EYELESS IN GAZA 2 – WHAT IS THE REALLY REAL?
By James Wilson
Since
1948 Israel has asked only to live in peace.
Her enemies have demanded war and extermination, per the charters of
both Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization. So why do the United Nations repeatedly
condemn Israel as the aggressor, and especially in the current conflict? Can it be this objective organization, dedicated
to world peace, is not as objective as its press releases declare?
According
to the New York Times the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – UNRWA – is
the second largest employer in Gaza.
Known locally as “the agency,” it runs hundreds of schools and medical
centers for Gazans. These are the same schools
in which students drill daily in hatred for Israel. They are the same schools and hospitals in
which Hamas rockets are stored and tunnels are buried. When Israel found caches of rockets in three
UNRWA run schools the rockets were turned over to UN personnel who promptly returned
them to Hamas.
Israel
warned the first school it is accused of attacking days before the attack
came. The UN evacuated its personnel but
waited several days before promising to evacuate the civilians. As the busses approached the school was rocked
by three to five explosions; sixteen were killed and dozens wounded. Israel denies firing on the school and even
the UN has published no conclusion to its investigation of the cause. But no matter, Israel has already been blamed
for a crime it has no reason to commit. Hamas, on the other hand, has a track
record and an interest in maximizing civilian casualties on both sides – from
sheer hatred on the one and political expediency on the other. Granted, the explosions could be the result
of ordinance malfunctions from one side or the other, shots falling short or
long, and the like. But there is no
reason to believe Israel maliciously attacked a civilian enclave; they have
never done it before and it defies their policies and history.
Detractors
of Israel love to point to firing the first shots of the 1967 War as proof of
Israeli aggression, and it is true the opening salvo was from Tel Aviv. I ask myself, and recommend readers ask
themselves, “What would I do if I saw an armed mob walking up my driveway
shouting threats of murder on my children?
Would I wait until they were in my living room astride my children
before I opened fire, or would I shoot the moment I could and hope to take as
many down as possible before they breach my front door?” Critics will say I over simplify the issue,
but the issue actually is just that simple.
Israel was surrounded by armies poised and promising to strike. She had been under fire from strategically
placed artillery more than two years.
She had been denied passage through the Suez Canal and international
waters. The war was long since underway
when Moshe Dayan and Levi Eshkol sent their divisions hurtling into what became
the miracle of the Six Day War.
Israel
is the only Middle Eastern power to exercise restraint in the conduct of
war. When an Israeli paratroop brigade
took the Temple Mount and raised the Israeli flag over the Dome of the Rock,
Dayan immediately ordered the flag taken down and the mosque returned to Muslim
authorities. Israel practices authentic
freedom of faith and equally authentic respect for all faiths within her
borders. When Jordan controlled the
Temple area the Western Wall of the Temple was an Arab slum.
Israel
has greatly improved the lives of all who call her home. There is terrible
poverty in the refugee camps, but none of those camps are Israeli
controlled. I saw many Arabs driving
late model Mercedes and living in very classy high rise apartments. They are able to vote, hold office, and do
anything they want other than attack and kill.
There is no comparison between the lives led by Arabs in Israel and
those in the Palestinian controlled areas and certainly no moral equivalency
between the aspirations of Palestinians to deal death and the hope of Israelis
for life and peace in the region.
Will
the United States remain eyeless in Gaza?
The issue of justice is clear.
For us who believe the Christian Scriptures the issue is clearer
still. Israel does not need us; God has
her back. But we need to back Israel if
we would stand before God – or even walk in integrity apart from the claims of
faith. The soul of our nation is on the
line; it is time to speak up and speak loudly enough that our leaders hear and
tremble.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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