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ISRAEL, HAMAS and GAZA Part 2
Propaganda, Polemics and Ethics Anonymous (2024 May)
The Australian news-analysis program Four Corners (2024, March 11) featured a panel to discuss the war in Gaza, which started when Hamas militants on October 7 invaded Israel and killed about 1200, mainly-unarmed, people and kidnapped 240. Four Corners was no better than Q&A (November 13) where the Palestinian participant refused to condemn the October 7th atrocities. These included:
Young women were dragged to the trees ... and pack raped before
being executed. Young men had their genitals cut off and shoved in
their mouths. First responders found bodies slit open with organs
ripped out. (Ryvchin 2024)
The Four Corners reporter, John Lyons, spoke of the "unparalleled ferocity of Israel's retaliation" and asked "Was it proportionate or was it driven by rage, humiliation, and revenge?" Lyons' introduction indicated an agenda to portray Israel as unjustifiably violent and Palestinians as long-suffering victims. My analysis in #215 suggests Israel is "driven by" necessities of self-defense, bringing criminals to account, and curbing a long, ongoing program to annihilate its people. Shapiro (2024) calls Lyons "an experienced storyteller" who has "preconceived ... conclusions he wanted the viewers to reach, with interviewees carefully chosen and their contributions then edited as needed to get the desired result."
THE WAR
In February the Palestinian militants killed in the Gaza war reached 10,000 (out of an estimated 30,000). Their tactics were changing from assaults by up to 30 men, to hit and run by smaller groups. Recordings of hostages pleading in Hebrew for rescue were being used to lure Israeli troops into ambush, and bags taken from kibbutzim, and rigged to explode, were being placed where they would find them. Hamas [Gaza's governing Islamist organization] leaders gathered in Qatar to discuss the war. Yahya Sinwar, overall leader in Gaza, sent a message stating that Hamas had the upper hand, International pressure would force Israel's withdrawal, and four battalions in Rafah (Gaza's southern city) were ready for an Israeli ground assault. (Berman, 2024) Israel-Hamas negotiations in Egypt continued in April without agreement. Hamas wanted a ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and 100 Palestinian prisoners released for each hostage. Israel wanted 40 hostages released immediately.
PREVIOUSLY
Part 1 of Israel, Hamas and Gaza (Investigator #215) discussed:
• Hamas's history and Charter;
• How Germany's Nazi regime deluged Arab countries with anti-Semitism; • Islam's agenda of an Islamic world; • Four previous Israeli responses to Hamas attacks; • October 7 when thousands of terrorists invaded Israel; • Israel's and the UN's response. Nazi propaganda was transmitted across the Middle East by shortwave radio during WWII. Jerusalem's Grand Mufti sought a Nazi-Palestinian alliance to exterminate 1 million Jews. In 1977 the American State Department declassified thousands of pages of transcribed broadcasts, translated into English, revealing a "tsunami of anti-Semitism". Anti-Semitism was reinforced a further 80 years in mosques, and by print, radio and television, and in schools, and Hamas's Charter. Children learned that Jews are racists and criminals, the Holocaust is a lie, and Nazi crimes were really committed by Zionists. Litvak (2005) writes: "In many of its publications Hamas employs harsh derogatory descriptions of the Jews ... such as "blood suckers," "brothers of apes," "killers of the prophets," "human pigs," and warmongers "the descendants of treachery and deceit," "butchers." They are a "cancer expanding" in the land of Palestine, "threatening the entire Islamic world." Hamas's Charter or Constitution (1987) shows no interest in a two-state solution, instead the goal of killing all Jews. It blames Jews for all wars and social evils since the 1790s, including WWI and WWII. Any Palestinian seeking peace with Jews commits "high treason" and "shall draw on himself the indignation of Allah, and his abode shall be in hell..." Read it at: https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/880818 Sheridan (2023) observed: "The Hamas founding documents are full of gross, conspiratorial anti-Semitism and the historic quest to fulfil what it sees as the religious mission of reclaiming all the land of Israel for Islam." Hamas believes in Islam's agenda of world conversion prior to Allah's Judgment Day. Robinson (2004) explains that Muslims "have to pursue war against those who have yet to submit." If the situation is unfavorable a truce may be agreed upon but limited to 10 years, and can "be unilaterally abrogated whenever the Islamic position becomes favourable..." (p. 207) Hamas's revised Charter (2017) hints at a two-state solution and omits the more obscene anti-Semitism of 1987 but still says: "There shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity... Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.” Gaza elected Hamas in 2006. Hamas rejected the West-Bank Palestinian government, dismantled democracy, dismissed political opponents with imprisonment, bullets or throwing them off buildings, and began cross-border raids and rocket attacks on Israel as a matter of policy. Hamas's "Pay for slay" policy rewarded Palestinians who murdered Israeli civilians and designated the killers "heroes". Hamas posed as liberators but misspent foreign-aid money on war; fired rockets from civilian centers, assuring that civilians could die if Israel destroys launching sites; and indoctrinated Gazans from childhood to blame resulting poverty and violence on Israel.
