Among the heart-breaking scenes from the Middle-East are video reports showing civilian casualties of the current war.  In the West, we cringe at those images, especially the ones showing small children — dead, grievously wounded, or orphaned.

In Gaza, there seems to be little reciprocity of sympathy.  Newsmax reports that more than seventy percent of Gazans approve of the October 7 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed, many by unspeakable torture.  More than eighty percent deny that the atrocities were committed, even after watching the videos sadistically, and boastfully, recorded by the terrorists themselves.  This reminds us of the self-contradiction that might be stated as “We did not commit the crimes, and we are glad that we did.”

This is a case of not cognitive dissonance, but rather moral depravity.  It is lethal hypocrisy.  In seeking to justify acts of evil, the evildoers soon discover that neither have they justification for them, nor do they need it.

Antisemites declare that every Jew should be killed.  The rest of us do not have that same genocidal fervor toward Palestinians.  While antisemites insist that there are no innocent Jews, sane people recognize that some Palestinians are indeed innocent of terrorism.  I recall a news item from years ago in which a Palestinian immigrant to the U.S. explained his reason for leaving his homeland: the people there are crazy, he said, and worse, they demand that all Palestinians join with them in their insanity.  We do not want that for our children.  We want them to live.

Unfortunately, the crazies in Gaza are in the majority.  There is no limit to their depravity.  Even as Hamas’s policies impoverish the Palestinians, and worse, result in making rubble of their homes, and result in the deaths of their children — in spite of all that, the sole focus of most Gazans is their hatred of Israel and Jews, and of America.

Another misfortune is that the terrorists are enabled not only by hate-filled Gazans, but also by the elitist snobs in the U.S. and the abominable tyrants that constitute much of the United Nations.

Where does that leave Israel and the Jews?  They must fight back.  They must struggle for their survival.  And they must do so in accordance with the basic rules of civilization, rules to which they themselves have given rise across 3,500 years of civilization, rules devised not by man, but by our Creator.

Their critics accuse them of bombing innocent civilians, of which there are undoubtedly many.  Hamas itself murders innocent civilians — not only Jews, but Gazans who speak out against its tyranny.  Where is the U.N. condemnation of that?  Where are the Harvard professors?

Israel has never had it easy, and perhaps never will — not until Messiah Himself arrives.  And He will.

Image via Pexels.