A Rare History Lesson: The Truth About Israel and Palestine

02/03/2011

Originally published by Communities @ Washington Times

SAN DIEGO — February 3, 2011 — The verbal battle over American Egyptian policy goes back and forth. Yes, President Mubarak has ruled as a ruthless dictator. Yes, the idea of overthrowing this man and replacing his rule with an honest democracy sounds pleasant, but when the fine hand of Muslim Brotherhood appears to be pulling the marionette strings, one asks if Egypt’s potential revolution will simply pull people out of the frying pan and into the fire. The Muslim Brotherhood, for example, is not particularly shy about its goal of liquidating Jewish inhabitants in the Holy Land.

?There has been no love lost between Israel and Egypt over the years and Egypt probably never would have agreed to the current peace treaty if not for an eagerness to regain control over the Sinai, taken by Israel after Egypt attempted to wipe Israel off the face of the map back in the Six Day War. Still, for whatever reasons, Egypt, under its present form of government, is at least (technically) at peace with Israel. This will change immediately under the Muslim Brotherhood. Although few Americans would believe (or admit even if they did believe) that Israel should be destroyed, far too many are willing nevertheless to throw a good deal of the blame Israel’s direction as a result of her “illegal occupation of Palestine.”

There are few subjects laced with more historical revision than the subject of the Middle East. For a tragic example, one need look no further than Former President, Jimmy Carter insisting that Jews should have peace talks even with the terrorist group, Hamas.

And who could forget Washington correspondent Helen Thomas’ call for the Jews to “get the h— out of Palestine”? True, she apologized out of fear for her job. Then, after losing her job anyway, she admitted that the statement leaves her with no moral regrets.

Speaking to Scott Spears on local Ohio station WNRN 1490AM, October 18, 2010, Thomas said, “I had to [apologize] because everyone was so upset. I hit the third rail. You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive.”

When Spears asked why she made the comment in the first place, Thomas said, “Because it’s the truth. The Israelis, they’re very aggressive. They have refused to enforce or go along with some 65 UN resolutions.”

One might be tempted to comment on the utter ignorance of a prestigious journalist, but such a comment would garner fierce resistance from many sincere, misled people. Unfortunately, we have reached a point where one cannot defend Israel anymore without sounding as if he is supporting some imperial aggressor, even though Israel is a tiny country smaller than the state of New Jersey. And yet, despite this size, Israel seems to be the concern of countries all over the world, regardless of which hemisphere they inhabit or which ocean they border. And so, in order to defend Israel more accurately, this writer will challenge the mythology by answering some commonly asked questions.

“Do the Jews even have a right to be in the Middle East at all? Wasn’t there a group of indigenous people called the Palestinians, living there since the beginning of measured history? Didn’t Jews arrive after World War Two and conquer land that did not belong to them?”

This is utterly and completely false! The Jews lived in that land since the time of Moses and despite some upsets from the Assyrians and Babylonians, remained in the land for some two thousand years until the Romans displaced them. Prince Titus destroyed the temple in 70 AD. Then in the second century, Emperor Hadrian crushed a new Jewish rebellion. This time, many of the Jews were banished and others were made slaves of the Romans. A small number of Jews did stay in the land and remained there right up through the twentieth century. However, the name of the land at this time was changed because Hadrian wanted to destroy Jewish identity. He renamed the land “Syria-Palestinian.” Palestine was a Latin version of the word Philistine, an ancient enemy of the Jews who were now extinct as a people. Hadrian was deliberately insulting the Jews. There has never been a country called Palestine. This was a nickname for the Holy Land under the Romans. The people who today call themselves Palestinians are Arabs and they referred to themselves as Arabs for centuries until they were dubbed “Palestinians” as a publicity ploy by the terrorist and founder of the PLO, Yassir Arafat, who himself did not use the title “Palestinian” until after the year 1964.

“Even if this is true, well then, OK. These Arabs lived in the land for centuries.”

In ancient times Arabs could be found in many places but they did not occupy the Holy Land in any significant number until after the time of Mohammad and the spread of Islam. Muslims conquered the land from the Byzantine Church (remnants of the converted, Roman Empire) Through the years, with Crusades and other wars, the land switched ownership back and forth between the Catholic Church and the Muslims. Eventually it fell into the hands of another Muslim empire, the Ottomans. After defeating the Ottomans in World War One, the Middle East found itself under the domain of Great Britain.

Even though the Middle East became a prize of the British Empire, England had neither the desire nor ability to run that region of the world forever. For this reason, they began working to create a series of new states in which the Arabs (who had helped them defeat the Ottoman Empire) could administer their own affairs. Although the term “Arabia” was already a general description for a large part of this area, many of the Middle East countries we know of today did not officially become independent nations until the British occupation and subsequent withdrawal from this turbulent region of the world.

While working to create new, multiple states, Great Britain (with the cooperation of the League of Nations, an early proto-type of the United Nations) decided they would also offer an opportunity for Jews all over the world to return to their homeland. This invitation was called the Balfour Declaration. Needless to say, grateful Jews responded with terrific enthusiasm. Indeed, many children of Abraham did migrate from Russia, Western Europe, and other corners of the globe where they had lived for some two thousand years in ghettos at the mercy of pogroms or harsh policies of Ant-Semitic governments. A homeland of their own had been a hopeful vision to the Jews for two millennia. The most familiar Jewish toast (common at Passover celebrations) said “Next year in Jerusalem.” But few thought they were reciting much more than a pipe dream. Now they could really, truly return to Jerusalem! Just imagine how this must have felt! The Jews were going to sojourn to a country of their own, and not just any country; the very land of their ancestors, a land where a remnant of Jews had remained since ancient times, living side by side with Muslims and Christians who also had interests in Palestine and who viewed it as their Holy Land too.

