Today is 73 years since the birth of the modern state of Israel on 14 May 1948. This was a very significant event on God's prophetic timetable as it set the stage for the future events of the final Tribulation. Just as in Biblical times, Israel has fought in its fair share of wars since its "resurrection", and now it looks like another one may be looming, with rockets and missiles fired, and Israeli troops amassed along the border with Gaza. The Palestinian militant group Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel, which has been responding with heavy bombardment of Gaza. More than 120 people have died so far. Israel and Hamas have already fought three wars, with the last one being in 2014. Another blogger, Bill Randles, has written this post about the crisis, and before you continue with the one here, I'd encourage you to have a read of that.
I think Mr Randles has done a good job of covering the reasons for the current conflict and some of the Biblical significance of it. But here are a few additional thoughts of my own. Firstly, it is very interesting to me that Hamas is mainly based in Gaza. In Biblical times, Gaza was also home to the Philistines, a group of people that regularly troubled Israel. Indeed, ancient Israel fought MANY wars with the Philistines. The giant Goliath, famously slain by a teenage David, was a Philistine (1 Samuel 17:4). Now, Hamas is not comprised of Philistines, and I'm quite certain they're not descended from the Philistines. However, I just find it interesting that the Gaza region was a regular source of trouble and conflict for Israel in Biblical times, and once again it is a focal point of strife in modern times.
The conflict is not just between Israel and Hamas in this instance. There has also been some violence between Jews and Arabs who are Israeli citizens. This is sparking fears of a possible civil war. It is fair to say that tension in Israel is sky-high right now. The tensions have been manifesting in other places as well, with protests breaking out in cities like New York. Most of the protests have been against Israel. Far fewer protests have been against Hamas. Media coverage is similar, more favourable to the Palestinian side for the most part, although there is more sympathy for Israel among the conservative media.
It is not entirely surprising that conflict in Israel tends to spark anti-Israel and anti-Semitic feelings around the world. There is a spiritual reason behind that though. It is to do with the great spiritual war between God and Satan. The Devil not only hates Christ and Christians, but he also utterly loathes Israel, because God and Israel have a special covenant and Israel gave the world both the Word of God and our Saviour. One of Satan's goals is to destroy Israel, because Christ will only return when Israel finally recognises Him as the Messiah. So if there were no Israel, Christ would not return. Now, the Bible tells us that Satan will never succeed in utterly destroying Israel, but that won't stop him continuing to try. Also, while God won't let Israel be destroyed, that doesn't mean He will altogether prevent Israel being troubled sometimes, hence the ongoing conflicts with Hamas and other militant groups. Also, Israel was not spared from the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, for a while, it had one of the worst infection rates in the world.
One of the stated goals of Hamas is to completely do away with Israel. There are other groups around, like Hezbollah (based in Lebanon) with the same aim. The existence of people who want to wipe out Israel is actually prophesied in Psalm 83. God has these people's number:
"Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah." (Psalm 83:1-8)
Today's Palestinians are descendants of at least some of these ancient nations (Edomites and Ishmaelites in particular). The children of Lot were Moab and Ammon, both mentioned in this Psalm. Note that the Philistines get a mention too. (The Roman name for Israel, Palestina, harks back to the Philistines.) And notice what their goal is: cut Israel off from being a nation! Notice something else: their real war is not ultimately with Israel, but God. And this is why the rest of the unsaved world, which also hates God, usually sides with the Palestinians against Israel. But it is also why there is this ongoing conflict between the Jews and Arabs, and also Jews and Muslims (not all Muslims are Arabs), and why it is centred on Israel, and especially Jerusalem (which as Bill Randles mentioned in his post, has been made a cup of trembling to the world by God).
Because the enemies of Israel are really fighting against God, their battle will always be a losing one. That's not to say they won't injure or kill some people, or destroy a few buildings, but they will never succeed in finishing Israel off. Indeed, Israel stands as a testimony to the existence of God and the truth of His Word, even though the Jews are still in unbelief at this time (also prophesied in the Bible - see Ezekiel's vision of dry bones, which symbolises a restored Israel in initial unbelief). And Israel's ongoing victories in the major wars it fights will show the world that God reigns supreme and that sinful men would do well to repent and turn to Christ. "As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." (Psalm 83:14-18)
UPDATE (15/5/21): The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is continuing to bombard Gaza as Hamas tries to fire more rockets into Israel. The Iron Dome defence system is intercepting most of the rockets. The IDF is attempting to disrupt the Hamas networks, especially their tunnel network. They are also targeting apartment buildings known to house Hamas terrorists. Meanwhile, fighting has now broken out in the West Bank region. Protesters in Lebanon and Jordan have gathered near the borders with Israel to make their feelings known, but are understandably being prevented from crossing the border.
