With Western democracy at war, raging now in Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Gaza, the question must arise, “Is war ever justified?”
For the better part of two years a war has been going on in Ukraine against Russia because of the Russian invasion into the sovereign land of Ukraine. It is not suggested in the West that there be a cease-fire because Ukraine is defending itself against invasion. BUT if they began to win, would the rhetoric change?
This is what has happened in the Middle East. Israel was invaded and it was horrendous, barbaric by any standards, and the West was sympathetic: Israel must have the right to defend itself. UNTIL they, the stronger force, needed to go into the enemy state to root out the evil that attacked them to ensure they don’t kill and kidnap again, and further to rid the West of those who hate all of us: Hamas. Hamas’ charter states the elimination of Israel and the Jews. And their overarching ideology states the Muslims must kill all infidels — that’s anyone who is not or does not convert to Muslim.
Cry for Cease-fire
What has happened now is a cry for cease-fire on the basis that the civilians in Gaza must escape. Israel is at fault for not complying, according to many journalists and politicians.
Israel has one choice: to fight or to die. If they stop fighting, they will die and the invasion of their land on 7 October demonstrates that.
There is no complication. There is no confusion in the mind of the Jew. The proof is plain as the nose on any face. But in the West, fewer and fewer seem able to see it.
Protestors march in the streets of London, Paris and around the world: “Free Palestine” but free Palestine from what? From themselves.
History lesson
Once upon a time centuries ago, back in Biblical times, there was a nation called Israel. It lay within and beyond the borders of what is now the nation of Israel and including the areas where Palestinians live, namely the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
That history is not why the Muslims and Jews are fighting now, but it is a piece of the puzzle as to why there is a war now…
- There has never been a state of Palestine except in the imagination of some.
- When Britain oversaw the area called “Palestine” in what was politically called The British Mandate, Jews and Arabs lived in relative harmony but there was no state per se. Before WW1 the land had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire, which fell during the war. The Brits ruled instead until after WW2, the purpose to gradually release the land to its inhabitants. Although the land was promised to the Jews (Balfour Declaration 1917) it was gradually decided by politicians to split the land between Jews and Arabs.
- After the Holocaust, after WW2, the United Nations decided it was essential to give land to Jews and to call it Israel. This was done formally but the Arabs were angry. Each had been given land but the Arabs wanted the Jews to have none. They went to war, the Arabs lost and Israel won all the land. They gave some back but this did not satisfy the Arabs.
- Although there have been intervening wars and attempts at peace talks for a 2-state solution, certain of the Arabs don’t want the Jews to have any of the land. 4 near-solutions have been offered, the Jews accepting each time and the Arabs declining.
- There are Arabs in Israel, equal citizens to the Jews, who have been there for the generations since 1948 when Israel had all the land. All Arabs were invited to co-exist. But those called Palestinians refused and have put themselves in the terrible enclaves they are in now.
- To prevent destruction by the Muslims who call themselves Palestinians, the Jews have high security against those in the enclaves. That is why there was a fence between Israel and Gaza. Nevertheless, some Palestinians carefully vetted, have been allowed to work in Israel and to travel back and forth.
- Why is it that Israel spends huge amounts of effort and money on self defence? Because they have to or else they would be annihilated by those among the Palestinians who hate them.
- The leadership of Gaza and the West Bank sow much of their money into military structures and armaments to attack Israel. Even now, amidst a siege by Israel, the Hamas are taking oil supply from hospitals to sustain their rocket fire against Israel.
- The leadership of Gaza and the West Bank educate the children to hate Jews and to look forward to the opportunity to be suicide bombers who can wear a vest and blow up in order to kill Jews. Mothers support this. Children’s textbooks are readily available for all to see what is being taught in the schools in what is so called Palestine.
- Is that enough information to enable you to understand why Israel is fighting?
Is there ever justification for war?
Yes. When a nation state’s existence is at threat and the only way for survival is to fight, then the nation must fight.
This is not a holy war or a war of religion between Jew and Muslim. This is a war waged against a free nation, Israel, against a group of terrorists, Hamas, which if lost, will mean the end of Israel.
What about the Arabs
The Arabs have always been welcome in Israel, if they will agree to co-exist. Those who have, have been healthy, happy, successful civilians within the State of Israel. Today some Arabs are in the IDF fighting for the nation of Israel, their homeland. Those who have not, have been rejected by surrounding Arab nations (Egyptians and Jordanians even today have said they won’t accept refugees) and have entrenched themselves in pieces of land they won’t develop and demand the land which the Jews have developed.
Free Palestine
By their actions and by their words, the Palestinians don’t want to be free. They want all the land of Israel for themselves — which is what “from the river to the sea” means, and to send the Jews into the sea to drown. That is the intent behind the historic chant that the West does not recognise.
Pie in the Sky
The notion that some Western protestors with non-Arab backgrounds imagine a 1-state solution where there is harmony, or others that a 2-state solution will bring peace, is a dream. 75 years of existence in the Middle East has shown that there is no desire amongst the ruling folk in Gaza or the West Bank to share, to co-exist or to live in harmony.
The Jews must fight for survival. It may sound dramatic, and war is dramatic. But after 1400 unarmed Jews were slaughtered — some burnt alive and babies beheaded — and another 240 kidnapped including young children and babies — what choice does Israel have?
If there is international support or even if everyone else crumbles and no one will help them, in the end, they need to fight or else they will no longer exist. That isn’t my opinion.
Spiritual battle
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
This war is necessary to save a people group and a nation state from extinction. But although Hamas is the target, and although it is human beings who are in battle, the war against the Jew is not in the main physical. It keeps coming back because it is spiritual.
There are human enemies of the Jewish state and its people, but that is because there is a far greater enemy behind all of this, which is Satan. The Jewish people are “after GOD’s own heart” and Satan knows this. That is why he is so determined to destroy them. That is why his demons are active in Hamas. That is why his demons inhabited the Nazis in Germany. That is why there have been pograms and inquisitions and racial hatred of the Jews since as far back as Haman as revealed in the Book of Esther and echoed in the secular history books about Ancient Times.
Prayer
We must pray against WW3. We must pray against barbarism and war. We must pray that the Jewish hostages will be rescued or released. We must pray that the anti-Hamas Gazans can escape.
But we must also pray for the survival of Israel as GOD’s first born. And unfortunately, in human terms, the only way for that to happen is for Israel to fight for itself.
Pray for the Miraculous
I have been praying for all of the above. But above all, I have been praying for salvation for Hamas, for Jews, for Muslims: To see Jesus and to discover and receive His saving grace.
The only real solution in Israel and the surrounding area is Jesus.