“What exactly was offered to the Hebrew immigrants by the League of Nations?”

Everything we would today call Israel, everything we would today call Jordan and most of what we would today call “the occupied territories.”

When the Jews arrived, many of them purchased land from Arab lords. In time, a terrain that had been little more than a desolate, flee bitten combination of swamp and desert, swiftly turned green with farmland and transplanted trees. The economy also boomed, transforming this area in such an amazing way, that the term metamorphoses barely does justice. New jobs were created, resulting in an influx of Arabs from other regions who now saw Palestine as a land of opportunity and employment made possible by Jewish farmers and businessmen recently arrived from Europe.

“What was the proportion of Arab and Jew in Palestine prior to the Balfour Declaration? ”

More Arabs than Jews inhabited the land at this time (resulting from previous Muslim expansion) but the truth is, there was really only a handful of each people group, because again, the swamp like conditions limited the kind of life one could realistically enjoy in the Holy Land. The famous author, Mark Twain wrote as much after his own personal visit. He was surprised how desolate the Holy Land looked, how little was going on there and how few people inhabited the area.

All of this changed when the League of Nations invited Jews to resettle their ancient home. Ironically, it was after Jewish business created a surplus of jobs that Arabs flooded into the territory in mass, creating a situation where the Arabsgreatly outnumbered the Jews.

In paradoxical fashion, the British, after inviting the Jews to return, sold over 75 percent of Palestine to the Arabs, creating a new country called, Trans-Jordan. This is an extremely important and seldom taught fact. Please catch this: 75 percent of what had been offered to the Jews was sold behind their backs to the Arabs instead! Not only were the Arabs offered a “separate Palestinian state,” long ago, but they have been living in one since the early part of the Twentieth Century. It’s called Jordan, a country three times the size of what remained for the Jews.

The Jews accepted this betrayal, only because they had no choice. After, all a sliver of the promise was better than no land at all.

But the Arabs didn’t want the Jews to have even a sliver and fresh controversy broke out over what to do with the remaining 25 percent.

To appease the Arabs, the United Nations voted to divvy up the remaining 25 percent between the Jews and the Arabs. The Jews accepted this partition. The Arabs did not.

After the partition vote from the United Nations, Israel declared its Independence on May 14, 1948. One day later, five Arab armies invaded Israel from Egypt, Tran Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

Important Note: This war had nothing to do with allowing a two state solution. Indeed, the Arabs waged war because they were rejecting a two state solution. Their stated goal was the complete extermination of Israel!

From Abid Saud King of Saudi Arabia 1947:

“ There are fifty million Arabs. What does it matter if we lose ten million people to kill all of the Jews. The price is worth it.”

From Azam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arabs League 1947:

“This will be a war of extermination and momentous massacre, which will be spoken of like the Mongolian Massacres.”

From Haj Amin El Hussein Mufti of Jerusalem 1947

“ I declare a holy war my Moslem brothers. Murder the Jews! Murder them all!”

Jews pleaded with Palestinian Arabs to remain in their homes. Although many of the Arabs did flee or join the invading armies, a considerable portion of Arabs remained in Israel. This interesting fact is seldom discussed. About 300,000 Arabs fled Israel and about 160,000 remained. Today Israel still contains a vital Arab population and these Arabs have more rights in Israel than any other Arab in any Arab country! In fact, shortly before Yassir Arafat’s death, when there was talk (once again) under the Bush administration, of a “separate Palestinian state” the Arab citizens in Israel were asked if they wanted to move, renouncing their Israeli citizenship, and live in the Palestine sector. Guess what they decided! Some of them probably fell on the floor laughing before saying to the Israeli government, “Oh, I’m sorry. You were serious.”

In 1948, when Israel beat the odds and defeated five invading nations, the problem of refugees came up. We always hear about the Arab refugees from Israel. But they were not the only refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were kicked out of Arab lands too. All of the Jewish refugees were welcomed into Israel where as Arabs who wanted to resettle in Arab countries were (for the most part) denied admission. Jordan was an exception but even in Jordan most of the refugees were confined to camps. They lived in that condition all the way up to 1967, when Israel annexed Jordan’s West Bank. Prior to 1967 there was no significant ongoing discussion amongst the countries of the world regarding Jordan’s treatment of the “poor Palestinians.”

On December 11, 1948, the United Nations drafted and ratified Resolution 194. This was a call for the Arab states and Israel to resolve the refugee/resettlement issues but the condition was that all returning citizens would agree to live in peace. Receiving no such guarantee from the Arabs, Israel decided to postpone repatriation until her neighbors would recognize her right to exist.

In 1967, 9 different nations (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq), declared war on Israel and promised to exterminate every Jew.

“Egypt is ready to plunge into a total war that will be the end of Israel” (Radio Cairo, May 17, 1967).

Surprising the world with a preemptive strike, Israel defeated the Arabs in just six days. At that time, their territory was expanded to the West Bank, The Golan Heights, The Gaza Strip, the Sinai, and the remainder of Jerusalem (half of which had been taken over by Jordan after the 1947 war.) This territory is frequently referred to as a part of Israel’s “illegal occupation.” I tend to hate that term and I argue against it for the following reasons:

1) When we think of occupying countries, what usually comes to mind is an aggressive empire seeking to conquer and expand, not a tiny little nation that expanded its borders only as a means of survival, to prevent her untrustworthy neighbors from attacking again.

2) Most of this land had been legally offered to Israel in the Balfour Declaration anyway, before Great Britain sold it behind Israel’s back.

3) Historically, the land had been the home of the Jews for literally thousands of years.

4) The United Nations has become so corrupt, I no longer accept their standard as to what is legal or illegal.

