A horrible event this week in the Sinai Region of Egypt took
me back to a day I will never forget. On September 11, 2001 it seemed like time
stood still. As the tragedies in Manhattan, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.
unfolded over the airwaves I moved from prayer to hushed conversations to
television screens, only to repeat this sequence again and again.
The news outlets were doing their best to keep up with an
unfolding tragedy of biblical proportions, all the while, attempting to put the
crisis in some sort of understandable geopolitical perspective. Little
attention had been given by the general public to the up rise of Islamic
Terrorism that had already carried out attacks throughout the world. Words like
“Jihad” and “Al Qaeda” had little meaning to the average American. On that day
we learned a lot.
I remember a particular video clip being shown over and over
again on every news channel. This poorly filmed training video for Islamist
Terrorists, begins with two terrorists dressed in black, faces covered, AK 47’s
in hand, standing to each side of a door opening. They both step into a room
spraying bullets everywhere. As the camera follows them in, painted on the bullet-pocked
wall as obvious targets were two religious symbols: a Cross next to a Star of
David. They were being trained to kill Christians and Jews.
The Qur’an asserts that both Jews and Christians are “People
of the Book” and as such, tolerance and autonomy is accorded to them in
societies governed by Sharia (Islamic Law). However, the special treatment they receive
today by radical Islamists is special hatred and specific targeting for death.
This recent event in Egypt tells it all. On February 17th Mitch Ginsberg
wrote in the Times of Israel: “Sunday, Feb 16, 2014. An explosion ripped
through a tourist bus Sunday near the border crossing between Egypt and Israel,
killing at least three South Koreans and an Egyptian driver in an attack that
stoked fears Sinai militants have resumed a bloody campaign against tourists.
The targeting of foreign tourists was the first in the area in nearly a
decade.”
While the focus of this article points to the message this bombing sends
to the Egyptian Government and to Israel, there is another, deeper message
being sent to Jews and Christians.
The bombing happened just yards from the Israeli border as tourists
crossed over to visit religious sites in Egypt. And who were these tourists?
They were Christians from South Korea on pilgrimage to the Holy Land who wanted
to also visit sites in Egypt.
It can hardly be missed that this is a case of Islamist Militants
fulfilling their mission, killing “People of the Book.” For these Islamists
this attack is merely another skirmish in their war against People of the Book.
No one should be fooled, the reason this bombing took place so near the Israeli
border was to send a clear message, both to Jews and Christians around the
world.
Never in history has it been so clearly defined, Jews and Christians
must stand together against Radical Islam. Support for the State of Israel is
not an option; it is an absolute necessity.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
