Yes, after silence here for years, I am actually writing for the second day in a row. It has been 4 days since Hamas launched its attack against Israel and I’m really conflicted. I hear politicians say “I stand with Israel” and I certainly stand with the innocent Israeli citizens killed and injured, but it isn’t quite that simple either, I also stand with the innocent Palestinians who have suffered under the apartheid confinement for 50 years. I happened across this post by Jon Pavlovitz that I thought said a lot of it fairly well. The Israeli government over the last 75 years (and especially the last 20 mostly under Netanyahu) has lied, expanded the illegal settlements in the West Bank, and treated the Palestinian people as subhuman. They’ve confined them to apartheid ghettos in Gaza and the West Bank and they wonder why the Palestinians get frustrated and occasionally fight back. Let me be clear, I think the Hamas attack was barbaric. That said, there is plenty of blood on the hands of the terrorists on both sides of this conflict. I think the leadership in both Israel and Palestine needs to go. I wish I had some realistic belief that the cycle of violence could be ended, but those in power on both sides have too much invested in it. And, I read that last sentence and think that some will think this is a simple both sides issue like what the media has been trying to do with the 2 major political parties here in the US and that isn’t really what I’m saying. Keith preached this past Sunday on Matthew 22:34-40 and that is why I will always come down on the side of the oppressed, so my heart is with the Palestinian people, but killing innocents on the other side isn’t the way to fix anything. I’m heartbroken and am not sure what to do with that.