Isr-Pal: What if we don’t speak up and then it is too late?

The West Bank is under siege by Israel

With all the attention on the war on Gaza, extremists within the Israeli government have seized the opportunity to intensify the oppression of the Palestinians in the West Bank. And things are beyond “out of control.” In fact, I fear that it will soon be too late if we do not speak up now.

Now, you might say that this is an overreaction. But I dare say that the events of the past 11 months have shown that it is anything but.

It is time that we ask, “Have Israel’s recent activities in the West Bank validated Palestinians’ fears? Or, perhaps we should ask, “Is Israel on the path of complete ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians?

Torn between two narratives

When the terror attacks of October 7, 2023, happened, many American evangelicals were quick to affirm that Israel has the right and even the moral responsibility both to defend itself and to destroy Hamas.

Of course, we might inquire as to whether or not the Palestinians deserve the same rights. Do they not also have the right to self-defense?

NB: Now, it should be noted that I have condemned Hamas’ attack on October 7—particularly because they killed, injured, and kidnapped civilians.

Why, then, do the Palestinians not have the right to defend themselves and their land?

NB: International law affirms that an occupied people have the right to armed resistance against their occupiers.

The Pianist

I recently watched the powerful movie The Pianist, which followed the life of a Jewish man in Warsaw during the time of the German occupation and the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto. I was struck by some of the parallels between the ghettoization of the Jews and what the Palestinians are facing today.

Now, I realize that this is an argument one has not been allowed to make for most of the years of this conflict. After all, the Warsaw ghetto led to the gas chambers.

Now, there is no doubt that the Holocaust was one of the greatest crimes against humanity the world has ever seen. And I am in no way making such a comparison.

What I am trying to say is that the present oppression of the Palestinians, both in Gaza and now in the West Bank, is eerily similar to what the Germans did in the late 1930’s.

The reason for making this assertion is that we want to draw attention to what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank now so that it does not lead to the complete genocide of the Palestinians.

Oppression of the Palestinians

The fact is that the Palestinians have lived under an oppressive occupation for 58+ years. Over six decades, the state of Israel has systematically confiscated more and more Palestinian lands, which has forced Palestinians into smaller and smaller enclaves.

Israel has since built illegal settlements on said lands to the extent that there are now 750,000 Israelis living in the West Bank.

Instead of detailing the oppression and the terror that the Palestinians in the West Bank are facing, I encourage you to watch our latest livestream, “Under Siege: Voices from the West Bank Amidst Gaza’s Shadows.” In this livestream, we interviewed Mercy Aiken, who just returned from the West Bank and reported her experiences. Note: This livestream is not meant for children (which alone tells you the horrors that the Palestinians are facing).

What if we don’t speak up, and when we finally do, it is too late?

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