On September 11, 2001, the United
States was attacked by nineteen terrorists who launched their
attack as an act of religious obedience. To my knowledge, none
of the nineteen had a personal beef with Uncle Sam -- by all
accounts, they seemed to have had a pretty good time here.
Even before we had a handle on the awful carnage, American
outrage boiled over at the random nature of the attacks. The
passengers on the planes; the victims at the WTC who died simply
because they got to work early; those at the Pentagon who died
at their desks . . .
To my mind, the attack was many
times worse than Pearl Harbor for the following reason(s). 1.
The victims were civilians. 2. The perpetrators were civilians.
3. The attack took place on our home soil. 4. Many nations were
complicit, but none accountable.
America's national reaction was
proportionate to the attacks. It wasn't merely a matter of
avenging the blood of more than 3,000 innocents (although that
would have been sufficient motivation) behind America's
response.
In 2002, the US invaded
Afghanistan and toppled the Afghani government. Had Pakistan's
Pervez Musharraf not withdrawn his support for the Taliban and
agreed to stand down, the odds are good Pakistan would also be
under new, more US-friendly management today.
For the most part, the US action
against Afghanistan was considered proper under the
circumstances and therefore enjoyed widespread international
support. There remains an eight-nation coalition of allies
engaged in Afghanistan today.
Fast forward to the Israeli
border with Gaza today, as the Israelis mass troops and tanks
for a ground invasion of what had formerly been its most
ungovernable protectorate. Israel withdrew unilaterally from
Gaza in 2005, in effect, letting the world see what the
Palestinians would do if they had a state handed to them.
The Palestinians of Gaza promptly
chose Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organization dedicated to the
destruction of Israel, as their political representatives,
electing them to majority control of the Palestinian
legislature. As soon as the Israelis withdrew to their side of
the border, Hamas began lobbing rockets into Israeli cities and
towns.
The rocket attacks were at random
-- they aren't aimed, they are pointed in a general direction.
Like tossing a hand grenade into a neighborhood at random,
dozens of times a day. The victims are civilians. The
perpetrators are civilians. The Palestinian Authority is
complicit in, but not accountable for, random attacks against
Israeli civilians from Gaza.
So Palestinian rockets have been
raining down on Israel for years. Recently, newer, longer-range
rockets from Iran and Syria and smuggled through tunnels from
Egypt have begun raining down on Israeli cities and towns as far
away as Ashkelon.
More than forty such rockets
rained down on Israeli civilian targets in the past few hours,
according to this morning's Jerusalem Post. Israeli Defense
Minister Ehud Barak warned Hamas publicly to stop attacking
Israeli targets or face massive Israeli retaliation. Hamas
continued its assault against Israeli civilians. On Saturday,
Israel declared, "Enough!"
Barak outlined the Israeli
strategy in advance, telling the Knesset, "We will avoid as much
as possible hitting civilians while the people of Hamas and
other terrorists deliberately hide and operate within the
civilian population."
After three days of what Ehud
Barak called "all-out war with Hamas and its proxies," at least
318 Palestinians are dead and more than 1,000 wounded. Most of
the dead and wounded were Hamas. The same people that were, only
days before, firing rockets at Israeli markets, plotting ways to
kill Israeli civilians, and carrying out their official reason
for existence -- the destruction of Israel.
When America took the battle to
the enemy in Afghanistan in 2002, it enjoyed the moral support
of most of the civilized world, not to mention the material
support of NATO and the allied coalition.
When Israel took the battle to
the enemy on Saturday, the world reacted as if the Israelis had
firebombed an orphanage.
The Brits made it clear that,
even if they had to support Israel's right to defend itself,
their sympathies lay elsewhere. The Foreign Office issued this
typical British statement of 'support'.
"The only way to achieve lasting
peace in Gaza is through peaceful means. Whilst we understand
the Israeli government's obligation to protect its population we
urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties . .
"
(To which the Foreign Office
added the following, "oh, by the way" as an afterthought to
Hamas):
"We also call on militants in the
Gaza Strip to immediately cease all rocket attacks on Israel."
Russia's Foreign Ministry issued
a similar statement, (right down to the afterthought mention of
the very reason the Israeli incursion became necessary):
"Moscow deems it necessary to
stop large scale military action against Gaza, which had already
led to big casualties and suffering among civilian Palestinian
population. At the same time we call on Hamas leadership to stop
shelling Israeli territory."
The European Union issued a
typical boilerplate statement calling on either a "ceasefire" or
"maximum restraint" (without actually specifying a preference.)
Iran ordered all Muslims
world-wide to come to the defense of Gaza. Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei issued a religious decree ordering them to defend Gaza
against Israel "in any way possible," saying on Iranian state
TV:
"All Palestinian combatants and
all the Islamic world's pious people are obliged to defend the
defenseless women, children and people in Gaza in any way
possible," Khamenei said.
"Whoever is killed in this
legitimate defense, is considered a martyr."
What is missing in all of this is
any kind of condemnation of Hamas fighters who attack Israeli
women and children from a distance and then hide themselves
among Palestinian women and children to protect themselves from
Israeli retaliation.
Israel released cockpit video of
the destruction of an Hamas launching pad purposely located in a
Palestinian residential area. But you have to look real hard to
find it -- publishing it interferes with the myth mindlessly
being cultivated by the politically correct mainstream media
that Israel, and not Hamas, is responsible for civilian deaths.
