Peace or Jihad?

  Katharine and I have had the privilege of interviewing Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch. With his hearty band of researchers, Marcus faithfully monitors and translates Arabic “news articles” and communiqués into Hebrew and English for the Western world to see.In my opinion, workers at PalWatch are true heroes on the frontlines of the clash of civilizations—that is, if you can classify as a civilization a terrorist-driven, suicide-bombing, murder-celebrating tribe that indoctrinates its youngest children to hate and kill. Am I being judgmental?I remember the classic video of former PLO dictator Yasser Arafat crying crocodile tears in front of the European and American media. He acted distraught over a terror attack on Israel—but hours later was seen screaming, “Jihad, jihad, jihad!” before a Muslim audience. I thought, “This is the very definition of ‘taqiyya’”— namely, lying or acting deceptively in order to progress Islam, a perfectly permissible practice in Islam.

A Tale of Two Cultures

While the Palestinian call for jihad against Israel continues, Palestinian leaders in Fatah and Hamas seek Israeli doctors, hospitals, and medical interventions for their own survival.Algemeiner.com gives examples.Jews helping Fatah:

• President Mahmoud Abbas’s younger brother Abu Lawi, as he is called, was recently treated for cancer in the Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
• Abbas’s wife, Amina, underwent surgery there in the summer of 2014. This was just after the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens at the hands of Palestinian terrorists—an event that precipitated Operation Protective Edge, otherwise known as the war in Gaza.
• Last year, Abbas’s brother-in-law received lifesaving heart surgery there.

Jews helping Hamas:

• In June 2014, Hamas Prime Minister Ismayil Haniyeh’s 68-year-old motherin-law was treated in Jerusalem’s Augusta Victoria Hospital.
• In November 2014, Hamas spokesman Moussa Abu Marzouk’s 60-year-old sister was treated for cancer in an Israeli hospital.
• In October 2014, Haniyeh’s daughter spent a week in an Israeli hospital.
• In November 2013, Haniyeh’s year-old granddaughter was treated at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva.

This is a serious conundrum.Judeo-Christian culture compels us to help those in need. Israeli medical services are famous for their triage—first helping the patient most in dire straits, whether terrorist or native son. The Hebrew mandate “tikkun olam” (“repair the world”) means to leave it in a better state than you found it—the opposite of jihad. Combining these two elements—civilized love and decency—causes Jews and Christians to continually reach for the hearts and heal the bodies of those who want to kill us all—to wipe us off the map. Oy!To be pro-Israel is not to be anti-Arab or anti-Muslim. To be pro-Israel is to believe the Bible, the historical land grant, the hope of Messiah, and His desire for all to know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob).