We are seeing mainstream American leaders largely ignorant of religious history calling for or supporting Israel’s severe vengeance against Hamas. For one thing, this will entail extreme harm to the largely innocent civilians in Gaza who are being exploited by their Hamas-led government. But there are several other reasons why America should take a much more measured approach than Joe Biden currently is taking and why Israel may lose the moral high ground in its announced asymmetric response to Hamas.
Having lost perhaps 2,000 dead, Israel says it wants to kill every last Hamas soldier — so kill 5,000 or 10,000 Palestinians? Many are calling for the mass evacuation of the rest to Egypt. Does all this sound like the smart or humane thing to do?
Christianity long ago seems to have picked a side in the squabble between Judaism and Islam. In fact, European Christianity once crusaded violently against Islam in Israel’s homeland, and America saw that history reversed on 9/11. Perhaps our lopsided stance is because we believe Judaism is closer to Christianity than Islam. But is it really? All three are monotheistic and essentially believe in the same God.