World News and Trends: Can Gaza stay quiet?

1 minute read time

Arab militants in the Gaza Strip, located on Israel's southwestern border, have again been striking at the Jewish state, spurring Israeli retaliation.

Arab militants in the Gaza Strip, located on Israel's southwestern border, have again been striking at the Jewish state, spurring Israeli retaliation.

This poses a threat to the position of Gaza's Hamas rulers, so they indicated on April 2 that "they were trying to keep attacks on Israel in check, in an apparent attempt to keep a recent spate of violence from spiraling into open conflict" (Rizek Abdel Jawad, "Hamas Tries to Keep Attacks on Israel in Check," Associated Press, April 2, 2010).

Both Israel and the Hamas governments would benefit by maintaining the peace. Israel's southern communities would benefit since they live so close to the border where terrorists have lobbed their rockets. The Hamas government would benefit since 80 percent of the population relies on United Nations food handouts to survive.

Israel holds Hamas accountable for maintaining peace in the Gaza Strip. Yet will they really be able to keep cool many hot-headed extremists who ache for an all-out war with Israel—especially when they are extremists themselves? (Source: Associated Press.)

Course Content

Jerold Aust

Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.  

Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978).  Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps.  Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!

John Ross Schroeder

John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.

Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.

John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.

In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.

John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.