Terrorism​—Who Are Affected?

Awake! has no involvement in politics. It takes a neutral position in this world’s political conflicts. However, in accordance with its purpose, it probes beneath the surface and points to the real meaning behind current events. For that reason, Awake! examines the deeper motives behind terrorism as experts in the field see them. We leave our readers to draw their own conclusions

“Today the streets of the world’s great cities, its airport tarmacs, and military bases are being turned into battlefields as small bands of terrorists and lone assassins seek to achieve political goals.”

“From 1973 to 1984 there were over 5,000 terrorist incidents recorded worldwide that took over 4,000 lives and wounded twice that many.”

“During the past fifteen years, diplomats from 113 countries have been targets of acts of terrorism occurring in 128 different nations.”​—Fighting Back—​Winning the War Against Terrorism.

ARE you affected by terrorism? Did you cancel or change any travel plans during 1986 because of the fear of terrorists? Terrorism is now either a subliminal or a conscious stress factor in the lives of many people today. As Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s minister of defense, wrote: “Fear of terrorism has become the normal way of life for many people all over the world.” It is very likely that you are helping to cover the costs imposed by terrorism. How so? A part of your taxes probably goes toward the higher costs of better security and increased preparedness that many governments are incurring because of the threat of terrorism.

Northern Ireland and the Middle East have been living with terrorism for decades. In recent years terrorism has left its mark on many European and Central and South American countries. And through television, radio, and the press, all of us have become acquainted with terrorist violence. It has almost become our daily fare. Terrorist bombs, murders, and kidnappings are so frequent that we have perhaps become callous. As a consequence, the abnormal seems normal, the unthinkable thinkable, and in some countries, such as Lebanon, the intolerable is tolerated.

Yes, terrorism is a fact of life​—part of the regular output of the media, who have converted terrorist leaders and groups into household names. Terrorism is now a worldwide scourge.​—See accompanying map.

What Is Terrorism?

It might seem simple to define a terrorist. But that depends on which side of the issue you find yourself. Are the subversives of El Salvador terrorists or a ‘people’s national liberation movement’? Are the contras of Nicaragua terrorists, or are they “freedom fighters”? Terrorism, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Political persuasion can distort a definition.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, offers this definition of terrorism: “The deliberate and systematic murder, maiming, and menacing of the innocent to inspire fear for political ends.” (Terrorism​—How the West Can Win) Sam Sarkesian of Loyola University, Chicago, defines it as “usually characterized by a variety of tactics, such as assassination, hijacking, kidnapping, sabotage, and the use of ‘innocent’ victims to affect a third party. Terrorism, in short, is the creation of fear in a population in order to force the existing system to respond to the terrorists’ demands and/​or objectives.”​—Hydra of Carnage.

On the other hand, Catholic professor of theology James Burtchaell writes: “Terrorism is the warfare of the desperate. . . . [It] is always the gesture of those who feel themselves at a disadvantage.”​—Fighting Back.

Whichever way you look at it, terrorism usually means violence and death for innocent people. As Jan Schreiber writes in his book The Ultimate Weapon: “Like an army, a terrorist gang operates in a dehumanized mode, making atrocity the stuff of daily life.”

Not a New Phenomenon

Although centuries old, terrorism as a form of political persuasion has especially been used in recent decades. Back in 1945, when it became evident that the British Labour government was not going to cede Palestine to the Jews, terrorist groups sprang up, including the “Irgun Zva’i Leumi (National Military Organization, called Etzel) and Lohamei Herut Yisrael (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) [also known as Lehi or the Stern gang]​—[who] engaged in acts of terrorism. On July 22, Etzel blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which housed the government administration, and about 100 Jews, Britons, and Arabs were killed.”​—The Jews in Their Land, by David Ben-Gurion.

Since the 1960’s, terrorism has gathered momentum, especially in relation to the problems of Israel, the Palestinian refugees, and the Arab states.

Terrorism is not confined to Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Spain has its Basque ETA terrorists; India is troubled by Sikh separatists; Sri Lanka has been torn with strife because of Tamil militants; Peru has the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) fighters. In the so-called democratic world, the list seems endless.

But why are the democratic countries so affected? And what really are the causes behind terrorism? Are terrorists simply oppressed groups seeking justice and redress? Or is there more to it? And is terrorism here to stay? The following articles will examine these and other questions.

