Anticipation grows as the world awaits Trump’s plan for the West Bank. He is expected to reveal his plan sometime next week. It is anticipated that he will green-light Netanyahu’s long-standing desire to annex the Palestinian territories.
NB: You may be aware by now of the appalling video revealing Trump’s plan for Gaza.
But, isn’t the real question, “How is this Trump’s decision?”
Israel asked us to help.
But, “Who said it is Israel’s decision?”
The West Bank and Gaza belong to the Palestinians. Sure, they are occupied territory as a consequence of the 1967 war. However, international law forbids the confiscation of land that one has acquired in an offensive war. Israel claims that the continued occupation is necessary for their self-defense. But that is different than annexation.
Suppose for a moment that the US destroyed Hiroshima, Japan (oh yeah, we actually did that), and then produced videos depicting the luxurious rebuild? Would we celebrate the US’ magnanimous gesture to take over Hiroshima in order to rebuild it?
No, it would be appalling.
Well, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, so we gave them back what they deserved. And now we merely offer our help to rebuild it and give them something far more glorious than they ever could have had.
This may sound good to you. But don’t you think the people of Japan have the right to determine what happens to their land?
Why is it somehow different when it comes to the Palestinians?
Well, they are terrorists.
Are there terrorists in Gaza? Yes. But are they all terrorists? No. Is this relevant? No. The land is not ours. And it is not Israel’s. Sure, one might contend that hostile peoples must be dealt with for the sake of their neighbors.
NB: It should be noted that I and many others have argued that the Palestinian demands for justice must also be met. After all, most acts of terror are a response to injustice. The characterization, or shall I say demonization, of the Palestinians, as Islamic extremists bent on the annihilation of Israel has been quite effective in justifying terror against them. But as long as such acts of terror against the Palestinians continue, Hamas’ acts of terror will continue.
How can we justify taking control of Gaza?
The only way one could even attempt to justify Israel’s confiscation of the West Bank and Gaza is by appealing to God. All other arguments disintegrate behind the demands of international law and human rights.
Such appeals to God, however, which are all too abundant among Christians, especially among evangelicals, cannot be used to defend injustices against the Palestinians.
Didn’t God say that the land belongs to Israel?
I have argued that when viewed through the lens of the New Testament the promise of land has been fulfilled by Jesus and now extends to the whole earth for those who follow Christ. I have written about this in both These Brothers of Mine and my new book Land of Contention.
But let’s assume that the Bible does set apart “Israel” as the rightful inheritors of the land. This understanding would mean that the Palestinians are “foreigners” upon it.
The problem for those who unquestioningly support the modern state of Israel is that the OT demands that they treat the foreigners justly:
Leviticus 19:33-34: “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.”
Deuteronomy 27:19: “Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
Of course, we could continue citing passage after passage demanding that the people of God do justice to all.
Consequently, even if one were to grant the argument that the land belongs to the Jewish people, there is no way to justify the ethnic cleansing of the present occupants.
The argument that the land belongs to them doesn’t work, even from an OT perspective. The OT is replete with assertions that the land belongs to God and they are mere occupants of it.
e.g., Leviticus 25:23: “The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.”
See also, Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Leviticus 19:33-34; 24:22; Deuteronomy 10:18-19; 24:17; 27:19; Ezekiel 22:7.
Israel was also to include the foreigners: see Leviticus 23:22; Deuteronomy 14:28-29; 26:12-13.
Israel, in fact, was to consider the foreigner on equal standing before God:
Numbers 15:15-16: “‘As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the LORD. ‘There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.’” See also Isaiah 56:3-7.
Also, to retain occupancy of the land, Israel must do justice. The OT even proclaims judgment upon Israel if they oppress the foreigner:
Jeremiah 7:5-7: “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.” See also Jeremiah 22:3; Malachi 3:5
But Israel has to defeat Hamas because it cannot live in peace with a hostile neighbor.
This trope has been uttered far too often over the last 17+ months—not to mention the previous 60 years. In response, I would note
First, Hamas is an ideology. It cannot be eradicated. Attempting to use violence will only fuel such an ideology. If there were ever a time for the “throwing gas on a fire” metaphor, it would be now. This is why there are far more Hamas operatives today—even though Israel has killed as many as 20,000 Hamas fighters—than there were before Oct 7, 2023. Hamas even has 20,000 newly created orphans from which to recruit.
Second, the Palestinian leaders in Gaza and the West Bank have been crying out for injustice for 75+ years. The rise of Hamas and other militant groups is in response to Israel’s unjust treatment of the Palestinians.
