By Rev. Fr. Gerald Nwafor
From the very beginning, we were told that Israel is the city of God that housed God and the people of God. Both Israelis and the Iranians believed this fact because both are from the Abrahamic tradition. Israel is the fonts origo of the Christian tradition and the citadel of the Jewish religion.
On the other hand, Iran is the citadel of the Shia Muslims. Therefore, both Israel and Iran are presumably worshiping the same God. The question of whether they are related biologically should be set aside for the benefit of this discussion because Iran believes they are Arabs while Israel believes that they are Jews.
Geographically they occupy the same area called the Middle East, Asia Minor, Arabian Peninsula, or Babylonian Empire. So, they have a lot of things in common, but I don’t think they would consider that in today’s dynamics because they do not want to see each other eye to eye.
The question would be, why do they hate each other so much that they are ready to bring the world to its knees by initiating World War III (WW III)? I don’t know the answer but one thing I know of is that the Creator of the world which the two countries are claiming to worship will not allow His handwork to be decimated by some gullible individuals called Benjamin and Ayatollah. Sit back, look deeply, and ask simple questions.
You will discover that Israel and Iran are not neighbors, so they are not fighting over land disputes. Iran and Israel are not speaking the same language therefore there is no educational battle in literary works or scientific discovery. So, why are they shouting the cries of war that would destroy the beautiful creation of God? Islam is a religion of peace as claimed by the followers and Israelites are children of God who is merciful, gracious, and peaceful.
So where is this hatred coming from?Israel had an issue with Hamas and Palestine because of the October 7th, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by the Hamas group. We do not want to go back to the time of Moses and David, how the Philistines and Israelites were fighting.
Neither is it important to go back 2000 years and reenact the event that destroyed the Jewish nation. Let us focus on the recent events. Following the Hamas attack on Israel, the IDF (Israel Defense Force) unleashed mayhem on the Palestinians starting from Gaza.
It has been reported that more than 40,000 Palestinians have died and there was a serious humanitarian crisis in that region of Abrahamic tradition. On the 1st of April 2024, Israel went to Damascus in Syria and bombed the Iranian embassy killing 16 people without any provocation, at least according to the United Nations. You may ask the question, “Why did Israel strike the Iranian embassy in Syria?” We are still searching for the answer.
All the superpowers and allies of Israel condemned the attack and called it unprovoked. Now they turned to Iran to plead with Iran to not retaliate because they know the consequences of the retaliation. I remember as a child when Iran started to develop nuclear weapons in the 1990s, after the defeat of Saddam Hassen who used chemical weapons on Iran, the President of Iran was asked what he would do with the nuclear weapons if they succeeded in getting one, and his reply baffled the reporter. He simply said that they would drop it on Israel.
Words matter as we were meant to understand. Iran and Israel have never engaged in a full-scale war but there is no love lost between the two countries. Iran did not listen to the pleadings of the world powers, and they retaliated by sending 340 ballistic missiles and drones to Israel.
Thanks to the allied forces that intercepted 99% of the missiles.In the early hours of April 19th, 2024, Israel retaliated again by dropping bombs near the Iranian nuclear plant. The whole world begged Israel not to retaliate since they were the aggressor in this case, but all the requests met a deaf ear on the person of Benjamin.
Should I preach love to Benjamin and Ayatollah and remind them that this blood they are planning to spill belongs to someone who valued them so much and is not theirs? What happened to the Torah that the Jewish people would quote always to remind us of the fifth commandment of God? And what happened Islamic religion that states categorically that it is a religion of peace.
Why are they so interested in going to war to kill, maim, destroy, and seize power? Does it mean that human life doesn’t matter to them? I do not know why America, France, the UK, and Russia would stand aside and watch for Iran and Israel to start a war that would consume the Middle East and spill over to the rest of the world. Let the world powers wage the flood while it is still below the ankle (si kwoo mmili mgbe odi na mgbu-uno).
If this crisis, which we know was born out of hatred by the two countries, escalates to the point that it cannot be controlled, I can assure the superpowers that no one can go Scot-free. Muslims all over the world should talk to the Ayatollah to sheath his swords and come to the table of peace to discuss the way forward. Since, America, France, UK adopted Israel as one of their own, the onus lies on them to call them to order and control their excesses.
Because these two people are showing complete disregard for the peace of the world, it is better to quote the scripture from the Christian tradition that says that it is better for a person to die for the people than for the people to die for a person. Benjamin and Ayatollah should know that the plan to start WW III will not work (hoohaa).