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Some countries recently in the news because of terrorism

United Kingdom

N. Ireland

Germany

France

Spain

Italy

Turkey

Lebanon

Israel

Afghanistan

Bangladesh

India

Sri Lanka

Japan

S. Korea

Philippines

Angola

SW Africa

S. Africa

United States

El Salvador

Nicaragua

Panama

Venezuela

Colombia

Peru

Argentina

Terrorism​—What Is Behind It and Why?

“LONDON, April 17​—Machine-gun fire from the Libyan Embassy raked a crowd today during a protest against the Government of Muammar el-Qaddafi, killing a police officer and wounding 10 people.”​—The New York Times.

“In plain view, the gunmen inside fired from an open window, riddling the demonstrators with automatic gunfire . . . The unarmed policewoman was shot in the back. . . . Ten days after this barbaric incident, the British government provided the killers, along with their murder weapons, with safe passage out of the country.”​—Terrorism—​How the West Can Win.

As embassy staff, the gunmen were granted diplomatic immunity.

WHY do people and groups resort to terrorism? Who are the main targets? What does terrorism accomplish?

One point of view is that terrorism is a symptom that can indicate a variety of racial, social, and political injustices. Catholic priest and theologian James T. Burtchaell stated: “Some terrorism is perpetrated by an ethnic and/​or religious (and usually economic) minority that demands self-governance: Basques in Spain, Catholics in Ulster, Huks in the Philippines. . . . Some is undertaken by governments threatened by majority dissent . . . Some is the venture of a national minority that aspires to control the government.”

But is it just minority groups that resort to terrorism? Burtchaell continues: “Some terrorism is sponsored by governments to discredit, destabilize, and displace the government of another, uncooperative nation.”​—Fighting Back.

According to other commentators, the motives behind terrorism can be interpreted differently, depending on the observer’s political sympathies. Some argue that when injustices are committed and the people have no legal redress, terror becomes their only answer. Others see in terrorism a strategy against Western democracies, inspired and manipulated by the opposing political ideology. Let us examine some of the facts and opinions about this complex problem.

Why the Terror in Northern Ireland?

According to the writers of Northern Ireland​—The Divided Province, British Protestants, many from Scotland, were transplanted onto Irish Catholic soil over 350 years ago, which created a clash of cultures and later led to competition for jobs. That book states: “The Protestants of Northern Ireland mostly arrived during the 17th century in a process begun in 1607 and known as the ‘plantation’ of Ulster. This at last established firm English rule upon the whole island of Ireland.” This English rule has been the basis for bitterness and violence for centuries.

The Catholic Irish Free State (Eire) was formed in 1921, and the six mainly Protestant counties in the northeast were left as a separate entity, forming Northern Ireland. From the Irish nationalist viewpoint, this act dismembered Ireland. Ever since then, the illegal IRA (Irish Republican Army) has continued its fight to reunite Ireland​—which the Protestants strongly resist. Why? Because they refuse to come under what they perceive to be ‘Catholic Papist rule’ in Dublin.

The Protestant viewpoint is summed up in the words of The New York Times regarding the recent vote in Ireland to keep a ban on divorce, which was upheld by a 3 to 2 margin: “Politicians in Northern Ireland who oppose any ties with the republic were among the first to denounce the vote as a measure of the ‘stranglehold’ of the Roman Catholic Church on the Irish Republic.”

The IRA is presently divided into two factions​—the Officials and the Provisionals (Provos). According to professor of history Thomas E. Hachey, “the IRA Officials are committed to an all-Ireland, thirty-two-county socialist republic. . . . The Provos advocate a federal solution and a federal constitution for Ireland.” (The Rationalization of Terrorism) How seriously the latter feel about their aims was illustrated in 1984 when the Provos left a time bomb in a Brighton hotel, nearly killing British Prime Minister Thatcher and her cabinet.

In spite of religious, political, and ethnic factors, some questions remain: Are there any deeper motives behind terrorism? To what extent are the great powers involved?

The Motives Behind Terrorism

Most of the Arab terrorist groups justify their actions by pointing to the plight of the Palestinian refugees who lost their homeland, Palestine, when the nation of Israel was formed in 1948. Over the decades, feelings have run so high that now the Arab terrorists’ aim is not just a separate homeland but something more sinister to Jews​—the annihilation of Israel. How is this known?

