Kudos to Israeli PM Olmert

The outgoing Israeli Prime Minister called some Israeli settler actions recently a pogrom. Pretty strong language.

Article here.

I remember when a Jewish scholar gave a talk at Rhodes College (when I was a student in the early 1990s). He compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to German treatment of the Jews. It created huge amounts of controversy.

In Sunday's sermon I talked about the courage it takes to stand by your convictions when lots of people hate you for it. And when your convictions are right and the world is wrong - you end up changing the world in a positive way. This willingness to stand up and call a pogrom a pogrom has the potential to do just that.

It reminds me a lot of Jesus standing up to both the Romans and his fellow Jews and saying (not a real quote, but I think it captures the essence) "You guys are both missing the point. It's not all about being right. It's about being good. It's about grace and love and forgiveness. These things are 'right'. You can have all your beliefs and practices exactly right, but if you don't have love, you are empty." Wow!!!

Thanks to PM Olmert for his courage. May God bless you and keep you safe. Perhaps your willingness to do this will encourage more peace loving people from the Arab side to stand up for Israel. Perhaps your courage will inspire more Christians (like me) to be more forthright when people from my faith are doing terrible things in the name of God.