Similar in size from Warkworth to Cape Reinga, a tiny nation features daily in worldwide news. It’s been that way since May 14, 1948 when Israel declared its sovereignty following a UN remit. One day later, armies from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq invaded. Facing overwhelming odds with only 600,000 people in the reborn nation, they not only survived, they triumphed and by 1949 armistice negotiations began that would ensure the existence of the Jewish State.
Murray Smith
World opinion over Israel has recently become sharply divided. Initially, standing with Israel was easier considering the attacks made by Hamas on October, 7 2023. That incursion delivered the largest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust itself. Any doubt about Hamas’ appetite for ruthless bloodshed evaporated. With this recent war dragging on, many have turned against Israel believing its responses are disproportionate to what Hamas set in motion.
History offers perspective for today’s conflict revealing thousands of years’ worth of attempts to dispossess and destroy Israel. In AD 70, Rome’s armies under Titus, surrounded Jerusalem. The ensuing invasion effectively obliterated Jewish nationhood – at least geographically. The resulting diaspora (meaning ‘scattered about’), spread Jewish people across many nations. Displaced for centuries, miraculously they and their culture survived. Interestingly the Bible precisely predicted this scattering – more importantly it foretold a regathering back to their land- exactly what took place in 1948.
The Holocaust displayed history’s darkest attempt to systematically destroy the Jewish people. Six million European Jews were exterminated between 1939-1945 by a regime deeming they shouldn’t exist. Having just celebrated its 76th anniversary as the ‘reborn’ State of Israel, today Israel again faces terrorist calls for its extinction. Bible prophecy foretells Jerusalem becoming a ‘burdensome stone’ with all nations of earth gathering against her, regardless, from a Biblical perspective Israel will never cease to be a nation since the land promised by God to the Jewish people was an everlasting inheritance (Genesis 17:8). While openness to a Biblical perspective is a moot point, evidence of Israel’s miraculous ‘preservation’ abounds. Consider the ‘impossibility’ of Israel ever being regathered…1948 was beyond human engineering, as were the outcomes of 1967 and 1973 wars.
Brown Cathedral, Jerusalem. Photo: Toa Heftiba Şinca. Pexels.com
Hamas’ stated purpose is to destroy Israel and Jewish people in the region. Israel claims its response isn’t to destroy Gaza or the Palestinian people, rather Hamas. This terrorist organisation took political control of Gaza declaring its aim to obliterate Israel. Given the menacing existence of Hamas, aided by Hezbollah in the north, Iran and its cohorts from the east, Israel’s sense of vulnerability is understandable.
Notwithstanding that, escalating collateral injury being done to the innocent population of Gaza without ties to Hamas, should outrage us. Israel’s questionable tactical responses are compounded by Hamas’ strategy of integrating among civilians, jeopardising the innocent.
In all this, there’s pressure to choose a side. Can you support Israel’s right to exist, yet disagree with its policies; and at the same time stand in solidarity with Gazans? I think so. Under threat of elimination or terrorist attack, wouldn’t New Zealanders fight for our nation’s best, defending the right to be safe, despite flawed governmental dictums at times?
That summarises Israel’s position.
