Christians mount prayer vigil for Israel
As the war between Israel and Palestine intensifies, some Christians took time out on Monday, October 7 to take part in a prayer stance at the Emancipation Park in Kingston to show their support for Israel against what they believe is a spiritual attack.
Chairman of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), Dr. Wayne West, was amon
g those who addressed the gathering. He told Freedom Come Rain that the group was praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for the Jewish hostages that were taken during the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. He documented the long-standing battle between Israel and the Palestinians, who he noted had stated clearly their intention to claim Israel as an Islamic state, although Israel had been promised to Abraham and his descendants.
“The reason why we cannot have peace in the Middle East is not because Israel doesn’t want to give up lands for peace; it is because Hamas and groups like Hamas and Iran wish to obliterate Israel,” he said.
Dr. West noted that the Israelis have made peace with Egypt and Jordan and were about to make peace with Saudi Arabia when the war started last year. Hamas, an Islamic militant group in Palestine, has been very resistant.
“Israel has shown that it is willing to negotiate for peace, but you can’t negotiate for peace with people who don’t want you to exist,” he insisted.
“This is a spiritual war. It is not a war about land; it is a war about who is God. So the church has to know that it’s either for Yahweh, his judgement, his justice, and covenant, or it is for Allah because the Muslims are saying [that] there must be no Jewish state there,” he said.
The war between Israel and Palestine and its supporters has intensified as clashes have expanded along the Israel/Lebanon border. Israel and Iran have also been trading missiles. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the Lebanese people they face falling “into the abyss of a long war” as his country escalates its attacks on Hezbollah, another Islamic militant group backing Hamas.
The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted on September 18 in favour of a resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months.
The nonbinding resolution also said thatIsrael should withdraw its military forces, halt the expansion of settlements, evacuate all settlers from occupied land, and demolish parts of a separation wall constructed inside the occupied West Bank.
Jamaica was among the 124 countries that voted in favour of the resolution.