I’m not the first to marvel at Gordon Pettie’s ability to find the time to write books, with all the dozens of hours’ research such endeavour employs – while at the same time serving as one of the frontrunners of Revelation TV, with the massive volume of planning, organisation, programme research and presenting involved with that mammoth operation.

Credentials

But here he is, with his tenth book to date, no less. Israel, Gaza and Hamas is a thoroughly topical study on the historical, background sequence of events that has led to the current war between Israel and Hamas.

Gordon is in a good place to write such a record: Revelation TV has focused much over the years on Israel and its place in God’s timeline, and on the Jewish people, their place in history and in biblical teaching – particularly through the excellent, long-running Middle East Report, hosted by the well-informed Simon Barratt.

The book is thoughtfully structured and well-written, with a flow of narrative that makes it not only easy to read, but quite compelling. It also avoids repetition and offers many quotes from key sources.

Antisemitism

The study begins with a definition of terms – ‘Palestine’; ‘Palestinians’, ‘Israel’; ‘’antisemitism’ - before going on to provide a potted history of antisemitism by the Church – yes, the Church - through the ages.

Hamas' charter charter ... sets out the group’s ideology ‘in 36 separate articles, all of which promote the Hamas goal of destroying Israel through Jihad, Islamic holy war, as well as the murder of every Jew in the world.

In a chapter entitled, ‘7th October 2023’, Gordon gives vivid and gruesome details of some of atrocities committed by Hamas against ordinary Israelis on that date; going on to outline the anti-Israel marches and protests engaged in by countless thousands throughout Britain over subsequent months, with overtly antisemitic slogans and outcries, on UK streets, at university campuses, and so on.

The author concludes that the blatant antisemitism displayed on our streets today ‘is only a copy of how Christians have acted towards Jews ever since the time of Christ’ (p39).

Hamas

Gordon then turns to a 3-chapter analysis of Hamas:

1. Outlining the lead-up to the group’s official beginnings in December 1987, and detailing their regular attitude towards women and towards children.
2. A study of Hamas’s founding document – its charter; which sets out the group’s ideology ‘in 36 separate articles, all of which promote the Hamas goal of destroying Israel through Jihad, Islamic holy war, as well as the murder of every Jew in the world’ (p92).
3. Some startling, detailed information about the sharp contrast between the poverty in which 80% of Gazans traditionally lived well prior to Oct 7th, and the millions of dollars poured into Gaza annually in international aid. Much of this goes directly into the bank accounts of Hamas leaders, who live in luxury in other Middle East states. Hamas, indeed, Gordon informs us, ‘is the second wealthiest terrorist organisation in the world’ (after ISIS) (p98).

Gaza and UNWRA

Gordon follows this with a 3-chapter focus on Gaza; providing an informative history of the territory from biblical times – including a brief period in the 11th century when Gaza ‘became Christian’, and right up to the present day. Included is a discussion of the past two decades, when Israel handed over control of the strip to the Palestinians, who subsequently voted to be ruled by Hamas, a decision that many may since have had cause for regret, for in the years since then, ‘the people of Gaza have struggled to survive’ (p149).

UNHCR employs 18,800 staff; UNWRA apparently requires 30,000, and six times the budget!

Gordon’s two-chapter survey of the United Nation’s involvement in Israel is illuminating. He questions why, when a special UN High Commission for Refugees was set up in 1951 to care for the world’s 10 million+ refugees, a separate body, UNRWA, was required to care for 700,000 Palestinian refugees. UNHCR employs 18,800 staff; UNWRA apparently requires 30,000, and six times the budget! We’re told that ‘by UNWRA distributing the educational materials they have produced, all children of school age who live in Gaza and the West Bank are being trained in the way of terrorism, suicide bombers …and to have a hatred of the Jewish people’ (p179).

Creation of Israel

The author has clearly done a significant amount of historical research in penning this study (he includes a selected bibliography at the close). This comes over notably in some of the chapters towards the close of the book, where Gordon offers fascinating detail on:

• the process leading up to the creation of modern Israel (though no mention here of San Remo);
• the seldom-told tragic story of the ethnic cleansing of Jews right across the Arab world following the creation of Israel;
• the war declared on Israel by surrounding Arab nations following the establishment of their fledgling state.

Omission

Israel, Gaza and Hamas is thoroughly researched, and necessarily detailed in places. It’s important to note, however, that it offers a purely pro-Israel representation of events, to the extent that no mention is made of any wrongdoing or mistake on behalf of Israel over the 65 years of its existence.

A great many Arabs were forcibly evicted from their homes and forced to flee by Israeli forces.

I’m sure this was done to deliberately counter the anti-Israel bias of the media and entities like the UN (a whole chapter is devoted to the anti-Israel bias of the BBC). But some may be surprised, for example, that no explicit mention is made of Israel’s ongoing operation in Gaza over the past nine months, in attempt to extinguish Hamas.

When discussing the 700,000 Arabs who fled Israel when it was attacked by neighbouring nations in 1948, we’re told they fled on instruction from Arab authorities. And indeed, many did - but that’s not the whole truth. A great many Arabs were forcibly evicted from their homes and forced to flee by Israeli forces.¹

Summary

Despite this, there is much in this book to commend it. Prophecy Today has published much on Israel affairs over the years. So, while I was familiar with a lot of the information presented in this study, there was much that was new to me; that surprised me; that shocked me. I found it a truly insightful read.

It is for this reason that, complete with colour photos, helpful maps and a detailed index, I heartily recommend, Israel, Gaza and Hamas to anyone wishing a clearer historical and biblical understanding of the issues concerned.

Endnote
1. Official IDF and Haganah archives released in the 1990s, along with other official Israeli documentation, reveals that there were many instances of ‘Jewish atrocities… Pillage was almost de rigueur, rape was not infrequent, the execution of prisoners of war was fairly routine during the months before May 1948 (the country was under British administration), and small- and medium-scale massacres of Arabs occurred during April, May, July and October to November’. Altogether, there are over two dozen documented cases. (Benny Morris, ‘The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited’, quoted in The Guardian 14 Jan 2004).

Israel, Gaza and Hamas is published by Revelation Foundation and is available for a donation of £20 or more to Revelation TV. (Office no. 208 9721400).