BIBLICAL ETHICS
Biblical ethics are designed to promote longer life and health, peace and prosperity: • The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. (Proverbs 10:27) • In the path of righteousness there is life, in walking its path there is no death. (12:28) • Which of you desires life, and covets many days to enjoy good? Keep your tongue from evil, and you lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. (Psalm 34:12-14) One biblical principal is truthfulness: • Lying lips conceal hatred... (Proverbs 10:18-21) • The righteous hate falsehood... (13:5) • A truthful witness saves lives... (14:25) Without truth disputes cannot be peacefully settled. The Guardian (October 11) reported that online disinformation and misinformation about the war in Gaza is getting millions of views. I'll investigate whether some widely-repeated claims are truthful, and mention additional biblical principles as we proceed. PROPAGANDA
Propaganda is belief that its proponents want accepted irrespective of the evidence. Propagandists (indoctrinators) repetitiously promote simple but untested slogans, malign people who disagree, and shut down informed debate. Its effectiveness was seen in 1943 when Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels got 14,000 educated Germans to spontaneously yell "We want total war; We want total war." If ten years of Nazi propaganda got Germans to kill 27 million Soviets and 6 million Jews what could a further 80 years of it make Palestinians do? It can make them want a world where massacres like October 7, are normal. One speaker at a London rally declared:
Zionism is apartheid, it’s genocide, it’s murder, it’s a racist
ideology rooted in settler expansion and racial domination and we must
root it out of the world. We must de-Zionize because Zionism is a death
cult. Our day will come but we must normalize the massacres as the
status quo. (Halpern 2024)
The Bible helps people resist propaganda by teaching that the whole world is deceived, everyone is a liar, and advises caution as follows:
• The one who states a case first seems right, until the other comes and cross-examines. (Proverbs 18:17)
• With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors... (11:9) • ...in the abundance of counselors there is wisdom. (11:14; 15:22) • Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence... (12:17) • The simple believe everything, but the clever consider their steps. (14:15) • Sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end it is the way to death. (16:25; 14:12) • An evildoer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue. (18:4) Besides outright lies propagandists often change the meaning of words, especially ethical words:
Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for
light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter. (Isaiah 5:20-21)
The propagandist may advocate treatment on law-abiding others that he would not want for himself. This is hypocrisy which the Bible condemns. (Matthew 23; James 3:17)
PROPAGANDA CONSIDERED
[ See map of Gaza Strip at: https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/gaza-map
https://www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/156307-vector-gaza-strip-map ] Albrechtsen (2023) writes: "One should be sickened by comments by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, when he tried to blame Israel for Hamas terrorism..." The Secretary-General had apparently heeded Hamas propaganda and forgot that: "It is not right to be partial to the guilty, or to subvert the innocent in judgment." (Proverbs 18:5) Apartheid Pro-Hamas propagandists accuse Israel of apartheid, and people thoughtlessly repeat it. Apartheid was racial segregation in South Africa from 1948, which banned non-Whites from voting, created Black African "homelands", segregated children's education, and banned mixed marriages. Israel in contrast has integrated 2 million Arab citizens and 135,000 dark-skinned Ethiopian Jews into Israeli society. Gaza has no such diversity. Carpet Bombing "Carpet bombing, also known as saturation bombing, is a large area bombardment done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land." (Wikipedia) A frequent accusation of Israel is "carpet bombing". Israel replies it is targeting terrorists with "precision bombing". Carpet bombing often happened in WWII. Deaths in single air-raids include:
• Tokyo (1945) 100,000