Nobody denies Hamas has been
attacking Israel without provocation and at random for several
years. Nobody denies Hamas exists for the express purpose of
destroying Israel. Yet it is Israel that the world blames for
the conflict.
There is no natural explanation
for this kind of blindness. That Israel has been deliberately
provoked is undeniable. Hamas hides among its own women and
children, hoping they will become Israeli collateral damage they
can later exploit. The media KNOWS that it is being manipulated
by Hamas and its allies. Still, it works every single time.
Israel is the only legitimate
representative and Western-style democracy in the Middle East.
Israel is the only utterly consistent friend the West has in the
region. Citizens of Israel come from every nation and from every
people -- more than 86 languages are spoken there.
Israel has extended its hand of
friendship to any nation willing to accept it, and Israel has
sacrificed much in the pursuit of peace. Yet no nation on earth
has seen more war and less peace than tiny Israel.
The world hates Israel. It can't
help itself. Even when it tries not to, that hatred still
manages to simmer to the surface. Why? What did Israel ever do
to deserve to be singled out for this kind of universal
animosity?
It is interesting -- the world
hates Israel, and it does so out of instinct. Israel stands as a
testimony to God's Word -- God said that Israel would be
restored in the last days. Israel was restored. God said
Jerusalem would be restored to Israel in the face of global
opposition. And that is precisely the case.
The Church loves Israel, also
instinctively -- and for the same reason. Please join me in
prayer for Israel and her troops as they face off against their
enemies.
May God be with them.
Copyright © 2008
www.omegaletter.com All Rights Reserved.
Posted with permission. Source article at
http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=6536
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Comments
Anonymous:
How has the nation of Israel treated God's own?
Berit: Not very well! Nor has
Hamas! They have destroyed Christian schools, churches,
families – everything that opposes their militant ideology.
From
Bruce: Ron Paul said before congress this week
that Hamas was originally funded by the U.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z6vMAoFwf4 (see
note) I don't
defend Hamas or the state of Israel. Would it not be better
to view the conflict on our knees in humility, then to exalt
it?
Berit's response: I don't know
anyone who is exalting it, Bruce. It certainly wouldn't want
to do that! It has grieved me from the
beginning. I could never fight in a physical war, for I must follow
God and His New Testament way, which means forgiving rather than fighting
-- giving my life rather than taking life.
But war is a worldly reality,
and history shows us the depravity of human nature apart
from God. So it's not surprising that Israel
-- like the US and other Western countries -- has demonstrated its share of corruption.
And in spite of Christian support, it has shown
little love for its own Christian citizens or supporters.
War is horrible! Yet we can
neither ignore nor dismiss it. In this particular case, it
seems irrational (from a legal -- not Biblical --
standpoint) that U.S. would have the right to defend its
territory, while Israel would be forced to accept continual
terrorism near its borders. Worse yet, it faces the
continuing
threats of total annihilation. Therefore I thought Jack
Kinsella's logical argument worth reading and posting.
In the end, God's will is
certain to prevail. May He use the suffering and deaths of
this current war to remind His people on both sides of
the battle-lines that He alone offers
genuine hope both now and forever.
"... we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we
despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God.... that thanks may be given
by many..." 2 Corinthians
1:8-11
From
Bruce: Palestinian
Christians have been estimated to comprise 3-5% of the
population, down from 15%. If the body of Christ is his
church and a part of his church is caught in the
crossfire, should we not view the conflict in this
context?
Berit's response:
Absolutely, Bruce. Thank you for raising that important question!
The unthinkable suffering of
Christians in Palestine has troubled me much through the
years. I’ve been praying personally for several
Christian Palestinians who have written to us. Some have
now left, mainly because they could no longer make a
living – or enjoy safety for their children in the midst
of the hostile and lawless Muslim radicals. Others have
simply disappeared from our "sight," and we don't know
what happened to them. But our hearts are with them --
more than with the secular people of Israel.
The
two times Andy and I visited Jerusalem, God led us to
Palestinian Christians who invited us to their wonderful
worship services. We joyfully shared in songs of praise
-- especially when we heard familiar hymn melodies and
could sing with them in our own language.
I
doubt that they can enjoy such freedom to worship God
while Hamas still rules their territory.
But I
think Jack was addressing a different issue – one
dealing with international guidelines and secular
justice -- which will certainly be accountable to
God's justice in the end. We know we can expect "wars
and rumors of wars" in these times, and I doubt that
any of today's elite world leaders are actually
concerned about God's will and ways. That makes it all
the more important that we --
-
Study God's Truth and pray
for understanding
-
Learn the facts
and view them (as you said) in the context of His
Word and realities
-
Keep praying and trusting that whatever
happens, He will use it to draw people to Himself --
people on both sides of the border who might otherwise
be too busy or comfortable to seek Him.
The secularization of
America as well as Israel
reminds me of
this Old Testament Scripture, which Jewish leaders
seems to have forgotten:
"...when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful
houses and dwell in them... your heart is lifted up and
you forget the Lord your God. ... you say in your heart, ‘My
power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
"...if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow
other gods... you shall surely perish. As the nations which the
Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because
you would not be
obedient to the voice of the Lord your God."
Deuteronomy 8:10-20
By His
grace alone,
Berit
Note: I would
want more documentation concerning those donations to Hamas
before I can evaluate those observations.
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