In New Zealand, Palestinian communities in ten of our cities staged large protests this afternoon. Apparently, they call 14 May "Nabka Day", or "Memory of the Catastrophe". ("Nabka" is Arabic for "catastrophe".) As they see it, their homeland was "robbed" from them when Israel was created. (The Bible is clear though that Israel belongs to the Jews - those who have descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - and not the Palestinians, some of whom may well have Abraham or one of his near relatives like Lot as their ancestor, and others of whom may have Esau as a forefather, but do not have the specific Abraham-Isaac-Jacob lineage.) The protesters are calling on the NZ Government to close the Israeli Embassy. So far the Government has made little comment other than to express its "grave concern" and call the ever-increasing death toll "unacceptable". These protests have been covered very sympathetically by our local media. For example, here is a report on the 1 News site about it. As you can see, the article and accompanying video report give 100% coverage to the Palestinian viewpoint and absolutely none to the Israeli side. A report I saw on tonight's edition of 1 News at 6pm wasn't much better. That featured 10-20 seconds of an interview with a representative of the Israeli Embassy. The rest of the report was focussed solely on the protests and Palestinian side of things. Meanwhile, here is the Newshub report about the protests. Both the article and accompanying video are slightly more balanced than 1 News, but are still heavily biased towards the Palestinians.
Even my dad, who is unsaved and quite liberal in his views, has noted that Hamas started the firing, but the protesters seem to conveniently forget that. "Why should they ask Israel to stop when they started it? How about not firing the rockets in the first place?" he asked. (Not a verbatim quote, but near enough.) A good chunk of the news media also seems to forget that Hamas has been the aggressor here (that's my observation, not his).
The Palestinian narrative, in part, is that the Jews are illegal occupiers. From a Biblical standpoint however, it is the Palestinians who are illegal occupiers. All that the Jews have done has been to reclaim what has always been theirs. They were scattered abroad for 2,000 years because God was chastising them severely for their unbelief and rebellion against Him. But Israel was always going to be restored, just as it was after the Babylonian captivity period. It is, in many respects, a secular nation right now, but God is far from finished with it. I am, however, finished with this update.
UPDATE 2 (19/5/21): The conflict rages on, with the death toll now comfortably exceeding 200. Hamas continues to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israel, but the Iron Dome defence system keeps on intercepting most of them. This is why the death toll in Israel is very low (only about ten). The remainder of deaths have been in Gaza. However, the IDF is doing its best to limit civilian casualties by giving about ten minutes' advance notice before bombing a building that they believe to be a major operation centre for Hamas. Otherwise, the casualties in Gaza would be much higher. They have also severely damaged the Hamas tunnel networks. But they have not done enough damage to stop Hamas firing their rockets.
As the fighting goes on, there is an increase in incidents of anti-Semitism around the world. One of the ugliest was in North London, when some people drove through a Jewish neighbourhood and shouted vile slogans through a megaphone. This was a serious enough incident for the mainstream/left-wing media to report on, but they nonetheless continue to show a notable anti-Israel slant in most of their news stories. Only the conservative media like FOX News and Sky News Australia are showing any real sympathy for Israel while calling the mainstream media out on their bias and distortion of facts. Sky News Australia host Andrew Bolt has moreover asserted that Iran is behind the current Hamas activities. Iran funds Hamas, because like Hamas, it wants to destroy Israel.
