Israel can be criticized, but should not be condemned
The war in Gaza drags on. Every day, our screens are filled with images of destruction, and alarming reports of a humanitarian crisis and impending famine in the Gaza Strip. Israel is condemned in the media as the aggressor, accused daily of war crimes and genocide. This condemnation in turn is fueling increasing aggression, violence and hatred of Jews around the globe.
Last week an Israeli woman on the way to a hospital to give birth was shot and killed in Samaria, in an attack that Hamas applauded as a “heroic act.” Yesterday, a gunman shot and killed Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, both employees of the Israeli embassy, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
In portraying Israel as the aggressor, the media ignores the real problem in the region: Israel is defending itself against deeply-rooted hatred of the Jewish people in Arab/Islamic culture. This is an existential war. It places Israel between a rock and a hard place. Israel faces a massive dilemma. How to ensure it can survive against the Islamist terrorists who are deeply embedded in Palestinian society and at the same time avoid being seen as oppressor of the Palestinian people.
Israel has been at war now with Hamas in Gaza for over 18 months – since 7th October 2023. But in actual fact, it is much longer. The war with Hamas started when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2006. Ever since, Hamas has been waging war to destroy Israel. For two decades, Israel has defended itself and occasionally launching a military campaign against Hamas’ military infrastructure.
Hamas is a close ally of Iran – supported financially and logistically by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as Qatar. Hamas is part of the network of Islamist jihad movements and groups that are spread across the Middle East and are devoted to destroying the infidels. It is a war against the West, with Israel and the USA as their main targets.
The Gaza conflict is just part of a war that has been waged against the Jewish people since the 1970’s, especially after the Iranian revolution in 1979 that brought the extremist mullahs to power. In a real sense, Israel has been defending itself against these entities for decades. It is an existential war – it is not about territory, but about whether Israel can exist at all as a Jewish state.
This war can be traced back to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, who incited the Hebron pogrom in 1929 in which around 70 Jews were slaughtered in a brutal fashion not unlike the 7th October 2023 massacre.
“The Gaza conflict is just part of a war that has been waged against the Jewish people since the 1970’s”
The 7th October 2023 attack opened a new phase in this war. Israel stated clearly that it has two main war aims: removing Hamas and freeing the hostages. Both are perfectly legitimate (and necessary) war aims. So far neither of those goals has yet been fully achieved. Hamas is still active and operating in Gaza, and around 50 persons are still held hostage in the tunnels under Gaza (most of them confirmed dead).
Israel recently took the decision to launch a new offensive in Gaza – named “Gideon’s Chariots”. Several months ago, it terminated supply of food into Gaza because Hamas misuses the food supplies. These actions have attracted a huge amount of condemnation and censure. France, UK and Canada recently issued a joint statement threatening to impose sanctions if Israel continues its campaign and does not allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
This past week, apparently in response to this international pressure, the Israeli government agreed to allow a limited number of supplies into Gaza. That is to be welcomed.
The problem is complicated by the extremist calls by some Israeli leaders for annihilation of the people of Gaza, implying the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. These statements are highly problematic. As Christians, we cannot support or condone them.
It is hard to witness the death and destruction that is happening in Gaza. Are the massive destruction of infrastructure and numbers of civilian casualties necessary? These are important and legitimate questions, that deserve answers.
But to answer them we need to see the big picture. Israel is fighting an asymetric defensive war against an underground network. The widespread destruction in Gaza is necessary to root out Hamas, which has embedded itself in the massive complex of tunnels deep under cities, houses, hospitals, schools and mosques. It is Hamas, not Israel, that is responsible for the destruction needed to defeat Hamas.
Of course there are limits. Israel must keep civilian casualties to an absolute minimum. It must not prevent humanitarian care from reaching the population.
“It is Hamas, not Israel, that is responsible for the destruction needed to defeat Hamas.”
The war with Hamas is linked to the war against the Islamist regime (and Iranian puppet) Hezbollah in Lebanon, against the extremists in Syria, and against the revolutionary regime in Tehran that holds the strings. It is also linked to Israel’s conflict with the many Islamist jihad cells in Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”), especially the Palestinian-governed cities like Jenin and Tulkarem.
At the same time as it is fighting this multi-front war, Israel continues to build its economy and develop as a democratic nation that is home not only to Jews but also to around two million non-Jews (mainly Arab Muslims, but also Christians and other religions). This is highly complex and challenging. There are huge internal struggels and disagreements – as witnessed by the many demonstrations against the current centre-right government concerning the Gaza hostages but also other issues such judicial reforms.
Despite the divisions (and perhaps because of them), Israel remains a beacon of freedom in the region. While there are many obstacles, Arabs in Israel enjoy equal rights and opportunities. Christians, Muslims and others have freedom of religion. And the Jewish people have a haven from the growing antisemitism around the globe.
Yes, Israel’s military administration must be ended. It is unacceptable to keep a whole people under perpetual military occupation. But the Palestinians are also responsible for their own fate. They need to abandon their culture of hatred of the Jews.
True peace can only be achieved through mutual acceptance, collaboration and cooperation on the ground – not internationally-imposed “solutions” that deny Jews the right to live in their historic homeland, and reward Islamist terror, hatred and extremism.
The big picture is that the Jewish State of Israel remains an (admittedly imperfect) model for co-existence and freedom, in a region characterized by chaos, corruption, extremism and totalitarianism. It is fair to criticize Israel. But it is unacceptable to frame it as solely responsible for the tragic lot of the Palestinians or condemn it as illegitimate.
Let us continue to pray this week for an end to the conflict in Gaza. For the release of all the hostages, and an end to Hamas’ brutal regime. For Israel and for all its people – Jews and non-Jews. Let us also pray that the Jewish people will be motivated by love and compassion, and place all their trust in God. Let us beseech God to pour out His spirit of grace and supplication on the people of Israel – Jew and non-Jew – all who live in the land.
Netanyahu: ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ will end Gaza war with decisive victory
JNS: Southern Israeli cities are shaking “not because of Hamas missiles but the magnitude of IDF fire,” the Israeli prime minister said.
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UN, BBC walk back Gaza infant death toll claim
JNS: A top official had falsely claimed that 14,000 infants faced death within 48 hours.
> Read more..
An upside-down Europe
Fiamma Nirenstein: The only ones responsible for the war in Gaza are those who planned it, initiated it and continue it with daily attacks.
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Two Israeli embassy staffers shot dead outside Jewish museum in DC
The victims had planned to get engaged in Jerusalem next week. The shooter yelled “Free, free Palestine” as he was taken into custody.
> Read more..
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK: Zechariah 12
The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: 2 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injurethemselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5 Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LordAlmighty is their God.’
6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.
7 “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.
