There is a Way to Bring Peace to the Holy Land

AP Photo/Heidi Levine

OPEN LETTER to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Hamas Brigade Leader Mohammed Deif

You may recall the story from scripture of Abraham walking with the Lord toward Sodom-Gomorrah. The Lord is going there to see if the people are as evil as reported, and if so to destroy the city. As they walk, Abraham has the audacity to test the Lord’s compassion: 

“If you find 50 who are innocent, will you spare the city?”

“Yes,” says the Lord.

As they walk, Abraham continues to bargain. “If there are 45…40…35…?” To each number the Lord says, “Yes.” Abraham dares to go as low as 10, and he and the Lord leave it there. 

Today it is not the Lord, but you who decide which city will be destroyed or spared. Today it is not Abraham, but I and every peacemaker who speak for the innocent. Today the road we walk is not to Sodom-Gomorrah, but to Gaza where half the population (1 million) is children, and to Israel with 2 million children. I ask you:

How many children are you willing to kill in this war?  

What is the number past which you could no longer face your own child?

Is there an acre of land or a revenge worth the life of even one child?  

As of today, the number of Palestinian children killed in your war is 4,104. In the October 7 Hamas attack, 31 Israeli children were killed, and others remain endangered as hostages.

In the story, when the Lord arrived at Sodom-Gomorrah, he did not find even 10 innocent and destroyed the city. Whether you go to Gaza or Israel you will find 1,000,000 innocent⏤each with a name, a praying mother, and the right to a future.

There is a way to bring peace to the Holy Land⏤each of you refusing to kill one more of the enemy’s children.

 Peace,

Rev. Charles Busch, Founder

Fields of Peace