Last winter the Israeli invasion of Gaza (December 27, 2008 -- Jan. 18, 2009) prompted such a response from me (see summary article HERE, 1 year after the fact): I wrote several emails that many of you may have received (this was before my blogging days). My concern was for the civilians living in Gaza. With nearly 11,000 people living in each one of the 139 square miles of Gaza (packed in like sardines, to say the least), living conditions that are sub-par to even some refugee camps throughout the world (80%+ live in abject poverty, according to World Vision), and with no open borders through which to flee (because Israel controls the borders and rarely every lets anyone in or out), the civilians of Gaza literally had nowhere to run when a full-scale assault by Israel's military--including tanks, helicopter fighters, rockets and foot soldiers--was conducted. The reports coming out of that region during the 3 week incursion were devastating to me. Israel intentionally targeted several different UN food warehouses. A Red Cross van was fired on by an Israeli tank after having just received permission to travel into Gaza to provide humanitarian aid--one of the Red Cross volunteers was killed. White phosphorous mortars (an illegal weapon, akin to "mustard gas") were fired into civilian areas.
While all the rockets ever fired by Hamas (over a span of about 6 years) into Israel's southern region had, in total, killed approximately 10-15 Israelis (which is evil and is terrorism, let me be clear), Israel's armed forces killed 252 children during that incursion (according to B'Tselem, a prominent Israeli humanitarian watch group). And that was just the children. Total civilian casualties in the three weeks were well over 1,000. In 3 weeks. The fact is that Israel killed far more civilians than they did Hamas militants during those three weeks. During the same period of fighting, nine (yes, the single digit "9) Israelis were killed by Palestinian fire, three of them were civilians. While pro-Israel supporters have always claimed that these kinds of civilians casualty numbers are the result of Hamas militants using civilians as "human shields," the fact of the matter is that we're talking about 1.5 million people crammed into a piece of land the size of a postage stamp--people who had nowhere to run to because the Israeli government controls access in and out of the territory. The vast majority were not being used as "human shields"--there is just simply and absolutely nowhere to go. In fact, there are documented reports (see the "Goldstone Report" below) of Israeli soldiers using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
I shared these statistics with friends and family members last winter--1,000+ Palestinian civilians, including 252 children killed, in three weeks' time over against 10-15 Israeli civilians over the span of 6 years--and asked them to consider if they truly thought what Israel had done could in any way be called "self defense." I received very few empathetic responses, and I will offer my opinion as to why I believe that was the case in just a moment. In short, I believe this is due to a misguided theology that is popular in the U.S. today.
I would like, however, first to draw attention to two other recent developments coming out of the region which I also simply cannot ignore. The first is the recent "Goldstone Report" (see 2-minute video summary by Goldstone himself HERE)--a report recently published by a UN Commission, and headed by former South African judge, Richard Goldstone. The report (see full-text HERE) was an attempt to compile all relevant data pertaining to war crimes and crimes against humanity that may have been perpetrated by both sides during last winter's Gaza incursion, described above. It specifically reports on 36 particular instances of crimes perpetrated during the war. Very telling is the fact that, while Goldstone and his colleagues attempted several times to seek Israel's aid in producing the report, the Government of Israel never let these UN officials into Israel, and also prevented them from traveling to the West Bank to talk with Palestinian leaders and victims, whom they were forced to meet with in Amman, Jordan. In total, the report condemned both sides for committing various war crimes and crimes against humanity; however, the Government of Israel blatantly denies that any such crimes were committed by its military. Evidently the 252 children, a Red Cross worker, and UN employees killed and the various hospitals, food pantries, and humanitarian aid stations leveled were all necessary casualties in Israel's eyes. I suppose that if my reader cannot at this point come to the obvious conclusion that, at the very least, Israel has gotten away with extremely reckless military behavior and denied any culpability for massive civilian casualties--if my reader cannot come to that conclusion him/herself, I assume that there is very little more than I can do to persuade him/her. I am compelled to speak out on this, however, as my heart still does hang heavy at times for the peoples I met, spoke with, and lived under the protection of during my stay in the Middle East.
