Likewise, he said he realized that the “love” he felt for Palestine was nothing more than a visceral hatred for Israel. “We were sinners (as all people are sinners), eager to point out the sins of others,” he commented. For him, Hamas is a group consumed by that visceral hatred.
Simonson emphasized that Hamas is motivated by antisemitism and that a Catholic cannot and should never support that group. “Could it have been that that common hatred for an ‘enemy,’ felt throughout so much of the world, had helped to invigorate Hamas?” he asked.
He also fears that this feeling drove the terrorist group to commit a wanton massacre on Oct.7 because they felt protected by the supposed hatred that millions feel against the Jews. “Can any of us honestly say that what we hold in our hearts doesn’t carry weight?” he questioned.
For Simonson, Hamas‘ propaganda efforts do great harm to the Palestinian people, who end up paying the price of the war with their innocent blood. “Thousands of Palestinian civilians have already been killed in the crossfire in the Gaza conflict. The list of those killed in the crossfire has grown, on and on, for 75 years,” he stated.
The former Muslim believes that it’s time to learn to distinguish between love and hate to prevent more people from continuing to lose their lives. “How many of those Palestinian civilians, trapped in Gaza, were already fed up with conflict before the Oct. 7 attacks occurred?” he pointed out.
“And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet … this is but the beginning of the sufferings” (Mk 13: 7-8).
Simonson recalled the above words of Jesus Christ, which “are still proving themselves true today,” and which were spoken decades before the destruction of Solomon’s Temple at the hands of the Romans.
“He knew, decades beforehand, what the tactics of the Zealots would lead to. He understood the futility of force, the power of love, and that truth must continue to navigate through the dark realities that our deceptions have constructed for a very long time to come,” Simonson said.
For the convert, if these words of Jesus Christ are still valid today, his promise of the kingdom of God is also valid, which will come despite “wars and rumors of wars.”
“That is the hope that was passed on to us from generations past, and to be carried on by future generations, until the day on which the King returns at the end of time. And so long as any of us still has breath,” he added, “we still have time to learn what it is to forgive, to prepare a world more fitting for his return.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Andrés Henríquez is a Venezuelan writer specializing in religion and politics with more than five years of experience in bilingual media. He is a member of the Regnum Christi Federation.
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From hatred to love: Christmas reflections of a Muslim convert to Catholicism - Catholic News Agency
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