ISRAEL - Ironies of History
A century ago, a dying Ottoman empire sought to renew itself by exterminating its Armenian population. This attempt at nation-building through violence has parallels with Israel’s current assault on Gaza.
Defining genocide is not easy. The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide talks of acts ‘committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.’
The legal definition of genocide is based on objective criteria, but politics is never absent. As historian Perry Anderson points out, international law is the ‘law of the strongest’: both state and non-state actors may have an interest in whether or not a mass crime is classified as genocide.
-mondediplo.com, July 2024
Arno's Commentary
The article appeared on the Le Monde Diplomatique website under the headline, “Armenia, Gaza and the bitter ironies of history.”
The difference of the Armenian genocide can easily be seen when compared with the establishment of the 50 sovereign states on the American continent. Researchers at University College London published the estimate of 56 million indigenous people killed. Other research states 112 million, but all are more or less based on estimations and assumptions. The article states, “historian Perry Anderson points out, international law is the ‘law of the strongest.’” That, incidentally, is how all countries were established.
However, Israel is distinctively different. They are not fighting a war against a nation, but against brutalized criminals that have one declared goal: kill all Jews. Today’s Jews in Israel will not permit such to happen. They are fighting fiercely any and all terrorist organizations whose goal is to kill Jews.
Most important to realize: Israel is the only military force where the recruits are strictly instructed not to hate the enemy. They are the only military force that gives warnings to civilians in case of aerial attack on buildings housing terrorists—sometime 24 hours in advance. Genocide would be indiscriminate carpet bombing.
So, why is Israel different? Because of God’s covenant. Here the declaration in Genesis 17:7-8: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
What is the purpose? God’s unconditional promise: “Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Genesis 18:18).
In Genesis 49, we read of the blessing of the twelve sons of Jacob: “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?” (verses 8-9).
We are glad to say that no longer will Jews allow themselves to be at the mercy of foreigners. Instead, we read the declaration of Zechariah 8:23: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