The following quotation is taken from the “Open Letter” of Hizballah (“Party of God”), a Shi‘ite group operating in the Middle East.

“Our sons are now in a state of ever-escalating confrontation against these enemies [Israel, United States, France, and the (Lebanese) Phalange] until the following objectives are achieved:

“Israel’s final departure from Lebanon as a prelude to its final obliteration from existence and the liberation of venerable Jerusalem from the talons of occupation.”​—Hydra of Carnage.

On the other hand, many terrorist acts have been perpetrated by “martyrs” under the influence of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini and his philosophy, expressed in these words quoted from the book Sacred Rage: “The governments of the world should know that Islam cannot be defeated. Islam will be victorious in all the countries of the world, and Islam and the teachings of the Koran will prevail all over the world.”

This perspective leads to his further conclusion: “We have in reality, then, no choice but to destroy those systems of government that are corrupt in themselves . . . and to overthrow all treacherous, corrupt, oppressive and criminal regimes. This is the duty that all Muslims must fulfill.”

The driving force behind other terrorists is revolutionary socialism and the overthrow of capitalism. Writer Jan Schreiber states in his book The Ultimate Weapon​—Terrorists and World Order: “In general the capacity to exploit is equated with capitalism, and capitalism, whether or not tempered by democracy, is equated with fascism.” As a Japanese supporter of terrorism expressed it: “What we will never accept in this world is the fact, brought about by capitalism, of people exploiting other people. And this is our motive for being willing to fight.”

However, others see terrorists in a different light. Israeli ambassador Benjamin Netanyahu writes: “Terrorism is not an automatic result of anything. It is a choice, an evil choice.” He reasons: “The root cause of terrorism lies not in grievances but in a disposition toward unbridled violence. This can be traced to a world view which asserts that certain ideological and religious goals justify, indeed demand, the shedding of all moral inhibitions.”​—Terrorism—​How the West Can Win.

But why has our modern society suddenly become the victim of terrorism?

A Vulnerable Society

Neil Livingstone, a U.S. expert on terrorism, writes: “As our world has become ever more urban and complex, we have correspondingly become ever more vulnerable to the designs of small groups, or even single individuals, bent on disrupting the lives of or inflicting their will on, the majority.” Why is our society so vulnerable to terrorist activity? “Our slender lifelines of water, energy, transportation, communication, and sanitation are all at the mercy of sophisticated terrorists and saboteurs.”​—Hydra of Carnage.

Because of the fragility of our life-support systems, one terrorist can exercise the power of an army of ancient times. Livingstone adds: “As a result of technological advances . . . one man can command more killing technology than ever before. One individual in the age of technology is potentially the equal of an army [of the age] when the chief weapons of war were the sword, the bow, and the spear. This is one of the chief reasons why terrorists represent such a threat to the contemporary world.”

Another vulnerable point in modern society is the instant impact of news events. Television multiplies the power of terrorism. The terrorist wants international publicity for his cause​—and thanks to the media, he gets it!

Only about a century ago, it took days for news to travel around the world. Now news is instantaneous. In some cases the terrorist can actually see himself enacting his role on TV. Often he knows what the other side is doing while he continues to play his cards close to his chest. Jan Schreiber goes so far as to say that “the drive to seize public attention” has been “the most consistently successful terrorist ploy.”

But are there any other reasons why terrorism continues to prosper?

Terrorism and Two Opposing Ideologies

Offering no hope for the future, two consultants on terrorism write: “Terrorism will not disappear. Small, weak states have discovered that it can greatly increase their political clout, and plagued as they are by resource shortages, they are not likely to abandon terrorism as a political and military tool.” At the same time, they add, some major powers see advantages in waging surrogate warfare through terrorism. “Larger, stronger states, by contrast, have discovered that terrorist proxies can help them achieve their national objectives without the risk attendant to other forms of warfare.”​—Fighting Back.

If the stronger states have discovered that terrorism can help them achieve their aims, could this account for some, or a major part, of world terrorism? Jan Schreiber writes: “Disclosures in the mid-seventies confirmed what dispassionate observers had long known without proof; that the two dominant ideologies of the world had employed, and would likely continue to employ, all means, fair and foul, to confound their enemies and gain, or retain, supremacy.”