However, while the conservative media's coverage of this crisis is good, they still don't get the spiritual reasons behind all this conflict. They don't have a Biblical worldview, so they don't understand the extent to which Satan wants to wipe out Israel, which is why he stirs up all kinds of groups and nations against it. I saw on another report (also by Sky News Australia) where one person being interviewed marvelled at how the Left gets worked up every time Israel gets involved in military conflict, yet remains largely silent over other international or domestic conflicts. In the Andrew Bolt segment I linked to, he and a guest note that if cities in Australia were being hit by more than 3,000 rockets over the course of a week, the country would take very forceful action against whoever was doing that. Yet when Israel takes military action against Hamas for its hostilities, it finds itself being vilified! This is indeed strange unless you can grasp the spiritual war taking place behind the physical conflict. Ephesians 2:2 tells us that the Devil works in lost people (something every born-again Christian has also been at one time). And one of the many ways he works in them is to stir up hatred for Israel and the Jewish people generally. Not all lost people have this particular hatred, but a great many do. And that is a key reason why anti-Semitism, and anti-Israel sentiment, becomes especially virulent whenever Israel gets involved in a serious conflict or all-out war. However, both Biblical and modern history show that God does His best work when the odds are heavily stacked against His people. In fact, sometimes He even lengthens the odds further! (See Judges 7:2-7 for an example.)
A couple of quick things to finish this update. I mentioned previously that Gaza used to be part of ancient Philistia, and found it interesting that modern Israel continues to be troubled by that particular bit of land. However, some of the old Philistine cities are now part of Israel. They include Ashdod and Ashkelon, which have been among the places that Hamas has fired its rockets at. So I thought it only fair to point that out. Also, one of the things that fascinates me about Israel is simply its geographic location. It is right at the crossroads of three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. Asia is to the east, Africa to the south and Europe to the west (while Eurasia is more to the north). This is what made Jerusalem such an ideal starting point for spreading the Gospel. But is is also one reason why other nations have coveted Israel over the years. From a purely strategic standpoint, it is one of the world's most critical locations. And that will continue to be the case for as long as this world remains in existence.
UPDATE 3 (22/5/21): Some good news is that a ceasefire has been declared after eleven days of heavy fighting. This ceasefire kicked in at 11:00am yesterday NZ time. It was brokered by Egypt, which has also been the case with past Israel-Hamas truces. So far, it seems to have held firm. But tensions continue to run high. There were more protests in New Zealand today (and probably elsewhere too). The protesters here are demanding that our government recognise Palestine as a state. They also continue to accuse Israel of illegal occupation, apartheid, general oppression and all this sort of carry-on. However, as my dad rightly remarked to me a little while ago, they conveniently forget to mention that they want to wipe out Israel! It's not just that the Palestinians want statehood, but that they want to expel the Jewish people from their rightful homeland altogether. (Well, maybe not all of them do, but the likes of Hamas unquestionably do.) But TVNZ covered the protests very sympathetically and didn't even bother to get the Israeli point of view this time. (I'm not sure what Three did, but they are pretty sympathetic to the Palestinians as well.) Meanwhile, a BBC report (as relayed on 1 News at 6pm) reminded us what was at the centre of not only the current tensions, but the entire conflict between Israel and the Palestinians: Jerusalem. Yes, that cup of trembling, that burdensome stone. It has been the capital of Israel since the times of King David, which is why it is called the City of David. God has chosen Jerusalem specially, and so it is not only the City of David, but God's own city. Jerusalem, like the rest of Israel, lawfully belongs to the Jewish people, but it is greatly coveted by the Palestinians and others, including the Roman Catholic Church and United Nations. And sooner or later, that ancient conflict over Jerusalem is going to trigger more fighting. TVNZ had at least one thing right in their reporting tonight: the fighting may have eased for now, but the war has not.
UPDATE 4 (24/5/21): Finally, there has been some reporting in favour of Israel in the New Zealand media. On the Stuff site, there is this opinion piece by Damien Grant. Mr Grant is a right-wing commentator. However, I think he is more of a libertarian than social conservative. Economically, he is too far right for my taste (I am a social conservative but economic centrist). In fact, I am pretty certain that he is a member of the ACT Party, which is to the right of National. But in his article about the Israel-Gaza conflict, he is pretty much right on the money. He makes several of the same points that I have made (or cited) about Hamas being the aggressor and Israel acting in its own defence and striving to minimise civilian casualties. He also notes, as I have, that the much lower death toll in Israel has been due to its Iron Dome defence system that intercepted most of the Hamas rockets. Something else he subtly suggests (which I admit I didn't think of) is that Hamas could have exaggerated their own death toll. I wouldn't put that past them.