This is not to say that Israel has not given back land or made peace treaties. The Sinai has been returned and other territories have been slowly transferred to the Palestinian authorites. But, when two nations make a peace treaty, there is supposed to be give and take on both sides. Israel’s deal (brokered by the U.S) always goes like this. “You give the Palestinians back some land and here is what they will do: They’ll promise to stop killing you.” That’s the deal. Then, shortly after the deal, the promise is broken and missiles are fired into Israel from Gaza (where the Palestinians were finally offered their own autonomous rule) or a suicide bomber kills women and children on a bus.

Let me be as straight with my readers as I possibly can. Nothing Israel does, no gesture, no concession, no discussion, will make a hill of beans of difference. They can sign a peace treaty. They can jump on board for a two state solution. It doesn’t matter. Hezbolah wants Israel dead. Al-Qaeda wants Israel dead. Hamas wants Israel dead. Muslim Brotherhood wants Israel dead. But it isn’t limited to the terrorist groups. Palestine itself wants Israel dead. The surrounding Arab nations want Israel dead. The Persian nation of Iran wants Israel dead.

My advice to Israel: Just do what you have to do. Do what you need to do. Do what is right. The world will hate you no matter what action you take and the Arabs will try to kill you no matter how much flowery talk you participate in with our State Department. You may as well just do what’s right.

Bibliography

1) Middle East Conflict by Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D

2) Philistine, by Ramon Bennett.

NOTE: For a fuller, lengthier, documented look at the history of the Jews and the Palestinians, just clink into the link below and read a 12 part series by Bob Siegel:

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part One

07/01/2010

We’ve all taken tests and quizzes in school. The true /false test was my favorite because it meant that even if I hadn’t studied, (which was often) I still had a fifty/fifty chance. Yes, indeed, those little true /false things saved my lazy, rebellious neck. To a lesser degree, I also enjoyed multiple choice because even though the odds were not quite as good as true/false, I at least had a one in five chance. As for fill in the blank? Um… Let’s not go there.

I also made an interesting observation about true/false tests. I discovered that most answers (for some reason) were true, even when they were written in a tricky way that suggested, false.

Well, today, I offer you a true/false test about the Middle East. It’s purpose: To challenge the conventional wisdom and naïve beliefs of the day and to correct the horrible historical revision going on, from the media, to the college campus, to the clever comments that come out of your friend’s mouths around the water cooler or at cocktail parties. But since I am correcting “established facts,” allow me to offer you a little clue. This time, most of the statements will be false.

Before the test begins, I need to make an important introduction.

History tends to repeat itself. Just imagine if you could take a trip back through time to Germany in the 1930’s. What would you say to people? How would you attempt to warn them of what was about to happen? And would they believe you? Probably not, because what the Nazi’s were about to do was unthinkable. It also smacked in the face of modern ideas (even more pronounced today, but already around back then) that human beings were morally evolving or that there was really no such thing as evil. Well, right now, I feel that I have gone back through time to warn you. No, I didn’t hitch hike a ride with Doc Brown and Marty McFly on their Delorean time machine. But I do see the beginnings of a new holocaust on the horizon, because again, history repeats itself.

At the end of this series, I will place a bibliography so that you can be aware of the extremely well- written and carefully documented books I am using as sources in addition to numerous newspaper articles that came out at the time of many of the events in question, but yes, some of the sources were written by Jews.

Interesting, how Jewish documentation is considered a tainted source while the words of Anti-Semites or sincere Gentiles who grew up hearing myths about the Jews are not viewed with suspicion. How often do we hear that the Holocaust never happened? To back up this “fact” it is pointed out that most books written about The Holocaust are written by Jews. This should not surprise us. Who will be more concerned about Hitler’s holocaust than the Jews? Who will want to warn us about the possibility of another holocaust more than the Jews? At the same time, I like to point out that one of the definitive non-fiction pieces about the Nazis, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, was written by a Gentile (Shriver), not to mention the films of concentration camps and German, government level documents. (The Nazis had an odd eccentricity. They carefully documented just exactly what they planned to do.) Finally, the Nuremberg Trials, conducted by the United States and Great Britain, gave the world a generous and detailed record of actual Nazi confessions.

While you listen to accusations of Jewish propaganda, as the “only source for the so-called holocaust,” please keep in mind that the phrase, “Jewish propaganda” was already used by the Nazi’s once upon a time, to turn the Germans against the Jews in the first place. On one hand, the Jews were a conspiracy of greedy capitalists who wanted to take over the world. On the other hand (for those with opposite concerns) the Jews were a conspiracy of Communists who wanted to take over the world. You see, those who believe in conspiracies never need to worry about contradicting themselves and never need to make a whole lot of sense and never need to back up their claims with documentation. After all, if the facts were that obvious, it wouldn’t be much of a conspiracy, right? Anti-Semitism is often viewed as a mystery. One of the few emotions shared by Extreme Right and Extreme Leftist fanatics, is a hatred of Jews.

Yes, I used Jewish sources and yes, I am Jewish. I may be accused of bias. I suppose there is some bias. We all have a little. I was raised Jewish and I would be lying if I didn’t confess the obvious, that there is much emotion associated with what I am writing. On the other hand, even though I was born into a Jewish home, I converted to Christianity during my second year of college. I will not go into the details right now. There is another series on my website where I share my testimony and it has little to do with this present article. I mention it here briefly for only one reason: As a Jewish-Christian, I have often found myself (needless to say) at odds with fellow Jews. Theologically, I have been very critical of Judaism, especially regarding the obvious subject of Jesus. To claim Jesus as the Messiah is to disagree with Judaism on fundamental core beliefs. My point right now? I havebeen willing to criticize Jews. Whether my criticism is valid or invalid, it doesdemonstrate a significant degree of objectivity. Please know that this author certainly is not one who defends all Jews right or wrong.

