The War in Gaza
Isn’t a War Between Judaism & Islam

Seventy-six years of wars, peace treaties, conferences, and cease-fires over small scraps of land are about two opposing forces that cannot compromise in their grasp for power. Those who criticize Israel for its conduct of the war are not anti-Semitics. They are concerned about disproportional response to the attack by Hamas. For millennia, the Jews taught “an eye-for-an-eye,” that is, a response to an injury that was comparable to the original injury. What we have now is revenge, not a defense.

We’ve had so-called “religious wars” between Protestants and Catholics in Europe. Except for infidels who can claim anything in the justification for war, the primitive thinking in the past about religion justifying war has no place today. The costs are too high, and the rational is false.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church offer counter justifications for the war in Ukraine. It was a power grab by Russia in the ancient tradition of conquest. The United States of America was guilty in our search for manifest destiny. We were the immigrants, but we justified taking land from “savages” because we wanted their land -- not because it was right.

Jesus talked about how there always “have been wars or rumors of war,” but that does not mean that war is inevitable. Peace is even more of a struggle than war even though it doesn’t result in as many deaths. It just takes a lot of effort, mutual trust, and a strong sense of humanity. In wars, both sides always think that God is on their side. Yes, Hitler was evil, but he preached that his war was justified. In the American Revolution, America fought to free us from England, but I suggest that it started with the “Madness of King George.”

I have no solution for the war in Gaza because I think that neither side really wants a solution. The war is the means to justify their end of controlling a few acres.

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