Friends have today drawn my attention to an article about the lack of balance in reporting the Israeli/Palestine conflict. Children on the Israeli side, it said, were also traumatised by the rockets landing on Ashkelon and on kibbutzim near Gaza.
Followers of the Palestinian Jew Jesus should be blind to “sides”. God sees no Israeli “side”, nor does he see a Palestinian “side”. There is only the “side of humanity”. Children are traumatised, and it matters not where they live. We weep for each child. No child should see the devastation a rocket or a bomb brings; broken bodies, homes destroyed, adults fearful. If young Daniel or Mohammed, or little Fatima or Eva is killed in an explosion, parents will experience almost unbearable grief, and struggle with anger against those who lit the fuse – the “side” they are on is equally meaningless.
I take “sides” against those who divide up humanity. I am on the side of children who curl up in fear. I am on the side of those children who look for their parents and cannot find them. I am on the side of those parents who carry their child’s broken body to be buried today.
I pray for the grace to continue to weep for the children of Israel/Palestine.
Children in Ashkelon crying in fear after a rocket lands near their home.
Jesus the Child We Worship 