War and Rumours of War
It seems that war and the rumours of war are never too far away. I remember the first-time watching war as the first gulf war kicked off following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Currently the situation in Israel and Gaza is front and centre. And the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia is still making the news. Yet there are many more active conflicts throughout our world, many of which get little coverage by our western focused media. In Myanmar a civil war is still raging, which this year has claimed nearly 12,000 lives. Until 2021 the PCANZ had been in active mission work. The Syrian civil war which has claimed an estimated half a million lives since 2011, so far this year has claimed 5,000 lives. Despite the time since WW2 being considered one of the most peaceful in the world’s history many conflicts still rage, and many conflicts are still unresolved. For instance the Korean war is still in a state of ceasefire, and occasional skirmishes and loss of life still occurs.
For some the war waging in Israel is to be encouraged as it would fulfil their interpretation of biblical prophecy. Ushering in Armageddon. The acts of terror committed by Hamas are evil. And the need of Israel to defend itself and its citizens is allowed. Yet those that encourage war and the loss of life of citizens is just as evil. People who claim that God would sanction such revenge and genocidal attacks are just as evil. There is nothing in the bible to justify this Position. Of late nearly 5000 Palestinians have been killed, of which some 1500 are children. This should be of little surprise as Gaza’s population of some 2 million live in an area of 365 square kilometres and has the world’s 3rd highest population density. That works out at around 6,500 per square kilometre whereas in Central Otago we are close to 2.6 people per square kilometre. Gaza is also a young population, with 43.5% of the population being 14 or younger. Since 2007, the Gaza strip has been the subject of a blockade of air, land and sea, severely restricting the movement and transportation of old ways, both people and resources. It has been referred to by the United Nations and the Israeli government as being an open-air prison.
Mythology of the history of the state of Israel continues to fuel the challenges of honest discussion of that piece of dirt. That piece of dirt is important to people of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. The claiming that Israel is God’s chosen people does not excuse bad behaviour and the othering of people ever. If we are people who endeavour to follow the way of love as demonstrated by Jesus Christ, we are called to stand not with the powerful but with the oppressed and with the forgotten.
And yet our world is great at forgetting the suffering of others, and in terms of this conflict we only think of the suffering that Palestinians face because Israelis have died. The loss of lives of Israelis is not ok, nor is the death of Palestinians. Yet we cannot ignore the suffering of those that we choose not to see, the world over. When we fail to see the divine image in all people, we deny Christ and to an extent we deny a part of our own given divine image.
And as Christians and more broadly humans we continue to stand by why people groups are separated and othered, and ultimately killed. Many German Christians stood by in support of the Nazi regime. Some like Bonhoeffer infamously did not and were martyred for their true faith. Yet we also saw American Christians pray over the atomic bombs that were used to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And Christianity’s history of colonisation, bible in one hand, and gun in another is another thing of repentance.
The conflict in the middle east is a deeply complex thing. Born out of years of abuse on both sides, and many years of interference from state and other players. But ultimately our task is to always remember the humans in all this. Many who have had no choice in the making of the current situation.