Grieving for Israel

Jews praying at the Wailing Wall, circa 1870s,

photo by Félix Bonfils in public domain.

The news these days is pretty much frustrating for all of us--Democrat or Republican, young or old, rich or poor.  What is, perhaps, the most frustrating for me is the reports coming from Israel.

Perhaps, in a different post, I will share some thoughts concerning why I stand with Israel.  For now, I want to address the horrific event that happened there this Tuesday.

Two Palestinians entered a Jewish temple in Jerusalem and slaughtered four Orthodox Jews who were silently praying.  Their weapons of choice were axes, knives and a gun.  They then entered a gun battle with police and killed one officer (who was the dad of a four-month old) while he was dragging a female coworker to safety.  They themselves were then killed by police.

Several news outlets wrote about the deaths as if the fight had been fair.  President Obama talked of "the majority of Palestinians and Israelis" wanting peace.  But the Israelis weren't the ones holding axes.  They were holding prayer books.  Time and again, Israel has fought defense while their enemies have played offense.

In the past month, eleven Israelis have died in attacks.  A soldier was killed, and a border police officer.  But a woman and baby were killed as well.  These four men peacefully praying in a synagogue were also targets.

During the same month, Israelis have also killed people; it's true.  They killed someone who approached Israeli security forces wielding a knife.  They killed two drivers who drove into a crowd of pedestrians.  They killed someone who allegedly attempted to assassinate an activist for Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount.

Can you see the difference?  One side killing a baby and men praying, and one side killing terrorists who were trying to kill others?

Why do people defend this behavior?  When is enough going to be enough?

The men who attacked Tuesday were shouting "God is great" as they murdered man after man in a brutal, horrific manner.  The god they spoke of is very different than my God of love and grace.

However, the truth is that Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, IS great.  And He sees this.  And He will not allow it or abide it forever.  There will be a day when he will judge all these heinous acts against his chosen people.

He grieves over this because He loves his children.  He loves Israel.  He hates hands that shed innocent blood.  He grieves over the lies that instigate the Muslims to commit these acts and He grieves over the lies that naive people believe here in America and around the world.

Pray for the peace of Israel.