with full rights to everyone. Im against a ” jewish state” OR a “palastianian state” OR a muslim state”, etc. paul said there is NOW neither jew nor gentile!, only christian and non christian. again, God doesnt care 2 cents what race/ethnicity anyone is.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. For the sake of my brothers and friends I will say peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the Lord I will seek your prosperity.
I suggest you read Alan Dershowitz’s “The Case For Israel” before laying the blame for this mess solely on Israel’s doorstop. Israel has repeatedly made offers of “land for peace” to the various Palestinian governments and they rejected all of them. The main goal of all of the Palestinian governments has been war to destroy the state of Israel. The Palestinians choose to send up the smoke screen about wanting an independent state alongside Israel to end the occupation of the West Bank (see pages 242 and 243 for instance). If that were true, why do they publish maps that eliminate Israel? Likewise, the Israelis who persist in making new settlements in the West Bank and others who think they should build a 3rd Temple on the Temple Mount need to stop.
Wow. So many things, Mr Buckley. First, the primary reason their isn’t peace is because many Palestinians resort to violence against Israel. Israel cannot simply let them be, because to do so would be to let them kill Israelis.
Secondly, read your Old Testament again and recall how many times God promises to return the Jews to the land of Israel. God has fulfilled His promise and won’t back away from it. Those who would go against Jews existing in the land of Israel go directly against God.
Thirdly, I’m pretty sure most, if not all governments reject the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not aware of any government that is run primarily by true Christians. There are individuals who are Christians to be sure, but governments by and large do not serve God in a direct sense.
I’m pretty sure the U.S. government hates and rejects the Lord Jesus Christ about as much as the Israeli one does.
peter, those old testiment prophesies were fullfilled in the old testiment. there are zero verses that say God will regather a nation of israel in the “last days”. there are 2 covenants, the old covenant was abolished in favor of the new. God has NO covenant with people who hate and reject his son and word. Jesus prophesied of the Jews ” the kingdom of God shall be TAKEN AWAY from you and given to a nation producing its fruits”. read John ch 8, jesus says that jews who reject him are children of the devil. 1st john says ” NO ONE who denies the son has the father. I have never understood how a christian can support a nation that rejects Jesus and his word. Jesus said ” my kingdom is NOT of THIS world”. neither that land over there OR the USA or any other country will ever be “gods country”. our home is heaven not this earth. whats Gods plan for the Jews and israel? believe in the lord Jesus christ ALONE for salvation and repent of your racism that treats all non jews as second class citizens. stop holding non jews in a open air prison with a blockaid of ALL water, food and electricity which is a war crime and genocide. whats the greatest cause of anti semitism? israels actions and jewish racism/zionism. God doesnt care 2 cents what race or ethnicity any of us are, God is no respector of persons, yet most of the christian community has made a God out of the nation of israel over there, its idolatry that God hates.
James, I love you as my brother in Christ. I understand the general idea of Covenant theology, and I don’t agree with it. I believe, according to Romans 11, that the Jews were broken off due to disobedience, and thus Gentiles were grafted in. I also believe there will come a time when the Jewish people will be grafted back in, through faith in Jesus Christ. Zechariah 12 describes this in detail.
Jesus is still a Jew, as He did not leave his humanity behind when He ascended to heaven.
David’s throne is established forever, through Jesus.
Isaiah 60 speaks of a future time when the Jews will be blessed above all other nations. It speaks of how, although God punished them, He will return them to a place of blessing.
Jeremiah 7:7 reminds us that the land is the Jews forever, “then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.” Ezekiel 43:7 reaffirms that the people of Israel will inherit the land forever.
Gentiles, like me, were let into the blessing, through Christ. That does not mean God forever rejected Israel.
peter, those land promises are CONDITIONAL, not unconditional, let me ask you a question, is a jew who rejects christ a child of God and under Gods blessing or a child of the devil under Gods wrath??? if you say a child of God you are a universalists and hold the same position as the catholic church and pope francis. if you say they are a child of the devil ( john ch 8) and under Gods wrath ( john 3:18 and John 3:36) then I ask you….HOW can someone reject God, his word, and be a child of the devil under Gods wrath and then that person telld God ” now God you made that promise to my ancestors 3000+ years ago and you OWE me the land even though I hate and reject you”???? OR…..what if I as a christian live in adulatry, rob people, kill people, and reject christ THEN I tell God ” God you MUST bless me becouse 3 years ago I believed in you and trusted you for salvation “?? peter, its DEMONIC to say a promise from God is ” irrevokable, unconditional, eternal”…..its ONLY eternal IF I believe in and follow the lord Jesus christ!.
