Only a day after their petition to the UN Security Council for statehood was denied, the Palestinians have delivered documents to the International Criminal Court (ICC), ultimately for the purpose of putting Israel on trial for war crimes committed during the 2014 conflict in Gaza.  A Palestinian official stated, “This is a very significant step.  It is an option that we are seeking in order to seek justice for all the victims that have been killed by Israel, the occupying power.”  The move will undoubtedly raise tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, and could result in sanctions or reductions in aid by the US.

That the Palestinian Authority is seeking to put Israel or any other nation on trial is ludicrous, given these facts:

• The Palestinians are partners with Hamas in a “unity government,” and it is clear that Hamas rules Gaza. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, Egypt, Israel, Japan, and the US.  The UK recognizes Hamas’s military wing as a terrorist organization, and Jordan has banned Hamas entirely.  Hamas is a spinoff of the Muslim Brotherhood, and their charter (article 7) clearly states, “The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews [and kill them]; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!”  Their clearly stated goal: kill all Jews.
• By international rules of war, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights belong to Israel. All were captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.  Regarding the Gaza Strip, the northern and eastern borders were confirmed by the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement in 1949 and Article V of the agreement states that the demarcation was not to be an international border.  (Which is what the Palestinians are currently trying to make it.)  Similar armistice agreements exist regarding the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
• The fuse that lit the 2014 Gaza conflict is the same one that lit previous conflicts in Gaza: unprovoked rocket attacks, primarily from Hamas operatives inside Gaza into Israeli towns and villages. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.  Since that time, more than 11,000 rockets have rained down on Israeli soil (several hundred during the 50-day conflict in 2014).
• Overwhelming confirmation that Hamas used Palestinian citizens (including children) as human shields has come to light during and after the 2014 conflict. For example, Israeli soldiers confiscated a Hamas Combat Manual detailing how to use the civilian population as human shields.  In reality, Hamas used civilians to guard their rockets while Israel used rockets to guard their civilians.  (Check out this soldier’s account from Gaza.)
• The IDF is recognized around the globe as the “most moral army” ever known. For example, if civilians are seen within harms distance of a target on the ground, Israeli fighter pilots will not engage the target.  In addition, the IDF made thousands of phone calls and text messages, and dropped millions of leaflets in targeted areas of the Gaza Strip during the 2014 conflict.  They told Palestinians exactly where and when they planned to carry out military missions, how to safely evacuate, and where the nearest field hospital (staffed by Israelis) was, in the event medical treatment was needed.  Who else in the world does that?
• There were about a dozen attempts at truce talks during the 2014 conflict, and time and again Israel committed to a ceasefire. Those ceasefires were ended with further rocket fire into Israel.
• Over 30 terror tunnels, along with plans and supplies for a massive attack on Yom Kippur, were discovered and ultimately destroyed by the IDF. Ironically, the cement used to construct those tunnels came from Israel.  Furthermore, hundreds of truckloads of cement and other building materials are still going into the Gaza Strip from Israel in an attempt to assist Gazans in rebuilding homes, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure.  Those materials, sadly, are likely not reaching the citizens.  In fact, it is believed that reconstruction of terror tunnels is underway.

So, I ask you: who belongs on trial before the International Criminal Court?  It remains to be seen how this plays out in coming days.

In closing, let’s be clear of one distinction.  Not every citizen of Gaza is a member or supporter of Hamas, and not every resident is in favor of the Palestinian Authority and their shenanigans.  The Bible teaches us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3:16)  The Gaza Strip is part of that world.  We are to love as Christ loves (John 13:34-35), and though we might admit our shortfall, there are people in dire need of the Lord’s amazing grace.  Sure, we should hate evil, as God does.  What the Palestinian Authority and Hamas do is nothing short of evil, but let’s not confuse the evil intensions of sinful man with God’s creation that He loves supremely.  Rest assured that, in the end, God’s justice will prevail, and those perpetrating evil will reap the consequences.  Meanwhile, let’s pray for the people of Gaza.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
~Galatians 6:7