A second issue I feel the need to bring to my readers' attention concerns the recent breakdown in the peace talks in Jerusalem, which were thwarted by a recent announcement of Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem. A summary of the situation runs like this: Vice President Joe Biden recently visited Israel in an attempt to restart the peace-talk process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (the PA, the dominant government in the West Bank). The hope of the US is, as it has been for decades now, that a two-state solution might be reached. That an independent Palestinian state could be formed alongside Israel. It is a decent solution, but one which is increasingly infeasible. Why is it infeasible? Many factors persist. One primary factor is the building of Israeli "settlements" in the West Bank. To date, tens of thousands of homes have been built by the Israeli government in the West Bank--an act considered illegal since 1967 under international law [UNSC Resolution 242, unanimously passed]. So here's the rub: the U.S. and other international players keep trying to reach a two-state solution, while one state (Israel) continues to infiltrate the territory of the other would-be state (Palestine). Even if a two-state solution was reached today, there arguably would be no second "state" to give the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been forcibly removed from their homes and land for the past 60+ years. In any case, VP Joe Biden was recently in Israel trying to jump start these talks once again. Israel said we're in. The Palestinians said we're in. And even as Biden was still on the ground holding talks, Israel announced that some 1,600 more homes were scheduled to be built in East Jerusalem, which is one of the most hotly disputed territories in these talks. In short, at the same time that Israel said, "Yes, we're willing to negotiate a peace treaty that includes giving these lands to the Palestinian Authority," they also announced that they were getting ready to build 1,600 houses on those same lands! Obviously, VP Joe Biden was a bit perturbed, and chastised Israel, saying, "The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel." (see quote in BBC article HERE) If it is not obvious that Israel is being utterly duplicitous here, once again, I'm not sure what other evidence would hit my reader in the face more squarely than this. The truth of the matter is that Israel has no intentions whatsoever of ever signing a peace treaty with the Palestinians that would require the relinquishment of any of these lands (lands that were home to many Palestinians prior to the creation of the state of "Israel"). They have stalled for 40+ years now, and they continue to intend to stall until there is literally no "second state" left to give over, even if they did sign a treaty. They are de facto putting an end to the possibility of a settlement even as they enter talks aimed at a future settlement.
And now, let me come to the point of why I believe this is important for American Christians today, who may be reading this blog wondering why I highlight this particular conflict for special treatment. While these kinds of atrocities, war crimes, genocidal tendencies, duplicity, and oppression are quite common in our world today--the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not being nearly the most deadly conflict currently raging in our world--this is the only conflict that is being fueled to an enormous degree by a specific theological position of American Evangelical Christians. There are many American Evangelical leaders, pastors, authors, politicians, and other Christian laypersons who have been preaching a message for the past 40-50 years (and in some cases longer) that goes something like this: "The modern nation-state of Israel, created in 1948, is the direct inheritor of the promises made to Abraham and ancient Israel of the Old Testament, and since these promises include the right to this particular strip of land in Palestine, we Christians must 'stand with Zion' (which means uncritically supporting the government and military of Israel, no matter what)." The conclusion of many Americans who donate money to Israel, lobby in Congress for Israel, and produce massive quantities of pro-Israeli propaganda is that, even as we watch the Israeli military kill 252 children in 3 weeks, this is OK because Israel is God's chosen people and everything they do deserves to be supported by Christians.
The Scriptural and theological rebuttal to this stance is lengthy and sound, and you can see my blog "Dispensationalism Fails the Bible Test Again" for a brief introduction to it. In a nutshell, this reading violates the New Testament witness and makes us, quite obviously, advocates of violence, hatred, racism, and deceit--none of which have a place within the Kingdom of God as Christ inaugurated it. While I do not have time to dive into all the details, let me simply note the primary reason that I continue to bring up these kinds of issues: This is a conflict that, as a result of my studies in the Middle East, I have realized is, to an alarming degree, fueled by American Evangelical Christians, some of whom are in my own family. If you knew how many lives--including many Christian lives!--have been lost, how many homes have been demolished, how many millions of people have been hurtfully affected by Israeli activities like those described above, and if you realized that these activities are literally being sponsored--financially and ideologically--by a relatively small band of misguided Evangelical Christians in America, it would bring you to tears, as it has done so for me. Thousands of people have died. Millions have lost homes. An entire nation of people has been scattered and oppressed. . . and there are some in America supporting all of this who call themselves followers of the Christ, who himself was born, grew up, and ministered in the West Bank!
Please, please. . . take the time to educate yourself on what is at stake in uncritical support for the nation of Israel (as groups like John Hagee's CUFI promote and finance). Look at the glaring incongruities here between the activities described above and the Kingdom of God described by Christ in the Scriptures. How can we continue to support this, while also calling ourselves followers of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Prince of Peace? There are not two extremes--either uncritical support for Israel or anti-Semitism; don't believe that lie. The middle path--the narrow path--is one that recognizes that the Way of the Kingdom of God transcends all the "ways" of any nation, including the one called "Israel," and that Christians must not mistake good and evil, even when the evil is perpetrated by allies or friends.
With a heavy heart, fighting off the despair that this blog may not change anyone's heart or mind and may only instigate more conflict, I rest my case (for the time being).
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