Truth: the First Casualty of War
Truth: the First Casualty of War[1]
Cognitive dissonance: the unsettled feeling experienced when simultaneously holding opposite/conflicting thoughts or ideas.
On January 11 and 12, 2024 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague held hearings on South Africa’s charge that Israel is committing genocide[2] against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.[3] In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, "This is an upside-down world – the state of Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting genocide. The hypocrisy of South Africa screams to the heavens."[4] [That the charge was brought by a country with a history of apartheid under white rule and current human rights violations documented by Human Rights Watch[5] only increases our cognitive dissonance.]
On January 26 the panel issued its preliminary ruling, supported by 15 of the 17 judges. Israel was not called upon to cease its efforts to eradicate the terrorists who perpetrated the October 7, 2023 wholesale slaughter of its citizens. But the ICJ issued six provisions to Israel: “stop the killing, injuring, and afflicting unlivable conditions on Palestinians in Gaza; punish any direct incitement to genocide against Palestinians; assure the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid.”[6] The ICJ is only beginning its investigations on this matter, however, having found the charge of genocide “plausible.”
Once again, we find ourselves “down the Wonderland rabbit hole” with truth turned on its head. As a specific example of how the case against Israel is being ginned up, consider the response of Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, to the duplicitous misquoting that makes it seem he supports treating all Gazans as military targets:
“There is something shocking about seeing how the ‘post-truth’ phenomenon permeates even the most important institutions,” Herzog said during an event at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem honoring IDF soldiers killed in the war against the Palestinian terror group in Gaza. “Even on a personal level, I was disgusted by the way they twisted my words, using very, very partial and fragmented quotes, with the intention of supporting an unfounded legal contention.”[7]
The day following the ICJ ruling was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year UN Secretary General António Guterres gave a moving speech which included these words: “We honour their memory. We stand with the survivors, their families and descendants. We pledge never to forget – nor let others forget the truth of what happened.”[8]
This date was chosen to remember the Holocaust because on January 27, 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau. This year, throughout the day various news programs showed photographs of the infamous death camp where one million were murdered in the Nazi’s “Final Solution” efforts to exterminate European Jewry. [Those familiar photos resonated in a more personal way since my wife Lori and I visited Poland last summer.[9]]
Mr. Guterres continued, “And we recognize the horrific resonance this day of commemoration finds in our own times,”[10] referencing “the abhorrent 7 October terror attacks by Hamas.” The slaughter of 1,200 Israelis was the worst loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Mr. Guterres’ speech exuded warm empathy for the sufferings of the Jewish people. Victims were remembered and survivors honored.
The United Nations has not typically been a place friendly to Israel, so I experienced a bit of cognitive dissonance seeing the U.N. logo as a backdrop for such sympathetic words. Israel has been a favorite U.N. “punching bag” over the years, often subject to negative pronouncements.[11] In 2022, more anti-Israel resolutions were passed than against all other nations combined.[12]
Particularly galling are resolutions against Israel by the U.N. Security Council when that group includes nations with egregious human rights records.[13] Israel is not perfect – what nation is? But when context-free diatribes and falsehoods are continually leveled by sponsors of terror against a functional democracy seeking a path toward peace, the scales of justice are way out of balance.
On January 28, Mr. Guterres was again at the podium. This time he was pleading for the nations who ceased funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to restore their financial support.[14] Why have the U.S., U.K., and seven other countries withheld financial support? Because Israel attested that 12 UNRWA workers were directly involved in the October 7 massacre.[15]
The collusion of Hamas with the relief agency is not new. In 2014, the U.N. apologized when Israel discovered missiles being housed in one of its schools in Gaza.[16] In the current conflict, Israel has documented the terrorists’ use of civilian sites for their activities, including UN schools.[17]
The Gaza War is well past 100 days, with no end in sight. Israelis remain traumatized (rocket barrages continue as of this writing at the end of January) with significant numbers displaced, both north and south. Efforts to rescue the remaining hostages have thus far proven fruitless. With no Red Cross access being granted by Hamas, the well-being of the more than 130 missing is unknown – a nightmare for those still living in captivity as well as the loved ones of all taken captive, some doubtless already deceased.
With the war in its fourth month, casualty numbers are grim: more than 200 IDF soldiers have been killed in action; 24 died on January 22.[18] Israel’s total loss of life since the terror attack is approaching 1,500. The Hamas-controlled health ministry reports more than 25,000 deaths in Gaza.[19] Combatants or civilians, each life lost represents a human soul now in eternity.[20]
Around the globe, demonstrators march in the streets with flags and placards, demanding action for their just cause. Propaganda mills create narratives for public consumption. The truth often gets mangled in the gears.