• Hamburg (1943) 40,000 including 5000 children • Dresden (1945) 25,000 • Darmstadt (1944) 12,300 • Kassell (1943) 6000 • Wurzburg (1945) 5000 • Cologne (1943) 4400 • Duren (1944) 3100 • Berlin (1945) 3000. Hamburg suffered more deaths in one night from bombing than Gaza from all military activity in seven months. Nor did WWII see leaflet-drops or phone calls to warn people as occurs in Gaza. The statistics indicate genuine Israeli care to minimize civilian casualties — "precision bombing" not carpet bombing! Nevertheless more are dying than need to because Hamas's human-shields strategy mingles civilians with combatants. Massacre Jordan's top ambassador in December accused Israel of "War crimes and massacre" and others have repeated this. In Australia a Muslim Senator accused the Labor party of "complicity in Israel's bloodbath." "Massacre" means killing everyone within reach indiscriminately like Hamas terrorists did on October 7th. Targeting terrorists after ordering civilians out of the way is not massacre. Misrepresenting Israel, but praising Hamas, encourages Hamas leaders to fight on regardless of civilian suffering. Israel's ambassador stressed that regional security required the elimination of Hamas and this would come faster if the international community stopped supporting Hamas. The Bible similarly states: "Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil." (Ecclesiastes 8:11, 14) Encouragement hinders "speedy" execution and makes Hamas "fully set to do [more] evil!" Collective punishment On October 27 the head of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, told reporters... "The siege means that food, water and fuel – basic commodities — are being used to collectively punish more than 2 million people, among them, a majority of children and women." Compare Berlin in 1945 where Russia did not provide warnings, pauses or escape routes as Israel does. Berlin, like Gaza, had over 2 million civilians, and 1000 underground bunkers, train tunnels and stations comparable to Hamas's 500km of tunnels. In two weeks of street fighting 95,000 German fighters died and 125,000 civilians. This was not "collective punishment", but war and necessary to defeat Hitler who chose to fight amongst Berlin's civilians, like Hamas among Gaza's civilians. Berlin's deaths in 2 weeks exceeded Gaza's in 28 weeks, which indicates real IDF concern for civilians. The 9-month Mosul Battle (2016-2017), against 10,000 Islamic State militants amidst 1½ million civilians, included up to 40,000 deaths. It was not collective punishment but demonstrates that civilians die when war envelops cities. What Hamas did on October 7, targeting every Israeli within reach without providing warnings or escape routes, and forecasting repeats of it — that's "collective punishment", "slaughter" and "murder". Bloodthirsty annihilation In Australia a journalist was dismissed from ABC Radio after claiming on Instagram that Israel's military "is driven by blood-thirsty, extremist men who want to justify the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians". How could a reporter know that someone's mental state is bloodthirsty, extremist or annihilationist? Such claims ignore that 20,000 Gazans worked in Israel before the war; Israeli volunteers ferried sick Gazans back and forth to Israeli hospitals; and 2 million Arab citizens in Israel enjoy freedoms, fair justice and prosperity unavailable in Arab countries. The journalist's words would better describe Hamas, as can be inferred from the Charter, the October 7th rampage, the shameless filming of it, the jubilation in Gaza's streets, and ongoing deaths of hostages from mistreatment (which are war crimes). People who accuse Israelis of the mental states and crimes of Hamas, are 3000 years behind common-sense biblical ethics:
One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are
both alike an abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs
17:15) (Ecclesiastes 8:14)
Genocide Genocide is the: "Extermination of a national or racial group as a planned move." Iran's Foreign Minister spoke of "genocide in Gaza" as did several cabinet ministers in Australia and Islamists everywhere, and crowds in many countries repeated it. South Africa filed a case before the International Court of Justice in the Hague to order immediate halt to Israel's military operations, alleging they're in breach of the UN's 1948 genocide convention. South Africa's lawyer declared: "The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life..." South Africa recently had 7000 murders and 13,000 sexual assaults in just three months. Therefore Jesus might reply: "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye." (Matthew 7:5) South Africa's accusations are already answered under the previous five subheadings. The Gaza war is not "on children" but on terrorists as proved by thousands getting eliminated. Israel's legal advisor said (January 12) that Israel is fighting a "war it did not start and did not want". He showed the Court a video of October 7 and said:
