Reverend Peter Marshall's Commentary Archive

". . .Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" (Luke 12:56)

     "He (King Hezekiah of Judah) struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city" (2 Kings 18:8).This Bible verse describes events around 712 BC.

Some things never change.

Over twenty-seven hundred years later modern Israel again finds itself having to deal with the Philistines in the same place - Gaza - this time in the form of Hamas terrorists. And, as usual, in her dealings with the Muslim jihadis and the Palestinians, she has no true friends except the United States. World opinion blames Israel for inflicting civilian deaths through its bombing campaign, in spite of the incredible measures her military has taken to minimize those casualties. Around the world, Palestinian emigrants are staging demonstrations against Israel, duly covered by sympathetic media. And now that the Israeli ground forces have moved into Gaza to hunt down Hamas the global pressure is mounting for Israel to declare a cease-fire, and stop the shooting, long before she will have been able to permanently cripple Hamas.

One can see it coming: Israel will be pressured into yet another negotiated settlement with their enemies (who have vowed repeatedly to stop at nothing until they completely annihilate Israel), and agree to withdraw and stand down in return for vague promises on Hamas's part to stop firing rockets into Israel. Of course, Hamas will have utterly no intention of keeping its end of the bargain, and will once again use the cease fire/truce settlement to buy time and re-arm, while it looks for ways to get around whatever international monitoring personnel are put in place on the Gaza/Israel border, in order to resume its attacks on Israel.

Yet it is patently obvious to everyone except Muslims that Israel occupies 100 percent of the high moral ground in this conflict. All the Israelis want from Gaza is simply to be left alone. But, since 2001, over 10,000 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel from Gaza - over 3,200 just in 2008. Israel has finally had enough, and has invaded Gaza to hunt down and kill the Hamas terrorists, and put a stop to the people of Southern Israel being fired upon.

Last month, on December 27, the Israeli military called thousands of Gazans to warn them - in Arabic - to leave homes where Hamas might have stored weapons. The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) has distributed over 800,000 leaflets in Arabic instructing civilians to stay away from terrorists and weapons storage sites, and has warned the heavily populated areas of Gaza over 70 times before conducting air strikes. Repeatedly, the Israelis have told Gazans that they have nothing against them, and that all they are trying to do is to destroy the Hamas terrorists using Gaza as a launching pad for their strikes against Israel. What more could they possibly do to try to avoid harming the Palestinian population?

Hamas has deliberately placed its military supplies in high density urban areas, hoping that Israel's moral scrupulousness will prove to be a deterrent that will protect their weapons. Hamas also knows that although the Israelis possess laser-guided bombs and rockets that will allow them to pinpoint the buildings hiding weapons and munitions, that there will inevitably be civilian casualties through errant bombs and rockets. They don't care.

In fact, as Charles Krauthammer pointed out in a column several days ago, "for Hamas the only thing more prized than dead Jews is dead Palestinians." The more Gazan civilians killed by Israeli attacks the better, as far as Hamas is concerned. They know perfectly well that the world will blame Israel for all civilian deaths, so they cannot help but benefit. Do you think that Muslim jihadis who think it is glorious for their daughters to blow themselves up in the midst of a crowd of Iraqis or Pakistanis or Egyptians or Lebanese or Afghanis to earn martyrdom status from Allah will lose any sleep over hundreds or even thousands of Gazan casualties? 

As of three or four days ago there had already been 508 truckloads of humanitarian aid that had been delivered into Gaza from Israel since the beginning of the air strikes - basic foodstuffs, medical supplies, medications, blood units and various other donations by Israeli organizations. In fact, according to The Israel Project website, 10,000 tons of aid has been sent into Gaza from the Palestinian Authority and various world governments since Israel attacked. Why don't we hear about that from the media? And there have been 20 Palestinians evacuated to Israel for medical treatment, including two children. Why doesn't that make the evening news? For the same reason that the Israelis are invariably portrayed as the bad guys by everybody except Fox News - media bias against them.

To be sure, the IDF has destroyed three mosques in Gaza. Because the Jews hate Muslims and like to destroy their mosques? No, because those mosques were storage depots for weapons, ammunition, and explosives - proved by the secondary explosions that took place when the mosques were bombed. And get this: the Israelis attacked only at night, and never during prayer times, to avoid civilian casualties.

Clearly, this conflict is between two completely different world views or mind sets. One devalues human life, and is dedicated to inflicting as much pain and death on other human beings as is possible, in order to satisfy its hatred and blood lust. The other greatly values human life and goes out of its way to save as many lives as possible, reflecting the Biblical principles that gave rise to its Judaic culture.

Israel has operated this way over and over. When the IDF went into Lebanon in 2006, it warned villagers in Southern Lebanon of the pending attack, surrendering the element of surprise in spite of the higher casualties this would produce for Israeli troops.

On their part, the only use Hamas has for Gaza is as a launching pad for their rocket strikes on Israel. They, and whatever endemic Gazan leadership there might be, are not even slightly interested in creating a sustainable country for themselves or improving the lot of their citizens. For years and years Palestinian propaganda has incessantly trumpeted their demand for statehood, some piece of territory they could call their own where they could build a homeland.

But, when Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, after having occupied it for 38 years, the Palestinians proved that they had no interest in building a modern society there (or anywhere else, I might add). Israel gave the people of Gaza something that neither the Turks, nor the British, nor the Egyptians had ever given them - sovereign rule over their own territory. But, they built no new roads, created no new industries, established no new courts, and added no new structures to their society. Nothing.

The beautiful and productive greenhouses that the Israelis had left for the Gazans - almost 1000 acres of them - were destroyed and left to rot. When the Israelis evacuated it in 2005, Gush Katif, an area of 17 Israeli settlements in southern Gaza (beautiful pictures are still on the Internet), employed 10,000 people in agricultural industries, including 5,000 Palestinians. The well-kept Israeli homes were abandoned and destroyed, and the $120 million of flowers and produce (making up about 15 percent of the Israeli agricultural exports) that was annually exported from Gaza was lost. Also forcibly removed from Gaza by the Israeli army were 166 farmers, as well as 800 cows from what had been the second largest dairy farm in Israel. 9000 Israelis in 21 settlements were uprooted, 38 synagogues were dismantled, 36 kindergartens closed, 7 elementary schools closed, 3 high schools closed - and all of this relocation and evacuation cost the Israeli government approximately $1.7 billion!

And what did Israel earn from all the heartbreak of uprooting an entire generation of settlers from the life they had built for themselves in Gaza? Did they win a lasting peace with this neighbor?

Not at all. Since the evacuation in 2005 there have been 6,500 rockets and mortars fired into Israel from Gaza.  There has been no peace.

And now what?

In my view there is only one solution: Israel must ignore world opinion and diplomatic pressure, and press the attack into every square mile of Gaza, root out and kill or capture every last Hamas footsoldier it can find. Only when it is in a position of total victory over Hamas in Gaza will it be able to dictate a lasting peace there.

But, I am afraid that the pressure will prove too great, and that Israel will accept an "agreement" far short of that victory. Which will only prolong the conflict, for Hamas will never give up its goal of destroying Israel. After all, that is their only reason to exist.

Rats cannot be negotiated with to give up their "ratness." They must be exterminated.

Pray for Israel.

Copyright, 2009, Peter J. Marshall. All rights reserved.

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