Third, we need to acknowledge that Israel (almost wholly with the US’ backing) has committed far more acts of terror against the Palestinians.
There is no question that terrorism is terrorism, and it must be condemned, regardless of the perpetrator. Peace will never come as long as terror remains the mode of operation.
Almost 3 years ago, I wrote two posts, Will the Real Terrorists Please Stand Up and What if the Terrorists aren’t the Terrorists? I was referring to the state of Israel—by no means denying the US’ complicity.
This is not to deny that Hamas is evil and has done horrendous things to the people of Israel. It is merely to call out the fact that Israel has used state-sponsored and US-backed terrorism toward the Palestinians.
But for some reason, we don’t consider Israel’s conduct terrorism. Why?
The answer is simple: we (the US) make the rules. We decide who the terrorists are.
NB: much could be said about the current regime in Syria, the leaders of which were deemed terrorists by the US. The US, however, wanted the Assad regime out so badly that they conveniently rescinded this designation—after the terrorist group changed its name—and backed them as the new “legitimate” rulers of Syria.
Rule number 1 is that we are never the terrorists. And since we supplied Israel with the weapons, then Israel cannot be the terrorists either.
To support this, in February 2024, Biden even issued National Security Memorandum 20, which requires any country that receives US military aid to ensure that it will use the weapons per international humanitarian law. Clearly, Israel has complied. After all, we wouldn’t have continued to send them weapons if they hadn’t. (I really hope you can sense the sarcasm.)
NB: For some reason, Trump rescinded this memorandum in February 2025.
The Guardian has chronicled how some of the weapons that Israel has used on the people of Gaza have one purpose: to inflict mass casualties. Since Israel has repeatedly used these weapons on densely populated areas in Gaza, there is no question that they knowingly employed these weapons with the understanding that there would be mass civilian casualties.
We could go on for a long time here. But let me add that since 1967, Israel has been confiscating Palestinians’ lands to build illegal settlements throughout the Palestinian territories. Large swaths of Palestinian land have been stolen, and entire cities, some with more than 60,000 residents, now dot the landscape of the Palestinian territories. More than 700,000 Israelis now live on land that belongs to the Palestinians.
And this is to say nothing about the repeated home demolitions, illegal detentions of Palestinians, including thousands of children, many of whom have been tortured even though they are never charged with a crime, the daily harassment of Palestinians through unnecessary checkpoints, water restrictions, assassinations, and the unchecked settler violence.
NB: this may be hard for many Americans to accept. But once you see it for yourself, there is no denying that the narratives we are told in the West are not true.
So, what do we expect Trump to announce next week?
Well, you might think that a President who wants to be known as a man of peace, one who is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, would end the war in Gaza just as he is seeking an end (and I have applauded him for this) to the war in Ukraine.
It is my suspicion and that of many in the know that Trump may approve of Israel’s reinstating its efforts to eradicate the people of Gaza and that he will grant US support for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.
Is there a future for the Palestinians? I do not have much hope.
You know what makes my heart weep?
I weep over the fact that so many innocent lives in Palestine and in Israel are considered worthless.
I weep that one of the grossest acts of injustice in history is happening right before our eyes.
I weep because so many Christians are justifying it.
It grieves me to no end that while we debate the merits of Israel’s actions and attempt to justify Trump’s grand plan to rescue Gaza, millions of lives are regarded as no better than refuse to be disposed of.
History will condemn us.
Someday, the world will recognize the gross injustice of it all—of course, most of the world already does. There will be no debate in the history books of the next century that we took part in and sponsored a genocide.
Just as it is easy today to deplore the slave trade, the slaughtering of the indigenous peoples, the Nazi holocaust, the mass executions during the reign of the Red Terror and the Gulags, and the countless acts of Genocide that have been committed just in the past 50 years, so too the world will deplore the Genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
It is my conviction that the Genocide of the Palestinian people and their ethnic cleansing will stand alongside the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisitions, and the multiple “holy wars” perpetrated in the name of Christ.
Christians have endorsed and hailed such acts as gloriously divine, but such acts only testify to the profound ways the church has been seduced by power, empire, and the ways of the world. It is a testimony that the Western “Church”—at least those who support this atrocity—has betrayed the Gospel of the kingdom and Jesus’ demand of cross-bearing love.
I only wish that these Christians could now see the injustices against the Palestinians in the same way that history surely will.
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