Two people groups are at war in the Middle East. The conflict is longstanding and complicated by multiple generations, and centuries, of political, social, and religious history. Grievances are claimed by both sides. Arguments are made for the righteousness of each one’s cause and for the injustice of the other.
One of these groups is an organized nation. The other is an acknowledged terrorist organization. One side allows members of the opposing ethnic and religious group to live in their society, participate in their economy, and even serve in their parliament and government positions. The other is openly committed to eradicating their opponents from the earth, not just destroying the nation, but annihilating the people as an ethnic group. One side is charged with the “sin” of occupation and colonization. The other explicitly states their commitment to genocide.
Whenever there is war, there will be collateral damage, innocent casualties, and various atrocities. Even in the most just war, prosecuted according to the strictest standards of justice and martial ethics, innocent men, women, and children will be harmed, intentionally or unintentionally. In this conflict, one side works to limit collateral damage and casualties and is committed to punishing evil and injustice within its own ranks. The other side films the atrocities its soldiers commit and publishes them on official social media platforms, celebrating the horrors which are that organization’s ordinary means of warfare, not exceptional or regrettable departures from the standard.
Hamas is deliberately, systematically, and openly making war on a civilian population. Women raped publicly and repeatedly, children decapitated, civilians taken as hostages, bodies mutilated, unarmed communities burned. How do we know these things are happening? Because Hamas films them, publishes them, celebrates them. These are not aberrant and regrettable actions set within a larger program of just war. These are war crimes, hundreds of them, terrorism and barbarity adopted as official strategy.
How did America get to the point when legislators and leaders of executive agencies would be so morally bankrupt as to offer sympathy, “context,” and patience for such evil? “Hamas’s actions are unacceptable, but we must remember the larger context,” or so we are told. “Yes, decapitating babies and serial raping and sodomizing women is bad, but Israel should suspend all military action and enter into peace negotiations.” Really? These are the same people who lecture us about blaming the victim when it comes to sexual assault. If they didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all. Similarly, how did the American Church get to the point that we would tolerate such moral equivocation from its leaders? Pastors who hem around the edges of this issue demonstrate that they have no moral discernment.
You do not have to be a Zionist, neo-con, or dispensationalist to support Israel in the war with Hamas. You simply have to have a brain, a functioning moral conscience, a soul that is not entirely hellbent and darkened by self-deception and demonic lies. The State of Israel is largely secular, and even its religious population overwhelmingly rejects Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. But the conduct and stated mission of Hamas is explicitly, indefensibly evil. There are no mitigating circumstances, no excuses, no room for context, nuance, or negotiation. The Arab-Israeli conflict may be complicated. The Israel-Hamas war is not.
This is not a political disagreement. It is evil incarnate. Evil must be recognized for what it is and eradicated. Every leader, soldier, and financial supporter of Hamas should be identified, hunted down, and executed. Every apologist and sympathizer for Hamas should be ashamed, publicly denounced, and removed from any position of government power and influence. This is what is right. It is what is just and necessary to protect the citizens of Israel, both Jews and Arabs. And it is what is necessary for the well-being of the Palestinian people. Their hope for peace and place in the Middle East requires the destruction of Hamas and terror organizations that practice violence in the name of freedom. –JME
See also: "Thinking Christianly about Israel"
