Blessed are the peace-makers

World War III is here, whether we want it or not.

In February 2022, no one expected that Covid would suddenly disappear from the headlines from one day to the next due to some war in the Ukraine.

In October 2023, I guess few people were expecting that the Ukraine war would suddenly disappear from the news because of another war between Israelis and Arabs, although both conflicts are not completely unrelated — and even the conflict in Nagorno-Kabarakh and the coup in Niger were related, too.

Let's admit it, we've been in World War III since 2022 and this is just another front. Perhaps an Asian front will happen over Taiwan later on.

It's difficult to talk about the Palestine question, and, honestly, I even dislike talking about it. There's something about it that drives people to fits of rage, even people who do not live there and are neither Muslims nor Jews. No matter, they project their own anger on the side they hate the most, or even on those who refuse to take sides.

For instance, just now, on another blog, I was accused of being a “sociopath” for a brief and, admittedly, perhaps slightly cynical comment saying that I disliked equally both sides and just wished they made a compromise and left the rest of the world alone.

No one has accused me of being a “sociopath” for, as most of the rest of mankind and the whole media too, except perhaps Armenians and Azeris, not taking sides or even worrying very much about the recent conflict in Nagorno-Kabarakh, or any number of other atrocities in the world that are not so much portrayed in the media. You can't really worry about everything that happens in the world, or you'd go mad.

Now, about the recent events… I would think that the apparent murder of innocent young people at a “peace festival”, or families in kibbutzes, or even random Thai workers in Israel, would be condemned by most people, but it is not the case. Many people are actually supporting the Hamas side.

Now, two caveats. First, I am well aware that it is possible that this was a “false flag”, or that there are many things about what happened that we don't know about. I personally find it strange that the Israelis didn't know anything about the “surprise attack” or were so incompetent in stopping it once it started. Miles Mathis says the whole thing is fake (But when did he say anything else about any other event? That's his line, but sometimes he's way off).

Nevertheless, I am sure some level of deception is involved. After all, it has been called “Israel’s 9/11”, and we know what that means. Well, at least those of us who don't believe the conventional narrative. They are also comparing Hamas to ISIS, and knowing that ISIS was a group created or at least used by CIA/Mossad/MI6, that's another red flag. But, for now, at least for the purposes of this text, I am assuming that the attacks were real, even if the number of deaths on each side may be exaggerated, and in any case impossible to verify.

Second caveat, of course the fact that atrocities were committed on one side do not justify atrocities on the other, in this case Israel bombing or levelling Gaza, or whatever they are planning to do to the Palestinians — we shall see soon enough.

Whatever — false flag or not, the mutual hate is real and so is World War III.

Now, who is right and who is wrong in the Palestine, and is there any solution?

I think both sides are wrong, and there's no solution. Let me explain.

Both sides, mostly for religious but also historical reasons, lay claim to the whole area which is now called Israel but was called Palestine in Roman times, and won't be satisfied with half-measures. The Arabs want the Jews out of “their turf", period. They see it, rightly or wrongly, as stolen land. A “two-state solution” won't do.

And the Jews… Well, I guess it varies between the Haredim and the more secular ones, but in general I guess they want the whole area too. Except perhaps maybe Gaza, which they'd gladly rather give to Egypt or anybody else that would want it, although of course no one does.

I'm aware that rich Jews in the West, like, say, George Soros, and even other not so rich Jews, are involved in a lot of negative things, and are perhaps the main group pushing for mass migration and multiculturalism, something I have criticized several times. I also know that Orthodox Jews in Israel dislike Christians and Christianity in general, even if lots of Christians, mostly of the evangelical variety, love Israel.

On the other hand, does that make me an “anti-semite”, whatever this means these days? I don't know, but I can't bring myself to hate all Jews, just as I can't bring myself to hate all Muslims. I have quite a few Jewish friends and acquaintances. Not all are close, but having spent many years studying and working in universities, it was perhaps inevitable that I would be in contact with several Jewish people. Most of they seemed nice people, at least on a superficial level. The ones I'm still in contact with are not very political or religious — in fact, they are not religious at all — and I think they didn't even visit Israel, nor are very vocal about the Middle East conflict. And, of course, there are a lot of Jewish artists, writers, scientists that I admire.

I also dislike Hamas and most Muslim fanatics, and I am also critical of the massive migration of Muslims into Europe, but does that make me hate them all as a group? Hardly. I met many Arabs, and they also seemed, on the whole, pretty nice people (there is a large Lebanese community in South America, although they are mostly Christians who left during the civil war there). In general, I'm not very much into hating large swaths of people, or, at least, I try to separate the personal from the political. I might dislike this or that group for their actions, but, on the level of individuals, I try to judge them case by case. It's not always possible, of course.

In some conflicts, such as Nagorno-Kabarakh, and possibly even in the Ukraine, a compromise eventually becomes possible, or perhaps one side simply wins. But I do not think a compromise is possible in Palestine. Add to that the interests and interference in the region of other powerful countries — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the U.S. — and, therefore, World War III.

Well, I'd rather be in Finland, in a cabin in the woods by a lake, not having to worry about any of that — only that Finland is now also part of NATO, and thus part of World War III too…

Perhaps the prophecies about the end of the world starting in the Holy Land are real.

I still think that Jesus was onto something with that Sermon of the Mount thing, but no one wants to hear that, especially not these days, when war is around the corner and everybody seems to be hating everybody, and even those who don't hate the other side enough are hated and criticized.

You have heard that it was said, thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute and abuse you. That you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon good and bad, and raineth upon just and unjust. For if you love only them that love you, what reward shall you have?