Several months ago Christianity Today produced a video series intended to justify Israel’s war against the people of Gaza.
My friend, Dr. Rob Dalrymple, has watched these videos and in the process
Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital after it’s destruction by Israel
of writing a series of responses to these heavily prejudiced productions.
Rob’s second post is titled “When Injustice Isn’t Injustice and Justice is Injustice.” I encourage you to read both posts. Below is a brief excerpt from post number two:
As the church, we are called to cry out against injustice. We are to weep with those who suffer injustices. We are to condemn those who commit injustice. And we are to demand justice; especially for the sake of the oppressed.
Yet, when it comes to the actions of Israel we get a little uneasy. (Even this last sentence is sure to ruffle some feathers).
When the conversation turns to Israel and its assault on Gaza, some unwritten (though they are practically written on stone) rules are invoked before the conversation is allowed to proceed.
First, there must be an unequivocal condemnation of Hamas. Check.
This includes their attack on Oct 7 and their stated goal of annihilating Israel. Check.
Second, there must be a complete acknowledgment of Israel’s existential fear of annihilation. Check
Third, there must be a condemnation of antisemitism. Check.
Once these boxes are all checked, the conversation may continue.
Dr. Trita Parsi is an American-Iranian scholar who always provides well-reasoned, cogent analysis on Iranian actions.
Dr. Parsi has written 3 books on Iran-US relations and is the cofounder of the Washington DC think-tank, The Quincy Institute for Responsible State-Craft. (The other founder is Col. Andrew Bacevich.)
Again, discover some level-headed analysis free of the common western-Israeli anti-Iranian hysteria.
On April 1st Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, killing between 12 to 16 people (reports vary). At least 7 of those killed were Iranian military personnel. At least 1 of them, a high ranking general.
Embassies around the world are all considered the sovereign territory of the nation it represents. To attack an embassy is to attack the country.
Imagine the American response, or the Israeli response, if Iran had attacked
Missiles fly over Jerusalem
the American embassy in Israel, or the Israeli embassy in the US. You can bet your bottom dollar that this would be described as a flagrant act of war and a significant military response would soon
follow.
Yet, when Iran responds similarly Israel and the US describe Iran’s counter-attack as an uncalled-for act of aggression.
The UN Security Council censured Iran for its response. Yet, the same UN body failed to censure Israel for its previous attack against Iran. This is anything but even-handedness.
Given the rank hostility against Iran eminating from Israel and its western allies, let me mention a few facts about Iran’s attack that a westerner is unlikely to learn from the mainstream (or the Christian) media:
Yes, Iran launched between 300 to 350 attack drones and missiles against Israel over the weekend. Some of the missiles were cruise and ballistic, but the vast majority were slow moving, outdated hardware (like the drones).
The attack was launched in two waves. The massive first wave consisted of the older, slower hardware. The vast majority of which was shot down by Israeli defenses working in tandem with US, French and British anti-missile defenses in the region.
The second wave consisted of high-powered cruise and ballistic missiles targeting two Israeli military facilities, one in the north and one in the south of Israel. These two were targeted because they were the two operational bases from with the assault against Iran’s embassy were launched.
Both of these military bases were struck and damaged by Iranian missiles. Yet, no personnel were injured.
Analysts claim that Iran intended for the first wave of attacks to act as ‘cover’ for the second wave, knowing that Israel’s defensive capacities would be nearly overwhelmed by this attack. Hence, the idea of its providing ‘cover’ for the second wave of missiles.
The only Israeli casualty was a young Bedouin girl injured by falling missile debris. No one was killed.
Iran had given the US 72 hours advance warning of what it was planning to do.
Iran gave Israel an additional advance warning 8 hours before the attack.
This hardly seems like the actions of a ‘crazy, out of control nation’ (as the western media so often describes Iran) hungry to slaughter Israeli Jews.
Below is an excerpt from a recent article by Scott Ritter, former Marine intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector. He offers a careful, informed analysis of this attack following Israel’s aggression against Iran.
Scott Ritter
The article is titled “The Missiles of April”:
I’ve been writing about Iran for more than two decades. In 2005, I made a trip to Iran to ascertain the “ground truth” about that nation, a truth which I then incorporated into a book, Target Iran, laying out the U.S.-Israeli collaboration to craft a justification for a military attack on Iran designed to bring down its theocratic government.
I followed this book up with another, Dealbreaker, in 2018, which brought this U.S.-Israeli effort up to date.
Back in November 2006, in an address to Columbia University’s School of International Relations, I underscored that the United States would never abandon my “good friend” Israel until, of course, we did. What could precipitate such an action, I asked?
I noted that Israel was a nation drunk of hubris and power, and unless the United States could find a way to remove the keys from the ignition of the bus Israel was navigating toward the abyss, we would not join Israel in its lemming-like suicidal journey.
The next year, in 2007, during an address to the American Jewish Committee, I pointed out that my criticism of Israel (which many in the audience took strong umbrage against) came from a place of concern for Israel’s future.
I underscored the reality that I had spent the better part of a decade trying to protect Israel from Iraqi missiles, both during my service in Desert Storm, where I played a role in the counter-SCUD missile campaign, and as a United Nations weapons inspector, where I worked with Israeli intelligence to make sure Iraq’s SCUD missiles were eliminated.
“The last thing I want to see,” I told the crowd, “is a scenario where Iranian missiles were impacting on the soil of Israel. But unless Israel changes course, this is the inevitable outcome of a policy driven more by arrogance than common sense.”
On Monday night, early Tuesday morning, April 13-14, my concerns were played out live before an international audience — Iranian missiles rained down on Israel, and there was nothing Israel could do to stop them.