"They tortured children in front of parents and parents in front of
children, burned people, including infants alive, and systematically
raped and mutilated scores of women, men and children... If there have
been acts that may be characterised as genocidal, then they have been
perpetrated against Israel... [Hamas has] a proudly declared agenda of
annihilation, which is not a secret and is not in doubt."
(McKernan 2024)
The Court did not demand immediate ceasefire nor ruled Israel's actions genocide, only a "plausible risk of genocide". The Court listed six measures it wants implemented. Israel’s prime minister, Netanyahu, said his country was committed to upholding international law: "The vile attempt [by South Africa] to deny Israel this fundamental right [to self-defense] is blatant discrimination against the Jewish state and it was justly rejected." Free Palestine What does "free Palestine" or "liberate Palestine" in Hamas's Charter, and chanted at rallies, mean? Israel's Arab citizens have more civil liberties than Muslims anywhere in the Middle East. Israel has free voting, free press, freedom of religion, equal justice, free speech, and increasing equality in education, employment and income. Israel has Arab political parties, the largest has five seats in the 120-seat Knesset [Parliament]. Gaza lacks all of this.
Israel Population 2022
Israel has 2,050,000 Arabs with religious freedom — 82.9% Muslim, Druze 9.2%, Christian 7.9%.
Life in Israel
Military training in Israel is compulsory for only Jews. Others can volunteer and 600 Bedouins did so in 2021. In 1993 Israel built a memorial to 154 Bedouins who died in service to Israel. Besides living in freedom Israel's Arabs are prosperous, unlike Gazans groaning under Hamas-inflicted poverty. "When the righteous are in
authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people
groan." (Proverbs 29:2)
In Gaza, before October 7, 80% of people were classed as refugees despite Hamas receiving $4.5billion in aid from 2014 to 2020. In Israel 90% of Arabs live in their own homes! Israel is 21st in the world's top 95 countries for "Average Monthly Net Salary". Of Muslim countries in the Middle East only three, wealthy from oil, rank higher. Palestine is 58th:
Average Monthly Net Salary
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings? itemid =105
Most Israeli Arabs don't want Hamas rule! Sinkinson (2021) writes that a survey found that 93% of Palestinian Arabs in Jerusalem "prefer to remain under Israeli rule". Pipes (2005) reported that most Israeli Arabs opposed ceding territory to the West Bank, and even signed a petition to prevent it, because they regard Israel as their homeland and cherish its standard of living. Swan (2023) reported: "Arabs and Bedouins join Israel's war on Hamas despite accusations of 'treachery'." "Palestine will be free" apparently expresses the Islamist intention to repeat October 7 on millions of already-free Israelis and make Israel like the oppressive Islamic countries that Muslims are fleeing as refugees. Protect Innocent Civilians Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk was asked on October 27 why Hamas built tunnels for itself but no bomb shelters for civilians. He explained: "It is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them." Critics expect Israel, while fighting 30,000 terrorists who use civilians as human shields, to provide protection that Hamas refuses. Has any attacked country ever taken responsibility for the welfare of the aggressor nation's civilians during war? Cities, castles, and sometimes nations were starved into submission without concern for non-combatants. During WWI the British navy blocked imports into Germany, slowly starving the population. No government at war with Nazi Germany announced, "We must protect the innocent Germans!" The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) dealt with humanitarian protections of civilians in war zones:
The Fourth Geneva Convention only concerns protected civilians in
occupied territory rather than the effects of hostilities, such as the
strategic bombing during World War II. The Additional Protocol I to the
Geneva Conventions (AP-1) finally prohibits all intentional attacks on
"the civilian population and civilian objects." It also prohibits and
defines "indiscriminate attacks" as "incidental loss of civilian life,
injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination
thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and
direct military advantage anticipated." This rule is referred to by
scholars as the principle of proportionality.
