Praying for the people of Gaza

Received:

You seriously want me to pray for "our beleaguered brothers and sisters in the Holy Land"? They have created the mess they now deplore and have subjugated 1.5 million Gazans to three years of inhumane and intolerable hell you seem to overlook.

Is it any wonder then that the Gazans, backs to the wall desperate, choose to lob rockets into Israel? Perfectly understandable, perfectly courageous.

Let us pray for the Palestinians. Above all let us pray for peace.

[signature]

(Yid like you, but with a conscience and a reasonable sense of decency).

PS As to "send a package", I'll be doing so — to the Jerusalem Fund or ANERA — but not to the oppressor.

Responded:

We agree on far more than we disagree. Along with you, I believe that we have a responsibility towards the people living in Gaza. They are an oppressed people whose right to go about living normal, healthy lives has been stolen from them by a ruthless pack of gangsters.

The true terrorists are the leaders of Syria and Iran, as well as their hired thugs in Arab lands. If not for them, the people of Gaza could have long ago been leading a peaceful, thriving existence. These brutal criminals massacre their own people willingly, for nothing more than singing at a wedding party or for daring to oppose their policies. They stockpile their weapons in mosques and schools and fire from densely populated areas.

A thousand Arab lives could have been savedTruthfully, the Israeli government is also to blame. Rather than concerning itself with the welfare of the Arab population living in Gaza and the West Bank, their only concern was self-defense and world opinion. If they truly cared in a really humanitarian way about these people, they would not suffice with providing hundreds of millions of dollars of food, electricity and medicine, but would also have done all possible to stomp out the foreign-based thugs long ago — along with providing a proper, moral education for youth. If we had kept a presence in Gaza, as dangerous as that was, it would have saved over a thousand Arab lives. We are too quick to find the fast and easy solutions to peace, rather than to take the harder, longer yet proven road.

On our own site, here is an essay that presents an approach to the humanitarian issue: Should I pray for the death of terrorists?

As for the Jerusalem Fund and ANERA, both of these organizations spend large percentages of their funds on biased propaganda. I would advise you to find more neutral humanitarian organizations that will actually get the aid needed into the hands of those that need it.

By Tzvi Freeman

All names of persons and locations or other identifying features referenced in these questions have been omitted or changed to preserve the anonymity of the questioners.

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34 Comments

Michael LA June 23, 2024

Thank you for this article. What has been going on since October has tormented me, yet we can't say a word about the mistakes Israel is making without being labeled "antisemitic". I love Torah, and the Jewish teachers who taught me the beautiful truth of HaShem and His perfect will. In any religion, there are people who are following G-d's way, and those who are following their own way. The government in Israel has been following their own way, and it has led to this terrible hatred and destruction. I learned also from Rabbis, and it surprised me, that Jews and Muslims lived peacefully as good neighbors for so long before the "Zionists" came to the land. Should Jews have their own land? Sure! But it should be G-d's way, not man's way, no? Palestinians made mistakes, too, but you can still love people who make mistakes, and pointing out the problems means you just want things to be better for everyone. G-d help Israel and Palestine. Reply

Eliezer Zalmanov for Chabad.org July 14, 2024

in response to Michael :

There is nothing wrong with, nor is it antisemitic, to question the actions and motives of the Israeli government. They have an obligation and responsibility to ensure the safety of their citizens, and their abdication of responsibility must be called out. Reply

Ben Ami August 11, 2024

in response to Michael :

Still love people that make mistakes???

What part of yrs of launcking rockets at Israel was a mistake?

What part of killing 1200 people in 1 day, meticulously planned, lavi$hly prepared for (the terror tunnels had to cost $100s of Millions) was a mistake?

What part of mass, violent rapes was a mistake?

The only mistake was your Jew hating post was allowed to be seen! Reply

Debra Cota California August 25, 2024

in response to Ben Ami:

I totally agree with you. Thank you!!
Am Yisrael Chai! Reply

Carrie USA March 10, 2017

Who is the propagandist? Any money sent into the Gaza Strip is spent on weapons, weapons, and more weapons. They need to take Israel up on their offer of a seaport, an airport, and industrial zones that would create more than 40,000 jobs. But will this ever happen? No! Because the Palestinians are pawns and act as a wedge to create trouble for Israel and eventually their destruction. People like you help promote the false narrative that Israel is the problem. The problem is Hamas. They are not willing to abandon their weapons or their tunnels. Since Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip, the living conditions of the Palestinians have gone from bad to worse. The electricity is cut off, the infrastructure destroyed, unsafe drinking water, and agricultural deterioration. Hamas has initiated three wars and is unable and unwilling to provide resident's most basic needs. Reply

Jonathan January 11, 2016

Im ba l'hargekha, hashkem l'hargo "Im ba l'hargekha, hashkem l'hargo" translates roughly to - one that rises to your death, rise to his (first).

