Sep. 2024: My Heart Goes Out to the Victims of Terror in Beirut

That Innocent Blood not be shed in thy land- from Deuteronomy 19:10

In the current tragic war between Israel and Hamas, so many people on both the Israeli and Palestinian side deserve our prayers and tears.

I support Israel's right to defend itself.

But preventing conflict should always, I repeat, always be the priority in defending oneself.

And nothing justifies the bombing of thousands of innocent people.

On September 2024 a dozen pagers used by Hezbollah agents in Lebanon exploded, most of them in the very heart of Beirut, Lebanon's largest city.

Among those who died are children.

I know a lot of people on the Israeli and non-Islamic neutral sides of this terrible event did not understand what this really was.

I'll put in blunt terms: this was comparable to the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 in America.

Most people in Israel are as much innocent bystanders as anyone in this.

But make no mistake: the people in the Israeli military knew that innocent civilians would get hurt, on a massive scale.

This kind of operation requires practical intelligence on a massive level.

To be capable of carrying this out and not know that civilians will be hurt on a massive scale is a logical impossibility.

To carry this out requires the same kind of practical intelligence that will tell you that civilians will get killed- and requires it on a massive scale.

International law specifically bans this kind of use of booby traps as a war crime.

I do not want to demonize the Israeli government.  The Israeli government is just a group of people, people who have been traumatized and poorly led, just as the people in Hamas have been traumatized.

This tragedy requires mercy and tears and sympathy.

But it also requires a precedent to be set for the future.

This was an act of terror.

Things need to change.

Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, need, are bleeding for mercy, mercy, tears of sympathy, kindness, love.

Mercy, tears of sympathy, love is needed.

We as a species have been dishing out sympathy and love alongside criminal justice for thousands of years.

I plead: things need to change!

We need to stop choosing one side and demonizing the other!

I plead, these people need mercy and love!

And they need justice- justice can be hard and strong and still be soft and kind!

I plead for mercy!

Pray for those who need it!

Pray for both sides, both sides need it so badly!

But remember: we got through far worse between 1914 and 1945!

We'll get through this!

Don't think that your kindness won't help!

We can help these people!

God loves you!

Even in these times, God does not stop loving us!

Sincerely,

David S. Annderson

P.S. This is why I still support the US sending antimissile missiles to defend Israel:      Both sides are hurt and scared.  The antimissile missiles are defensive, are not effective in offense.  To make either side safer at this point will help both sides.  I wish the United States would send antimissile missiles to Lebanon and the West Bank too.  As for Hamas in Gaza, unfortunately, there are no easy answers.  I don't have them, anyway.  But making either side safer without increasing their offensive capacity can only help.

I pray for both sides.