THEIR God changes the path of our rockets in mid-air, said a terrorist.
That was the headline of the World News section of the Jewish Telegraph on July 18, 2014. A photo of the headline has been making the rounds on several blogs and social media — many of them triumphantly trumpeting the fact that this proves God’s power and protection over Israel, or that it proves the veracity of the Bible in proclaiming Israel as “God’s chosen people,” that the suffering of their enemies only shows the “glory of God” even more.
For me, it only proves 2 things: one, that some people are just ignorant and superstitious, and two, that a lot of otherwise decent people become obnoxious in defense of their religion.
Let’s start with the first point. The terrorist believed that God changed the path of the rockets in mid-air.
Since we’re now bordering on fiction, I’ll go ahead and add another character to the mix. Bruce Wayne had it right when he said that “criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot” — and that holds true for this particular terrorist as well.
Aside from being mentally challenged, he is also oblivious of the fact that Israel has developed an advanced air defense system called the Iron Dome — which detects incoming enemy projectiles and launches a missile to intercept them. Mark Thompson, in his article for Time Magazine entitled “Iron Dome: A Missile Shield That Works,” said that “the lack of Israeli casualties suggests Iron Dome is the most-effective, most-tested missile shield the world has ever seen.”
So there you are. It’s simply amazing technology created by brilliant minds — nothing supernatural about it.
On the second point, if some people think that they are doing good by parading this article as some sort of justification or glorification of the horror going on in Palestine, they are sorely mistaken. They only expose how one-dimensional their thinking is.
I am not anti-Israel. I do not agree with those who paint Israel as the evil superpower intent on killing innocents, the elderly and young children. We humans like to think in terms of black and white -who’s right and who’s wrong. There is neither black nor white here. It’s really shades of grey (not 50 though).
Neither side is completely right and neither is completely wrong, and it is not my place to judge which is which. I am, however, decrying the use of this tragedy as a platform to proselytize or advance an agenda.
It is crass and insensitive, devoid of the love or compassion so often preached from the pulpit.
As my wife says in her Facebook status update, “There is nothing worth glorifying in Gaza.”
Originally published in Sunstar Davao.
Send me your thoughts at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.