My good friend, Dr. Rob Dalrymple recently produced a fascinating interview with another friend, pastor Alex Awad.
Mr. Awad is a Palestinian Christian who spent much of his adult life pastoring a church in east Jerusalem.
He begins by telling the story of his father’s murder by an Israeli soldier in the early days of Israel’s war for Palestine. His widowed mother was an amazing, godly woman who raised her seven children to love Jesus. And the love of Jesus radiates from Alex.
Mr. Awad is also one of the founders of Bethlehem Bible College in the city of Bethlehem which is located in the West Bank. I have visited there many times.
Mr. Awad’s commitment to, and public promotion of, non-violence as the way of Jesus is another piece of evidence undermining the stream of Israeli propaganda insisting that all Palestinians hate Israel and only want to destroy it with violence.
Baloney.
Let me also promote Rob Dalrymple’s online ministry. After watching his interview with Alex Awad, please check out Rob’s website at Determinetruth Ministries and subscribe to his podcasts. He does excellent work and you may want to support his ministry.
Now enjoy a wonderful interview with a wonderful man:
Democracy Now recently interviewed two US doctors who have just returned from working in a hospital in Gaza. The interview includes photos and video of their patients.
The injuries are horrific, made more horrific by the lack of medicines and equipment.
Children’s bodies mangled with shrapnel from cluster bombs and debris are hard to forget.
“If I worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would be less than a drop in the ocean of what is needed,” one doctor said.
Please, don’t turn away from these mangled, young bodies. They are being shredded and killed by American weaponry purchased with our tax dollars.
Genocides proceed, in part, because regular people turn away.
Several weeks ago I posted a breaking news story from +972 magazine discussing an Israeli military program blasphemously called “The Gospel” that used artificial intelligence (AI) to bomb civilian targets in Gaza.
Now +972 has broken a second story exposing two additional AI programs also being used for bombing Gaza. They are called Lavender and Where’s Daddy?
As the article describes, Israel’s favorite tactic is to bomb suspected — note SUSPECTED (Israel’s military leaders admit that the programs have as much as a 10% error rate) — Hamas fighters in their homes at night, slaughtering entire extended families in their sleep.
Apparently, the program title Where’s Daddy? is meant to be a cruel joke, as in: We know where daddy is sleeping, and we are going to bomb his entire family to smithereens. Ha ha ha.
Yes, Israel has intentionally been slaughtering civiliansfrom the beginning of its war against Palestinians in Gaza.
It is no accident that the death toll is now more than 33,600 people, 70% of whom are women and children. Over 13,000 of them under the age of eighteen.
Compare that last figure to the approximately 500 children killed during the past two years of fighting in Ukraine. Here is more tragic evidence of the gruesome anti-Arab racism animating the Jewish-supremacist state of Israel.
Below is a brief excerpt of the +972 article followed by a video clip of an excellent editorial by Krystal Ball from Breaking Point news:
During the early stages of the war, the army gave sweeping approval for officers to adopt Lavender’s kill lists, with no requirement to thoroughly check why the machine made those choices or to examine the raw intelligence data on which they were based. One source stated that human personnel often served only as a “rubber stamp” for the machine’s decisions, adding that, normally, they would personally devote only about “20 seconds” to each target before authorizing a bombing — just to make sure the Lavender-marked target is male. This was despite knowing that the system makes what are regarded as “errors” in approximately 10 percent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all.
Moreover, the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes — usually at night while their whole families were present — rather than during the course of military activity. According to the sources, this was because, from what they regarded as an intelligence standpoint, it was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses. Additional automated systems, including one called “Where’s Daddy?” also revealed here for the first time, were used specifically to track the targeted individuals and carry out bombings when they had entered their family’s residences.
You know the old maxim, “If you want something done right, then do it yourself.”
Or, if you can’t do it all by yourself, then connect with a powerhouse group of dear friends who all share a common vision and do it together. It’s a lot more fun that way to work with highly competent friends who all want to work for the same goals.
This is the origin story of a new group that I am a part of that is creating a new podcast dealing with the violent, tragic — now genocidal — relationship existing between Israel and the Palestinian people.
The group’s name is “Christian Forum on Israel-Palestine.” Posted below is our first video were we introduce ourselves and briefly explain what we hope to accomplish in the coming months.
We are currently making arrangements to interview an important Israeli historian and activist (I will keep his name a secret for now) who will offer an insightful, vital introduction to the history of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
If you want to know who he is, then be sure to subscribe and come back!
I urge you to visit our YouTube page and press the subscribe button. You will not want to miss any upcoming conversations.
Here is the channel’s official description:
This channel promotes understanding about Israel-Palestine, by hosting conversations with scholars, activists, and people directly affected by events in the Holy Land. Each episode elevates an important voice, explores contrasting perspectives, and shares insights that we think are urgently needed. We want to challenge stereotypes, dismantle barriers, and humanize everyone involved. Rather than defend a single narrative, we encourage critical thinking and informed engagement with the complexities of Israel-Palestine. Join us as we imagine for the Muslims, Jews, and Christians of Israel-Palestine a future based on justice, equality, anddignity.
This coming Thursday (April 4th) I will be a guest on the Determinetruth podcast. My friend, Dr. Rob Dalrymple, will interview me on the subject of Christian Nationalism. We will be discussing such questions as:
What is Christian Nationalism?
Is it an issue on the US political scene?
If it’s a problem, what’s wrong with it?
If Christian Nationalism is wrong, how ought Christians to think, and behave, in the realm of politics?
You can listen to the podcast this coming Thursday (at 1 pm Eastern, 11 am Mountain, 10 am Pacific). Just click on the link below when the time comes. You can watch the Livestream, or you can return later to watch the recording at a more convenient time, if need be:
reading my book,