Israel has every right to destroy its enemy Hamas, and if civilian casualties where to die as a result then their blood is upon the hands of Hamas and surely not Israel. Reply

H Hammett England October 22, 2015

Praying for the death of Terrorists My prayer would be that G-d would change the heart of the terrorist and soften it so that he would become a friend. I would also pray for him to be saved from hell and the second death.

My action, if he came against me, would be to shoot him in self defence but that would not be what I wanted to do. Reply

jisrael rotterdam July 25, 2014

not responseble israel is not responseble for the gazans period. hamas is. why are there no shelters, not even an alarm? but the top of hamas have bunkers. cause they want civilion deaths and then wine and point fingers. the top 50 of hamas are all Multi miljonairs. kaleed mashal has 4 billion. thats why lot of gazans are poor. hamas is more corrupt then fatach. the questioner finds himself decend LOL. jews like him should stay in the usa.or send to aza to open there eyes. Jeremy there identity is a lie, they dont stem from filistines nor kenaites. filistines were europeons(greek islands west Turkey), not arab. further Jeremy, you call that hatred???? do you know how gazans educate there children, probebly not, cause you cant educate youreself same goes for the questionor. succes with working all that buuter of youre heads. i am ashamed of you. Reply

Elie Ottawa, Canada November 8, 2010

I pray that the arabs of Gaza...be kept far away.. I pray that the arabs of Gaza...be kept far away from us!!
Even during WW1, the Germans and Brits stopped the fighting on New Year's day to play a game of soccer and they even exchanged gifts. This would never happen between the arabs and the Israelis as there is too much hate generated from the hamas. Until Israel became a state, there was no 'nation of Palestinians' it was created to drive out Israel. when occupied by Jordan the arabs in the west bank were fine being under Jordanian rule. i pray that the hatred be removed but no chance of that when the babies are trained from the crib to be human missiles. Wake up to reality !!! Reply

Jeremy Wood Vancouver November 2, 2009

Hatred? You both make comments about hatred and how bad Hamas is for the Palestinians. You wont even recognize their existence as a nation or a culture. You are the ones saying everything they believe in or hold dear is a lie.Their entire identity is a lie. Your comments about how there are no palestinians are the same as those who say no one is really gay or that we as jews have no connection to the ancient kingdoms of israel, that who we are is a lie. There is no greater act of hatred than to erase a people out of existence. Reply

Izabella Brisbane, Qld via chabadbrisbane.com November 2, 2009

Gaza I love your response to this question...Hamas is using the people in Gaza and I will not call them Palestinians..I agree that Israel should have maintained a presense in Gaza,if they had the situation would have been different by now. Reply

Beverly Kurtin Hurst, TX September 20, 2009

Prisoners of their own hatred It's strange, isn't it, that all of the Arab countries have sympathy for those of so-called Palestinians but don't want a single one of them in their countries. The reason is obvious, they want to grow generations of "refugees" who feed on hate of Israel. And yet, I feel an obligation to pray for them especially that they will learn that hatred be it from themselves or Israelis is self-destructive and solves nothing. It gives them not a square cm of Israel's land. Will they ever learn? Will they ever overthrow Hamas? Until they are gone, there is no hope. Reply

Jeremy Wood Vancouver September 10, 2009

Re: the cost And I would say it was a result of the blockade. And the blockade is there because there were attacks following the Hamas takeover which was a coup but one that came out of the denial of Hamas' rights as the democratically elected government. I could go on but I'm stating facts we all know. The point is to illustrate that its hardly as clearcut as "they are wrong, we are right except when we try to be nice and then we're wrong". A docent at Independance Hall in Tel Aviv put it in a way to me I have never forgotten. There are two truths with some measure of justice and righteousness and they are butting up against one another. It's a tough situation but we, Israelis, Jews and Palestinians need to retain love for eachother and humility towards our own faults, our own capacities for wrongdoing. We must all change if there will be peace. It is for that I pray. Reply

Michael LA June 23, 2024

in response to Jeremy Wood:

