My Bias Toward Israel Has Been Wounded

I have a bias toward Israel.
I have antipathy toward Hamas.
I have pity for the Palestinian people. 

My bias toward Israel derives from my historical awareness of the plight, occupation and persecution of the Jews going back to the mud pits of Egypt. From biblical and extra-biblical sources, I have developed a predisposition to notice the pain of the children of Abraham. 

They have been subjugated and sometimes oppressed by at least ten ancient empires—from the Egyptians in the 12th century BCE to the Ottomans, who ruled until the British began to oversee a managed Palestinian presence in the 20th century.  

Finally, the United Nations, led by the United States and Great Britain, formed the nation of Israel in 1947. This move was inspired by the global awareness of the atrocities of the Holocaust and the genocide of 6 million Jews by the Nazis and millions more in the Soviet Union.   

This bias is also nurtured by my awareness that Israel is surrounded by nations with varying degrees of disdain for their existence. Within hours of the creation of the state of Israel, Arab forces from Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq launched attacks. 

They recognized that Israel got the best deal and sensed a coming marginalization. The years that followed held a persistent resistance to Israel’s presence and, at times, harsh treatment of its foes. 

My antipathy against Hamas derives from my belief that they are a terrorist organization, one that filled a vacuum of credible leadership among the Palestinian people beginning in 2007. Their incarnation of resistance to the strong-armed practices of the Israeli government served as a relief valve for the anger of the Palestinians, suffering from external and internal harm. 

The tactics of Hamas, fully on display in the October 7, 2023, murders, abductions and rapes, nurture the antipathy held by me and so many people in the world. 

Yet, the Palestinian people are the ones who continue to suffer beyond anything most of us want to acknowledge. If the Old Testament law had been in effect, Israel’s response would have been “an eye for an eye.” There would have been about 1,500 people killed in response. 

While the Old Testament is often maligned for condoning violence, it was actually a move toward greater humanity to retaliate equally.  

Instead, we have witnessed a horrific response to the terror of Hamas toward the common Palestinian families—old men and women, young mothers and children, inquisitive teenagers. Somewhere between 20-40 thousand have been killed. The war has displaced 1.9 million people, 85% of the Gaza population. A half million Palestinians are facing catastrophic hunger.  

There are too many reports to dismiss as propaganda of Palestinians being killed while in hospitals being treated for wounds or waiting in lines hoping for some food. No one can begin to quantify the emotional and mental toll on these people trapped between Israeli soldiers and the Great Sea. My hands are trembling just thinking about it. 

So, while I have a historical bias toward the Israelis, I have become nauseated by the atrocities that have been perpetrated against the Palestinian people. Yes, I hear that Hamas continues to use the people as pawns, carrying out their resistance from beneath hospitals and schools. 

Hostages are still being held. That, too, is inhumane.  

Yet, when do our hearts begin to break for the victims and we say, “Enough is enough”? When do our sensibilities toward innocent children intervene and drive us to find other ways to seek peace and security?  

My bias toward Israel has been wounded, and my complicity in the horrors of this particular war is confronting me. What I am offering is more confession of my complicity in these violent acts against humanity than an argument in favor of any particular solution. 

I am attempting to articulate my struggle, not to persuade anyone to agree with me or delineate our nation’s similar sins in history, which, as David wrote in the Psalms, “are ever before me.”   

 There is so much conflicted history in Palestine that makes the answers complicated and unclean. I cannot pretend to offer a solution that the world’s best minds have yet to produce. I can only echo a desire for the Palestinian and Jewish people to live together, recognizing the humanity and dignity of each other. 

We have tried violence and domination. That is a vicious cycle toward more of the same. 

Hate and violence only begets more hate and violence. The Mosaic code of “an eye for an eye” would be a significant improvement.  

The ethic of Jesus of turning the other cheek and forgiving our enemies would be even better. God, we need help in doing that.