“I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” God gave Abraham this amazing promise. If you look at the way this was carried out in the book of Genesis, you see time and again God’s blessing flowing to someone who honored Abraham.
Then as you follow the children of Abraham through Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy you see this pattern continue to the succeeding generations.
Even down to today, I have seen people who take a stand against Israel pay a heavy price. President George H. W. Bush refused to guarantee loans for Israel to build much needed housing in Israel and a few days later his own home on the East Coast was hit by a major hurricane. In a more subtle way, we have seen church denominations take a stand against Israel and the result has been a lifting of God’s blessings on that group.
That is the background for my concern for the Quakers. This past week they called for a boycott of companys who stand with Israel. Their call for this boycott is couched in terms of standing against the violence that Israel has done against the “Palestinian people” in Gaza.
The Quakers need to go to Israel and see the conditions on the ground as well as review the history of Israel. They have apparently just accepted the liberal-left agenda and media story line of how the government of Israel has persecuted the Palestinian people. The closure of the border between Gaza and Israel only happens in response to the firing of rockets from Gaza into population centers in Israel, or because of some other terrorist threat from Hamas or some similar group against Israel. If Hamas and the Palestinian leaders would stop the violence perpetrated on Israel’s citizens, life would be much easier and more peaceful for everyone.
In another blog entry, I will delve more fully into the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It is a complicated situation. Our prayers and efforts need to be directed to both sides.
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