This clash of ideologies is implicit in a speech by Soviet leader Gorbachev when he said: “It must be crystal clear that international relations can be channeled toward normal cooperation only if the imperialists abandon their attempts to solve the historical argument between the two social systems by military means.”​—A Time for Peace.

Others also recognize this international “chess game” between the two major powers. For example, Robin Wright states in her book Sacred Rage: “Muslim militants also feel the United States has looked at the Middle East primarily as an area for rivalry with the Soviet Union, virtually ignoring the powerful local forces at play. In a bipolar world, the U.S. has not been sensitive to the frustrated calls for recognition of the emerging Third World.” Apparently, some smaller nations see themselves being used as pawns in the clash of ideologies.

Western experts view much of terrorism as another weapon being used to destabilize the capitalist system. Ambassador Robert B. Oakley, a U.S. expert on counterterrorism, stated: “Left unchallenged, the rise of terrorism will undermine the system of political, economic, and military relationships which the United States and its allies have come to rely upon to preserve, protect, and promote their national and mutual interests . . . During the years ahead, we must be prepared for continued serious threats from international terrorism . . . much of it supported or encouraged by a handful of ruthless governments.”

U.S. ambassador Robert M. Sayre expressed his opinion more directly: “Terrorism is politically motivated and is planned and organized. . . . Most of it is carried out by states and groups of Marxist-Leninist persuasion, and the Soviet Union and its Eastern-bloc partners lend support and comfort to them.”​—Department of State Bulletin.

Terrorism and Bible Prophecy

Why is the clash between the two great powers, with terrorism as a tool, of special interest to Bible students? Because of a significant prophecy found in the Bible book of Daniel, chapter 11. This prophecy describes an ongoing conflict between two great powers, “the king of the north” and “the king of the south.” “The king of the north” is identified as being atheistic, having rejected “the God of his fathers.” (Daniel 11:37) He magnifies himself and gives glory to the god of fortresses, or armaments. He acts effectively against fortified strongholds and establishes his world position. (Daniel 11:38, 39) Does “the king of the south” stand idle while his opponent expands?

The ominous prophecy states: “And in the time of the end the king of the south will engage with him in a pushing, and against him the king of the north will storm with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships; and he will certainly enter into the lands and flood over and pass through.” (Daniel 11:40) Logically, terrorism under its different guises is now being used by both kings in their struggle for world dominance.a Daniel’s words indicate that there will be competitive coexistence between the two leading world powers until God brings an end to their rivalry at his war of Armageddon.​—Revelation 16:14-16.

The questions remain: Can man alone end the scourge of terrorism? If so, how and when? If not, why not? Our next article will discuss these questions.

[Footnotes]

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The motives behind much of terrorism are related to Daniel’s prophecy regarding the time of the end

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Pacemaker Press Int’l, Belfast

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Modern terrorism has made effective use of the news media

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Reuters/​Bettmann Newsphotos

Terrorism​—What Is the Answer?

IF YOU travel by air at all, you have seen for yourself the effects of terrorism. Security checks are mandatory at nearly all international airports. Terrorism is costing governments and airlines a fortune in security measures. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, security cost the U.S. government some $65 million. How effective are these measures?

In some respects they are paying off. Over the last 20 years, in the United States alone, some 35,000 pistols or explosive devices have been found and 13,000 arrests made. (Department of State Bulletin) El Al, the Israeli airline, which has perhaps the strictest security check of all, has drastically cut down terrorist success in the air.

However, governments and agencies are really dealing with symptoms rather than causes. Their remedies do not get to the root cause for a disease that goes deep into modern society​—a disease based on hatred and selfishness. Injustices and inequalities abound and multiply​—whatever the prevailing ideology may be. Therefore, where can an answer be found? Can religion change hatred to love? Can politics bring unity out of disunity? Can the United Nations really unite the nations? Or is there some other answer?

Does Religion Have the Answer?

The terrorist situation that has prevailed in Northern Ireland since 1969 has taken over 2,000 lives, with more than 20,000 injured in a country of some 1.5 million. The antagonists profess to share the same Christian heritage, based on the premise that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Yet Catholic and Protestant terrorism continue. As John Hickey writes in Religion and the Northern Ireland Problem: “It is possible now . . . to accept danger or death as a consequence simply of being a Roman Catholic or a Protestant; to accept savage retaliation​—sectarian murders—​as the way of keeping Northern Ireland’s particular version of the ‘balance of terror.’”

