Daily Verse | Esther 2:12
Before a girl’s turn came to go into King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
Happy Friday my friends. Are we still allowed to say “Black Swan event”?
I posted yesterday on the hostilities in LA the other night, as a pro-Palestinian gang hunted for Jews to beat up. Turns out that open confrontation on the streets of a major city is also happening clear across the country in New York City. There are a number of videos here documenting the incidents, and I embed a couple of them below just to give you a flavor of what’s going on.
The first is of a rather large firework that is thrown at Jews in Manhattan by, as they say, “Palestinian protestors.”
Surely that has to be illegal, doesn’t it? I didn’t find any mention of charges being filed against anyone.
Over in Times Square, pro-Palestinian marchers and Jewish demonstrators clashed in counter-demonstrations.
The open hostility—the hatred, if we’re being honest—really bothers me. It’s been a little challenging for me to put my finger on why, but here’s a few thoughts.
First, I feel like I’m watching something that could easily have been filmed on the streets of Jerusalem. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been there a few times, and I’ve seen the uneasy tensions between the Jews and the Palestinians in the streets. I never saw it devolve into fisticuffs, but the impression I got was that a fight was always just under the surface.
Second, this isn’t an “American” problem, like the “Hatfields and the McCoys” are an American problem. These people, whoever they are, have just lifted and shifted their national identities from the Middle East to Middle America. The Hatfields and the McCoys were Americans; these people aren’t “Americans” in the true sense of the word, but foreigners who have brought their tribal feuds to the streets of our nation.
It’s clear that they identify first as Jews and as Palestinians; otherwise, why the flags for each people? This also underscores the problem of non-assimilation, as each group rages against the other over ancient hatreds and land that lies 6,000 miles away from here.
Politically, I unequivocally support Israel’s right to not only exist, but to defend itself from any and all enemies and acts of war. When the Palestinians get violent and begin firing missiles indiscriminately into civilian areas of Israel, they have not only the right, but the duty to counter with overwhelming force to neutralize the threat.
This is true for any nation, but especially a nation that was set up by legal authorities in the wake of World War II to be a place of safety and security for one of the most brutalized people groups in all of history.
Finally, both the Palestinians and the Jews need to come to Jesus Christ. That’s where unity will ultimately be found. Both sides in this conflict need our prayers, including the innocent men, women and children who are victims of the violence.
I just wish that they left their existential struggle overseas, where it belongs.
Have a good weekend.
