“Stop Killing Our Killers!” – Hamas

Ron Ross
Bridges for Peace News
Email: ronrossbfp@hotmail.com

2nd January 2008

Working as a reporter in the Middle East has its specific challenges. It is very difficult to keep the heart out of what is written or said about the situation here.

The exchanges between the Israeli’s and the terrorist thugs Hamas remind me of the school bully. We had a big guy at my school who swaggered around intimidating anyone he could. He particularly targeted a kid we all thought was a bit of ‘a sissy.’

One day ‘the sissy’ had enough. He turned on the bully, pinned him to the wall and thumped him with hands and knees, never to be intimidated again.

Now we have Hamas screaming ‘peace talks’ because Israel has killed 20 terrorists in the past two weeks. Read through the Arab reports and some in the USA as well and you will see where some journalists mindlessly write the Hamas mantra – Israel is ‘assassinating’ the ‘poor Palestinians.’

These bullies being thumped right now continue to fire Kassam rockets into Sderot. They refuse to recognise Israel as a state. They rip off any aid to their people and have created the worst poverty in the Middle East and of course then claim it’s Israel’s fault.

I have not had many reasons to agree with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently but this week he refused peace talks with Hamas and described to his cabinet that ‘true war’ exists between the two.

Many believe Olmert would  stand on his head or do cartwheels along Ben Yehuda if President Bush told him to do it, but at the cabinet meeting he said: "Operations against terrorists will continue as they have been conducted for many months. There is no other way to describe what is happening in the Gaza Strip except as a true war between the Israeli Army and terror groups. This war will continue.”

Olmert said there would be no talks with Hamas unless they accepted the conditions for peace established by the Quartet. At the top of that list is the recognition of the state of Israel.

Immediately Ahmed Youssaf, the adviser to Ishmael Haniyeh, the former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority who was turfed when he overthrew his own government, immediately ‘demanded’ Israel stop ‘the assassinations.’

Here’s my problem: I want to be fair to both sides in this debate but from where I sit there is clearly a right side here, and a dumb side.

When an Israeli soldier enlists and is commissioned to the ranks he is given a document which reads: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.”

This is the message that needs to be handed over to Hamas. Bullies only win when the Bush administration knocks at the knees and surrenders to Arab oil nations.

Actually Bush is coming town but not like Santa. He is coming to bring the full force of his office into the ‘peace negotiations.’ He is coming to disrupt Jerusalem traffic. Then he has become very good at that!

Ron Ross resigned as Senior Pastor of Noosa Baptist Church to become National Director of Bridges for Peace Australia. Three years ago he joined Bridges for Peace in Jerusalem to establish international radio news and an audio service webcast at www.bridgesforpeace.com Ron was Sports Editor of WINTV for 20 years before joining the full-time missions. You can contact Ron at : ronrossbfp@hotmail.com