Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a Palestinian town in the West Bank occupied by Israel and unsuccessfully demanded by the UN to return.

The prime minister of the Hebrew state, in a deadly new conflict with Palestine, invoked the Bible to say that it is time for war and suggested that we must respond to the Palestinians as Israel responded to Amalek, by destroying them. But the New Testament replaced that vision of death with the commandment “Love one another.”

An Israeli government minister has stated that there is a possibility of dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza and that there must be Jewish settlements there. Another minister was convicted by the court of inciting racism against Arabs and supporting a terrorist organization.

So far, the death toll from Israeli bombing in a small strip of land of about 2,300,000 people has exceeded 17,100, including more than 8,000 children and more than 5,000 women; more than 7,600 missing; more than 46,000 injured. Three quarters of the population were driven from their homes, towards the south, where the attackers told them they would be safe, but where they were also bombed. 68% of buildings damaged, more than 85,000 buildings destroyed, schools, mosques, hospitals, most unusable, no medicine and anesthesia for operations, no water. For thirteen days no humanitarian aid was allowed, which was slowly leaking in, and for five weeks there was very little fuel, causing the plant and the incubators for newborns to function poorly. The UN World Food Program claims that Gaza receives only 10% of its daily food supply.

The biggest victims: “Images of children rescued from the ruins, injured and tortured, shaking in hospitals waiting for treatment, show the immense horror they are going through,” Unicef ​​said. In Gaza, their parents write their names on children’s skin if they die or disappear.

Save the Children reported that between 500 and 1,000 Palestinian children are held in Israeli military prisons each year, many for throwing stones, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. They beat them, threaten them, strip them for questioning. They also detain indefinitely teenagers who refuse to do military service due to conscientious objection.

On October 7, Palestinian armed groups entered Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting another 242. Heinous acts that are not justified, even by the oppression inflicted 75 years ago when the State of Israel was created, depriving the Palestinians of the land they have lived in for centuries, and newcomers expanded their territory with terrorist actions and wars. But, as the Pope says, terrorism is not answered with terrorism.

Rachel, whom the evangelist Matthew tells us about, continues to mourn her children, not for the Jews, but for the Zionists. (OR)