The Reality of Palestinian Suffering...
I am a Palestinian Christian. I Am Concerned About Your Teachings about the Israel-Palestinian Conflict
R. ALBERT MOHLER, JR.
Okay. Now let’s turn to questions. A man wrote in and he asked that his name not be used, and he made a very serious statement that I think deserves a serious response and frankly, a compassionate response. This man identifies as a Palestinian, and he wrote in that he feels threatened by my teachings. He says, “Your lack of compassion toward the Palestinian people is very sad. Thousands of innocent people are being starved and killed, and you do not address it as wrong.” He goes on and says he’s a Palestinian Christian. He speaks of living in the United States and saying that there is hatred expressed towards Palestinians, and at least in this context he says sometimes coming from Christians. He then asked the question, “Is it possible for you to start teaching love and respect to all human race regardless of religion or ethnic background?”
I want to say first of all that it is entirely possible for any Christian speaking to any of these issues, to sin by failing to express adequate, and for that matter, comprehensive compassion when it comes to stories like this, to unfolding realities like this, to horrors like what is taking place in Gaza. I’ve tried not to do that, and it’s simply impossible in every single episode and every single conversation covering these issues, it’s impossible to speak of all these things simultaneously. But this listener has raised a point, and I want to dignify the point and I want to respond to it as compassionately and honestly as I can.
And that’s to say yes. I may not have adequately, certainly at some point when you were listening spoken of the suffering of the Palestinian people, that is a very pressing moral reality. But in this situation, I want to say it’s very, very difficult to extricate the fact of Palestinian suffering and what we should do about that or even what the international community should do about that from the context of the savage attack by Hamas on Israel. And the fact that Israel defending itself against Hamas is now undertaking a military action that quite frankly is very similar to actions taken by the United States and the war on terror and other similar historical developments.
I believe that there are few people on planet earth who have been as besieged and maligned and misused as the Palestinian people. I don’t want to state that, but I think the main abusers of the Palestinian people have been in many cases, those who have sought to use their cause, for instance, in order to argue for the non-existence of Israel, or to make claims that quite frankly just don’t align with history. It is true that the Palestinian people lost a very great deal with the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948, 1949. No honest person denies that. But when you look at the situation of the Palestinian people over time, and that means even before and after 1948, 1949, quite honestly, the Palestinian people have been more abused by other nations, and that means other than Israel.
So you look right now at the situation, where are the Arab nations coming to the relief of the Palestinians, inviting the Palestinians to come and to seek refuge in their nations? You just don’t see that, and that’s a hidden part of this story. And also you have the fact that Hamas is in control in much of this territory and was actually elected there. Now, one of the difficulties for Christians is that when you look at say the occupied territories, there have been a lot of Christians, a lot of Palestinian and Christians in those territories. A lot of Christian work in those territories. They’re on the West Bank and in Gaza. So there’s a lot of legitimate Christian heartbreak over this. By the way, one of the very sad things taking place, and this is not because of the Israeli military action, but rather it is because of longer trends and the Islamification of much of this territory and of much of the Palestinian community, you’re really looking at a fast decrease in Christian presence there among the Palestinians.
I want this listener to know that I appreciate the fact that you wrote and once you wrote, I felt like I was really morally responsible to discuss this on the program today. And I want to do anything I can to express all the compassion that I think Christians should muster to the Palestinians. And that means seeking for an end of violence as soon as possible. But I want to say, that’s not a one-sided equation because you are looking at the embedding of Hamas there in the Palestinian population. Now, I know there are many, many innocent victims. You look at the children, you look at the women, you look at the families, and you just have to wonder, in a broken world, how can any of this continue? But you also look at the fact that Israel, for its own self-existence, is undertaking this action against Hamas. And Hamas has deliberately strategically embedded itself in a civilian population in order to bring about as much civilian loss of life and suffering as possible.
And by the way, that is an official tenet of Hamas. Hamas has actually officially said that the use of the suffering of the Palestinian people furthers its cause. I find that absolutely reprehensible. It leads me to have even deeper concern care for and I hope compassion for the Palestinian people. But, you know, as I conclude here, I want to say I think at times Christian sympathy means we have to put ourselves in the position of another. And if I were in the position of being a Palestinian, seeing my people suffer so greatly, seeing Palestinian men, women, and children suffer so greatly, I would want that suffering to end as soon as possible and I would want righteousness to prevail. And I need to say to my Palestinian brother in Christ here, that is my prayer too.
Sometimes in a situation like this, quite honestly, we just have to pray as Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I want to thank this listener for listening, and also for the respect in sending this question. You made some very hard statements. I hope I have responded to them truthfully. I hope I’ve responded to them rightly.