Israel and Palestine: Mad & Sad At Both
I think that when Christians hear about Israel and Palestine, we tend to side with Israel because they birthed Jesus and we believe he is the perfection of the Jewish faith in that he is the promised Messiah who fulfills and finishes the Law and prophecy. So, we regard Jews as kind of our religious cousins because, in our minds, we are united through Jesus (Yeshua). Jews vehemently disagree with that assessment, but as Christians still use the Old Testament, we tend to ignore that and support Israel’s right to exist, and somewhat blindly support anything they do, even if it results in the deaths of way more Palestinians than Israelis in retribution.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in a fairy tale land, you know that Israel launched a ground offensive into Gaza, where Hamas runs things. Hamas is a Palestinian group that wants to free Palestinians, ending Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and they don’t recognize the right of Israel to exist and pretty much are dedicated to wiping them out from existence and from the Middle East (along with every other Middle Eastern country, if they were allowed). The problem is that this is way more nuanced and complex than Israel attacking Palestinians and killing them en masse, and way more complicated than “Arab Muslims hate Jews.” Emotions run high online when talking about this on both sides, so I sit back, learn more history, apply what I already know and try to grasp some of what’s going on here. Should Israel have gone this far? No. This is an awful and immoral response to provocation from Hamas. Should Hamas have played their part in this? No. Hamas did an awful and immoral thing to Israel. Do both sides need to stop? YES. I’m mad and sad at Israel AND Palestine.
So weary.
I was going to do a video on this, but I couldn’t find the words. I’m greatly disgusted with Israel right now. Those ignorant people cheering missiles landing in Gaza, landing on top of fleeing civilians, nearly 300 Gazans dead now, and seeing a picture of Israeli kids writing “From Israel, with love” on missiles headed toward Gaza (if true) just sickens me. How dare you turn into the monsters (Romans) that uprooted you from your homeland in the first place?! So, I took to Twitter to explain some things and try to bring some sense of nuance into this emotionally charged debate full of inaccuracies, lies, polarization, and xenophobia. The world hates and cares about Israel, and the Arab world gives lip service to Palestinians without backing any of it up because they regard them as little more than mutts. (Direct quote from a native Palestinian I dated.) Also, Hamas (and others) have used Palestinians as human shields and fodder for their hatred. Hamas could have easily built other places to launch missiles in Gaza, but they set up stuff right next to schools and their homes, full of kids and family members, and it’s on purpose. So, no one’s hands are clean in this, but I pray for a better solution than what’s going on now.
Anyway, here is a Storify from my Twitter discussions about it. I hope you find it helpful. There is a picture included and two links that help explain how Israel and Hamas got “here” today. It’s way more complicated than you think. Thanks for reading.
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Category: Politics