Amein! Reply

Beverly Kurtin Hurst, TX September 9, 2009

1967 Pray for Gazans? Of course. We are related to them. But when I pray for them I pray that their eyes will be opened and they will come to their senses and fight Hamas and rid themselves of that bunch of thugs. Reply

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman September 8, 2009

Re: The cost The cost of that campaign was a direct consequence of leaving Gaza to begin with.
As for the numbers of casualties, I simply do not believe the high figures. There is a terrible difficulty in discussing all this, because there are two divergent narratives with entirely discrepant sets of facts and figures. Reply

Beverly Kurtin Hurst, TX September 7, 2009

For "I agree with the poster..." It is obvious that you have blindly accepted the Arab propaganda. What happened when the Israelis moved completely our of Gaza? Hamas started lobbing rockets into Israel. Israel retaliated.. Completely innocent people were killed BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF HAMAS WHICH IS BACKED BY THE CRIMINAL REGIMES OF IRAN AND SYRIA! When Gazans claimed that they were not receiving electricity from Israel they marched in the streets...showing steet lights shining brightly. When they claimed they had to meet in dark, sunlight was streaming behind the closed curtains. I feel badly for the innocent people who die because of the terrorists--on both sides of the border. Until the Arabs accept the FACT of Israel there can be no peace. When they do, Israel will help them if the Arabs permit them to help. Reply

Jeremy Vancouver September 6, 2009

The cost. I agree with the poster. The situation in Gaza was largely created by the callous blockade. But I don't want to discuss that. I'm curious as to what Tzvi thinks of the cost of Cast Lead. You speak of saving a thousand lives. What about the thousands that were lost in the bombing in this campaign? How is this justified? Reply

DONT LET THE LEFT HAND KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT HAND IS DOING ohio May 7, 2009

prayer? yes it has been documented and scientifically studies that prayer does work. Now only if we can get more ppl to pray for these people. I myself am not doing so well financially either, as being sick I have no income, but the next hundred I get I am sending 20 to some humanitarian aid company, of sorts, after checking them out. We all can do a little something , each and everyone, yes just a little will grow and grow. PRAY. ALSO, ON ANOTHER NOTE, I have been studying ancient scrpts and one called the book of Enoch. IT says there that one of the fallen angels called Azazel was chained in the rocks and caves in that area, gaza=azazel, no wonder there is so much turmoil there. Reply

Anonymous February 10, 2009

I agree with the the poster... ..we should all pray for the Palestinians.

"lives has been stolen from them by a ruthless pack of gangsters." Palestinians' land has been stolen by a ruthless pack of gansters: Israel

"The true terrorists are the leaders of Syria and Iran" How many Palestinians have they killed?

"providing hundreds of millions of dollars of food, electricity and medicine" This is provided from overseas- which Israel denies access to.

As the poster says, Tzvi Freeman- you ought to be ashamed of yourself Reply

identity paralax February 3, 2009

silly question would you give a mentally ill relative money ? would you pray for them to find the sanity to make it themselves ? how do you teach a man to fish who may never learn ? pray for him to learn. lets not give up our faith. something from nothing is what truth coming out of lies really is, is it not? what are prayers good for? they are not quarters to put in the gumball machine. they are belief my voice heard by god will be enough to fill our need for a gumball of peace. Reply

Chaim L. Long Island, NY February 3, 2009

Gaza AJWS, American Jewish World Service-
Do you consider this charity be more acceptable. I have supported it for years to demonstarte support for suffering of Non Jews by Jews. Reply

Beverly Kurtin Hurst, TX February 1, 2009

Pray for ALL JEWS WORLD WIDE I’ve been seeing a world-wide rise in Jew-hatred. The lies that are being told about us include that we caused the Holocaust to make the world feel sorry for us. Venezuela has become a boiling cauldron overflowing with Jew-hate. We are being lied about with more ferocity than I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. For the first time in my life I’m frightened! I’ve traded my .22 automatic for a 9mm automatic and a 38 revolver for personal protection and recommend that all Jews arm themselves so that if “they” start to come for us, WE will be the survivors this time around.
For those that think I’m being paranoid, remember what happened to us I countries in which we felt “safe” because we were citizens…until they stripped us of our rights. Venezuela is a perfect example of what can happen. Signs saying “Jews back to the ovens” and other equally noxious warnings to us. The Boy Scouts have said it: BE PREPARED. Pray for GAZA? Never! They are out sworn enemies, we do not pray for our enemies Reply

Anonymous February 1, 2009

totally missing the point you don't get my point. you missed what I said. lets pray for them to see so they may change their minds Reply

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