This Sunday’s first reading, taken from the tumultuous time of the exodus, features a ruthless war waged between the desert trekking Jews and the aggressive Amalekites. It’s not a pretty scene, as “Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” The long-suffering Syrian city of Aleppo is not a pretty scene these days either, as the city, besieged since early September, has become the focus of an intense aerial bombardment campaign by Russian and Syrian fighter jets.

“The principle that hospitals and army medical personnel are not a legitimate target in war . . . is in ruins . . . with the bombing of hospitals by the Russians in Syria, the Saudis in Yemen, and the Americans in Afghanistan.”

So far this year, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), 21 of their supported medical facilities in Yemen and Syria have been attacked.