Green councillor who praised Oct 7 attacks lands cabinet role
A British Green Party councillor who praised the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel has been appointed to a cabinet role overseeing children and families in Birmingham, marking a disturbing normalization of terrorism in local governance.
Isaiah 5:20
Direct Principle“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
Why this passage
In its original context, Isaiah pronounces judgment on Judah's leaders and people who have inverted God's moral order—calling what God condemns (injustice, idolatry, oppression) acceptable, and rejecting what He commands. The verse is a direct moral principle: God's standard of good and evil is fixed, and those who reverse it invite His woe.
This principle applies universally across all ages. When a governing body elevates someone who publicly praised a terrorist massacre—an act Scripture consistently condemns as murder (Exodus 20:13)—to a position of authority over children, it is a textbook case of calling evil good.
Behold, the prophet Isaiah declared, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20). This appointment—placing one who celebrated the murder of innocents into a role charged with protecting children—is a stark fulfillment of that ancient warning.
The world's moral compass spins wildly when those who justify slaughter are entrusted with the vulnerable. Take heed, O reader: such inversions are not merely political scandals but signs that the age's darkness deepens, calling the faithful to stand firm on God's unchanging standard of righteousness.
Today's Prayer
Pray that the Lord would expose and overturn this moral inversion, and that His people would be bold witnesses for truth and justice in a generation that calls evil good.
Further Scripture
Additional passages that illuminate this event, each grounded in a distinct interpretive lens.
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Why this passage
This proverb from Solomon's wisdom literature states a timeless principle: a nation's moral character—its embrace of righteousness or sin—determines its honor or shame before God. The verse does not promise immediate earthly consequences but declares the spiritual reality that sin brings reproach.
The appointment of a terrorist-sympathizer to a cabinet role is a public act of sin by the governing body, bringing reproach upon the city and nation that permits it.
How it applies
Birmingham's coalition has chosen to exalt sin over righteousness by placing a man who celebrated mass murder into a position of trust over families. This decision brings reproach not only upon the council but upon the broader society that tolerates such moral confusion.
Scripture warns that such choices degrade a nation's standing before God, regardless of political expediency or coalition arithmetic.
“Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
Why this passage
Amos calls Israel to active moral discernment: hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gates (the place of legal and civic decision-making). The verse assumes that leaders have a duty to distinguish between good and evil and to administer justice accordingly.
When those who hate good and love evil are placed in the gates, the opposite of justice is established. This principle directly judges the appointment of a terrorist-sympathizer to a cabinet role.
How it applies
The appointment of Kamel Hawwash to a cabinet position is the antithesis of what Amos commands. Instead of hating evil and loving good, the council has embraced one who loves evil (praising murder) and placed him in the gate of civic authority over children and families.
This is a failure to establish justice, and it invites the Lord's judgment rather than His grace upon the city.
Related by Scripture
Other events we've interpreted through the same passage or hermeneutical lens.
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Moral DeclineShares Isaiah 5:20
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Source: David Olaseinde; Fran Wolfisz— we link to the original for full context.