FREEDOM FOR PALESTINIANS — TRADING TRUTH FOR LIES

 

By James Wilson

            The well known promise of God for Israel is expressed in Genesis 12:3.  The Father of Father Abraham says his children will be numbered as the grains of sand and the stars in the sky.  He says any who bless Israel will themselves be blessed beyond imagining and any who curse Israel will be cursed beyond thought.  Cursing is as much to reject or abandon as it is to attack.  In other words, those who ignore Israel’s status as the firstborn of God are in for some serious ignoring by God when the chips are down.  Jesus Himself declares of those who say they know Him but have ignored His will, “Go away from me; I never knew you.”

I noticed a photo on the internet the other day of Pope Francis stopped before a wall in Bethlehem.  The wall held scrawled graffiti calling for the liberation of Palestine.  I cannot know the heart of this Catholic Pope and so I cannot know whether he favors Palestinians or Israelis, or whether he naively believes peace is possible in the Middle East if both sides just agree to live in peace.  I do know that I too long for the liberation of the Palestinian people, and I know there is no authentic liberation possible while so many believe the hate soaked lies Palestinians are fed by their leaders.

Israel herself bought the lie in 2005 – under pressure from a gullible George Bush – that if the Palestinians were permitted to govern themselves peace would come.  Has life improved for Palestinians in Gaza since Israel handed over the land in 2005; has even one refugee camp closed?  How about the limited self-government Israel permits in the West Bank?  Any new status quo, or just more places for rocket launchers and riots?

            I know a few other things as well.  I know the Israelis have never launched terrorist attacks on their neighbors – civilian or military.  Palestinians are as free as Americans to shop in their bazaars and take their children to school or to play dates.  That all too many of their schools are filled with munitions and their homes rubble is due to deliberate choices of the Hamas government they elected.  Hamas used the concrete donated by Israel for housing and infrastructure to build tunnels for infiltration and murder.  Even so the Israelis give warnings by text, phone and leaflet before attacking these militarized neighborhoods.  It is Hamas who forbids families to flee under penalty of death, and Hamas that uses Palestinian children as shields for their soldiers. 

            Israel begged the Jordanian and Syrian citizens of her Arab population to stay and build with the Jews in 1947.  Some did, and they live well under Israel as full participants in government and culture; I have seen their high rise dwellings and their Mercedes and Audis.  Others answered the call of Jerusalem’s Nazified Grand Mufti and his armed thugs to leave, returning only to attack the civilian settlements of the Jews.  Hitler is dead, but his hatred lives in the heart of his satanic master and those who serve that master.  In five wars and multiple smaller military actions the Jews have bought space for their children to go to school and to play with their friends.  In 1967 they re-captured their ancient capital and much of their plundered lands while defending themselves against overwhelming aggression from five nations attempting their annihilation.  Even today Jews are stoned by Palestinians from above while they seek only to pray. 

In recent days Israelis are dragged from their cars and beaten to near death while the world press moans about the “innocent” Palestinians who are hurt or killed when Israel protects her own from their fanatical incursions.  A mother of five was attacked in her car with Molotov cocktails and rocks; light rail trains have been attacked and bombs hidden on highways.  Palestinians and Arabs are rioting in multiple towns and cities.  At least eleven Israelis are dead at Palestinian hands – five of them hacked to death while worshipping in their own Jerusalem synagogue.  Are Israelis attacking Palestinian and Arab civilians anywhere?  No; the provocation of “grave concern” – per America’s government – is that the Israelis dare to build housing projects in their own capitol city. 

The good news is there are decent Arabs – appreciative of what they have in Israel and of the standards of common decency – who saved at least one assault victim by protecting him from the mob until police arrived.  They would fear for their lives if they intervened in such an incident in Gaza or the West Bank.  Even in Jerusalem a number of Arabs have died in the recent violence, some killed by their own people when they intervened; others just caught in the crush.

The better news is there is one – only one, and it is ultimately inexorable – prospect for both peace and liberation.  “For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law…to create in Himself one new man out of the two…and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross,” is how it comes across in Ephesians 2.

            I cannot forget the images – broadcast via television news nightly during the summer’s fighting in Gaza – of Palestinian children victimized as pawns by their own government while the world condemns Israel for defending her children.  I saw no photos of Israeli children made homeless by Hamas rockets – the media suppressed them – but I have names.  Avi and Leah; Shuki, Avital and Adi; Yoel and Laura; Arni and Yonit; Asher and Daniella – these are my friends who live in Israel showing grace and mercy wherever they can to people dedicated to their destruction.  Make no mistake; Israelis show up as fast as Americans to reconstruct and rescue the victims of disaster worldwide, even when the victims are their own sworn enemies.  I say to Pope Francis – and anyone else who is listening – I stand with you for the liberation of the Palestinians.

            But it must be authentic liberation.  It must be liberation through truth and a commitment to authentic justice for the people who remain the only bright spot of civilization in the Middle East.  And it must begin with the blessing of the children of Abraham through Isaac – if not for the sake of Genesis 12:3 then simply because it is the right thing to do.  Only then can we truly bless the children of Abraham through Ishmael.