Troubled by Middle East events

Gut-wrenching. Heartbreaking. Anger-inducing.

Many of us have experienced all those emotions last week when contemplating Hamas’ attack on Israel and the subsequent horrific situation unfolding in the Middle East.

If we need evidence there is evil in the world, one need not look too far to find evidence of unimaginable terror.

I often marvel at what human beings are capable of when their energy is directed positively — space travel, medical discovery, large-scale innovation. We constantly learn more about the world around us as human discovery continues to elevate.

But the opposite end of positive capacity is what unfolded in Israel, as terrorists reduced life to something so inconsequential. Whether for shock value, war strategy, or just plain hatred, the discarding of life through such horrific means has had me contemplating true evil the past few days.

I am sorrowful for the people of Israel, and do believe we need to support the Jewish people. Genesis 12 talks of the Abrahamic Covenant regarding those people: “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is incredibly complicated, with a long history of fighting on both sides. Nowhere on Earth has gone through so much upheaval than the Middle East.

I also feel for the Palestinian people who are caught up in this. Oppressed people are easily manipulated, and the iron fist of regimes like Hamas cause a culture of fear and hatred toward enemies. Children are innocent by nature but are being trained to hate and fight their enemy from a young age.

No oppression should ever be celebrated, and Israel’s counterpunch to the Hamas surprise attack has many Palestinians caught up in a horrific situation. It is paramount that Israel defends itself, but nobody should take any joy in what is an awful situation from all perspectives.

In the end, oppression toward the Jewish people hits a little too close to the actions that took place just a few generations ago during the Holocaust.

I believe that is the backdrop of the hatred toward the Jewish people, and, as a world that came out of the Holocaust atrocity, we must always be on guard for history repeating itself. It’s why so many are troubled by anti-Jewish protests taking place across the world last week, even across our country.

That is all proof positive we live in a broken world.

In my opinion, it’s also proof positive we need to lean into our faith with a renewed spirit of helping the afflicted everywhere. It’s proof positive that the political circus we often see in America matters so little, and that decisions that are truly good for people is what should be considered.

It’s proof positive that we are capable of so much good and so much bad and we must always be on guard to distinguish the difference between the two.

May a light come from the darkness and may we wake up and begin focusing on what truly matters.

Alpena native Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier in Findlay, Ohio, the Sandusky (Ohio) Register, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio, the Norwalk (Ohio) Reflector and Review Times in Fostoria, Ohio. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.