The situation is different with the nation of Israel. Here, I am on the side of Zionists (those who believe the Jews are entitled to a national homeland and who also believe Israel is, and always has been, their national homeland). My brother (an orthodox Jew) and I, get into frequent, spirited debates about Jesus, but we are on exactly the same page when the subject changes to Israel.

And yet, even here, I am in disagreement with many other Jews, specifically liberals. Liberal Jews in America and liberal Jews in Israel (interestingly enough), tend to take the side of the Palestinians. Jews have often been their own worst enemy.

One more introductory disclaimer, and this one has to do with the relationship between Jews and Evangelical Christians. A number of years ago, I spoke at Bethel Seminary in San Diego. The subject was not Judaism, but rather, a defense for the entire Bible, Old and New Testament. Generally, such talks are followed by long Q and A times. One of the seminarians raised his hand with an interesting question. He had taken many classes about the End Times, the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the second coming of Christ. Although there is a wide range of viewpoint amongst Christians, several of the popular teachings associate Jesus’ return with the nation of Israel. They insist that the Jewish return to the Promised Land in the Twentieth Century is a fulfillment of ancient scriptural predictions and they believe a future battle (the Battle of Armageddon) will climax in Christ’s rescuing of Israel from her enemies and ruling as king of the world, with Israel as his headquarters.

Anyway, let me share the seminarian’s question: “As a Christian, I feel obligated to take Israel’s side because of Bible prophecy, but when I follow the news I become concerned about Israeli abuses toward the persecuted Palestinians. What should I do about this?”

I appreciated the question and I offered a careful response: “I believe in Bible prophecy but I do not believe prophecy should be the reason for Christians to side with Israel. Let me offer you a better reason, a human rights reason. If we could correct the historical revision going on today, you would find yourself siding with Israel, regardless of Bible prophecy.”

And now, I can imagine, you the reader, thinking the following:

“OK, Bob. You have made your disclaimers. We have read your introduction. Just give us this true-false test about the Jews and Palestinians already.”

The test will begin in Part Two. (Always leave them wanting more)

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Two

The Truth About Israel And Palestine

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Two

07/01/2010

Today we continue our discussion of historical revision regarding the Middle East conflict through the structure of a True/False test.

True or False? Whenever there is a conflict going on, we should immediately assume that both sides arepartially right and partially wrong. There is no other explanation for conflicts. They are a matter of perspective. “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” If people aren’t getting along or if nations aren’t getting along, there are always two sides to the story.

Answer: False

We Baby Boomers and Baby Busters grew up on Star Trek where Captain Kirk or Captain Pickard arbitrated between two planets or two factions on one planet. “If you could each listen to one another…”

That sounds great. Listening with empathy is certainly ideal. But there’s also a problem. What if one side doesn’t wish to listen? What if one side simply wants the other dead?

Now let’s all think for a moment: Isn’t it possible, just remotely possible, that on some occasions one side is completely in the wrong? Before you answer in haste, I must point out that with other conversations you, yourself, have been quite willing to use labels such as right and wrong.

This is a concept we all embrace. It’s just that we tend to select our issues differently when dealing with faulty information. Starting at the level of family, are there two sides to the story when a husband beats his wife? As a society we quickly and properly condemn the man. We admonish the wife to take a stand, get a restraining order and press charges. We exhort her to stop enabling the abuse. Indeed, by enabling the abuse she often puts her own children in harms way. Unfortunately, the role of the enabler is not limited to family members. Whole nations can enable other nations.

But nations also have a conscience and sometimes this conscience can be stirred. In the days of slavery, when abolitionists debated slave-owners or debated anyone advocating that despicable institution, would it have been appropriate to say that both view points were equally valid, simply because two strong opinions existed? Supposing somebody wanted to defend rape? Supposing somebody wanted to defend racism? Should the passions advocating gladiator combat have been deemed equally moral to the condemnation of the practice? Many Roman writers denounced the gladiator games. Were they being too judgmental? Was their’s just a mere opinion, no more right and no more wrong than anyone else’s?

Were the Nazis justified in their ideologies and practices? Were there two sides to the story; the side of the Allies and the side of the Axis? When Hitler signed treaties with Chamberlain, he did so with the intention of breaking them. No other course of action even once crossed his mind. He was going to conquer the world for the Arian race, murder the Jews, murder the homosexuals, murder the mentally challenged…Shall I go on?

Yes, sometimes there are two sides to the story. And sometimes there’s only one side.

True or false? The Palestinians are a culture dating back to ancient times. They are indigenous to the land and this land was conquered and taken away from them by the Israelis.

Answer: False.

This answer will be discussed in Part Three:

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Three

07/01/2010

True or False? The Palestinians are a culture dating back to ancient times. They are indigenous to the land and this land was conquered and taken away from them by the Israelis.

Answer: False! The Jews have lived there since ancient times.

Traveling to the Promised Land after escaping the bondage of Egypt, the Hebrews, under Joshua, did wage war against the former inhabitants known as the Canaanite nations. These horribly evil countries were actually killing their own babies by offering them on the altar to heathen gods. This was the chief reason why the Hebrews captured Canaan. They did so in obedience to God, who wanted to judge the tyrannies. You may not believe that. Frankly, (with all due respect) for this current discussion, it doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. All you need to understand are two very important, undeniable facts.

1) This command is recorded in the Bible. Even if you do not accept the Bible as the word of God, the Koran (interestingly enough) does accept the Bible as the word of God. The Koran does not claim to be an alternative to the Bible, rather a sequelto the Bible. This means the Palestinian Muslims must accept the Bible’s record as trustworthy and this means (even more obviously) the Palestinian Christians must accept the Bible’s record as trustworthy.

