I live a sheltered and optimistic life in which I tend to think well of others. In my world people don’t rape mothers and behead babies because people can’t be that evil.
A few weeks ago I walked into Dollarama and saw plastic baby head skulls. The display deeply disturbed me. Celebrating torture and death is not something I understand. My motto for life has always been, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
But apparently not everyone is as troubled as I am about the raid Hamas carried out on Israel. Here in Canada Hamas supporters are protesting in the streets in many cities. Women, unbelievably, are leading the protests, shouting out slogans echoed by the crowds. I say unbelievably because of how women were targeted in the attack, and how women’s rights are scoffed at in the Middle East.
Influencers like Gad Saad and Gabor Mate are excusing Hamas and trying to make it sound as though the actions of Hamas are reasonable in light of the history between Gaza and Israel. It’s rather shocking.
The kind of provocation Hamas engaged in cannot be excused. It is evident that this was very intentional and the revolting evil was carried out with an end in mind. The goal was clearly to commit such atrocities that Israel would be unable to resist retaliating in the most decisive way.
Hamas did not appear to care what the rest of the world thought. It did not matter that their actions would be despised. I think they believed they had a lot of support, and now we see they do. I am ashamed of Canadians marching in the streets in support of a terrorist group capable of this kind of inhuman behavior.
I know this is the place where I’m supposed to talk about all that has occurred historically in Israel. But to bring a proper perspective is impossible. You can never satisfy both sides.
Some years ago I watched a propaganda video on the relationship between Israel and Palestinians. You can tell it is propaganda by the ominous tone, the dramatization, the repetitious visuals meant to sensationalize, the length of the video, ninety minutes of indoctrination with one message. A friend recommended that I watch it. It was part of her university studies in Ontario and she was completely convinced of the evil of Israel and the victimization of Palestinians. She would not listen to any reason from me or attempts to bring some balance of understanding, although we are both Christians. Her response helps me to understand the protesting in the streets.
I have tried to look at both sides. It is apparent that the Palestinians mean to arouse animosity and hatred towards Israel. One cannot deny this. We’ve seen Palestinians advocate for Israeli genocide. They want the Israelis to be destroyed. Israel has taken a measured response towards the various and incessant attacks over the years by Palestinians, until now. Their threshold of tolerance has finally been breached.
As I said, bringing understanding is impossible, but I will state a few points, nonetheless.
If we want to look at the whole picture then we need to understand that Palestinians and Israelis are relatives who have battled for the same land for millenniums. In Biblical days the tribe of Israel, the eleven sons of Jacob, who was given the name Israel by God, travelled from Canaan to Egypt in time of famine. Joseph, the twelfth son, was already there. Years earlier they sold their brother Joseph to Midianites who took him to Egypt where he was eventually put in charge of the storehouses of Egypt and stored grain in anticipation of coming famine.
When the famine became severe in Canaan (modern day Israel) the brothers journeyed to Egypt to buy grain. As the story goes, the family remained in Egypt for generations and as they increased in number they became a threat to Pharaoh who dealt harshly with them and made them slaves. Moses liberated them from the oppressive Pharaoh and the nation of Israel journeyed in the wilderness for forty years. When they returned to their homeland battles for possession of land ensued. They were treated like strangers and of course nobody was going to voluntarily give up land for them.
According to the Biblical record, the nation of Israel established itself as it won battles, but it was dispersed in time and over-run again by other nations, because they forsook the God who provided for them. Their temple in Jerusalem was ransacked and pillaged by enemies. Some Israelites were eventually allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple, but it resembled nothing close to the glory of the original. Today the temple in Jerusalem is a Muslim mosque, evidence of how the power struggle saga continues.
In 1948, after 6 million Jews were murdered in what we refer to as the Holocaust—a sort of “racial cleansing” carried out by the Nazis—the newly formed United Nations compassionately designated a homeland for Israel to prevent this from ever recurring. The Jews returned to what had been their homeland at one time. It was not a very prosperous land and not very populated. The Palestinian Arabs did not accept the division of their land without a fight, however, and the battle for supremacy has continued to this day.
The question we must ask is, ‘Can the now “immigrant” Jews, whose race miraculously escaped extermination, ever be allowed a place where they can live in peace?’ Palestinians will undoubtedly answer in the negative.
It is unfathomable that today we still hear “Gas the Jews” chanted on the streets. This is not humane behavior. Palestinians have now driven the Jews to employ extreme measures to protect the lives of their people. We wait to see how this unfolds. In the meantime let us “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Interestingly, Jerusalem, the capital of the region and the seat of the former throne of King David, remains divided between both Jews and Arabs.