At Sydney's Lindt Café siege in 2014 a solitary terrorist detained 18 hostages. The situation was simple compared to Gaza, yet three people still died. The Battle of Berlin (1945) was, like Gaza, fought among 2 million civilians, and in 2 weeks 220,000 Germans perished. Compare the weekly average in Gaza (based on Hamas's claims), about 1200. No nation that accuses Israel of "massacre", has offered to defeat Hamas with fewer civilian casualties. Proportional Many condemn Israel for not being "proportional". The layman's understanding of "proportional" might be that casualties in both nations, the aggressor and the attacked, should stay about equal. However, nations fight not to be proportional in this way but to win or at least survive. And what about Hamas's gang-rapes, mutilations, burning people to death, beheadings, torture of children? Is Israel obligated to do likewise to Palestinians but proportionally? "Proportional", in the Geneva Convention, apparently means avoiding injury to civilians that's "excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated". The military advantage Israel seeks is Hamas's defeat to permanently stop their agenda to destroy Israel. Martyrs Martyrs are persons killed because of their beliefs. Murzaku (2016) discusses 38 Albanian martyrs "executed brutally by the Communist regime from 1945-1974..." including a young female teacher, disfigured by torture, who died afterwards in hospital. The English word "martyr", originally a religious concept, is now often used in other contexts. Palestinian "martyrs" include Palestinians who die or are imprisoned as a result of the conflict with Israel. Randomly murdering or injuring Israeli citizens, or trying to, and suffering retribution, also makes a "martyr". Perhaps the English word mistranslates the Arab word. Otherwise to describe murderers as martyrs calls evil actions "good" which is condemned in the Bible. In Christianity martyrdom is not sought. It happens to exemplary people because of their faith. St. Augustine taught that the martyrs died because they bore witness, not because they sought self-sacrifice. (Garbarino 2007) (See John 16:2; I Peter 4:19; Revelation 2:13, 10) Murderers As Heroes Nations and people who make heroes of murderers and condemn the victims are morally bankrupt. Nazi leader Himmler called officials, who organized or supervised the killing of millions of Russians and Jews, "decent". In Lebanon the Hezbollah leader called the October 7 murderers "heroes" of whom he was "proud" and their evil a "glorious Jehadi operation". In Sydney an Islamic preacher "urged worshippers to unleash jihad" and called the terrorists "honourable men". The Germans had Nazi indoctrination pounded out of them when 6 million Soviets in 1945 unleashed destruction, rape, enslavement and killing second only to what Germany itself had done. Palestinians did not experience Soviet vengeance, therefore never unlearned Nazi propaganda, and may require decades of secular schooling to do so. Heroes, real ones, did appear on October 7:
• Parents who hid their baby boys before themselves being murdered, the babies later rescued;
• A young fellow who killed seven terrorists; • Israelis with means to flee but who returned to defend others; and • Muslim Bedouins who tried to protect Jewish neighbors! Heroic delaying actions, and the terrorists' preoccupation with stripping and torturing young women, slowed their attack and thwarted their main goal. This was to reach the West Bank so Palestinians there, and perhaps Israel's Muslims, would rise up, and then Hezbollah-Iranian intervention.
