A bomb is exploding in Gaza
Once again, conflict is escalating between Israel and Gaza, and once again, Christians are blessing Israel and ignoring the suffering of Palestinians. My heart breaks when I look at Christians United for Israel’s Facebook page: while they pray for, bless and worry for Israeli victims of Palestinian terror attacks, which is great, there is no sympathy at all for Palestinian victims of Israeli bombings. There is great alarm about the rockets that Hamas fires at Israeli cities, which yet have not killed anyone in the current conflict, while the 70+ Palestinians that have died (including at least eight children) aren’t even mentioned!
Don’t get me wrong, what Hamas is doing is totally unacceptable and we need to pray and act for them to stop. But killing people is not the best way to stop them. It didn’t work in 2012, it won’t work know. When Hamas sees that Israel kills children, they won’t feel less keen to fire their rockets. Violence is a very bad way to end violence, Jesus taught us to love our enemies, do good to them and fight evil with love.
The best way to stop the conflict between Israel and Palestine is through social justice and economic equality. The relationship between Israel and Palestine is very unequal: Palestinians are poorer, live shorter, have worse health care, own less land and suffer more than Israelis. Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian crisis while Israel is enjoying Western standards. And much more Palestinians die in the conflict compared to Israelis.
If Israel blessed the Palestinian lands and helped them develop freely and democratically so that there was equality – with the same life expectancy, GDP, welfare in both Palestinian and Israeli lands – Hamas would have less to complain about. Terrorism is always awful but most of the time it is caused by social injustice and oppression. This is also true for al Qaida and other terror groups that attack the US – they rightfully feel that the Americans oppress the Middle East and promote global inequality.
Some will probably point out that Israel indeed wants peace, justice and equality but that Hamas makes it impossible. That’s not entirely true though, the UN as well as multiple NGOs tell us that Israel is not doing enough to promote justice – the occupation, wall, blockade and the settlements are increasing inequality. Many of these things are said to be necessary to stop terrorism and warfare, but that doesn’t explain why the wall is built around several settlements, or why Israel does not allow enough material enter Gaza to stop the humanitarian crisis.
Father, I pray for peace in the holy land and your blessing over both Israelis and Palestinians. I thank You that You love everyone equally and I pray that they all may experience Your amazing love, grace and salvation. I pray that You will bless all the Christians in Israel and Palestine with strength to spread the Gospel, promote peace and justice and heal the sick, raise the dead and prophesy Your good will towards all men. Amen.
Charismactivism 
[…] ← Treat Hamas with Social Justice, not Bombs […]
[…] Treat Hamas with Social Justice, not Bombs […]
Hi Micael,
Is it true that you interpret what is happening in Israel and Gaza based on socio-economic terms? Even the terror of Al-Qaeda and others? It seems so when I read your post. “The best way to stop the conflict between Israel and Palestine is through social justice and economic equality.” I think it’s naive to say so. If I would follow your thought, then consistently all the people in the poor part of the world, that also feel themselves oppressed, would consequently wish to terrorize and hate the rich and prosperous in the world. It is possible that some may react so precisely for that reasons. Maybe especially those who embraced a communist world-view, a world view with in-built hatred (eg countries like Cuba and Russia). But people are driven by stronger forces than that. Namely, the power of religious conviction and religious spirits.
The spirit behind Islam is the same antichrist spirit that repeatedly wanted to exterminate the people of God in history. Now I understand that you do not believe that the Jews are God’s people after they rejected Jesus as the Messiah. This would have Israel today not to have anything to do with God’s action in history. I disagree with you, but am not going to discuss it much here. Unfortunately, I think the conclusion you make means you do not consider it to be an anti-christ spirit behind Islam’s hatred of Jews and Christians. If so, one can always turn to the imperialist and socio-economic explanations (even though these issues could add to conflict). But I do not believe you can understand the conflict in the Middle East without having studied Islam (although not through literature from the University of Uppsala and the like). I recognize of course that there are liberal Muslims, just as there are liberal Christians. However, the spirit that drove Muhammad and that is the DNA of Islam, is the same spirit that wants to wipe out Israel today and put the world under its feet. Do not forget that as soon as Muhammad had his breakthrough, expanded the Muslim empire across the Middle East, Turkey, North Africa and Spain. The form of Islam that drives ISIS and Hamas is not extremism, although humanistic voices in academia would have us believe so. This is normal Islam, the same that drove Muhammad. In eschatological Islam, jews are not very popular.
I do not think the conflict in Israel and Gaza is due to settlements or any form of injustice in socio-economic terms. The arabs in Gaza are used as a tool for the arab countries to push Israel off the map. The same arab countries, that also host arab refugees (but are never blamed) have tried to wipe out Israel through war. But instead they use the arab refugees in Gaza and ugly diplomacy in the UN (in which the arab league have a massive impact on the agenda, about 20 resolutions from UNHCR against Israel a year, compared to just a few to the rest of the world). On top of this a lot of lies in text and pictures are presented to the naive western media (“pallywood”). http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001464.html
If a lie is told many times, people start to believe it. Thus so with the lie about the administered west-bank (A, B and C-area) which would be illegaly occupied by Israel, which is not the case. (So of course it disturbs me if you consistently begin your blogs about the conflict in Israel and Gaza with giving Israel the big blame …). Hamas, the PLO, Fatah and Hezbollah wishes to wipe out all the Jews, even if you want to solve the situation by treating them with coffee and cake (i.e. better standards).
Interestingly though, they have some luxuaries in Gaza: http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001127.html, http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001114.html and http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001208.html.
I do not think you will be able to resolve the conflict in the way that you write. Of course we should love our enemies, but I would not let an assailant kill my family while i stand and watch. I think the state is ordained of God, the Israel state as well, and if you put yourself up against the state, by eg terror, you put yourself up against God (according to Romans). Moreover, the Jews are still God’s people according to the flesh, even if you are reasoning differently. What God says to Abraham in Gen. 12:3, blessed are those who bless His children, and cursed are those who curse his children, is still true today about Israel. I wish you wrote in a more blessed way regarding Israel (even if you do not like me writing so).
Finally, the revival of Israel in 1948 was prophesied in the Bible, but also indirectly in the “modern era”. (http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/12th-century-rabbi-predicted-israels-future/) A Rabbi in the 1100s predicted that Jerusalem would again return to the Jews in 1967, which it did. Please read the prophecy.
Bless!