I take it back. There are some “good guys” in the war between Israel and Hamas: The innocent civilians being slaughtered by both sides.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a column saying there are no “good guys” in this war between a terrorist group and a nation that has abused its neighbors for so long that reasonable people understand why there was a rebellion.
It is a basic law of physics that anything under too much pressure explodes.
Mark Wingfield
You would have thought I denied the virgin birth. That’s how blindly and passionately most American Christians support the political state of Israel — thinking they are following God’s eternal plan in doing so.
Here’s a typical response: “When did ‘Mark Wingfield’ become a pen name for Rashida Tlaib? You should be ashamed to call yourself a Baptist after that screed that came straight out of Hamas’ leadership’s talking points. You certainly don’t represent the views of most Baptists.”
Well, it turns out I actually do represent the views of a larger number of Baptists than you might imagine. My email has run 4-to-1 in favor of what I wrote. It’s just that the people who are angry with me are really, really angry with me.
Let’s say this once more with feeling: The modern political state of Israel is not “biblical” Israel. There is no direct line of succession from King David to Benjamin Netanyahu. And even if there were a direct line, what Israel is doing to Palestinians and particularly residents of Gaza is still evil and doesn’t honor the name of God.
Christians, of all people, should understand Jesus came to show us a more excellent way. That means whatever your view of the Old Testament genocides might be, there is a better way. Jesus came to bring life, not death, peace rather than a sword.
Yes, Israel has a right to defend itself. But it does not have a right to bomb civilians — including hundreds of children — and act like it’s all OK because they’ve got some divine mandate to obliterate the enemy.
Yes, what Hamas has done and is doing is horrific. But what Israel is doing also is horrific. And getting more horrific by the hour.
“It is possible to engage in a ‘just war’ unjustly.”
Yet most of the Western world, led by Christians, wants to give Israel a pass on violating otherwise accepted rules of war. It is possible to engage in a “just war” unjustly. That is what Israel is doing today.
To acknowledge that does not require us to praise Hamas. Both Hamas and the leadership of Israel can be wrong at the same time in different ways. One does not have to be declared “good” in order to call the other “evil.”
A note to Americans in particular: Did we learn nothing from the aftermath of 9/11?
Remember how passionate we all were the day after the Twin Towers fell? Most of us would have signed up to join the military that day. We wanted to avenge the injustice that had been done to our country and our people.
Yet in that “just war,” we took along a lot of harmful baggage. Peaceful Muslim people everywhere got branded as terrorists. Political and military decisions were made motivated by revenge rather than reason. If you need a reminder, go look at Afghanistan today. Too much of our “mission accomplished” has come back to haunt us.
Yes, Israel has the capacity to blast Gaza back into the Stone Age, but what will be the fruit of such an action? What good can come from murdering children and other innocent civilians in the name of revenge? The only thing this will do is incite further anger and retaliation and keep the cycle of violence spinning.
It is hard to think rationally in the heat of war.
A former high school teacher of our boys — a person I greatly respect — is Jewish and took exception with parts of my previous article, but in a very nice way, unlike the quote given earlier. This reader did not agree with my assertion of moral equivalency about there being no “good guys.”
“Those inexcusable Israeli abuses didn’t happen in a vacuum.”
However, the teacher confirmed one of the points we must remember: “I, like half of the Israeli population, hate the Netanyahu government and many of the policies they have adopted toward the Palestinians. Many of their actions in the West Bank and Gaza are immoral and counterproductive. For the past 20 years, Israelis have been plagued with reactionary right-wing governments and the judiciary isn’t strong enough to provide checks and balances. Netanyahu has only worsened that situation. However, those inexcusable Israeli abuses didn’t happen in a vacuum. Much of the bloodshed has been in response to terrorist activity, uprisings and the two Intifadas.”
Then the teacher calls us to reflect again on 9/11: “After 9/11, most Americans felt like they were innocent victims of deranged terrorists. But the story was much larger. Did we justify the Al-Qaeda’s actions because of our long history of imperialism and interference in the Middle East? Did we do a lot of handwringing of our disproportionate response in Afghanistan? In small circles yes, but not a lot.”
This is yet another reason Americans ought to listen more than we speak right now. Our hands are not clean, and our record is stained.
As I write this column, I am sitting in a restaurant across the street from Southern Methodist University and overhearing two professors discuss the current situation in Israel and Gaza. One of them just raised the comparison of the United States dropping nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima to end World War II. His conclusion: Millions of lives were saved by taking 200,000 lives.
Maybe. But the fact that we’re still debating that question 78 years later ought to give us pause.
Sometimes, it’s hard to know who are the “good guys.”
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director of Baptist News Global. He is the author of Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.
Related articles:
In this war, there are no ‘good guys’ | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
Holding two truths together | Opinion by George Mason
Violence begets violence: Hamas’ Pyrrhic victory | Opinion by Raouf J. Halaby