OTHER ISSUES
Hostages Kidnapping or hostage-taking is Islamist strategy to render enemies beset with humanitarian sentiments militarily impotent when distraught relatives pressure their government to "bring them home". Some hostages are held longer than most prisoners in secular prisons — without presumption of innocence, no crime specified, no court, no evidence, no lawyers, no outside contacts, and no compensation. In Africa an Australian doctor who founded a 120-bed hospital and performed surgeries for 40 years was kidnapped at age 80 and held by Islamists for 7 years. In Moses' Old Testament law kidnappers merited capital punishment. (Exodus 21:16) The New Testament doesn't mention kidnapping, therefore leaves punishment for it to secular authorities. Western nations, including Israel do not kidnap for ransom or hostage-exchanges. It would not work because regimes like Hamas or Nazi Germany don't care about civilians. They despise ethics such as: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." (Matthew 5:7) Ceasefire Ergas (2023) discusses terrorist organizations whose truces only lasted until they reorganized and rearmed. The Arusha accord in Rwanda in 1993, brokered by African and Western nations, saved the Hutu from defeat. They reorganized and then killed 500,000 Tutsi. Peace had made genocide possible! Ergas mentions other ceasefires reneged on when the balance of power changed and writes: "...ever since the UN issued its first demand for a ceasefire on August 1, 1947, calls for ceasefires have become an essential part of combatants' armoury, to be employed as strategically as any other weapon..." International pressure prematurely stopped Israel's 2008 advance into Gaza, necessitating the 2012 incursion, then 2014, and the current much worse conflict. Hamas has threatened to repeat it until Israel is extinguished. Therefore, although calls for ceasefire that let Hamas survive may seem caring, it assures greater future conflict. Land ownership Originally "Palestine" was Philistia where the Philistines lived, which was where Gaza is now. After the Romans suppressed the Jewish revolt of 132-135 CE they combined Judea and Philistia into one province and called it Syria Palaestina. That's how Judea/Israel disappeared and "Palestine" (Philistia) became many times larger than before. (Investigator 214) Australia's Grand Mufti recently wrote that Jews were "occupying" a land "not theirs" because of a "religious myth about the Promised Land". (Southwell 2023) The Bible traces Israel back to Abraham about 1900 BCE. The oldest archaeological confirmation of Israel is the Merneptah Stele of the Egyptian Pharoah Merneptah dated before 1200 BCE. 19th-century visitors to Palestine described its neglect and poverty. In 1864 a British group praised orchards around Jaffa, but Palestine as a whole was desolate:
Grant its present poor condition, its streams dried up, its tillage
neglected, its statuesque scenery unsubdued by the mellowed and
softening influences of a moist atmosphere, its roads rough, its hills
bare, and its limestone rocks unprotected by soil, its villages
wretched hovels, its towns extinct, its peasantry slaves or robbers.
