“As Jesus came near and saw the city of Jerusalem, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes'” (Luke 19:41,42).

Safe back at home in Indiana, getting over jet lag from being in Jerusalem, I awaken this Saturday/Shabbat morning to news of rockets raining down on parts of Israel. I grieve every Israeli injured or killed. I grieve every Palestinian injured or killed.

The image in this photo comes to mind. So recently I was on the Mount of Olives, in the Dominus Flevit (“The Lord wept”) chapel at the traditional spot where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Through this window, across Kidron valley, the Dome of the Rock glistens today on Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the “Noble Sanctuary,” known to Jews as the “Temple Mount”). In Jesus’ day the Temple probably stood exactly where the golden dome is now. To the right of the golden dome are the two small grey domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which encompasses both Golgotha and the empty tomb.

Here on the Mount of Olives Jesus wept–but he did more than shed tears. He went on to confront injustice in the Temple courts and challenge religious and political leaders of Jerusalem. He died for that boldness. God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead and entrusting us, Jesus’ followers, with the Good News of a just Kingdom.

I give zero support to the Palestinian attack on Israel. It is wrong, and will be counterproductive. But this violent response has been endlessly provoked. During countless interactions with Palestinians over the last year, I never once heard hatred for Jews or hatred for Israel. But I did hear the pain of Palestinians seeing their homeland gradually and systematically devoured by Israelis. I saw the routine and devastating humiliation that Palestinians in occupied territory endure daily. I saw young Palestinians leave their homeland because Israel has destroyed their economic and political future.

Wake up, fellow Americans, especially those who believe that systematic abuse and destruction of a people is an acceptable part of some End-Times divine plan. Read the book of Galatians again. Do not mistake the current war as a struggle between equal parties. Israel is a nuclear power with a world-class air force and exponential military superiority. (During the 2014 war between Gaza and Israel, 2,251 Palestinians were killed and 71 Israelis died.) Today Israel is Goliath.

Don’t turn against Israel, but support Palestinians and insist that Israel treat indigenous people of the Holy Land fairly and with dignity. Seventy-five years of dispossession and humiliation is too much. The “things that make for peace” are to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8).