The post-Holocaust phrase “never again!”, though oft-repeated, somehow rings hollow amidst the rising tide of antisemitism. Vitriol too easily generates violence. Our hearts go out to Jewish friends who fear for their safety and Israelis fighting for their security. We also grieve with long-suffering Palestinians whose lives are dominated by hate-fueled leaders committed to reversing the nakba (disaster) and eliminating the Jewish homeland, “from the river to the sea.”
On the Jewish side, the “never forget” theme also has echoed for decades. Visitors to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, can purchase pins with the Hebrew word zachor – remember.
“Those who forget the past are destined to repeat it” is a pithy aphorism. But simply remembering accomplishes little. History is linear, not cyclical. Certainly, patterns recur – including cycles of violence fueled by intractable hatred over generations. But Scripture clearly points to “the end of days.”
God’s Word speaks of wars and rumors of wars – but the end is not yet. One day the cup of wickedness will be full and the birth pangs of Messiah will reach their culmination. A kingdom of righteousness and peace will be established when Yeshua reigns from Jerusalem. Swords will become plowshares and spears pruning hooks; the yet-unfulfilled promises of God to His people will be fully realized.
But until that day, the sorrowing and suffering need to know how God has already demonstrated His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Messiah Jesus died for us. Being reconciled by faith, we have peace with God and a new commandment from our Savior: love one another as He loved us.
How we pray that “true truth,” that is, God’s truth, will find a home in the hearts of many who are living – and dying – without hope. How we praise Him for increasing opportunities to “speak the truth in love.”
As the Master, the Lord Jesus, promised, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Written by Wes, Life in Messiah Global Ambassador
Who in your world needs to be introduced to the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life?”
Need help understanding the Middle East morass? David Fromkin’s “A Peace to End All Peace” is a wonderful deep-dive resource for background to the current geopolitical situation.
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Endnotes:
[1] The casualties of war usually are counted in numbers of dead and wounded along with the value of damaged property. Often overlooked is the cost of truth being distorted by the dissemination of lies and half-truths. “The first casualty of war is truth” is variously credited: https://www.societyofeditors.org/soe_blog/the-first-casualty-of-war-is-the-truth/.
[2] The term “genocide” (defined as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group") was coined in 1948 by the Genocide Convention in reference to the Holocaust; see https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/world-court-rule-urgent-measures-gaza-genocide-case-2024-01-26/. To date, no nation has been convicted of genocide, though Serbia was deemed guilty of “not preventing” one. See https://apnews.com/article/genocide-explainer-israel-hamas-africa-court-7b74e7a1fdf4512e44a42066581fa587.
[3] https://www.npr.org/2024/01/12/1224360624/israel-defends-itself-at-the-u-n-s-top-court-against-allegations-of-genocide.
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/south-africa.
[6] https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-783852.
[7] https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-blood-libel-herzog-says-icj-twisted-my-words-to-support-unfounded-contention/. See also the furor over Benjamin Netanyahu’s reference to “Amalek” at https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-south-africa-genocide-hate-speech-97a9e4a84a3a6bebeddfb80f8a030724 and Bibi’s response at https://www.jta.org/2024/01/16/israel/netanyahu-rejects-south-africas-claim-that-his-quote-about-amalek-was-a-call-to-genocide.
[8] https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145977.
[9] In addition to Auschwitz-Birkenau, we made stops at the Warsaw and Lodz ghetto memorials as well as Oskar Schindler’s factory in Krakow. We also visited historic Jewish sites in Prague. Previous visits to the camps at Dachau (Germany) and Westerbork (Netherlands), as well as the homes of Anne Frank and Corrie ten Boom, have made the photos seen at various Holocaust museums all the more real.
[10] https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1751108018505224693
[11] Since its founding in 2006, 227 resolutions regarding Israel have been issued by the Security Council. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Nations_resolutions_concerning_Israel#United_Nations_Security_Council_resolutions.
[12] https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-condemned-israel-more-than-all-other-countries-combined-in-2022-monitor/.
[13] In addition to the five permanent members, 10 other nations are elected to two-year terms. See https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/current-members.
[14] https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145987.
[15] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-uk-8-countries-pausing-funding-unrwa-allegations-12-employees-part-rcna136030.
[16] https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-missiles-found-in-un-run-school-in-gaza/.
[17] https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/11/10/hamas-terror-tunnel-next-to-unrwa-school-in-gaza-destroyed/.
[18] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68065903.
[19] https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/23/middleeast/gaza-israeli-soldiers-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html.
[20] Statistics may reflect hard data. But the human toll is measured in individual stories of suffering and loss. Amitay Argaman is a third-generation IDF commando. After a month of combat in Gaza, Amitay’s unit lost four soldiers in an explosion. Among the most critically wounded, Amitay was airlifted to Ichilov Hospital where his legs were amputated. His story is captured on video here: https://allisrael.com/despite-being-critically-wounded-in-gaza-this-idf-soldier-from-a-messianic-jewish-family-continues-to-encourage-others.