The same writer also states: “Politics in [Northern Ireland] is not politics exploiting religion. . . . It is more a question of religion inspiring politics.” And if that is the case, it is the politics of mutual murder and revenge.

Most religions claim to teach love as a basic maxim. A high percentage of terrorists have a religious affiliation​—professed Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, or other. But how far does their religion influence their actions? In his book The Ultimate Weapon​—Terrorists and World Order, Jan Schreiber quotes IRA leader Ruairi O’Bradaigh: “I was with a very hard man once. We’d set up a mine together, to go off under a party of British soldiers. . . . Sure enough, they were right on target. And what did this hard fellow do? Just before making the connection, to explode the mine and blow them all to smithereens, he closed his eyes. Then he crossed himself and whispered devoutly: ‘May the Lord, now, have mercy on their souls!’”

Religion has not prevented right-wing Catholics in Spain from forming their own terrorist group, known as the Guerrilleros del Cristo Rey, or Guerrillas of Christ the King. According to the writers of The Terrorists, the Guerrilleros “owe their existence to religion as much as to politics.”

Should religion’s failure to stem terrorism surprise us? Professor C. E. Zoppo, of the University of California’s political science department, writes: “Organized religions in the West, when confronted with the uses of violence for political purposes, denied their religious enemies those moral rights that they promoted among their followers . . . and even permitted terrorism against the ‘infidels.’” He continues by citing the Holy Crusade in the time of Pope Urban II. He states: “The Crusade was expected to subdue Islam permanently and was considered a ‘war to end wars.’ Islam was regarded as the incarnation of all the forces of evil, so whereas killing an enemy Christian soldier would earn a Christian soldier forty days’ penance, killing Muslims became the ‘epitome of all penance.’”​—The Rationalization of Terrorism.

Other religions also attribute merit to the killing of an unbeliever, or infidel. They believe it is a passport to their heavenly paradise. Therefore, a terrorist’s religious faith can actually strengthen his motivation to murder and even to carry out suicide bombing.

Is There a Political Solution?

Political and military experts in the West have their answers for terrorism, even though not always united in their application of them. The policy of victim nations right now is to fight fire with fire. William Casey, director of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) states: “We cannot and will not abstain from forcible action to prevent, preempt, or respond to terrorist acts where conditions merit the use of force. Many countries, including the United States, have the specific forces and capabilities we need to carry out operations against terrorist groups.”​—Hydra of Carnage.

The United States raid on Libya in April 1986, in retaliation for a terrorist bomb explosion at a Berlin nightclub, illustrates that philosophy. But it also exacts an immediate price​—civilian casualties in Libya, viewed as unavoidable by U.S. authorities, and the loss of a U.S. plane with its crew. Terrorism and counterterrorism also have their hidden price​—prestige and credibility.

The politicians and militarists view these as normal sacrifices in this form of covert warfare. As Benjamin Netanyahu writes: “All citizens in a democracy threatened by terrorism must see themselves, in a certain sense, as soldiers in a common battle. They must not pressure their government to capitulate or to surrender to terrorism. . . . If we seriously want to win the war against terrorism, people must be prepared to endure sacrifice and even, should there be the loss of loved ones, immeasurable pain.”​—Terrorism—​How the West Can Win.

Then could the underlying causes of terrorism be removed by politics? Could injustices be righted and the situation defused? Not according to political commentators. Why not? Because, as we have seen in our previous article, they say that much of terrorism is just another tool in the clash between the two great political systems. Therefore, politics breeds terrorism.

As an example, French writer and journalist Jean-François Revel wrote: “In their manifestos and books, the terrorists describe their attacks on democracies as the ‘strategy of tension.’ The idea is that it is much easier to go from fascism to communism than from democracy to communism. The ‘revolutionaries’ must therefore first push the democratic governments toward a fascist pattern of behavior so as to build, in the second phase, socialism on the ashes of fascism.” Thus, in some countries terrorists will deliberately murder military officers in order to provoke a right-wing military coup.

Can the UN Stem the Tide?

