– by the Rev. Guto Prys ap Gwynfor, Chair of the Welsh Independents’ Peace Network
At last Benjamin Netanyahu has got his way. The war has begun, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been assassinated, along with his family. For almost 40 years Netanyahu has been pressuring the United States to attack Iran, and since Donald Trump is desperate to distract people from the Epstein scandal, he has given in to the pressure. Here we have two devilish figures cooperating with one another to carry out yet more cruel wickedness. They rejoice in death! One hundred and sixty-five children were murdered in a primary school in Iran. For the second time they have disrupted diplomatic negotiations in order to start a war which is causing such slaughter across the Middle East and beyond. Who will ever trust the USA again?
Supporting the Violent
What was Keir Starmer’s response to the attacks? Was it to condemn the USA and Israel for acting illegally? To condemn the killing of children and innocent people? No, not at all. He attacked Iran and condemned her for “defending herself,” and sent planes and warships to that part of the world to support Trump. Is not the man’s hypocrisy proverbial? Support has also been given to the aggressors by Badenoch and Farage. The corrupt greed of the powerful wealthy is creating hell for the innocent. As Isaiah says: “Their feet run to evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are malicious thoughts, ruin and destruction are in their paths; they do not know the way of peace, there is no justice in their tracks; their ways are all crooked, and no one who walks in them knows peace.”
Shameful Silence
This is the ultimate consequence of our silence. By keeping quiet we have allowed Netanyahu and Israel and Trump to do as they please in the Middle East and across the world. Israel, with the support of our politicians, is committing genocide in Gaza, and has now bombed Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, sending its armed forces across the border to occupy part of that country. Through all of this the majority of us have been silent; silence which is interpreted as support by the oppressors. And to our great shame, many have been supporting this “shedding of innocent blood,” including a number who claim to follow Jesus. We can thank them for the fact that gas and oil prices have risen enormously already after the closing of the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, including the huge LNG tankers that import 20% of Britain’s needed gas through the port of Milford Haven.
The Warning of Jesus
Here is a quotation to remind you of Jesus’ attitude:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
