The butchery in Gaza

How can any sane person enjoy or derive satisfaction from the slaughter that is now taking place in Gaza? It is indefensible. It is unacceptable.

It is nothing but state-sponsored terror in its most savage and primitive form.

It is ethnic cleansing. It is genocide. It is mass murder. It is wickedness. It is barbaric. It is evil.

It is the most notorious and graphic example of man’s inhumanity to man.

It is unconscionable and it is unjustifiable.

All my life I have loved the State of Israel and defended her right to exist.

This is especially so given the fact that I am a Pentecostal Christian who wholeheartedly believes the biblical scripture that says “He who blesses Israel is blessed and he who curses Israel is cursed”.

I acknowledge the fact that the Jews have suffered and been persecuted more than any other race in the history of the world and I was one of the first in my country Nigeria to wholeheartedly condemn the frightful massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7th.

Despite that, I cannot possibly rationalise what is going on in Gaza in the name of retaliation or the desire to destroy and wipe out Hamas.

When you kill innocent and defenceless Palestinian women and children you are not wiping out Hamas but strengthening their cause and giving millions of people all over the world a reason to support their cause and join their ranks.

Israel is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It is an irrational, unreasonable, emotional and disproportionate response to what was undoubtedly a terrible and unconscionable wrong which may win the battle for the Jewish state but will also inevitably cost them support in much of the civilised world.

There is no doubt that Israel has the right to defend herself, especially from those who claim she does not have the right to exist but no sane person can applaud the butchering of women and children, the targeting and bombing of hospitals, churches, schools, mosques, universities, homes and ambulances and the wholesale slaughter of 10,000 civilians (and still counting) all in the space of 3 weeks.

Israel is being guided and led by rage and the spirit of vengeance. She has lost all reason and those with a level head are nowhere near the levers of power. She is now like a wild, wounded lion devouring everything and everyone in its path.

What was once a reasonable, rational, equitable, just, fair-minded, strong, confident and flourishing nation which was the shining light of the Middle East and our collective pride and joy as Christians has now become a rogue killer state which is as bloodthirsty and blood-lusting as the Nazis of Hitler’s Germany, ISIS, Hamas, Boko Haram, Daesh and Al Qaeda all rolled into one.

We must have the decency and presence of mind to condemn the slaughter of ALL human beings whether they be Christians, Muslims, Jews or anything else.

Israel has a right to defend herself but not the right to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity or to wipe out an entire race and displace and relocate an entire people.

Any Christian who believes otherwise in the name of “blessing or loving Israel” is not a real Christian and is not a true friend of the Jewish state.

Why? Because real friends tell one another the bitter truth and real Christians do not support injustice and the massacre of defenceless women and children.

Only demons do that!

If you really want to bless and love Israel then tell Israeli leaders the bitter truth and pray that the lord will deliver them from the madness and unrestrained rage that has seized their minds.

Blessing and loving Israel does not involve encouraging them to wipe out a whole race.

Blessing and loving Israel does not involve supporting them to kill every Palestinian in the Gaza Strip in the name of eliminating Hamas.

Blessing and loving Israel does not mean we should support them to target and kill every Muslim and Christian man, woman and child in Gaza.

Blessing and loving Israel does not mean we should sit by silently and watch them turn into worse monsters than the German Nazis that murdered 6 million of their people in gas chambers during World War II.

Blessing and loving Israel does not mean supporting their every action even when it is wrong.

Blessing and loving Israel does not mean saying no to a humanitarian pause in the ground offensive and bombing or a ceasefire in order to get the wounded out and send in much-needed food and medical supplies.

Blessing and loving Israel does not mean that we should lose our humanity, our compassion, our decency and our sense of reasoning.

Blessing and loving Israel does not mean supporting those in the Israeli Knesset who have said that the 2.5 million Palestinians who live in Gaza should be either killed or relocated to 100 different countries at the rate of 25,000 Palestinians per country.

Blessing and loving Israel does not mean that we should espouse the hateful philosophy and satanic spirit of apartheid which we as Africans spent so many decades opposing and resisting in South Africa.

Blessing and loving Israel means admonishing them to be accommodating, flexible, kind, calm, compassionate, restrained, rational, reasonable, levelheaded and loving even where and when they have been badly hurt and gravely wounded as they were on October 7th.

Blessing and loving Israel means encouraging them to fight their enemies and defend themselves in a dignified and civilised way by abiding by the laws of war and armed conflict, honouring the rules of engagement and working within the strictures and framework of international law whilst in the field of battle.

Blessing and loving Israel means encouraging the Jews and giving them hope and support in their time of need, reminding them to have faith in God and admonishing them to be righteous in all their ways.

That is what we are expected to do as believers and not to celebrate and rejoice when they slaughter innocent women and children and when they indulge in what can best be described as the second holocaust.