Anti-semitism

By now we're all familiar with Mel Gibson's scree. These are terrible things to hear, especially from the mouth of a brother, and Gibson realizes that. An interesting angle here is that he's in the middle of a project about the Holocaust, which now will probably never see the light of day. But what's more interesting to me is how the news coverage of the incident opens a window to the mass media.

The talking heads are all horrified by Gibson's words, but these are the same people who ask us to try to understand Muslim terrorists. Gibson's career, in spite of his plea for mercy, may well be over, and this incident will surely follow him the rest of his life. Meanwhile, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iraqi insurgents are given largely sympathetic media treatment. The leaders of militant Islam are driven by one thing: hatred of Israel, not just the division of the land but also the identity of its occupiers, Jews. Many radical Muslim teachers even use classic Nazi propaganda, e.g., Jews are some kind of sub-human race (never mind that Arabs and Jews claim a common ancestor.) But this basic hatred is glossed over in the media in favor of emphasizing political and economic issues. Israeli Jews in turn deal with this with utter disdain: They've been hated for centuries, and a few more people hating them isn't going to make the persecutions and pogroms any worse.

Of course I realize that there is hatred to go around, Israel is no doubt full of people with no love lost for their Muslim neighbors, and radical Jewish groups exist as well. My greater concern is what the Christian response should be: certainly not Mad Max's after a few drinks, but neither should we necessarily be Israel's cheerleaders. We should not wink at hatred from either side, particularly when it leads to mass killing, and certainly not join in that hatred. At the same time we have to accept this is the way the world is and will continue to be ("You will hear of wars and rumors of wars ..."). Meanwhile, God winnows His chosen, and all creation groans. Peace will not come to the Earth until the Prince of Peace comes to the Earth.