I involuntarily get a lot of updates from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in my social media feeds, since I follow other Christians and some of them think it’s godly to share and retweet war propaganda (frankly, that’s what military forces’ public messages are, per definition). IDF regularly updates how many rockets are being fired from Gaza and how far they reach, but not so often what destruction these rockets cause. And this is of course because most of them either miss or get shot down. Whenever they hit something though, IDF immediately shares it on Twitter:
Well… it sure sucks for those people living there, but personally, I wouldn’t kill 200 children because of that. IDF started “Operation Pillar of Defense” before one single person had been killed by the Palestinian rockets. During the conflict though, three Israeli civilians have unfortunately been killed, and IDF could provide some more disturbing images:
As a pacifist Christian, I totally condemn the use of rockets fired at Israel, I think it’s horrible that they have killed civilians and I pray that Hamas and other violent Palestinian groups will repent and stop killing others. That being said, I think it’s important for pro-Israeli Christians and others to take a look at the images IDF is not sharing on Twitter and Facebook – images showing the destructive force of the Israeli bombings, that to this point have killed 649 civilians, of which 194 are children:
Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP
Photo: AP
Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
This is insane, people. This is nothing Christians can support, this is not of the Holy Spirit. This is not according to the Sermon on the Mount. I totally agree with my pro-Israeli friends that rockets fired at Israeli civilians are horrible, but that makes the bombs fired at Palestinians civilians even more horrible!
These bombings are totally out-of-scale. The common arguments: that Hamas hide among civilians, and that Israel warns civilians before they bomb, suddenly seem ridiculous when you see these images. If they hide among civilians, is that not a reason NOT to bomb? And why must IDF destroy entire houses? Are the warnings even effective at all when so many civilians die, and their entire houses are destroyed? Most warnings through “knock on” rockets, leaflets and text messages are given just a few minutes, sometimes seconds, before the entire house is destroyed. Families have been killed while sleeping. Schools and hospitals have been targeted. Again, IDF says it is because Hamas is hiding there or keeping their weapons there, which is forbidden according to international humanitarian law, but it is equally forbidden to fire at those places even when this is the case.
Again, this is just insane. Father, I bless the Israeli and Palestinian people, I even bless the soldiers and terrorists and pray for repentance, godliness and compassion. Let them lay down their arms and seek your love instead. Let them forgive and reconciliate, seek justice and holiness and believe in You and Your Son Jesus Christ. I pray for revival in Israel and Gaza, a revival that reveals the Prince of Peace and that contains amazing miracles so that You may be glorified. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
Charismactivism 
[…] Christians also often support Israel uncritically, blaming Hamas for all the killing when clearly there have been injustices against the Palestinians too. (For two excellent christian reactions to the present fighting in Gaza, see Apocalyptic Israel Worship Will Be the Death of Us All and The Difference Between Palestinian Rockets and Israeli Bombs.) […]
I certainly agree that far too many Christians believe that Israel can do no evil and that Palestinians are the problem. Whilst there is some biblical evidence that Israel will be involved ‘in the last days’, I also have alot of time for those that say the ‘Israel’ in the New Testament actually refers to the church ie the ‘new Israel’. We all seem to have our own interpretations! Jesus seemed very condemnatory of the Jewish people as a whole precisely because of all the people of the world that should have recognised who He was, only a few did. They failed to recognise their own God in their midst, and continue to do so. But in the current violence, you have to ask yourself the question, if Sweden was being attacked with rockets from across the border, how do you think its government would respond? Would it be any different? Whilst its true that few Israelis have been killed by these rockets, it still must be terrible to live constantly in the knowledge that a rocket could hit your home at any time and kill you and your children (the so-called shield is not perfect). I also do not think you can argue that this is not in keeping with the Sermon on the Mount etc. It seems to me these instructions were given to individuals, not governments. I think it is perfectly acceptable for governments to use force to protect their people (this is one of the reasons we elect them). Using your argument, we should also not have police men etc who sometimes have to use force to ‘subdue the evil person’. Of course any force used should be done in a constrained way (which is why I disagree with nuclear weapons), but force can be used. I have great sympathy for the Palestiniians as they have certainly been treated unjustly, but the majority of them voted for a terrorist organisation to govern them (they could have chosen a differentt party such as Fatah). And I will always remember watching the pictures on the tv news, when 9/11 happened, of Palestinians in the streets clapping and jumping for joy! That image tends to stay with you…
Your blog at the moment is one of a few sources which try to get a balanced view of this war in Gaze instead taking one side for granted as the right one. Congratulations!
Reblogged this on Progressive Rubber Boots and commented:
Please read this before posting a clip from CNN or SUN News.