2) These Canaanite nations are now completely extinct. No, the Jews did not commit genocide and annihilate them, as is commonly charged (1Chron Chapter Eight but the Canaanite nations were certainly displaced and in the passage of time, (characterized by mixed marriages with other nations) there simply were no more Canaanite nations to speak of. This means that even if one wanted to make a case that the fate of the Canaanites was unjust, (weak as such a case would be) there are no more Canaanites to return to the land anyway.

At first, Israel lived under the rule of various judges. In time they had their own kings, just as their neighbor nations did. King David ruled Israel approximately, 1000 B.C. David’s existence is corroborated by archaeological evidence, two pieces of basalt with the phrase, “House of David in one section and “King of Israel” in another. ¹ A stele from ancient Egypt also provides much earlier corroboration for Israel’s existance as a nation during the time of King Mernapoth, the Pharaoh who succeeded Ramsees II.²(You know. That guy who messed up and saw his men clobbered at the Red Sea? OK. “Sea of Reeds” for those of you just waiting to jump on me over accuracy.)

During the reign of David’s grandson, Reheboam, a civil war broke out in Israel and this one country split into two countries; the nation of Israel in the North and the nation of Judah, in the South, named for the tribe of Judah, one of Israel’s 12 sons. The tribe of Benjamin united with Judah, which means that the nation of Judah included the Benjamanites. It also included the Levites, who being priests, had no land of their own and were allowed to live in both the Northern and Southern kingdoms.

After a repetitious history of apostasy and idol worship, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by King Sargon and the Assyrians. The Assyrians had an interesting way of keeping their conquered territories in check. They did it by shuffling the nations. I.E, most of the Israelites were shipped off to other conquered territories and captives from a multitude of alien nations were in turn, transplanted into conquered Israel. The few Israelites remaining in the land married these new people. This was the origin of the Samaritans (named for Samaria,the former, capital city of the Northern Kingdom). But the remaining Israelites intermarried in far off lands, losing (with few exceptions) their identity, thus the phrase, “Lost Tribes of Israel.”

The history was very different with the remaining Southern Kingdom, the nation of Judah. They too were conquered a number of years later by the Babylonians. Unlike the Assyrians, the Babylonians brought the entire people to Babylon intact. The Jews (a slang term taken from the word, Judah) lived in Babylon for 70 years. In time, the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians. This means that the Jews, while still living in Babylon during the changing of the guard, found themselves under Persian authority.

The conquering of Judah by Babylon is corroborated by Persian history and Babylonian history. Likewise, Assyrian history records their invasion.³

In 444 B.C. King Artexerxes of Persia did something unprecedented. He allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their city. An earlier king (Darius) had already allowed the rebuilding of the temple. This Second Exodus into the Promised Land formed the second Israel, (sometimes called, “The Second Commonwealth”) but for most of this time, the Jews lived in subjection to a series of consecutive superpowers, first the Persians, and eventually the Syrians (not to be confused for the Assyrians). After a brief period of revolution and independence under the Maccabees (from which the holiday of Hanukah originates) the Jews were again conquered, this time by General Pompey who represented, that modest, humble, little country called Rome. The Jews were still living under the Romans at the time of Christ who was crucified in 33A.D. by the Roman Governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate.

VERY IMPORTANT: We have telescoped a great deal of history, close to two thousand years worth. At no time, was there a people in the land calledPalestinians. Where did such a name and people come from?

Footnotes:

1) Time Magazine, Dec 18, 1995

2) US News and World Report Vol. 118 Nov 21 Jeffery L Sheler

3) The Bible and Archaeology: The Downfall of Judah: Exile To Babylon By Mario Seiglie,

Truth.net, Apologetics: Who is God?

Historical Evidence For the Accuracy of the Bible, By Dennis Crawford

New York Times, Friday, Feb 22, 2008

NOTE: Because this chapter dealt with ancient events some footnotes were listed. A more extensive bibliography for the entire series will be found at the end of Article 12.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Four

07/01/2010

The Romans allowed the Jews considerable freedom. Religious affairs were administered by a court called the Sanhedrin, made up of two distinctly different parties, the Pharisees (rabbis and other scholars) and The Sadducees, (priests and those belonging to the Jewish aristocracy).

Nevertheless, heavy taxes still had to be paid to Rome and most Jews absolutely hated the Romans. Certain underground organizations, including the Zealots, worked continuously to make life as miserable for their Roman conquerors as possible. But not all of the rebellion was done as subversive sabotage. Publicprotests were also waged against governors like Pontus Pilate. There were even formal complaints, seeking to go over Pilate’s head to the Emperor. One such appeal achieved its desired effect when Emperor Tiberius instructed Pilate to remove from his Jerusalem palace, some shields which bore pagan inscriptions. ¹

But the day finally came when the Romans got fed up and decided they’d had enough. Provoking this disintegration of Roman patience was a more formal, organized revolt in the year AD 66. A series of battles followed and bit-by-bit the Jews were crushed, even though many of them fought bravely. In 68 AD, General Josephus (who was later to write a history of Israel from Rome) surrendered to General Vespassian.

The most devastating defeat of all happened two years later when Prince Titus and the Roman Legion defeated the protectors of Jerusalem, laying waste to much of the city and completely destroying the temple. Some of the walls including the famous Western Wall exist to this day.

In 73 AD, Jewish rebels held an Alamo style last stand at Herod’s palaces on top of a rocky plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. This place was known as “the fortress,” or Masada. When the Romans finally breached its fortifications, they found every Jewish soldier dead. They had decided that death was preferable to slavery under the Romans.

Many Jews from other areas of Judea did become slaves. Others were massacred. Still others escaped the slaughter by fleeing the country and spreading themselves all over the known world. And finally, some Jews (a very few) were able to stay in their homes after the dust settled and the Romans decided they’d done enough damage.

