A Cry for Justice

Where is God?

This might well be the cry of God’s chosen people -the Jews- in Israel and around the world today. 

Not only has the Iran-backed terror organisation, Hamas conducted a murderous rampage against civilians in their homeland, a significant part of the world’s media and population are blaming Israel itself for the massacre. 

There have been large ‘celebrations’ in London with much anti-Jewish sentiment and even in Sydney, Australia the crowds chant, “gas the Jews.”

An odd reaction to an act of wicked barbarism. 

They are no-doubt the same people with Ukraine flags and “be kind” in their social media profiles and whose obsession with ‘hate speech’ as a moral evil prevents them from condemning the beheading of innocent babies. 

Why is it that the Jewish people -who have been scattered throughout the world, who were persecuted and rounded up like cattle and shot and gassed in their millions, in the last century by Hitler’s national socialists and their allies – are persecuted so? 

There is clearly a spiritual dimension to this continuing battle for survival.

Only a couple of weeks before the murderous attack, the world witnessed the Canadian Parliament, giving a standing ovation to Ukrainian nazi and Waffen SS war criminal, Yaroslav Hunka, 98, in the presence of Ukraine president, Zelensky. 

Does no one remember history any more? Is every truth up for debate?

That’s the trouble with history, it’s inconvenient to our worldview; it’s not progressive and it’s soo yesterday. 

The nation of Israel as we know it, was founded in 1948, but the land was given to the Jews by God since the reign of King Saul, 1,000 years before the birth of Christ (BC).

Islam was not even invented until 640 years after Christ’s death, (AD) so it seems a little rich for Islam to lay claim to this small Jewish nation in the midst of hostile Islamic states. 

It was, for a time, colonised by the Ottoman Empire but In 1917, Britain issued the pro-Zionist Balfour Declaration, which called for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Six weeks afterward, British troops drove out the Ottoman army from Jerusalem, under the leadership of General Allenby.

The purpose of the declaration was “to favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.

Ottoman rule over Palestine lasted 400 years and was ended following the defeat of its forces at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 near the end of the First World War. 

In 1920, Britain assumed responsibility for Palestine under a League of Nations Mandate, in the face of Arab opposition, and during the next two decades, over 100,000 Jews entered the country. 

Ironically, during WW2 a neutral Turkey actually facilitated the safe passage of Jews, whilst continuing to do business with Nazi Germany. 

In 1945 Turkey finally entered the war on the side of the Allies against Germany and Japan.

Who is to say then, that the people of Israel have no right to live in their ancestral homeland? That they have no right to be protected from endless pogroms and holocaust? 

During this most recent and devastating attack, women, children, babies and their grandparents were murdered. 

Babies were beheaded, people kidnapped and tortured, raped and had their naked bodies paraded in the streets. 

This is not war- this is hatred; this is evil. 

“You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms and how the terrorist kills them. It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield. It’s a massacre,” said Israeli Major General, Itai Veruv.

A frail grandmother was taken and a video of her murder posted on her Facebook page. She was a survivor of the holocaust, but was not spared this final torment. 

I know that the Israeli government is not blameless, but no-one can justify such wickedness, perpetrated against vulnerable innocents. 

As I write, the death toll of babies passed 1,000. 

War is brutal. The British could be accused of committing atrocities including the bombing of Dresden but surely no one could dare to justify the part of the Nazis in that conflict? 

Then why so with Israel? 

Surely, the nation state of Israel has the right to defend itself, especially in light of The Holocaust?

And what of Hamas? 

Hamas is a terrorist organisation, though watching BBC and ITV news one might get the impression that they are somehow freedom fighters or militants. 

Hamas was born out of a desire for Islamic jihad: war and conquest. 

Though you may have been told repeatedly that Islam is a religion of peace, it’s holy book, it’s prophet and it’s fruits tell a very different story. 

