Becca MahoneyI realize you are looking for an answer from the professor, but I thought I’d chime in with my answer as well! I believe the first step is to slow down. The Bible tells us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” I myself have later regretted making to quick of a decision that this or that party was right or wrong in a given situation. You never have to make a decision in the moment. If you are talking with someone and they bring up “Well, Israel bombed a hospital,” you can always ask the name of the hospital, promise to look into it, and get back to them. Later on you can tell them it was actually a misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad, Hamas blamed Israel, and the mainstream media took Hamas at their word and never corrected their mistake.
Second, be wary of where you are getting your news. I would recommend The Philos Project Podcast, CBN News, The Israel Guys, @Travelingisraelinfo on YouTube, Cam Higby, and The Right Vibes Podcast. The Free Press also often platforms multiple viewpoints, and they are quite fair and unbiased in their presentation. These sources do a great job of taking specific news stories, and explaining facts that the mainstream media conveniently overlooked. I’m not saying there is never a time and place for reading what the other side has to say, but always do so remembering Proverbs 18:17… “There are two sides to every story. The first one to speak sounds true until you hear the other side and they set the record straight.”
Third, it is always important to remember God’s heart for people–but we also need to have moral clarity. Right now, the people of Gaza are actually being oppressed by Hamas, not Israel, and they are starting to realize it. The AIJAC Youtube channel is another great news source. They frequently shows what is happening inside Gaza. Gazans are crying out for Israel to free them from Hamas. Hamas shoots their own people and steals their aid. Hamas tortured the leader of a protest movement against them, and threw him off a roof. They shot another girl 90 times because she wouldn’t give them the money she had raised for a hospital.
So, in answer to your last question, an easy way to say it with clarity is that we do want to free Gaza…from Hamas. And anyone who genuinely cares for the people of Gaza, and not just their own political virtue signaling, will realize you are right.