(Macleod 1896)
The Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled Palestine from 1516 to 1917. Ancient irrigation, terraces and agriculture disintegrated, and trees were cut down and erosion followed. Jewish presence was continuous after 135 CE, reached its low-point of 2000 individuals in the 17th century, and increased continually from the 19th century. Aumann (1976) in Land Ownership in Palestine 1880-1946 shows that Jewish immigrants did not steal land but purchased:
Most of the land purchases involve large tracts belonging to absentee
owners. Virtually all of the Jezreel Valley, for example, belonged in
1897 to only two persons: the eastern portion to the Turkish Sultan,
and the western part to the wealthy Syrian banker Sursuk. Most of the
land had not been cultivated previously because it was swampy, rocky,
sandy or, for some other reason, regarded as uncultivable. (p.11)
60,000 German Jews immigrated into Palestine between 1933 and 1936, and brought with them $100,000,000 dollars (about $2billion in 2020 dollars). Arab immigration also occurred, perhaps 100,000 legal and illegal between the world wars, attracted by the economic opportunities Jewish investment created. Jews planted trees and gradually restored the land to its ancient condition. Jewish arrivals purchased, rented, or lived on kibbutzim. Millions of Muslims emigrating to Western countries have done similarly — worked, purchased, or rented, and prospered. It's not something for which they should be labeled invaders and their descendants robbed, killed or expelled. Who owns the land? Each individual owns the land he purchased or inherited and pays government rates or fees on. Demonstrations
"With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbours, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered." (Proverbs 11:9)
The Weekend Australian reported: "Death threats, abuse on the streets and incitement to violence against Jewish Australians has reached the highest level on record..." Pro-Palestinian protesters outside Israeli and US embassies in Canberra chanted "free Palestine" and "bombing Gaza is a crime" and called Israel a "terrorist state", "racist apartheid state", waging "ethnic genocide", inflicting "collective punishment", "targeting innocent civilians". (November 11-12, p.6) A vast crowd in London (November 25) chanted the same slogans. In January The Times reported that anti-Semitic acts in France increased from 436 in 2022 to 1676 in 2023. Victoria saw "turmoil in Victorian councils" (Cunningham, November 25) with calls for "immediate ceasefire", an end to "indiscriminate bombing” and "slaughter of children." Seven Victorian councils passed ceasefire motions — which they never did in more-deadly conflicts like Iraq versus Iran, or Yemen, or Syria, or Sudan. Nor are councilors elected and paid to judge military strategy or disseminate propaganda! Pro-Palestinian groups in Australia shared handbooks with advice on vandalizing Israel-linked property, shipping interests and evading the police. (The Weekend Australian, December 30-31, p.1) Vandalism is equivalent to stealing — both actions deprive victims of their property — and is condemned throughout the Bible. (I Corinthians 6:9-10) Craven (2023) sees what pro-Hamas crowds don't see — that: "Murder, kidnapping, rape, genital mutilation, brutal beheading, the slaughter of innocents, ritual violent humiliation, mind-breaking mental torment" are "irredeemably wrong". In the USA demonstrators called US secretary of state Antony Blinken "baby killer" and repeatedly interrupted his report to the US Congress. This misused free speech to express misguided contempt and flouted the New Testament command to give "respect" and "honor" to officials to whom it's due (Romans 13:7), yet ignored the real "baby killers" of October 7. Some US university presidents displayed “depraved inability" to condemn on-campus "calls for genocide" and tried to justify anti-Semitism to the US House of Representatives. Their arguments were called "pathetic and morally bankrupt". Donors slashed their donations to the universities, in one case $100 million, and the genocide-approving presidents resigned their jobs. Sustained demonstrations, shouting identical slogans in Europe, America and Australia, indicate a coordinated worldwide undermining of democracy. News host Andrew Bolt discussed the rallies with human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She called the mass immigration of Muslims to Europe without requiring them to accept the Western moral system a "crazy experiment" and said: “We have allowed people to come unconditionally … without vetting them for what they believe.” She described learning in her school years that all evil is Jewish, even a spluttering tap not delivering water is due to Jews, and children prayed daily for their destruction. Frank Furedi (2023) noted that synchronized demonstrations in numerous countries, highlight that: "...far from being simply a regional conflict, the Israeli-Hamas war is a proxy battle for the future of Western Civilization." Muslim voters are already getting anti-Israel and anti-West Muslims into office. Unscrupulous politicians in democracies may soon be repeating "evil Jew" propaganda to win votes. Britain's Prime Minister stated on March 1:
"In recent weeks and months, we have seen a shocking increase in
extremist disruption and criminality. What started as protests on our
streets has descended into intimidation, threats and planned acts of
violence... Now our democracy itself is a target. Council meetings and
local events have been stormed. MPs do no not feel safe in their homes.
Longstanding parliamentary conventions have been up-ended because of
safety concerns...