Mr Grant then discusses the bias in our media coverage to date. "What we have seen is media coverage heavily concentrated on the attacks by the IDF in Gaza and on local anti-Israeli protests which, in my view, has created the impression of an unconstrained bombardment of the civilian population." Yes, it has rather created that impression. But this is how the media can manipulate your perceptions. Just show one side, or mostly show the side whose narrative you think should be accepted, and give only token attention to the opposite point of view. And when people lack discernment and are either unable or unwilling to critically analyse what they're seeing, they will most likely accept the narrative they are being fed.
Quite rightly, Mr Grant says that not all false information about Israel has an anti-Semitic motive. Instead, he suggests that people are basically just wanting to look cool: "[H]yperbolic claims against Israel are rewarded in the potent currency of social media likes and re-tweets". These days, nothing puffs people up quite like social media likes and re-tweets. And if you think that adopting certain politically correct positions will gain you traction and "street cred" among your friends, then it is easy to see how some anti-Israel people are probably motivated more by vanity than anything else.
However, Mr Grant then points out that nobody is protesting over the war in Yemen, which has claimed some 200,000 lives, including many children. He makes the following very astute observation: "If the real concern was the deaths of children, we would have marches, protests and parliamentary resolutions flying out faster than a barrage of Hamas rockets about what is happening in Yemen. There isn’t. What we have is an obsession with Israel and her failings that is absent for any other global conflicts." (My emphasis) Exactly. And why is there this strange obsession with Israel? Because Jerusalem is a cup of trembling and burdensome stone to the world.
While Mr Grant says that some of the anti-Israel sentiment may just be the product of youthful vanity, he then returns to the anti-Semitism that unquestionably underlies a good proportion of it. He notes that we tend to think of anti-Semitism as mainly something the Nazis were guilty of, but then astutely observes, "This is a misreading of history. The genocide began after the war was declared and the allies did not go to war to save European Jewry. Rather we have used it as an ex-post rationalism to bolster our moral superiority. This crime was a European one, and it was the culmination of a millennium of hostility to the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham." (Emphasis mine) Now while I agree with this, I must correct Mr Grant on one point. As I have pointed out earlier in this post, the Jews (ethnically, ancestrally) are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac AND JACOB. Isaac had two sons, and the descendants of Esau are NOT Jews, because they are not the children of Israel (which was the new name God gave to Jacob). Only the children of Israel, who have Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their lineage, can lay claim to the land of Israel. It is not by accident that God is often called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Bible. This is a totally separate issue from being born again and inheriting eternal life in the heavenly Jerusalem, I might add. God has a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. And for all their ongoing rebellion and unbelief, He has not forgotten about it. But I digress a little. Apart from not understanding the correct Biblical lineage of Jews, Mr Grant is otherwise quite accurate there, in my opinion.
Mr Grant goes on to say that all Western nations, including New Zealand, have been guilty of anti-Semitism over the years. He notes that in this respect, "no western [sic] nation is without sin". That is all too true, alas. He then observes that "There are valid reasons to critique Israel" and cites the settlements, blockades and (showing his ACT colours) universal health care. I would disagree about the settlements, since the Jews are only settling land that God has given to them. Don't know enough about the blockades or the universal health care to make a qualified comment one way or the other. What I will add though is that it is not anti-Semitic to simply acknowledge that most Jews today are still in a state of unbelief - in other words, lost. There is also nothing wrong with reproving Israel for genuine sins. In fact, I'm sure that if Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel or any of the other ancient prophets were alive today, they would have some stern words of rebuke to say about some things, and sound just as loud a call to repentance as they did when they were alive.
However, the fact remains that right now, Israel is being falsely accused over many things, by both the Palestinians and their supporters. Mr Grant saves his best for the final paragraph: "But
there is also vitriol, lies and a double standard that is applied to
and directed against Israel; some of which may be driven by ignorance
and a desire for attention, but there is an undercurrent that does not
look like good people with honest intentions campaigning against a
perceived injustice. To me, it has a darker feel of an ancient hatred
repackaged for a modern era." (My emphasis) He is absolutely bang-on here. The ancient hatred for Jews is indeed alive and well in this present age, and sadly, as we get ever closer to the return of Christ, this hatred, like other sins in the world, will get a lot worse before Israel finally welcomes back its Messiah.
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