A Word on the War in Israel

I want to write something about the horrific situation in Israel right now.

I’ve been trying to write something for days.

I’ve been typing and deleting for three days straight.

I’ve been refreshing the page over and over again on social media and witnessing a new crop of horrors every time.

I know there’s nothing I can possibly contribute to this.

I’m sick at the thought that anything I say will come off as ignoring one facet of an impossible situation and make somebody’s trauma worse.

I’m not surprised by how much ignorance there is to go around, but I’m disgusted at all the people crowning themselves experts. I admit I’m not. That’s why I’m having such a hard time writing, because I know I’m going to put my foot in it. I’m sorry.

The fact that both Hamas and Netanyahu are evil doesn’t make this a “both sides” issue, and I’m not trying to portray it as one. It’s probably coming out that way anyway. The Jewish people who were murdered could never deserve it. This terrorist attack is an atrocity. I can’t believe how many people I’ve seen in the past few days who honestly think that pogroms, murdering civilian families, rape, mutilating corpses in celebration, could ever be justified or good– ever. They can’t be. This is a day that will live in infamy.

I knew that antisemitism was rampant but I’m still appalled at how common it is, all over the world. It shocks me.

My heart goes out to all my Jewish friends.

I don’t understand why anyone could think that Hamas cares about anything other than making chaos. I don’t know how anyone could think that this  mass murder would lead to much needed liberation for the Palestinian people instead of further genocide. Palestinians ought to be free and safe. What’s been done to them is wrong. They will never be free by this means. And I know that Hamas doesn’t speak for all of Palestine, but I know that all of Palestine will be punished for Hamas.

I don’t understand the people who are cheering and celebrating and pledging to help Israel blockade Gaza in retaliation, potentially starving all of them to death. There are a million children in Gaza, and the children are nobody’s enemy. I know that nobody powerful enough to make a difference will read these words, but please, think of the children.

My heart goes out to my Muslim friends.

My heart goes out to everyone trapped in the line of fire.

I can’t even express my anger at the American Evangelical Christians who are making this atrocity all about them and imagining that it will bring Jesus back in glorious triumph. As a Christian, I believe Jesus is already here, being tortured and murdered in every victim. Where there are helpless people, there is Christ, and where there are powerful people abusing them, there is Pilate. Those are your only choices. I’m not expecting my brothers and sisters of different faiths to profess that, it’s just what I believe.

My heart goes out to the Christians in Palestine, and to all of the other people there.

There is not one iota of good in this horror, not a single possible good outcome.

My heart is broken.

Please be sure you share good information and not conspiracy theories. There’s a lot of disinformation out there right now. I’ve been fooled more than once myself and probably will be again, but I’m trying to be very careful. That’s the only advice I have.

Please be good to the people around you, especially to those different than you are.

Pray for peace– real peace which comes from justice. I have no idea how we’ll ever achieve that.

My musician friend Andrea played Hatikvah today, as her prayer for her homeland, and I’ve been listening to it over and over again as I pray for peace. Perhaps we could all do that.

That’s all I have for you right now.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.
Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.