BORDERING ON INSANITY

The State of Israel must constantly face choices that most nations never even consider. One of the big battles America now faces is whether protecting its borders is a moral thing to do but in the State of Israel this issue is front and center and always has been.

Like any sovereign nation, Israel has a right and a duty to protect its citizens within its territory but Israel must contend with constant attempts by the United Nations to redefine its borders while simultaneously defending them against terrorist attempts to penetrate them. And when the Israelis respond to terrorists attempting to sneak across their borders or when they storm the fences as bomb-throwing rioters, the Israelis’ actions are routinely cast as moral failures while the protestors are cast as the downtrodden who are acting based on their moral rights. Of course they do have human rights, but Israeli soldiers have to make split second decisions on how to respond; many of whom are aged 18 to 20.

The international media generally demonstrates only passing interest in the obvious connections between the protests and simultaneous acts of terrorism. The Israelis are generally characterized as heartless defenders of questionable borders while the rioters and terrorists are presented as people who just want to live normal lives, their rage being constantly justified by an outrageously warped idea of journalistic fairness. This type of unsymmetrical media reporting seems more driven by ideology than an interest in reporting facts. Unbalanced reporting from the media almost always leads to greater conflict. 

Having just written the bulk of this blog post I saw a news report from last night in which Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official stated: “The protests will continue” and “we are moving toward the next escalation”, openly admitting that HAMAS, along with other groups is organizing the protests. Hamas, its charity branches and military wing, have been on the terrorist lists of many Western countries including the United States since 1997, a designation they have repeatedly earned by their actions.

HAMAS (Supported by Iran) to the southeast in Gaza, Hezbollah (Supported by Iran) to the north in Lebanon, the Syrian war to the northeast (Supported by Iran), Islamic radicals intruding from the south in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula (Supported by Iran) and terrorist attacks within from the PLO with Iran supporting each terrorist front. Such is the insanity on Israel’s borders. 

Please pray for truth to prevail, for fair and honest reporting and for these conflicts along the Israeli/Gaza border to be resolved. And as always, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.