Genocide By Any Other Name

If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat;
And if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;
For you will heap coals of fire on their heads,
and the Lord will reward you.
-      Proverbs 25:21-22
 

Dear Northminster,

This morning, in our weekly Tuesday Bible Study, we read and discussed 1 Kings 3-4 and selections from Proverbs.  As we discussed Proverbs chapters 10 and 25 as a group, Proverbs 25:21-22 jumped out at me in a new way.  The group observed how this sounds strikingly similar to some of Jesus’ teachings about retaliations (Matt 5:38-42) and loving one’s enemies (Matt 5:43-28).  This time around, however, I was thinking about enemies.  I am not sure about you, but I don’t have people I would consider my enemies.  Yes, there are people I dislike… I mean, *cough* people I would rather love from a distance.  But I don’t think of myself as having personal enemies or rivals.  That said, there have been groups of people that I have been told are my enemies.

It made me wonder what it would have been like if we had gone into Afghanistan with food, water, education, and sanitation instead of bombs.  It made me wonder about building universities in Cuba instead of blockading their resources.  It made me wonder about training doctors and engineers in Vietnam instead of destroying their forests and people with Agent Orange.  But most of all, it makes me sick to my stomach to see how the government of Israel is keeping a stranglehold on humanitarian aid going into Gaza.

“The entire population of over two million people in Gaza is severely food insecure.  One out of every three people has not eaten for days, and 80 per cent of all reported deaths by starvation are children,” (source) (source).

“Ross Smith of the World Food Program told reporters in Geneva by video that they're getting roughly half of what they've requested since the pauses started Sunday.  The WFP says almost 470,000 people are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition” (source).

 “Access to food has become increasingly dangerous too, with more than 1,000 people killed since May 27 while attempting to access food, many near militarized distribution sites overseen by the U.S.- and Israeli-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's Health Ministry” (source).

Last fall, I did a series of two talks about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. (Yes, I know I owe you all the third and final one, I will be planning that for this fall.)  Here is a quick refresher on the conflict:

• After WWI, Britain took control of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire.  They decided to give the land to the Jewish people to solve their “Jewish Problem” (i.e. to get rid of Jewish people in Europe).  This was done without the permission from the local Palestinian people who had lived there for centuries.
• After WWII, mass migrations of Jewish people from all over the world to Palestine began.  At first, they attempted to set up their own towns and villages.
• Nakba of 1948: Israeli militants attacked Palestinians and forced around 750,000 people from their homes and into refugee camps.  Most Palestinians have never been able to return to their ancestral homes.
• The Oslo Accords in 1993 created the Palestinian Authority that would rule over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
• From 1994-1996 Israel constructed a barrier around Gaza, effectively walling-in the Gaza strip.
• The Gaza-Israel barrier has been built up and reinforced in the subsequent decades.  The Israeli military now control all entries and exists from the Gaza strip.
• In response to the October 2023 Hamas attacks, the Israeli military has damaged or destroyed 60-70% of Gaza’s infrastructure (as of Oct 2024) (source), displaced 90% of its population, and killed over 600,000 Palestinians (source).

The Israeli government has effectively colonized the Palestinians' land, fenced them in, bombed them, and is now starving them.  Israeli leadership can say that this is for the safety of their people, but this is how you make a group of people hate you and wish violence upon you.  Better to feed our enemies and give them water, as our shared scriptures instruct us to do.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris