Weekly Update: Praying for Peace

As the Israel/Hamas war progresses, we are increasingly confronted with many challenging questions. Is Israel’s aim of eliminating Hamas realistic? Are Israeli destruction of buildings and the deaths of civilians justified? How long will this conflict last, and what will happen next?

There are few straight-forward answers. Some signposts may help us to navigate these troubled waters.

• Every person is valuable in the eyes of God, their Creator, who loves them so much;
• All nations must recognize and confront evil wherever it exists;
• The terror instigated by Hamas and its allies globally constitutes a fundamental threat to all peace-loving societies and nations;
• Hamas has committed grave war crimes, and remains committed to the killing of Jews and destruction of the State of Israel;
• The international community must support the Jewish State of Israel’s right to exist and protect its people from further attacks;
• Israel has humanitarian responsibilities towards the people of Gaza when exercising its right to seek to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities;
• Long-term solutions need to be found for the dire humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza;
• As Christians we must love our enemies and pray for those who hate us.

Let us pray into these challenging and complex issues:

• That we and all people will repent of our own sins and wickedness
• That the leaders of the IDF will have great wisdom in making strategic and operational decisions
• That the civilians in Gaza will be protected
• That the leaders of Hamas and related organizations and movements will be freed of their Satanic hatred of Jews
• That those nations that support Hamas will not intervene in this conflict
• That all world leaders will act with great discernment and restraint
• That the hostages held in Gaza will be released unharmed
• That the Lord Himself will intervene in this broken world, by sending His Son – the Messiah and Prince of Peace.

Interview w/ Andrew Tucker • Does Israel commit war crimes?

Israel mulls creation of special tribunal for Hamas terrorists 

JNS: Some 200 Hamas members were captured in Israel during the Oct. 7 massacre. Discussions are taking place on how to try the terrorists, and the prevailing sentiment is that the regular criminal justice system is not the appropriate avenue.
> Read more..

The fracturing of the ‘progressive’ West

Melanie Philips at JNS: “Israel is now fighting for its life and the lives of its people. It is doing so with ferocity because it understands the priceless value of the nation and the people that it is so painfully defending.”
> Read more..

Yad Vashem is wrong about Hamas and the Holocaust 

Jonathan Tobin at JNS: “The museum’s bizarre opposition to comparing the crimes of today’s Islamist killers to the Nazis is a betrayal of its mandate to preserve Jewish history.”
> Read more..

Calling Israel’s actions ‘genocide’ harms the cause of human rights everywhere

Jay Michaelson at Forward: “‘Genocide’ has a very specific legal definition within human rights law — it shouldn’t be used carelessly to make polemical points.”
> Read more..

The ‘Two-State’ Solution to murder Jews

By Bassem Tawil at Gatestone: “Creating a Palestinian state in the West Bank would mean turning it into another Iran-led base for Jihad against Jews.”
> Read more..