Dear Editor,
I was heartened to see Joseph Steinberg’s Biblically insightful and well-balanced article on page 23 of the May edition of en, especially after reading Iain Taylor’s piece on page 11 which unfortunately seems to imply that the Israeli army (and by extension Israel) is responsible for the decline of Christianity in Gaza.
Taylor’s article doesn’t cover the complexities of military action when it says two women were shot by sniper fire at a Catholic Church. He also doesn’t touch on Hamas stockpiling fuel, instead of giving it to the hospitals it is responsible for, when he mentions the only named person in the article who died when they were unable to receive dialysis treatment.
Hamas has caused, and continues to cause, deep harm to both citizens of Israel and Gaza. It is obvious that like every army the Israeli Army is not perfect and individuals within it can make mistakes.
It is clear that all people in the Middle East, regardless of ethnic background are in need of the same Saviour. I recognise that the published thoughts of individual contributors to the paper do not necessarily represent the editor, however I feel it would have at least been fair to publish both articles side by side in the same section.
I am writing this primarily as a committed follower of Jesus, but also as a Jewish believer who has seen other fellow brothers and sisters in Christ make comments on conflicts involving Jews and Arabs in the Middle East without fully considering some of the facts and potential for divisions between believers.
Yours sincerely,
Rebecca
(Full name and town withheld)