There is a great deal of violence in Islam, even in the very foundations of the faith. If the traditions about the prophet of Islam, Mohammad, are in any way reliable, then Islam glorifies violent Jihad, arguably more than any other action a Muslim can take. 

No one can deny the presence of violence in the Koran or in the life of its prophet. From the time he had enough followers he launched raids and battles every year until he died. 

According to David Cook in ‘answering Jihad’, the prophet Mohammed launched and participated in 86 battles during that time: more than 9 a year.

In one raid, Mohammad decimated a tribe of Medina Jews whom he had accused of supporting the Meccans. He executed all the pubescent boys and adult men , took their women and children for slaves and divided their possessions and lands among Muslims. 

ISIS, Boko Haram, Hamas:

They are all practicing the purest form of Islam. 

This ‘Jihad’ is not merely a defensive command but is also an offensive one. 

It has been used to justify violence not only against Jews and Christians but also between fellow Muslims. (Sunni and Shia) 

Hamas are Sunni Muslims, representing the large majority of all Muslims. 
These are hard truths to take. We cannot keep pretending that Hamas and Islamic fundamentalist nations and organisations want peace. Without truth we will not be able to identify the real problem and without love we will not be able to formulate an enduring answer. 

I looked to see whether the Muslim Council for Britain had condemned the attacks and could not read much beyond their predictable opening statement: 

‘The Muslim Council of Britain calls for an end to the violence in and around Gaza. The targeting of innocent civilians can never be excused or justified.’ 

The second paragraph went on to do just that. 

The attack, on Oct. 6, took place on the 50th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which nearly overwhelmed the Jewish State. They fight for survival as Britain fought for hers against Nazi Germany. 

No one argues that Hitler was provoked. 

I searched for someone who was prepared to condemn, unreservedly this provocative aggression by Hamas and who was willing to distinguish between attack and defence. 

One commentator correctly noted: 

“Israel uses rockets to defend it’s people; Hamas uses people to defend its rockets”. 

There’s one very important difference, at least. 

Surely the common enemy of peace in the Middle East is Islamic fundamentalism and Hamas itself. 

Hamas are the enemies of good and of the Palestinian people. 

What did they believe would happen after these atrocities? 

Of course, the leaders of Hamas knew but they didn’t care. They wanted to provoke a devastating response and showed no pity to Jewish civilians or their own. 

They are not only the enemy of Israel but of their own people; of peace itself. 

Their actions are pure evil and their intention is chaos and destruction, born of bitter envy and hatred and driven by a hateful ideology. 

So what is the correct response? 

Is it negotiation and appeasement? Is it annihilation? Is it revenge? 

Jesus, a Jew, known to Islam as ‘Issa’ told us to love our enemies; to love those who persecute us and to pray for them; to love our neighbour as ourself. 

This is a revolutionary command and a very difficult one for all of us, especially in times such as this. 

As CS Lewis says “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.”

 How the Jewish people and State should react I do not know. 

In the words of Ephesians, “there is a time for everything under the sun”.

Is this the time for peace or war; to show righteous anger, to weep?

I cannot say. 

My only advice is this:

Evil always takes advantage of the slightest compromise.

Make not the slightest compromise with the smallest of sins. 

Condemn evil acts without reservation or justification. 

And if you have strength enough, do not repay evil with evil. Pray for your enemies and show mercy. 

And if you do not have the strength for these things, ask the God of love, who gives freely. 

The purpose of remembering Yom Kippur now is ‘to effect individual and collective purification by the practice of forgiveness of the sins of others and by sincere repentance for one’s own sins against God.’

In contrast, the god of Islam is one of vague and uncertain promises of paradise; his prophet, a man of violence; his book, full of hatred. 

Few people are afforded justice in this life. 

Trust the God of justice and truth -that’s his department.

As for the terrorists 

“They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might“

We can use this to restrain our desire to seek revenge and to sustain hope in an unjust world. 

We must leave room for God’s wrath and our own salvation. 

“Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord.