The date was October 7, 2023. Hamas members para-glided into Israel and launched a savage attack on Israel. The invasion was unexpected and had it not been so barbarous, in a different time one might have applauded it as being in the style of James Bond. It was ingenious and well planned and executed. You don’t have to like Hamas to appreciate the planning and forethought that went into this. But I’m not writing to praise Hamas. What Hamas did to the Israelis was truly awful and to ensure all ages can read it, I’m going to leave out a lot of the details, but it was brutal, callous, deliberately cruel and without regard for human life. As a result, in US-like fashion, Israel bit back determined to rid the world of the scourge that calls itself Hamas. Consequently, the world has decided to make Israel the example! Now we have the Antisemitic uprising and it’s coming from some rather concerning corners of the world. I’ve seen politicians in countries who would have been anti-war singing battle cries against the Israelis! Most sane people can have some empathy for those caught up in the middle, but to advocate rape and genocide against the Israelis, well it’s as if someone didn’t know anything about World War II. The old saying was “Lest We Forget”. I think we’ve forgotten and there are some Holocaust survivors still alive today.
The question of support for Israel easily gets distorted when one thinks about the ‘poor helpless Palestinians’ who are caught up in Gaza or those fleeing with no place to go because even Egypt doesn’t want them passing into their country (Egypt has enough issues of their own and Hamas is a major problem). One only need to put the question of the “Poor Palestinians” to the terrorist group, Hamas. Who were they thinking of when they attacked Israel? Definitely not the Palestinians in Gaza. They couldn’t care one whit about them.
It is a tragedy that there are some innocent people caught up on all sides…again. I am reminded of Ukraine when it was attacked by Russia. The difference is, Israel actually has some firepower and real physical support at the ready, so they’re now being made out to be the bullies. It doesn’t escape me that the Israeli’s are God’s first chosen people. Note, that I didn’t say special, or only, but “first chosen” – God chose them first and went after Gentiles later. He made a promise to Israel. So with the persecution that is starting to ramp up in places like the US and elsewhere, I wonder if perhaps people aren’t allowing themselves and their distorted hatred to actually encourage the fulfilling of a prophecy that said God would gather His people back to the land.
Isaiah 11:11-12 says:
11 On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover—from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west—the remnant of His people who survive.
12 He will lift up a banner for the nations
and gather the dispersed of Israel;
He will collect the scattered of Judah
from the four corners of the earth. (CSB)
Sometimes God uses unlikely people and situations to create change. Perhaps this renewed conflict and the subsequent antisemitism is the event He uses to bring His people home. This is not a fact, nor a prophetic word, but a possibility as to what is happening. Many people wonder if it’s the Gog / Magog war, but at least at this stage, it doesn’t appear to be and the US is involved and it doesn’t appear the US would be a known entity in that war.
In any case, God’s will be done. As one of my mentors says, He is the God who keeps his promises.