I fear that our great achievement ... in building the world's most successful multi-ethnic, multi faith democracy ... is being deliberately undermined."
DIVERSE MEASURES
When Israel defends its existence the international uproar can be terrifying: But when Muslims hurt Muslims the silence is deafening:
• "According to the UN, over 150,000 people have been
killed in Yemen, as well as estimates of more than 227,000 dead as a
result of an ongoing famine and lack of healthcare facilities due to
the war... NGO Save the Children ... estimated 10,000 preventable child
deaths annually." (Wikipedia)
• Syria's civil war killed 500,000 since 2011. • ISIS wanted to build a worldwide caliphate [Islamic dictatorship] and impoverished whole countries by theft, destruction and killing. Its caliph was a rapist who when finally cornered killed himself and his children. • A new civil war in Sudan has destroyed most of the country's hospitals and inflicted food-insecurity on 14 million children. "Diverse weights and diverse measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD." (Proverbs 20:11, 23) This refers literally to false weighing of goods; and metaphorically to inconsistent or discriminatory ethical judgments — partiality and hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
March and April saw preparation for Israel's offensive on Rafah with Western politicians everywhere still opposed. An accidental night-time Israeli aerial strike on an aid convoy tragically killed seven humanitarian workers. However war often requires split-second decisions, which makes mistakes inevitable. Compare another activity beset with split-second decisions — driving a car. Driving kills 1.3 million people annually, 3600 daily, and injures up to 50 million! No more hostages have been freed but several dead bodies were recovered, raising fears that too few remained alive for Hamas to negotiate over. By 16th April Israeli battle deaths in Gaza numbered 260, and 33,000 Gazans had died (according to Hamas's Health Ministry). Of these 13,000 were militants (according to Israeli estimates). Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis remained threatening — "Like somebody who takes a passing dog by the ears is one who meddles in the quarrel of another." (Proverbs 26:17) 60,000 Israelis were evacuated from northern border areas. Iran attacked Israel (April 13) with over 300 drones and missiles most of which were intercepted. The world feared the outbreak of a major Middle Eastern war. The Four Corners program in March included brief comment from Israel's former Foreign & Justice Minister and a current cabinet minister who both agreed with Israeli policy. Otherwise what prevailed throughout the program was innuendo that violent Israelis provoke long-suffering Palestinians for no reason, therefore brought October 7th on themselves. The interviewer himself made multiple anti-Israel comments, in addition to asking leading questions such as "Why did Israel need to kill so many people?" "What's it like having a gun pointed at you?" "Is the brutal reality that Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue this war for his own political survival?" Why the "need to kill so many children?" A Palestinian Professor repeated the usual accusations of "war crimes", "genocide", deprived of "basic rights", etc. The program made no mention of:
• 2 million free, law-abiding Israeli Arabs who don't want Hamas rule;
• Palestinian destruction of Jewish life and property since 1920; • Nazi anti-Semitism broadcast across the Middle East during WWII and assimilated by Palestinians; • Hamas's violent eradication of democracy in Gaza; • Hamas misspending aid money for war; • Repeated Palestinian rejection of a Palestinian state; • Hamas's war crimes committed on helpless captives.
THE FUTURE
The whole world since 1948 has argued over Israel. The Bible seemingly predicted such a development. Zechariah says: "I [God] will make Jerusalem a heavy stone ... and all the nations of the earth shall come together against it..." (12:2-3; 14:2) Ezekiel 38 foretells "the latter years" when Israel is restored, and nations from Iran to Sudan and "the remotest parts of the north" together invade it. Revelation 9:16; 16:12 mentions an army of 200 million but subsequent verses are highly symbolic making a connection with Zechariah or Ezekiel uncertain. However, 200 million was, at the time, the population of the entire world. Such an army therefore implies massive global population increase like we now have. Perhaps these prophecies merit renewed examination. The Bible teaches peace and predicts the eventual abolition of war:
Depart from evil and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14)
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9) He [God] shall judge between many people, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more... (Micah 4:3)
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