A second war against Rome took place in 135 AD under the leadership of Simon Bar Kokhba. His revolution re-established a Jewish, independent state for over two years, but a huge Roman army finally destroyed this stronghold as well. After the Romans recaptured Jerusalem, Emperor Hadrian banned Jews from entering it. A handful of Jews remained in the land however. This included a rabbinic center at Jamnia, just west of Jerusalem on the coast. The famous Council of Jamnia was held here and rabbis continued to govern their fellow Jews religiously even if they had no more country of their own to speak of. It is important to remember that despite the high majority of Jews who were killed, banished or enslaved, a remnant remained in the Holy Land and continued to live there all the way up to the Twentieth Century. One of today’s historical revisionist myths teaches that Jews did not come into this land until after the European Holocaust, displacing Palestine’s “original inhabitants.”

But the greatest myth, the myth of the “indigenous Palestinians” is about to be exposed and explained:

Emperor Hadrian got so tired of Jewish resistance, he did everything he could to both insult them and stifle any remaining ambitions toward rebellion or nationalism. Hadian accomplished this by renaming the land, Syria-Palestinia.Palestinia was a Latanized version of the word, Philistine. This ancient and notorious enemy of the Jews had long since died off but the Grecian-Roman world became reasonably familiar with Israel’s history and that included knowledge of her old nemesis. Hadrian considered it the ultimate indignity to rename this province of Judea, not with just any name, but a despised name that he could rub the Jews’ faces in.

Prior to 135 AD, the land of Israel was known solely as a Jewish land. It was first called Israel, later Judah and still later, Judea. But it had never before been calledPalestine! Even after this new nickname, the people living in Palestine were a handful of Jews and new colonies sent in from Rome.

When did Arabs come into the land? Well, the term Arab literally means “tent dweller.” During the time of the Roman occupation and five following decades, most Arabs lived in Arabia. (I’ll bet you were able to figure that one out for yourself.) But Arabs were also known to be nomads and they could be found most anywhere, so undoubtedly there were a few in Judea before and after the land was renamed. Still, Arabs did not think of themselves as Palestinians and very few lived in the newly dubbed Palestine.

That all changed in the 600’s when Mohammad began to spread a new religious movement called Islam. I will discuss the teachings of Islam with greater detail later on. For now, suffices to say that Mohammad was eager to see Islam spread. At first he tried to influence people peacefully. When this did not work, he encouraged his loyal followers to take up the sword in the name of Allah. This was not articulated as a mere opinion or idea. Indeed, Mohammad, claimed that Allah himself had commanded this new practice, called, Jihad. At first, Arabia was conquered and taken over by Muslims. Afterwards, Islam reached its hand toward, Africa, Europe and the Holy Land under the auspices of Muslim leaders who were teaching that Jerusalem rightfully belonged to the Arabs.

Please note: Arabs did not occupy Palestine in any great number until the spreading of Islam and they did not rule the land of Palestine until the spreading of Islam. Prior to Arab rule, the land belonged first to the Jews, then to the Romans and then to the new Byzantine Church which emerged from the rubble of a fallen Roman Empire. The Arabs had to overthrow the Byzantines when they wanted the land for themselves. Years later, a new form of the church, (now called Catholic) waged a series of wars (the Crusades) to win back, not only the Holy Land, but any land the Muslims had taken from Christians. For the longest time, Jerusalem changed landlords, alternating between Muslim rule and Catholic rule.

In time, the land was taken over by Turkish Muslims. Jerusalem became part of the Ottoman Empire and remained a part of that empire until the British (with the help of many Arab tribes) defeated the Turks during World War 1.

Now the Holy Land was part of the British Empire, a land containing both Jewish and Arab populations who had been living there for many centuries.

When the British decided to leave the Middle East, some very controversial decisions were made about who would rule the land in their absence. Obviously it would be turned over to both Arabs and Jews but in what proportion? Great Britain’s decision created a chain reaction that formed the world you and I live in today.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Five

07/01/2010

Even though the Middle East became the prize of the British Empire, England had neither the desire nor the ability to run that region of the world forever. For this reason, they began working to create a series of new states in which the Arabs (who had helped them defeat the Ottoman Empire) could administer their own affairs. Although the term “Arabia” was already a general description of a large part of this area, many of the Middle East countries we know of today did not officially become independent nations until the British occupation and subsequent withdrawal from this turbulent region of the world.

While working to create new, multiple states, Great Britain (with the cooperation of the League of Nations, an early proto-type of the United Nations) decided they would also offer an opportunity for Jews all over the world to return to their homeland. This invitation was called the Balfour Declaration. Needless to say, grateful Jews responded with terrific enthusiasm. Indeed, many children of Abraham did migrate from Russia, Western Europe and other corners of the globe where they had lived for some two-thousand years in ghettos, at the mercy of pogroms or harsh policies of Ant-Semitic governments. A homeland of their own had been a hopeful vision to the Jews for two millennia. The most familiar Jewish toast (common at Passover celebrations) said “Next year in Jerusalem.” But few thought they were reciting much more than a pipe dream. Now they could really, truly return to Jerusalem! Just imagine how this must have felt! The Jews were going to sojourn to a country of their own, and not just any country; the very land of their ancestors, a land where a remnant of Jews had remained since ancient times, living side by side with Muslims and Christians who also had interests in Palestine and who viewed it as their Holy Land too.

What exactly was offered to the Hebrew immigrants by the League of Nations? Everything we would today call Israel, everything we would today call Jordan and most of what we would today call “the occupied territories.”

What was the proportion of Arab and Jew in Palestine prior to the Balfour Declaration? There were more Arabs than Jews in the land (resulting from Muslim expansion) but the truth is, there was really only a handful of each people group, because again, the swamp like conditions limited the kind of life one could realistically enjoy in the Holy Land. The famous author, Mark Twain wrote as much after his own personal visit. He was surprised how desolate the Holy Land was, how little was going on there and how few people inhabited the area.

