Last month, on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists based in Gaza invaded Israel, killing more than 1400 civilians, and taking more than 240 Israelis and other “foreign” nationals back to Gaza as hostages. Those were acts of unspeakable evil, and cannot be justified, however unjustly Palestinians have been treated by Israelis.

Now the Israel Defense Force is retaliating against Hamas, having invaded Gaza with military might. One month after the attacks by Hamas, as of November 6, 2023, at least 10,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes and other military offensives. The killing of Palestinian civilians is evil and cannot be justified, regardless of the atrocities committed by Hamas.

This latest Hamas-Israel war is yet another chapter of the ongoing animosity between Arabs and Jews that has produced a series of lethal conflicts since the state of Israel was founded in 1948. The Jews view Israel as theirs, their Promised Land. Arabs view Palestine as theirs, their homeland that was taken from them when Israel was declared a nation.

The precedent for the nation of Israel in the land of Palestine is in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament. Many Jews believe that the land is God’s gift to them, going back thousands of years.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the United Nations orchestrated a deal that gave the land to a Jewish nation. The nation was named Israel, after the Old Testament patriarch and the nation that existed at times in Jewish history.

Do Israelis have a right to a homeland? Of course. Do Palestinians have a right to a homeland? Of course. Can they learn to live side by side in justice and peace? Ah, that’s the issue.

What does the Bible have to say about all of this? Two passages come to mind. First, in the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments, especially the commandment which says, “Do not kill.” Second, in the New Testament, the Greatest Commandments as identified by Jesus, especially the commandment (taken from the Old Testament) to love your neighbor as yourself.

Do not kill. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Those two commandments are the pathway to justice and peace.