Israel, Hamas, the World Central Kitchen - Where is Jesus when we need Him?

Benjamin Netanyahu rightfully labels the Hamas assault on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023 as evil. Unfortunately, in the attack on the relief convoy on April 1, 2024 the IDF has fallen for the demonic temptation to imitate the level of depravity that they experienced. As a military tactic to deter other aid workers from helping the Palestinian civilians who are on the verge of starvation, it may succeed. But although Gaza civilians might disown Hamas to get food, they will more likely hate Israel even more for stooping to such depths of immorality.

 Perspectives:

•      Hamas comes from the Islamic perspective under which the Islamic empire was first established, that violence in defense of, or to advance the faith is justified. That goes back to the sixth century after Christ. The crusades of the tenth and eleventh centuries shared the same perspective, that victory in battle would demonstrate who had the true understanding of God. Hamas apparently sees kidnapping and murder of civilians, and using the cover of aid workers to conceal their whereabouts and activities, or as human shields as just part of war.

•      It appears that Israel has a perspective from the reign of King David, approximately one thousand years before Christ, seeing the Palestinians as indistinguishable from the Philistines of three thousand years ago. In this paradigm, military force was used by David to complete the charge given to Joshua to purge the land of pagan idolaters.

•      The modern world’s perspective is of two ethnic groups fighting for the same land, with varying degrees of ethical and moral constraints, or lack thereof. Why can’t they get along, find a compromise they can live with? In fighting a war, the Geneva convention is cited, but ignored when military necessity dictates.

•      Jesus’ perspective was articulated in the Sermon on the Mount. To say that His view has been rejected by the world is to implicitly admit that both Israel and Hamas have the world’s perspective thoroughly embedded in theirs. How does Jesus view this situation in the present? Most likely, He grieves that people on all sides of the conflict use His revelation and twist it to justify worldly and depraved actions, distorting His Word to advance their own self interest instead of building His kingdom.

 Until Jesus returns as promised, He is not going to sovereignly end the conflict, but only plead with us through His Word and His Spirit. Instead of pleading with Him to intervene, we need to receive what He has already given us; we need to be about His parting words, the Great Commission (Matthew 24:14; 28:19-20) bringing it to completion.