Some will count my commentary as antisemitic, but it is not; it is simply one more voice calling out Israel and her leaders for behavior contrary to its stated values and contrary also to the wellbeing of millions of people.
I’m not sure when the Bad News started, but I know it was long before October 7, 2023. That is the day Palestinian soldiers raided Israeli events and communities and killed hundreds of people. The wickedness of that event was in retaliation to things that went before, all the way back to what Israelis call the War of Independence in 1948.
In the six months since that Shabbat day raid, Israel has more than repaid them an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Thirty-five thousand people dead and many, many more wounded, displaced, sick, tired, and hungry.
It is another fulfillment of the ancient prophecy, “A voice was heard in Ramah of painful crying and deep sadness: Rachel crying for her children. She refused to be comforted because her children are dead!” (Jeremiah 31:15). Rachel represents all the mothers of the region, all those whose children are dead or dying.
Gaza is a human wasteland, made so by decades of poverty and months of bombing. If that first century Jew who was also punished by the powers that be were here today (and some of us think he is) he would be in Gaza feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and loving the stranger.
What’s going on in Gaza is Bad News for Israel. It is planting the seeds for another century of bitter harvest. Unto the third generation, Palestinian people will remember this. Some of them will seek revenge.
But it is not just Palestinians and people like me who speak a prophetic word against the leaders of Israel, it is millions of Israeli people themselves. They also see the futility of this course of action; they also march for peace; they want their people back…at home, in school, on the job, at the beach.
There is another dimension to this Bad News. All over America, people are expressing their judgment on this war in Gaza. Thousands of students are doing exactly what they are taught to do in college and university: be aware, be informed, be engaged, take a stand, make a difference.
But what is happening is this: Israel and her friends in the United States are conspiring to suppress all expressions of these convictions. U. S. Representatives who dare to speak out are targeted for defeat in this current round of primaries. Students are being denied graduation. Professors are being dismissed. Protests are being shut down. Dissent is being denied.
This is Bad News for Israel.
Some turn resistance to the Gaza War into anti-semitism: some protesters and some defenders. Protesters allow their passion against the war and in support of Palestinian rights to bleed over into a virulent attack on Jews in general; and defenders of Israel denounce any resistance to the war in Gaza as racism against all Jews. Both of these are wrong, but efforts to punish people for opposition to the war are not good, not right, not helpful.
It is yet more Bad News for Israel.
Already, opposition to the Gaza War has prompted three more European countries to recognize the Palestinian state, bringing the total number to 150. This may well be just the beginning of a groundswell of support for Palestinians. It is way past time for the United States and other countries to move decisively to create a state for the Palestinian people. Resistance will come from Israel, some other Middle Eastern countries and, of course, many in the United States. But it must happen; it will happen; it is happening.
That, though, may be Good News for Israel.
It won’t be the first time that the path most hated, most resisted, most denounced leads into a future for which we all have prayed and worked. At the very least we can say: it is hard to imagine a future in which Palestinian people have their own national entity being any worse that what has happened over the last 70 years.
We all need more Good News. And that will mean changing the way things are.
Some will count my commentary as antisemitic, but it is not; it is simply one more voice calling out Israel and her leaders for behavior contrary to its stated values and contrary also to the wellbeing of millions of people.
I’m not sure when the Bad News started, but I know it was long before October 7, 2023. That is the day Palestinian soldiers raided Israeli events and communities and killed hundreds of people. The wickedness of that event was in retaliation to things that went before, all the way back to what Israelis call the War of Independence in 1948.
In the six months since that Shabbat day raid, Israel has more than repaid them an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Thirty-five thousand people dead and many, many more wounded, displaced, sick, tired, and hungry.
It is another fulfillment of the ancient prophecy, “A voice was heard in Ramah of painful crying and deep sadness: Rachel crying for her children. She refused to be comforted because her children are dead!” (Jeremiah 31:15). Rachel represents all the mothers of the region, all those whose children are dead or dying.
Gaza is a human wasteland, made so by decades of poverty and months of bombing. If that first century Jew who was also punished by the powers that be were here today (and some of us think he is) he would be in Gaza feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and loving the stranger.
What’s going on in Gaza is Bad News for Israel. It is planting the seeds for another century of bitter harvest. Unto the third generation, Palestinian people will remember this. Some of them will seek revenge.
But it is not just Palestinians and people like me who speak a prophetic word against the leaders of Israel, it is millions of Israeli people themselves. They also see the futility of this course of action; they also march for peace; they want their people back…at home, in school, on the job, at the beach.
There is another dimension to this Bad News. All over America, people are expressing their judgment on this war in Gaza. Thousands of students are doing exactly what they are taught to do in college and university: be aware, be informed, be engaged, take a stand, make a difference.
But what is happening is this: Israel and her friends in the United States are conspiring to suppress all expressions of these convictions. U. S. Representatives who dare to speak out are targeted for defeat in this current round of primaries. Students are being denied graduation. Professors are being dismissed. Protests are being shut down. Dissent is being denied.
This is Bad News for Israel.
Some turn resistance to the Gaza War into anti-semitism: some protesters and some defenders. Protesters allow their passion against the war and in support of Palestinian rights to bleed over into a virulent attack on Jews in general; and defenders of Israel denounce any resistance to the war in Gaza as racism against all Jews. Both of these are wrong, but efforts to punish people for opposition to the war are not good, not right, not helpful.
It is yet more Bad News for Israel.
Already, opposition to the Gaza War has prompted three more European countries to recognize the Palestinian state, bringing the total number to 150. This may well be just the beginning of a groundswell of support for Palestinians. It is way past time for the United States and other countries to move decisively to create a state for the Palestinian people. Resistance will come from Israel, some other Middle Eastern countries and, of course, many in the United States. But it must happen; it will happen; it is happening.
That, though, may be Good News for Israel.
It won’t be the first time that the path most hated, most resisted, most denounced leads into a future for which we all have prayed and worked. At the very least we can say: it is hard to imagine a future in which Palestinian people have their own national entity being any worse that what has happened over the last 70 years.
We all need more Good News. And that will mean changing the way things are.
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