The events of October 7 have drawn Israel into a significant conflict with the Gazan people.
Gaza has suffered considerable loss of life, injury and destruction of their cities and communities.
Daily images of dead or suffering children and now starving children has swayed world opinion against Israel.
Last week the UN passed a resolution for an immediate ceasefire when a wavering USA decided not to exercise its veto power and instead abstained.
Many Christians feel conflicted when it comes to deciding what position to take.
- Aren't Christians meant to love our enemies? (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27,35)
- Aren't we meant to turn the other cheek? Matthew 5:39, Luke 6:29)
- Doesn't one of the ten commandments require us not to kill? (Exodus 20:13)
- Doesn't God love both Israelis and Gazans equally (John 3.16)?
Taken alone, they seem problematic. As C S Lewis says, if we saw a vulnerable loved one about to be violently struck by another, would we really stand by and watch even though we had the power to stop it?
What guidance can the bible give to resolve this quandary?
It turns out Romans 12:9ff and Romans 13:1-9 help to resolve this quandary.
Romans 12:9ff echoes many of the passages cited above in Exodus, Matthew, Luke, and John. And it discusses these things as how an individual might deal with enemies, and persecutors.
Romans 13:1-9 takes us into the realms of civic society and government authorities. As a collective, we cede authority to governments to act on our behalf. This passage makes it clear what their duties and responsibilities are:
- To protect the vulnerable from wrongdoing (Romans 13:3)
- To punish wrongdoing (Romans 13:2-4)
- To prevent further wrongdoing (Romans 13:5)
In Israel's case, how is it to act in response to the October 7 massacres in the light of Romans 13?
- It must act to protect the vulnerable. Therefore it used deadly force on the day, to neutralize the terrorists and to prevent them killing any more Israeli citizens.
- Israel must punish the actors for wrongdoing. This means Israel must seek out those responsible for the October 7 atrocities and hold them to account. And if these suspects are unwilling to be taken alive, then Israel is left with few options except to use deadly force if it wishes to prevent further wrongdoing.
- For Israel preventing further wrongdoing is ultimately the biggest problem.
* Preventing Hamas from carrying out another October 7 massacres must be a high priority.
* However, Hamas is determined to annihilate Israel. Co-existence is unacceptable to them.
The 700+ km Gazan tunnel system allows Hamas to hide from Israeli military action by turning Gazan hospitals, UN facilities, civilian buildings, and infrastructure into battlefield cover. This has resulted in widespread destruction of these assets because Hamas has turned them into legitimate military targets.
* War is ugly and cruel. Civilian deaths are inevitable. That is why war should be avoided as much as possible. Yet war is sometimes inevitable and warranted.(Ecclesiastes 3:8). And when it is required, as Churchill says, we must be resolute. If this war and the subsequent peace are not won, then Israel will embolden others to repeat Hamas' crimes.
* Like WW2 Germany, Hamas is waging a total war. They have created a society where the division between civilians and combatants are heavily blurred. The doctrine of martyrdom is taught to children from a young age. The values and heritage of Gazans involve a fundamentally erroneous worldview, a worldview that believes that their land was taken from them when they have never exercised Manua Whenua over it. Correcting this may take a generation or more to do. There is no quick fix answer to a problem that runs so deeply. It is also a worldview that much of the world has come to accept as fact in direct contradiction to the historical record.
* Israel must therefore remove Hamas from power, prevent it from ever taking power again and then administer Gaza until a new generation emerges that is willing to accept co-existence with Israel.
* For many the fact that Israel is acting in self-defence is fair but the disparity of deaths on either side is sufficient to conclude that Israel is reacting disproportionately, and therefore unjustly, to Hamas' crime. But a layperson's understanding of disproportionality in war under international law is wrong. Proportionality under the Geneva Conventions is related to the military objective not a naive comparison of war dead figures. Israel's military objective is to prevent another October 7 being repeated. Hamas has already publicly declared that October 7 is the first of many to come. From Israel's point of view, Hamas must be destroyed. Hamas' total war strategy puts everyone in Gazan society in harm's way. Even prominent leaders in the Arab world have criticized Hamas for doing so.
* We should also be aware that the Gaza Ministry of Health produces these figures and Hamas controls this ministry. It must be seen as an organ within Hamas' propaganda machine. All its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, implying that they too recognize Hamas' total war doctrine.
* In a similar argument, partly fuelled by thoughts about a perceived lack of proportionality, the accusation of Genocide is also directed against Israel. Again, what constitutes genocide from a layperson's understanding is quite different from the definition used under international law. Even the learned justices at the International Court of Justice are loath to conclude that genocide has been committed so quickly. An outcome of their deliberations will likely be a more refined definition of genocide because the current one allows any killing to be construed as genocide, and if so, it robs the word of its intended meaning.
* For God, he does love both Israelis and Palestinians equally. Perhaps our experiences as Parents may be analogous and help our understanding here. When we have two children having a fight. What do we do when there is a risk that one or both could be physically harmed? We separate them. But when the siblings are now whole ethnic groups involving millions of people on either side, what then? Then separation is needed on a scale that is logistically quite different. And how do you stop the fighting when one side wants to stop so they can regroup and repeat October 7 another day? And the other side does not want to stop because they don't want another October 7? Unless the world is willing to risk the lives of its own citizens to keep them apart then it must allow protagonist Israel to subdue antagonist Gaza so that a lasting peace can be built.
* Ultimately a lasting peace must deal with the root cause and that is, we have two tangata whenua, two indigenous peoples, both were offered statehood. One accepted and said we will give co-existence a shot. The other rejected statehood multiple times, and repeatedly opted for a winner takes all, fight to the death. Until co-existence is acceptable to both sides, then peace is just a utopian dream.