Political scientist C. E. Zoppo explained the quandary that the UN finds itself in: “It is not surprising . . . that the United Nations has not been able to reach any agreement on what constitutes international terrorism or on what would be appropriate responses by the member states.” It should not be surprising to anyone when we realize that the UN is an international arena in which the major powers, like fighting elks, lock their horns in battle and become immobilized by semantics.

Another factor is that in the UN the democratic victim-nations of terrorism find themselves in a minority. As Zoppo illustrated: “A U.N. General Assembly resolution on international terrorism . . . while ‘deeply perturbed over acts of international terrorism,’ reaffirmed ‘the inalienable right to self-determination and independence of all peoples under colonial and racist regimes and other forms of alien domination.’” This same resolution condemned “the continuation of repressive and terrorist acts by colonial, racist, and alien regimes in denying peoples their legitimate right to self-determination and independence.”

Thus, according to Zoppo, the UN has approved a double standard on terrorism. He continues: “Implicitly, terrorism is condoned when it is a means to national self-determination and condemned when it is state terror to prevent independence. Newly established nations, having used terrorism themselves as a tool for liberation, find condemning it in others awkward.” (The Rationalization of Terrorism) Therefore, as an effective instrument against terrorism, the UN is stymied. Morality does not prevail because, as Zoppo concludes, “politics basically defines what is moral.” In the meantime, the innocent victims of terrorism suffer and die.

A Brotherhood Without Terror

Jan Schreiber explains the dilemma the nations face: “The disconcerting fact is that those countries wishing to eliminate terrorism from the world​—and they do not appear to be in a majority—​are forced to content themselves with halfway measures. Either the standard punishments do not impress terrorists dedicated to making sacrifices for the sake of an ideology, or they call forth a violent response from those still able to fight.”​—The Ultimate Weapon—​Terrorists and World Order.

In his analysis of the problem, Professor Zoppo concludes: “Hardly a modern nation was born without terror.” That would seem to indicate that terror is an unavoidable ingredient of the political process. Yet we can affirm that there is one “nation” that has been formed without terror or violence​—or political intervention. It is a nation numbering over three million, of peoples from all over the world, drawn from different cultures, languages, and religions. Who are they? The people who call on you with this magazine​—Jehovah’s Witnesses.

They are more than an international association of people. They are a supranational brotherhood, who now share a common belief and God-given hope. They are spreading their influence worldwide, not by terrorism, but by peaceable Bible education. In virtually every nation of the earth, they are recommending God’s Kingdom government by Christ as the only solution to mankind’s problems.​—Matthew 6:9, 10.

Yes, Jehovah’s Witnesses have risen above divisive politics and nationalism, which result in wars and terrorism. They now form a people living in genuine peace, and they are preparing for the time, very soon, when the earth will be ruled only by God’s Kingdom. That will not be brought about by world conversion but by a world cleansing at God’s war of Armageddon.​—Matthew 24:37-39; Revelation 16:14, 16.

Then, true peace and everlasting life will be the portion of the meek of the earth. (Titus 1:2; Revelation 21:3, 4) If you would like to know more about this Kingdom, where terrorism will be no more, please feel free to contact Jehovah’s Witnesses in your community or write to the publishers of this magazine in your country.

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Over the last 20 years, in the United States alone, some 35,000 pistols or explosive devices have been found and 13,000 arrests made.​—Department of State Bulletin

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“Just before making the connection, to explode the mine and blow them all to smithereens, he closed his eyes. Then he crossed himself and whispered devoutly: ‘May the Lord, now, have mercy on their souls!’”

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God’s Kingdom by Christ Jesus Will Remove Terrorism

Terrorism is said to be the warfare of the desperate who feel themselves at a disadvantage. Under God’s Kingdom no one need feel at a disadvantage, as can be seen in the following prophecies pertaining to rule by Christ Jesus:

“O God, give your own judicial decisions to the king, and your righteousness to the son of the king. May he plead the cause of your people with righteousness and of your afflicted ones with judicial decision. Let him judge the afflicted ones of the people, let him save the sons of the poor one, and let him crush the defrauder. For he will deliver the poor one crying for help, also the afflicted one and whoever has no helper. He will feel sorry for the lowly one and the poor one, and the souls of the poor ones he will save. From oppression and from violence he will redeem their soul, and their blood will be precious in his eyes.”​—Psalm 72:1, 2, 4, 12-14.