The Endgames of Hamas

The current crisis in Israel and Gaza continues to unfold. With each passing day, world media seems increasingly bent on casting Israel as an illegitimate genocidal bully, bent on abusing its superior power to make Palestinians suffer unjustly. In my last post, I wrote that I lament the loss of life on both sides. It is particularly heart-wrenching to see pictures of children who have suffered life-altering injuries or worse. I continue to pray for the missionaries who serve in the region and for those who are there to render humanitarian aid.

The question I keep asking myself is, why? Why does Hamas provoke Israel with literally thousands of rocket attacks, knowing (1) that the rockets are nothing more than that, a provocation; and (2) that Israel would respond at some point with devastating retaliation?

We know that Hamas has repeatedly stated their aim to destroy Israel. There's nothing new there. We also know that you don't have to be a Harvard grad in International Studies to understand the potential of a Hamas strategy of recognizing the legitimacy of Israel in exchange for living in peace and possible international recognition of statehood.

So why does Hamas keep on provoking? We know why Israel keeps on retaliating. They're not going to look the other way when an avowed enemy categorically refuses to recognize their legitimacy and and continues to proclaim their intention to destroy them. So why does Hamas ramp up its "nuisance" attacks, as it has done in recent days?

It is reported that in April of this year, the government of Palestine began joining (signing on to) various United Nation organizations and treaties governing war and peace. What's interesting about this is that Palestine does not have official standing before the UN as a State. Nevertheless, their friends in the UN often refer to them in official documents as the "State of Palestine". Allowing them membership in the various organizations referred to above similarly advances Palestinian claims on statehood. But here's the thing. Hamas joined these various organizations last Spring knowing at some point in the future it could provoke Israel into retaliation, retaliation that the organizations they joined would condemn as out of proportion and even criminal. In other words, Hamas' strategy clearly seems to be one of leveraging the UN to advance their claims on statehood with an endgame of stirring up the rest of the world to move militarily to lift the blockade against them while possibly also destroying Israel in the process. To these ends, Hamas has been willing to make its women and children suffer the severe retaliation against its provocations.

Additional evidence for my perspective comes from a recent letter to the UN from head of Palestine, Chief Mamoud Abbas, asking for the UN to make the State of Palestine and official UN Protectorate. You can read more about this here: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/26/un-studies-formal-palestinian-plea-for-protectorate/.

According to the Bible, Israel will not be destroyed ultimately. According to Jeremiah 34:20, the Lord says of Israel: "If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that the day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my my covenant with David my servant may be broken...." This verse is one of many in which the Lord promises to protect and preserve the nation he chose and for which he still has plans for the future.

In the meantime, as I wrote in the last post, we know there will come a day when the nations will surround Israel with the intent to destroy her. Psalm 2 and other Bible passages make that clear.  Is that day here? Perhaps.

More about this and the possibility of a negotiated peace in my next post.