Why Do the Nations Rage?
I try hard not to voice political opinions too strongly on this blog, but when it's a matter of God's glory being defamed, I have a hard time keeping silent. This is a letter I wrote to Colorado Senator Wayne Allard, in response to his "response" to my e-mail (which was, of course, simply a position paper that addressed nothing I'd said). I pray that the political and religious leadership of the United States would have the humility to forgo worldly empire in return for the peace and humility of the Kingdom of Heaven.
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Dear Senator Allard,
I doubt you'll actually read this, since nothing you said actually addressed what I wrote, but I feel it my moral duty to at least say something in response to your letter.
You say that Israel has the right to defend itself. Does Lebanon not also have the right to defend itself against Israel's brutal aggression? Nearly a thousand Lebanese civilians have died, even though it was Hezbollah, not the Lebanese government or public, that attacked Israel. Yet Lebanon has not taken this right. Why? Because they do not receive billions of dollars of military aid from the world's only superpower. They are helpless against Israel's immense US-provided firepower. We are funding a massacre.
Are Israeli lives more valuable than Lebanese? Are Jewish lives more valuable than Muslim or Christian? Then why do we aid and even support Israel's killing of hundreds of Lebanese, creating hundreds of thousands of refugees and destroying the Lebanese economy, while we deplore as "terrorism" Hezbollah's attack on Israeli military targets? When Hezbollah rains down rockets on Israeli civilians, this is terrorism. But when Israel does the same against Lebanese villages, why do we not have the courage and moral fortitude to deplore it in similar terms?
I strongly condemn Hezbollah's aggression, especially against civilian targets. I have friends in northern Israel who are under attack, and whose safety I'm praying for. I have lived in Israel, I speak Hebrew, and I love the Jewish people. But I am ashamed of my president, and ashamed of my senator, for supporting the massacre of civilians in Lebanon that have little or nothing to do with Hezbollah. What is the difference between a "terrorist" bomb and an Israeli (or US) bomb? Both kill human beings created in God's image.
Whoever is actually reading this e-mail, I want to plead with you to not let Israel destroy itself by ignoring its moral foundations, the standards of democracy and human rights and the Judaic spiritual tradition. As we Americans should heed ourselves, we also should exhort our friends in Israel to heed the teachings of a Palestinian Jew of long ago:
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
This is my plea and my prayer.
Sincerely,
Seth Wilson
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Dear Senator Allard,
I doubt you'll actually read this, since nothing you said actually addressed what I wrote, but I feel it my moral duty to at least say something in response to your letter.
You say that Israel has the right to defend itself. Does Lebanon not also have the right to defend itself against Israel's brutal aggression? Nearly a thousand Lebanese civilians have died, even though it was Hezbollah, not the Lebanese government or public, that attacked Israel. Yet Lebanon has not taken this right. Why? Because they do not receive billions of dollars of military aid from the world's only superpower. They are helpless against Israel's immense US-provided firepower. We are funding a massacre.
Are Israeli lives more valuable than Lebanese? Are Jewish lives more valuable than Muslim or Christian? Then why do we aid and even support Israel's killing of hundreds of Lebanese, creating hundreds of thousands of refugees and destroying the Lebanese economy, while we deplore as "terrorism" Hezbollah's attack on Israeli military targets? When Hezbollah rains down rockets on Israeli civilians, this is terrorism. But when Israel does the same against Lebanese villages, why do we not have the courage and moral fortitude to deplore it in similar terms?
I strongly condemn Hezbollah's aggression, especially against civilian targets. I have friends in northern Israel who are under attack, and whose safety I'm praying for. I have lived in Israel, I speak Hebrew, and I love the Jewish people. But I am ashamed of my president, and ashamed of my senator, for supporting the massacre of civilians in Lebanon that have little or nothing to do with Hezbollah. What is the difference between a "terrorist" bomb and an Israeli (or US) bomb? Both kill human beings created in God's image.
Whoever is actually reading this e-mail, I want to plead with you to not let Israel destroy itself by ignoring its moral foundations, the standards of democracy and human rights and the Judaic spiritual tradition. As we Americans should heed ourselves, we also should exhort our friends in Israel to heed the teachings of a Palestinian Jew of long ago:
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
This is my plea and my prayer.
Sincerely,
Seth Wilson
posted by Seth | 4:54 PM
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