By Lilly Cohen
I was out to dinner with some friends last night when I heard the news: Sergeant Almog Shiloni had died from the stab wounds he suffered earlier that morning when a terrorist tried to grab his weapon at the Haganah Train Station in Tel Aviv. Sergeant Shiloni was 20 years old. He had a twin brother. His murderer, an 18-year-old Palestinian from Nablus, was in Israel illegally.
Sadly, Sergeant Shiloni was not yesterday’s only terror victim. Mere hours after the attack at Tel Aviv’s main train station, Dalia Lemkus, 26, was stabbed to death in Gush Etzion. Her murderer was a 30-year-old Palestinian from Hebron.
The dinner ended early. And I drove home in silence. The words from Isaiah 40:1-2 on repeat in my mind, “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to the heart of Jerusalem…”
Because it’s been a terrible few weeks for Israel. Statistics-wise, this month alone saw more murderous terrorist attacks hailing from the West Bank and East Jerusalem than in the entire past two years. A week ago two people were killed when a terrorist ran them over with his vehicle on one of the busiest streets in Jerusalem. Three weeks ago another two people, including 3-month-old Haya Zissel Braun, was killed in a similar terrorist attack. Which means that yesterday’s murders bring the number of Israelis killed in terror attacks for the month to six.
Those are the figures, the cold, hard statistics. Yet I fear that boxing things up in a nice clinical package can’t even begin to describe the anguish, the dismay and disappointment that this month brought to the people of Israel. Because this isn’t a one-time, isolated thing. Far from it, actually. Operation Protective Edge ended a mere three months ago. And after a time of intense danger, heartbreak and stress, Israel yearned for peace, for normalcy, for just getting on with living. Yet sadly, Operation Protective Edge is but one in a long list of violent confrontations that the people of Israel didn’t want, but had to face. The terrible events of the Second Intifada continue to haunt the minds of many. The Second Lebanon War. The Six-Day and Yom Kippur War. The War of Independence. The Holocaust.
And the people of Israel continue to yearn for peace. For an opportunity to live without the threat of violence and death and persecution. To live without being ready to defend, ready to fight, ready to ward off those who come to destroy. Sadly, the events of the past month seem to imply that those whom Israel yearns to live in peace with share no such desire. And if history is anything to go by, we know that living in peace requires the dedicated co-operation of all parties involved. No exception.
I thought of all these things on my way home last night. Of the ancient and not so ancient history that colours everyday life so vividly. Of the disillusionment and heartache that’s wrapped itself around the present. And of hope. For the future. For my beautiful Israel and for all her people. Which brings me back to Isaiah 41:1-2, “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to the heart of Jerusalem…” Because beautiful as the passage may be, how exactly can we comfort? And perhaps more importantly, what exactly can we comfort with? How do we speak tenderly to the violence-weary hearts of Jerusalem longing for peace?
And in all honesty, I have no answer. See, I can’t relate to the suffering that the people of Israel go through. Because I’ve never experienced it myself. I can’t promise that tomorrow will bring peace, although I’ll continue to pray that it does. I can’t protect, can’t shield, can’t take away what’s happening. None of us can. Yet there are certain things we can most definitely do. We can stand with Israel as she faces those who wish to harm her. We can let her know that she is not alone. That she has supporters, partners, allies. We can speak on her behalf. Continuously. Even when the voices speaking against us are more, louder, angrier. We can pray for her, for peace, protection, joy and prosperity. And we can love her.
Yet in spite of history, in spite of the present and in spite of the violence that continues to threaten, I’m never afraid on Israel’s behalf. Because she has a Comforter, a Champion and an Almighty Who goes by the name of the God of Israel. “Ascribe power and strength to God; His majesty is over Israel, and His strength and might are in the skies. O God, awe-inspiring, profoundly impressive, and terrible are You out of Your holy places; the God of Israel Himself gives strength and fullness of might to His people. Blessed be God!” (Psalm 68:34-35).
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