We continue now with our true/false quiz:

True or False? The Arabs who lived in this area were never allowed to have their own separate Palestinian state.

ANSWER: FALSE: In paradoxical fashion, the British, after inviting the Jews to return, sold over 75 percent of Palestine to the Arabs,, creating a new country called, Trans-Jordan. This is an extremely important and seldom taught fact. Please catch this: 75 percent of what had been offered to the Jews was sold behind their backs to the Arabs instead! Not only were the Arabs offered a “separate Palestinian state,” long ago, but they have been living in one since the early part of the Twentieth Century. It’s called Jordan, a country three times the size of what remained for the Jews.

The Jews accepted this betrayal, only because they had no choice. After, all a sliver of the promise was better than no land at all.

But the Arabs didn’t want the Jews to have even a sliver and fresh controversy broke out over what to do with the remaining 25 percent.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Six

07/01/2010

How was the term Palestinian used during the modern day exodus of Jews into the Holy Land? Prior to 1948, the land had not yet been renamed as Israel. Since the Roman nickname, Palestine had been around for two thousand years, people were used to the title but this was not a designation adapted by the Arabs. As a matter of fact, Jewish settlers referred to themselves as Palestinians. What did the Arabs living in Palestine call themselves? Hold on to your seats for the big surprise: They called themselves Arabs. There was no Palestinian identity in their mind. The idea of a Palestinian nationality for Arabs in the Holy Land didn’t raise its head until the 1960s. It was a publicity ploy invented by the notorious thug and terrorist, Yasar Arafat (who himself was not even from the Holy Land, but rather, Egypt). We will discuss Arafat and his strategies later. For now, all that’s important to understand is that under British dominion, the Jews were known asPalestinians and the Arabs in Palestine were known as Arabs.

After World War Two, we were never the same again globally. The United Nations was created in an attempt to prevent any similar future catastrophes. The aftermath of the Holocaust also generated a worldwide sympathy for Jews, a sympathy that seldom existed before. However, mercy toward Jewish refugees wasn’t entirely worldwide. It came primarily from a rebuilt Europe rising out of Hitler’s ashes and from the United States. The Arab nations refused to even consider the idea of a Jewish state in Muslim lands. New Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq were now part of the United Nations, but they were outnumbered. When the U.N. put pressure on Great Britain to fulfill its promise to the Jews; a country of their own, discussions broke forth over what to do with that remaining 25 percent of Palestine, which had not been turned into Jordan. The Arabs insisted they were entitled to the remainder of the land. The United Nations placated to them without entirely giving in. A vote was taken and it was decided that the remaining 25 percent of Palestine would be partitioned, creating both a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews agreed to this proposal and decided to call their new home, Israel, a proud title from long ago, before their Roman conquerors had renamed the land. The Arabs gave no name to their side of the partition because they rejected the United Nations’ decision, promising, in no uncertain terms, that if the land was partitioned, every Arab country would unite, attack, crush and destroy the new Israel before it even had a chance to take its first breath.

Let me stop for a moment to point out some obvious ironies and dispel some popular myths.

Myth One: Israel came into existence illegally.

How can that be if they were granted their country by the United Nations? Look, I’m no lover of the U.N. today. I think it’s an organization that should be shut down. It was a nice idea, but it no longer works. It’s useless at the very least and evil at the very most. But to those who love the United Nations, to those who want to call America’s war against Iraq, illegal because we invaded without U.N. approval, you cannot have it both ways. People from the left who object to the war in Iraq also like to talk about Israel’s illegal existence. Face it, Sam; if the U.N. is your barometer for world legalities, then Israel came into existence legally.

Myth Two: The Arabs in Palestine were never offered a state of their own.

As a matter of fact, they were offered two states of their own! The first one, they accepted and it has remained a state to this day, Jordan. The second state was the partition of the remaining 25 percent of the land. This state, the Arabs turned down. Why did they turn down a chance to have half of this area? Because they figured they were entitled to all of the area. And the decision of the United Nations (the same United Nations that Arab countries had joined and promised to abide by) meant nothing to them.

Radio talk show host, Dennis Prager once had a female journalism student on his program. She was from UCLA and she had just written a Pro-Palestinian article for the school paper. The young lady was Jewish herself. As I said before, Jews today tend to be their own worst enemies. Anyway, in the course of the interview, Prager mentioned that “the Palestinians” had been offered a state of their own back in 1948. The undergrad journalist quickly retorted, “That’s not true! They have never been offered a state of their own!”

“I’m very grieved to hear you say that,” Dennis said. “It bothers me that you would write an article on a subject as important as this and not know the facts.”

It was a chilling conversation. Think about it. If her own journalism professors (who evidently had never corrected her article) were not teaching about what truly happened in 1948 under the auspices of the United Nations, it displays one of two things; either an incredible ignorance which should disqualify them from being college professors, or a dishonest agenda which should disqualify them from being college professors.

This is the kind of historical revision being taught at our universities today: Israel is the horrible aggressor, victimizing the poor, innocent Palestinians.

Not that there shouldn’t be sympathy for at least some of the Arabs who lived in Palestine prior to the U.N. partition. There are always individuals who don’t care about politics and simply want to live in peace. Although many of the Arabs in Palestine sided with neighbor Arab countries and attacked the Jews with thunderous enthusiasm, others were given no choice. They were told by countries such as Egypt, “Join with us or get out of our path, because with or without your help, our soldiers are coming to crush Israel and we need to go through your neighborhoods to do so. Abandon your homes for now. But have no fear. It’s only temporary. In no time at all, the war will be over and you can return to your homes. Indeed, you can expand your terriroty because all of the Jews will be gone.”

