Should there be an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip? What about the Israeli hostages held since October 7, 2023? Should a ceasefire be conditioned on their release?
Since the murderous border incursions of October 7th and the concurrent torrent of rockets fired into Israel from Gaza City, it seems that Israel has been carrying out a disproportionately deadly response. Most of the burden of that response has fallen upon Gaza-dwelling Palestinians without any affiliation with the group known as Hamas, which is ostensibly a governing body, a military body, and a terrorist body. The death of every member of Hamas is a just and laudable goal that is unreachable while those members blend into the civilian population of Gaza. That is, the eradication of Hamas is an unreachable goal without a huge loss of life imposed upon those who involuntarily shield Hamas by their numbers and their proximity.
Israel’s Netanyahu looks to be willing to inflict great suffering on the relatively “innocent” Gazans whose only offense is to provide cover for members of Hamas. The view of the CLB is that Netanyahu wants to modify the thinking of those “innocent” Gazans from the prevailing implicit support of Hamas, its missile launches, its murders, and its hostage-taking to the point of blaming Hamas for the Israeli retribution. The goal would be reached when no Gazan would dare fly a Hamas flag and when those “innocent” Gazans would waste no time in killing any neighbor known to have Hamas membership or affinity.
From the published accounts available to your blogger, there seems to be no report of Hamas members in Gaza being held accountable by their unaffiliated neighbors. There is no report of unaffiliated neighbors disclosing the hiding places of stealthy Hamas members. Still, the harsh lesson for innocent or unaffiliated Gazans seems close to being taught. If not now, when? If not in Rafa, where? The CLB appreciates Israeli resistance to a ceasefire when its worthy long-term goal of a future peace requires that innocent Gazans come to hate Hamas as much as they hate Israel. If you find yourself shy of things to pray about, you can always thank God that you are not a Gazan in 2024.
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