Your Neighbor Wants to Kill You: Perspective on Israel/Gaza War

Imagine that you discover that your neighbors want to kill you. You try to talk with them to see what could possibly have made them hate you so much. Your concern is to discover what it is that has made them so furious, and of course to try to bring peace. You offer everything imaginable to bring resolve, including giving a substantial piece of land adjacent to their property. However, at the end of the day, nothing will pacify them. Nothing less than your total destruction will satisfy them. What would your options be?

For the nation of Israel and many Jewish people, they do not have to imagine. In fact this has been a reality for them for generations. The attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 is one in a long history of attempts to wipe Israel off the map. The goal is plainly stated by Hamas. There is no path for reconciliation, there is no plan by Hamas for a two-state solution, Israel must be obliterated. (https://www.memri.org/reports/ideology-hamas-–-its-own-words)

Is there a possible diplomatic solution?

To tell Israel that they need to seek a diplomatic solution is ludicrous. They have tried to find a solution for generations. The Oslo Accords in 1994, “The Land for Peace deal” agreed to by Israel’s former president Yitzhak Rabin and numerous other attempts have failed. In fact when the Oslo accords gave over 90% of what Yasser Arafat wanted in regard to a two-state solution, he refused to settle. The second Intifada in 2000, and the election of Hamas to rule Gaza in the 2006 Palestinian elections, secured the fact that Israel would give up land and get missiles and terror attacks in return. (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rabin-and-arafat-sign-accord-for-palestinian-self-rule)

Anti-semitism in the USA

There is a frightening rise of anti-semitism in the United States, especially on university campuses. I believe God loves and has a destiny for the Palestinian people, but I cannot condone the policies of Hamas, Fatah, and other groups that seek the total destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. Groups that vilify Israel and see them as oppressors have a skewed view of history. I worked for many years on university campuses and saw firsthand the neo-Marxist worldview imposed as a culture theory lens that painted Israel as the oppressors and Palestinians as a victimized people. If you studied at an American university, chances are you were exposed to this worldview. I began to see what some call the red-green axis, the alliance of radical Islam and neo-Marxism, rising up on American campuses in the 1980’s. it is now rampant on our campuses and in many institutions. (https://www.newsweek.com/how-understand-red-green-axis-opinion-1603891)

You may have heard about Black Friday 2014 in your history classes (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/world/middleeast/gaza-israel-imports.html), but chances are you never heart about Black September 1970 and the civil war between the PLO and Jordan when 4,000 Palestinians were killed (https://www.cia.gov/static/Black-September-Jordan.pdf). When Israel is involved, the outcry is huge, when Arabs kill Arabs, Muslims kill Muslims, or Muslims kill Christians, it is virtually ignored by the press! Check out this short video from one Yemeni blogger decrying the demise of 400,000 Yemeni in recent years! (https://x.com/naimamfaddel/status/1719658461867250151?s=20)

By the way, I do not consider the Israeli government to be perfect and above criticism. However, I do believe they are trying to create a positive democratic society!

Here are some key facts about the history of this conflict that many are unaware of or choose to ignore

• Not all Palestinians are radicalized, but the political party Hamas, which has ruled Palestine since 2006 officially seeks nothing less that Israel’s total demise. The other main party, Fatah has the same policy. (https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/10/hamas-and-fatah-explain-what-their-war-against-israel-is-all-about#comments)
• Not all Muslims want to destroy Israel. But, the radicalized element often polarizes and intimidates those who do want peace with Israel. Many feel the October 7th attack was deliberately timed to undermine peace efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia and other Muslim dominant countries.
• Christian Palestinians often suffer most when there is conflict between Israel and Hamas. Unfortunately, Christian minorities have not done well when Radical Islamists control the government. Christian believers are experiencing severe persecution in 30+ countries around the world.
• In many places of Israel, Jews, Muslims, and Christians live side by side in peace. In fact the Israeli government recognizes Arab parties within their Knesset. Khaled Kabub, is an Arab man and first Muslim serving as a justice on Israel’s Supreme Court since 2022. Israel has opened its doors to non-Jewish Israelis who participate in government.
• Israel is one of the top countries for offering humanitarian aid when there is a global disaster. Within ten years of their founding in 1948, they had launched relief efforts in 140 countries. (https://embassies.gov.il/boston/AboutIsrael/AboutIsraelInfo/Pages/Israel-humanitarian-aid.aspx)
• The Western “Legacy” press is immensely biased against Israel. Note, this week that almost 300,000 people demonstrated peacefully in favor of Israel in Washington D.C. and The Washington Post buried coverage deep in its metro section, nothing on the front page!

What can we do?

• We need to pray!
• We need to stand against anti-semitism in any form!
• Read a good book about the history of the Jewish Palestinian conflict that is not mired in the Neo-marxist worldview such as The History of Jihad from Muhammad to Isis by Robert Spencer, or From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters (This is from 1984. Joan Peters was a journalist with The NY Times. This book is out of print and hard to find. You can download a PDF of the book at: https://refugeeacademy.org/download/1218