You seem to not face the fact that death squads came from air, land, and sea, slaughtering whole families. Hamas wants the Jewish State to be completely destroyed. Besides this is a much bigger plot involving Iran and Hezbollah. No one is safe from Iran.
James, you do not sound like a christian. Have some decency, man.
I am a Messianic Jew and I completely understand why they do not allow Messianic to immigrate. You don’t need to worry about or defend us from the government of Israel. There are many Christians, Arabs, Druze and Kurdish Israelis. It is not for Jews only.
Also, you need to read your history more thoroughly. It has not been terror for the palestinians. That is an absurd and hyperbolic comment. Even when known as Palestine, before 1948, it was considered a Jewish state in the middle east. (the previous flag also had the Star of David at the center). It was a Jewish state when the Romans destroyed the synagogue in 70 AD. The country was renamed Syria Palestina at the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt, as Jewish people left their homeland and emigrated to Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. There are many, many verses in the Bible that reference the Lord regathering his people to Israel. Isaiah 11:11-12 comes to mind. You should look them up.
Jaime
There are millions of Muslims living in Islamic states surrounding Israel. The Palestinians are more than 90% Muslim. However, HAMAS is no less than a Terrorist organization as is Hezbollah.
Surely the Jews – numbering less than 20 million worldwide – should be allowed to have their own nation state. The anger and hate towards Israel expressed in this Roys discussion is unbridled antisemitism.
There are a billion followers of Mouhammad worldwide – Surely as one of the smallest of ethnic people groups, they could have their own country.
I find it interesting that the attack was approved and launched on the 50th anniversary of the Oct 6, 1973, Yom Kippur war. I became very familiar with that war. I was a Marine stationed at MCAS Beaufort SC. Within a few days of the war starting were told Israel is getting its butt kicked and assume we are heading over there. When a marine asked the briefing officer how we will know if we are for sure going. the officer said if you hear a nonstop steady flow of air force cargo planes flying over the town and landing. assume we are on our way.
Mr Buckley…
Thank you for speaking out above the truth. Israel is a source of trouble in the Middle East. Gaza is the largest prison in the world and the source of horrible human suffering. Church folks really have no clue and continue to go to Israel where they really are not wanted… it’s all about the Billions of American dollars that go to Israel every year. Sometimes religion is not the answer but the problem..
I agree 100% tim, God has no favorite race or ethnicity.
James:
Jesus was a Jew. Deal with it. God could have chosen ANY group of people for His special mission. He chose the Jews. Deal with it.
And, please, God most definitely has a special place in the future for the Jewish nation. If you don’t believe that, you are in for a very rude awakening.
Jesus was a Jew, but according to Ben Shapiro in an interview, Jews have a very different POV of Jesus :
BS: From a Jewish point of view, where we don’t believe in the divinity of Christ. There you can make an argument, that the Gospels which were written significantly-
JR: He was just a prophet.
BS: No, no, no. We don’t even think he was a prophet.
JR: What do you think he was? What do you guys think he was?
BS: Well, I, I, I, what do I think he was historically? I think he was a Jew who tried to lead a revolt against the Romans and got killed for his trouble. Just like a lot of other Jews at that time who tried to lead revolts against the Romans and got killed for their trouble.
JR: So he became legend, and story, and it became a bigger and bigger deal as time went on.
BS: Yeah, he had a group of followers and that gradually grew.
JR: Do you think he was resurrected?
BS: No. That’s not a Jewish belief.
JR: Okay. I just wanted to check.
BS: We’re not into miracle stories, no. That’s not.
JR: You don’t have any miracles?
BS: Not by Jesus. There was in the Old Testament. Yeah, you’ve got Moses splitting the sea and all that.
JR: What do you think happened there?
BS: What do I think happened there? I’ll go with my Maimonidean explanation. There was, it says in the Bible, there was a strong east wind. So there was a naturalistic explanation for a physical phenomenon.
Modern Jews and Christians do not have the same beliefs to who Jesus is, or God’s intervention in freeing HIS people.
Plus the view that God has still great plans for Israel is part of the theological system known as Dispensationalism….a system that has given birth to a host of all sorts of failed end times speculations and predictions.
