I am not “political”.
I won’t try convincing you that [party A] or [politico A] is to blame for everything you don’t like — while [party B] or [politico B] will solve all your problems.
But now and then I talk about something with a political angle: like the ongoing mess in the Middle East. And I’ll admit to a bias.
Although I realize that the situation is complex, I don’t think that killing folks at a music festival is okay. I don’t think taking hostages is okay.1 Even if the folks responsible felt like they had high and noble reasons.
“Some rules apply in every case:
– One may never do evil so that good may result from it….”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1789)
That applies to me, too. Not that I’m likely to commit murder and kidnapping. Both of which are ‘don’t do this’ activities. (Catechism, 2258-2283, 2297)
Oh, right. I haven’t explained what got me started on this. From my news feed, Sunday:
“Israel recovers bodies of six Gaza hostages”
Jaroslav Lukiv, Adam Durbin; BBC News (September 1, 2024)“Israel says its forces have recovered the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the bodies were located on Saturday in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.
“The IDF named the hostages as Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt Ori Danino.
“Spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said an initial assessment was they were ‘brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them’.
“A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, insisted Israel was responsible for their deaths, as it has refused to sign a ceasefire deal….”
***
“Israelis erupt in protest to demand a cease-fire after 6 more hostages die in Gaza”
Josef Federman, Melanie Lidman; AP/Associated Press (September 1,2024)“Tens of thousands of grieving and angry Israelis surged into the streets Sunday night after six more hostages were found dead in Gaza, chanting ‘Now! Now!’ as they demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a cease-fire with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home.
“The mass outpouring appeared to be the largest such demonstration in 11 months of war and protesters said it felt like a possible turning point, although the country is deeply divided….”
I don’t doubt that family and friends of folks who were kidnapped, and who maybe haven’t been killed yet, feel bad.
Maybe family and friends of the maybe-still-alive hostages feel that if only their government would stop being mean to Hamas, at least for a while, they’d get their loved ones back. Alive.
That might even be a possible outcome of the cease-fire Hamas wants.
But I think they, and the rest of us, might do well to remember that the folks running Hamas are the ones who started this kidnapping-and-killing spree. Unless that is ‘the fault of the Jews’, too.
Meanwhile, I can’t do a thing to free the hostages; much less unkill the folks who have been killed. But I can pray for everyone involved. Everyone.
And I will, as soon as I post this.
Hey, prayer can’t hurt.
I’ve talked about this, and somewhat-related topics, before:
- “Liberal? Conservative? Republican? Democrat? No: Catholic”
(July 27, 2024) - “Capital Punishment: It Could be Worse”
(February 3, 2024) - “Veterans Day, 2023: A Few Minutes’ Worth”
(November 11, 2023) - “Hamas, Harvard, Ukraine and Alaska Air: Looking for a Bright Side ”
(October 28, 2023) - “UN Vote Surprise; October 7 Event and Student Protest”
(October 11, 2023)
1 Background on an extremely unpleasant situation:
- Wikipedia
- 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel (“A request that this article title be changed to 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel is under discussion….”)
- Kidnapping and killing of Hersh Goldberg-Polin
- Re’im music festival massacre (“…As part of the attack, 364 civilians were killed and many more wounded by Hamas at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re’im. Hamas also took 40 people hostage….”)
As much as confusion feels easier to sow in the Information Age, especially with how thin the line between proper activism and basic propaganda is, chaos like this reminds me about how little things, basic things, form big things, advanced things. Of course, oversimplification is another problem, but that can also remind us about the value of the simple things. And some of the simple things I remember through this conflict are how vengeance is a junk food form of anger, how peacemaking is also like those bitter fruits, and how pride isn’t really pure love. Well, I suppose the concepts carried by those words aren’t exactly simple, but we also have a tendency to struggle with the simple things. Still, time and time again, we’ve proven ourselves able to achieve simple goodness and more. God Almighty keep on challenging and guiding us all, then.
“…vengeance is a junk food form of anger….” That’s an apt description. And amen.