Going Overboard on Gaza

We are seeing mainstream American leaders largely ignorant of religious history calling for or supporting Israel’s severe vengeance against Hamas. For one thing, this will entail extreme harm to the largely innocent civilians in Gaza who are being exploited by their Hamas-led government. But there are several other reasons why America should take a much more measured approach than Joe Biden currently is taking and why Israel may lose the moral high ground in its announced asymmetric response to Hamas.

Having lost perhaps 2,000 dead, Israel says it wants to kill every last Hamas soldier — so kill 5,000 or 10,000 Palestinians? Many are calling for the mass evacuation of the rest to Egypt. Does all this sound like the smart or humane thing to do?

Christianity long ago seems to have picked a side in the squabble between Judaism and Islam. In fact, European Christianity once crusaded violently against Islam in Israel’s homeland, and America saw that history reversed on 9/11. Perhaps our lopsided stance is because we believe Judaism is closer to Christianity than Islam. But is it really? All three are monotheistic and essentially believe in the same God.

Also, there are lots of gradations in all three religions theologically and politically from peace-loving moderates to radical militant terrorists. We forget that all three Abrahamic religions have had their share of lusty butchers over the long haul of time, including Christianity. One only needs to reflect on the century-long period of war between Catholics and Protestants in Europe.

Religion isn’t any more or less the problem than politics and government are. When the three religions promote democracy, they can and do live in peace with each other. When they dabble in or plunge into autocracy in government, religion, or both, they can find plenty of reasons to hate each other.

Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank today might profit from considering Christianity’s ancient champion Jesus, who lived in Palestine in a similar situation as Palestinians today. Jesus had many friends who believed like Hamas that they should use assassination and other forms of violence to hit back at their political overlord. Jesus refused to join the party of the radical Zealots of his day who wanted to initiate war against the occupying Romans. In fact, he told his chief lieutenant to put away his sword. The Zealot party was quickly destroyed by Rome, but the Christian party survived by practicing peace and was able to build a strong and lasting civilization in Europe, which was certainly better than where Palestine is headed today under Hamas leadership.

The Israeli war party itself could also benefit from taking a historical view of their own situation. The Hebrew Bible describes a 2,000-year-long series of recommendations of Israelite prophets admonishing the nation to hold to democracy, tolerance, and righteousness as the best supports for survival and prosperity. When Israel veered to authoritarianism and vengeance, the welfare of her people suffered greatly. The God of ancient Israel always advised “Vengeance is mine,” not the prerogative of ambitious politicians and generals. Israel would do well to remember this today.

If Jesus had witnessed the Hamas attack today, he would want to secure the border to prevent further carnage and then push for a more moderate government in Gaza that he could negotiate with to end both the short-term and long-term hostilities. He would remind Palestinians that Muhammad, the founder of Islam, would not support Hamas as a legitimate governing authority any more than any rational party does today. He would act like Moses did when Moses led his people around the territory of Edom and refused to engage violently with them when that country sent an army out to prevent them from traveling through their territory. He would turn the other cheek and take the high road rather than the low road of over-weaning violent retribution.

Robert Kimball Shinkoskey is the author of books on democracy, religion, and American history, including ‘The American Kings: Growth in presidential power from George Washington to Barack Obama.’