What they do with this verse below is beyond me. I’m sure they allow the theological dog to wag the biblical tail.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ” Gal 3:28
AMEN andrew, the god of judaism is NOT the God of the bible. orthodox judaism rejects christ, the father, the new testiment, and they follow the TALMUD which is filled with blasphemy, they believe satan is Gods servent, NOT Gods enemy, they reject hell and many reject heaven as well. in judaisn EVERYTHING is about this life, the afterlife is of little concern.
I don’t think that Ben Shapiro necessarily speaks for all Jews.
“there is neither Jew nor greek, male nor female, we are ALL ONE in christ Jesus”, john ch 8 “jesus speaking to Jews who rejected him ” you are of your father the DEVIL”, AND ” IF God were your father you would love me”, 2nd john ” NO ONE who denies the son has the father”, john 3:18 ” he who believs upon him has eternal life, he who does NOT believe shall not see life but the wrath of God is upon him”. WHO are jews/israel” according to the new testiment? Jews and gentiles who BELIEVE in Christ. romans 11 says jews who reject christ are BROKEN OFF of the israel olive tree. IF….repeat IF they leave thier unbelief behind will be grafted back in. Gentiles believing in christ are true Jews/israel. wheh the full number of gentiles come in in this way all israel will be saved. ( the full number of believing gentiles WILL BE “all israel” being saved.). Jesus also prophesied to the ethnic jews ” and the kingdom of God shall be TAKEN AWAY from YOU and given to a nation producing its fruit”. NOWHERE in the new testiment does it mention a ” regathered nation of israel” OR “in the end times EVERY ethnic Jew will come to christ”.
“God could have chosen ANY group of people for His special mission. He chose the Jews.” [Dr. Cynthia Norbeck].
That’s one reading.
Another is, that proto-Jewish authors crafted an epistemology (OT/Torah) which yielded Jewish ontology. That epistemology fulcrummed in the idea of “their” monotheistic god. They chose their god and mythologised that god as choosing Jews as the chosen people.
Has there been a more successful such project? Has any other religious project been more successful? So enduring. So scaled up. Been so affirmed in our own time.
In existential practice both readings apply.
Jesus, as Christianity has mythologised him (NT), goes beyond the bounds of the Jewish project. While that project, with its Christian take on God, has then yielded more scale and global power, but less coherence.
Both Jewish and Christian projects rank high on the scale of human projects.
Oh my, Colin. So many words but very little substance. I believe one poster once referred to your comments in a similar way.
You never answered my previous question: Have you encountered the Holy Spirit yet? Like you, Saul (later Paul) was educated in the words, traditions, philosophy and customs of the age. Once captured by Christ, he changed course.
I will pray for you.
Why not? We excused the St. George riots, sorry, “fiery, but mostly peaceful protests”. We excuse torching a Wendy’s in Atlanta because a man was sot by the police. For the same reason, we excused days of looting in Philadelphia. We excuse random attacks on white and Asian people in New York.
Why not add killing hundreds of Jews to the list of behavior that has become acceptable because of incidents of historical injustice? I’ll answer that. Because Jew-hatred doesn’t need a reason. But if you’re trying to justify murder on this scale by saying that they deserved it for rejecting Christ, we don’t have much to talk about.
Rabindranath –
It’s not even in the same REALM to compare what is happening in Israel/Palestine to George Floyd or an Atlanta Wendy’s or random attacks on white and Asian people in NYC. I have gleaned quite a bit about your hostility towards Black people here in the US, but this just isn’t it.
We are talking – and grieving – about an INTENTIONAL mass murder of Jews at the hands of a terrorist regime, with the help of the Iranian government.
We are talking about stoking fires of a conflict that can literally be traced back to Biblical times on a scale that can lead to the death of millions.
We are talking about a vicious act that could lead to a world war.
We need to be in prayer; not looking for ways to remind people how bad Black Americans are. Wrong continent. Wrong people to blame. Seriously.
Marin, often I don’t agree with you. but this time. You got a bullseye. Good Job.
I never said that black Americans were bad. If you want to criticisize me, you would be taken more seriously if you were to base your criticism on something that I actually said.
My point was about justifying bad behavior by citing alleged historical injustices. Specifically, I was answering Mr. Buckley’s apologia for the enemies of Israel, in particular the notion that they deserved to be raped and murdered because they reject Jesus Christ.
I am not “blaming ” anybody but Hamas and their enablers.
Rabindranath –
You don’t have to directly say it. You know what you are insinuating. In a thread about awful terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas, you started venting about issues regarding Black Americans here – George Floyd (“st George” to use your words), destruction of a Wendy’s in ATL, and hate crimes against whites and Asians in NYC committed by Black Americans. But you throw stones then hide your hands with the creative, “I didn’t directly say Black Americans were bad!”
