From Holy Land to ‘Unholy Land’
In the early 1980s, I spent a week in Israel. At the time, it truly felt like the “Holy Land.” I visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, Masada, the Dead Sea, and many other places rich with biblical and historical meaning. It was a deeply moving and spiritual experience that stayed with me for decades.
Today, however, I read daily headlines describing tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians killed, families erased, entire neighborhoods destroyed in Gaza, and continuing violence spreading across the region including Lebanon. Reports of suffering among civilians — men, women, and children alike — are heartbreaking and difficult to comprehend. The loss of human life and dignity on all sides should trouble the conscience of the world.
For me, the contrast between the land I visited years ago and what I see today is painful. A place once associated in my mind with faith, compassion, and sacred history now feels overshadowed by war, destruction, and human suffering. It has become, in my eyes, an “Unholy Land.”
The God I believe in would not rejoice in hatred, violence, or the suffering of innocent people. Whatever one’s politics or religion, surely our common humanity must matter more than endless cycles of vengeance and war.