TheoCon

A pessimist will look at the glass as half empty. An optimist will look at the glass as half full. I am a realist and I look at the Middle East conflict as a glass that is empty. As a reform Christian, I have no dispensational interest in Israel. However that doesn’t mean I have no theological loyalty to the Jewish people. Indeed as a Christian I feel a deep connection to the Jewish people through our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Biblical obligation to respect the anointed of God. This doesn’t mean that I will blindly support all the policies of the current State of Israel. On the contrary, I evaluate the current conflicts in the Middle East as an American and as an uninvolved human being.

So what is the cause or impetus of the perpetual hatred and conflict between Israel and her Middle East neighbors? And let’s be honest, while the fanatic Islamists have delusions of a revival of the Ottoman Empire, the most immediate reason why they hate Americans is because of our unwavering support for the nation of Israel. I am not qualified to analyze all the nuances that have created the modern conflict since the founding of the nation of Israel in 1948. One can argue the root of the conflict can be traced all the way back to Isaac and Ishmael. We can trace the roots back many thousands of years but that would not resolve any current crisis. The fact to the matter is that since the inception of modern Israel, she has been at war with its’ neighbors. Wars that Israel did not ask for but was visited upon her by neighbors, who deny Israel’s right to exist in that part of the world.

Israel’s success in war is also her curse. In defeating her enemies, Israel is justify to occupy the land that was captured, especially in light of the fact that none of Israel’s neighbor acknowledge its’ right to exist. Unfortunately, occupation breeds resentment and resistance. Resistance begets suppression, suppression breeds more resentment, resentment breeds more resistance and thus this vicious cycle gives life to the current impassible gulf between Israel and its’ neighbors.

I am serious when I say that I see this vicious cycle as hopeless, therefore the glass is completely empty. Consider these recent articles from CT and Spiegel.
Another Point of View: Evangelical Blindness on Lebanon
‘Who Is My Neighbor’ in the Lebanon-Israel Conflict?
Lebanon president: We will fight invaders
Reading these articles, if you didn’t know any better, you might have thought that Martin Accad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud are just 2 more Muslims railing against Jews and Christians. In fact both of these men are Christians. This is the reason why I think the situation is so hopeless in the Middle East. The problem goes beyond the Islamofascists. The hatred mindset for Jews and Christians who support Israel is indoctrinated culturally in the Middle East, across religious lines.

I find it very disheartening that many Arabs are unable to personally call Hezbollah a terrorist organization. I am sure in their mind the Hezbollah are glorified freedom fighters. Consider the words of Accad:

I am angry at self-centered Hezbollah, which has done the inadmissible of taking a unilateral war decision without consulting the Lebanese government of which it is part

This comes at the end of a long article that if not justifying Hezbollah’s actions, it certainly was not giving any blame on them for starting this whole war. I might be wrong but even this short expression of anger at the Hezbollah has a touch of facetiousness. Accad calls the Hezbollah action of crossing the sovereign border of another country to attack and killed 6 soldiers and kidnapping 2 others for prisoner exchange as only ”inadmissible”. This rings a bit hollow when you consider what he said earlier.

In the past, tit for tat has been the only way for any Arab country or armed group to get anything from Israel. So once more last Wednesday, Lebanon’s Hezbollah ventured into kidnapping two Israeli soldiers in order to force the hand of Israel into a prisoner exchange.

You see in Accad’s mind a tit for tat was a justifiable way to force Israel to do anything. So why would he now say what the Hezbollah did was “inadmissible”? It seems to me that he either didn’t mean what he said earlier or he didn’t mean what he said at the end. Accad is not alone in this justification for Hezbollah’s actions. The Lebanese President Lahoud said the same thing.

LAHOUD: All I can say is now two soldiers have been taken and in response they are doing massive destruction in Lebanon. Is that right? I don’t think so because it is very disproportionate. Two soldiers have been taken, and in the past soldiers have been taken and they exchange.

It is almost like a national mantra that it is perfectly fine for Hezbollah to violate an international border and kill several Israelis inside a sovereign nation, then kidnap a couple soldiers to make an exchange. This seems ludicrous to me but it is perfectly justifiable to Accad and Lahoud. This is why I am skeptical that Accad is critical of the Hezbollah. I think he confirms my suspicion in the second article, which I will elaborate later.

For Americans and those who have not been under the occupation of Israel, it seems obvious that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Why? Hezbollah has engaged in terrorist activities such as:

• a series of kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon, including several Americans, in the 1980s;
• the suicide truck bombings that killed more than 200 U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983;
• the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane’s pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head;
• two major 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina—the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy (killing twenty-nine) and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center (killing ninety-five).

Accad while he and his family might have suffered under Israeli occupation fails to mention any of these facts. In fact, Accad in the following article actually praises the Hezbollah.

As for the “real” profile of your so-called “terrorist,” come with me to the Beirut suburbs or to the villages of South Lebanon or to some parts of the Bekaa Valley. I will introduce you to many of my friends who eat the same food you do, watch the same movies, share your humanity, and yet happen to be staunch adherents to a group called Hezbollah.

Excuse me Mr. Accad, the Hezbollah are not “so-called” terrorists, they are indeed terrorists. They most certainly DO NOT share my humanity. My humanity do not randomly kidnap civilians of friends of my enemy and kill them out of hatred for my enemy. My humanity do not allow for the wanton arbitrary targeting of civilians for killing. No Mr. Accad the Hezbollah terrorists and I do not share the same humanity.

And before you try to rebut with the usual retort that Israel is also doing the same thing by targeting the civilians in your country. Let me assure you that we are not as blind and dumb as you believe us to be. We see your beloved Hezbollah fighters hiding behind civilian buildings and houses. Your beloved Hezbollah instead of helping the women and children out of the combat areas; they are hiding behind them to elicit sympathy from the gullible when Israel kills the civilians along with the terrorists. The Hezbollah are devious devils. Accad’s beloved Hezbollah friends know that they cannot defeat Israel through combat so they sacrifice some civilians to create international pressure to force Israel to back down. If the mighty Hezbollah was as powerful as Accad and Lahoud thinks, they should be asking the international community to stay out. Let the mighty Hezbollah fighters defeat the Israelis and again drive them out of Lebanon. Instead these Hezbollah, the social humanitarians, who educate and provide for the poor are now using the very people they helped as human shields. No the Hezbollah are not the same as the Israelis.

While Mr. Accad chastises Christians in America and abroad for losing their sense of ethics and Christian balance, I would suggest he look in the mirror instead. However, I doubt these words would make any sense to Mr. Accad and Mr. Lahoud. Their minds are so indoctrinated with their own perspective that unless you agree with them then you must be unethical or imbalanced. Again I don’t carry any of the apocalyptic baggage that Accad is accusing the Christians of having. As a matter of fact if you replace the Israelis with Indians, Asians, Africans or any other ethnic groups in the same situation, I would feel the same way. What the neighbors of Israel are doing to the people in that country is wrong and they don’t see it themselves. The scary part and the reason why the glass is empty, is because people like Accad and Lahoud is supposed to be the moderates in the Middle East. And even they are blinded by their hatred; there is no hope of any dialogue with the Islamofascists.