Just stop. You’re fooling no one. The scenarios you brought up have ZERO to do with what we are watching unfold. You can’t even logically connect the dots. The people who burned down Wendy’s are not enemies of Israel. It’s like you needed somewhere or someway to bring them up.
Focus on the evil that Hamas has committed against Israel. Pray we avoid a world war.
Marin, I appreciate your comments so much! The voice of reason.
In 2007, Condoleezza Rice said: “If the Palestinians are losing hope, especially among the young, we have a great danger before us.”
That danger is upon us. The young of 2007 active in 2023.
“The prolonged experience of deprivation and humiliation can radicalise even normal people.”
My sense is that the interaction between Israelis and Palestinians is essentially genocidal. Israel squeezing Palestinians in a circumstantial vice, as it has the power to do that. Hamas doing what is currently being reported, as it has garnered the power to do that. One genocide on constant slow burn, the other erupting when pressure breaches containment.
Indeed, welcome back to reality. I’ll keep this simple. Americans are woefully ignorant of world history and sin nature of man.
People are innately tribal. Always have been. The history of a strong, healthy people is one of vigilance concerning protection of culture and tradition; hardly a strength of America. Open borders, salad bowl Tom-foolery.
Therefore, the outcry against Israel’s desire to protect from outside savages is noble. I pity the fools who poked this bear.
Correction to earlier comment please. I meant to state: Israel’s desire and need to protect from outside savages is noble.
Thanks to all who support Israel. We must all remain vigilant and aware to insider threats. This could not have happened without traitors gathering intelligence from within Israel.
Sam:
You are so correct: There is at least one mole in Israel’s security forces. I pity him or her once the Israelis finish this war and starting digging for answers.
Israel has THE BEST intelligence in the world. Make no mistake – somebody gave them false, misleading, or twisted information. Those responsible will pay big-time.
Hamas is a known vicious terrorist organization with no scruples. Remember: Gaza voted in Hamas as leader of their government. They will now pay a price reminiscent of Tokyo and other Japanese cities which continued to be enthusiastic supporters of their militaristic warlords until the US and B-29’s brought swift justice.
There is much that needs to be said, about historical Palestine and the Palestinians whose occupancy has been fundamentally altered by the establishment of the State of Israel. There is much that needs to be said about Zionism, about the part it played in the coming about of modern Israel, about how it informs the current circumstance of Palestinians in Israel. There is much that needs to be said about how Jews have been treated historically, in many parts of the wider world. There is much that needs to be said about how the Shoah must reverberate in all Jewish being, for ever. There is much that needs to be said about the concomitant Jewish impulse and aspiration to have their own State. There is much that needs to be said about the animosities between Christians and Arabs and Jews. Much to be said about where and when those animosities have been laid aside and good coexistence has been had. Much that needs to be said about the current direction Israel is taking ideologically and politically and legally.
The problem then is, that we seem unable to take all of this into account, whenever any of us speak. What we say, whatever we say about all of this, is eviscerated by those and that who judge we are supporting one side or another. We are so far away from “peace in Jerusalem”, truth in Jerusalem, justice in Jerusalem, humanity in Jerusalem. There is so much to be said about that.
Well expressed and thought out.
Praying that Israel figures out how to find and kill the ringleaders of Hamas, and their Iranian supporters. No sense in the innocent suffering for the ravings of the ayatollahs and such.
What’s going on is that the Palestinians are denied entry into their Arab neighbors; the fences are on the Egyptian border of the Gaza strip, and on the border with Jordan. So they’re basically prisoners and tools of their Muslim (and Iranian) neighbors, “Muslim brothers all”, who feed them with propaganda (Mein Kampf is a popular book there) and use them as proxy forces to attack Israel.
And yes, there are Palestinian women and children, among other noncombatants, among the dead. That happens when Hamas sites rocket launchers in residential areas, by elementary schools, and the like in order to create sympathy among those who don’t realize why there are so many civilian casualties. Civilized people don’t put their own children in the line of fire.
And if anyone here wants to argue that murdering mothers and babies at a kibbutz is somehow permissible, be my guest, but it seems to me that it “worked better in the original German”, if you catch my drift.
Psalm 83 is a lament asking God to not be silent as His enemies make threats against His “treasured ones”:
They say, “come, let us wipe them out as a nation, let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” Psalm 83:4 ESV
This Psalm written 2500 years ago is still true today!