IMPORTANT NOTE: The issue with the Arabs was not Israel’s unwillingness to allow a separate Palestinian state. Israel had agreed to the partition. The Arabs had not. The aim of the Arab nations was actually much simpler: The total annihilation of Israel, men, women and children.

If you don’t believe me, examine a few tasty quotations from the time:

From Abid Saud King of Saudi Arabia 1947:

“ There are fifty million Arabs. What does it matter if we lose ten million people to kill all of the Jews. The price is worth it.”

From Azam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arabs League 1947:

“This will be a war of extermination and momentous massacre, which will be spoken of like the Mongolian Massacres.”

From Haj Amin El Hussein Mufti of Jerusalem 1947

“ I declare a holy war my Moslem brothers. Murder the Jews! Murder them all!”

From the same person:

“Allah has bestowed upon us the rare privilege of finishing what Hitler began. Let the Jihad begin! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!”

Make no mistake about it: The complete, unconditional genocide of Israel was the only true intention of the Arabs. The very notion that they wanted a separate state of their own to live in peacefully side by side with Israel, is a downright lie and bumpkin for the masses. Unfortunately, too many useful idiots have subscribed to this hogwash.

But the war didn’t go quite as the Arabs had planned. Against miraculous odds, Israel actually won the war and the Arabs from Palestine who had joined the armies against Israel now found themselves without a home.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Seven

07/01/2010

Some 5-7000 Jews lived in Palestine under the Ottoman Empire before the British took over.
Prior to the first major wave of Jewish immigration in 1882, only 250,000 Arabs lived in the area and the majority of them were fairly new arrivals themselves.

Between the First and Second World War, the Jewish population increased by 375,000 and the Arab population by 380,000.

After the partition vote from the United Nations, Israel declared its Independence on May 14, 1948. One day later, five Arab armies invaded Israel from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Although as a general rule, the Arab refugees left Israel on their own, there are always exceptions to the rule during times of war and there were a few (extremely few) cases of Arabs being forced out of their homes by the Israelis. Some of this is understandable since most Arabs were siding with five nations that vowed to annihilate every last Jew. One such case is the forced evacuation of the village, Biram. But even in this situation, the Arabs relocated to a nearby village and they did remain in the country of Israel where they reside to this day. Recently, the Israeli government has taken a more sympathetic interest to their complaint and a positive solution may still be in the horizon.

But such rare occurrences must not cause us to ignore the fact that most of the Arabs who chose to remain in Israel were never forced to leave. They became citizens with full rights and privileges!

Nevertheless, the world was about to be deceived by the most brilliant, most sinister, most destructive historical revision to ever surface on our planet. Realizing that they were unable to win a real war against Israel, the Arabs waged the war of public opinion instead. The pawns? Arab refugees soon to be re-named “Palestinian refugees.” And the leader of their cause would be a man who was not even born in Palestine.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Eight

07/01/2010

True or False: Israel is illegally occupying many Arab lands today.

Answer: False:

In 1967, 9 different nations (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq), declared war on Israel and promised to exterminate every Jew.

“Egypt is ready to plunge into a total war that will be the end of Israel.” (Radio Cairo, May 17, 1967)

Surprising the world with a preemptive strike, Israel defeated the Arabs in just six days. At that time, their territory was expanded to the West Bank, The Golan Heights, The Gaza Strip and the Sinai. This territory is frequently referred to as a part of Israel’s “illegal occupation.” I tend to hate that term and I argue against it for the following reasons:

1) When we think of occupying countries, what usually comes to mind is an aggressive empire seeking to conquer and expand, not a tiny little nation that expanded its boarders only as a means of survival, to prevent her untrustworthy neighbors from attacking again.

2) Most of this land had been legally offered to Israel in the Balfar Declaration anyway, before Great Britain sold it behind Israel’s back.

3) Historically, the land had been the home of the Jews for literally thousands of years.

4) The United Nations has become so corrupt, I no longer accept their standard as to what is legal or illegal.

True or False: The PLO was created only to take back what Israel stole, not to annihilate Israel.

ANSWER: False

First of all, the PLO was created, not by a Palestinian, but by Egyptian President Nasser who shamelessly admitted that its goal was the “Liquidation of Israel.” The PLO was founded in 1964. Israel’s “occupation” followed the Six Day War in 1967. You can do the math, can’t you?

Of course, the most well known name in association with the PLO is Yasser Arafat. He was not a Palestinian either. Arafat was born in Cairo in1929

His Grandfather Mahmoud –Al-Hussein was cousin to JajAh.Hussein Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, friend of Adolph Hitler and Nazi operator during WWII.

Concerning the Jews, Arafat said, “Surely the judgment of Allah is reserved for them until Palestine is transformed from the House of War to the House of Islam.”

Arafat and his friends basically created modern day terrorism, as we know it. In 1951, Arafat joined the Moslem Brotherhood which later assassinated Anwar Saddat for signing a peace treaty with Israel. In 1957, after the Moslem Brotherhood was outlawed, Arafat fled Egypt and made his way to Kuwait in order to avoid arrest.

In 1969, Arafat became chairman of PLO Fatah and other PLO splinter groups that executed hundreds of attacks around the world. Before I describe his exploits in detail, let me give a warning: If you have a weak stomach, you may not want to read on.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Nine

07/01/2010

The PLO was chased out of Jordan in 1970, from Lebanon in 1982 and from Syria in 1985. During this turbulent period, they murdered literally tens of thousands of people!

Evans and Novak interviewed a Lebanese doctor whose farm had been seized by the PLO and transformed into a military outpost. According to this report, the PLO would invade apartment complexes, removing the inhabitants to make room for the storage of ammunition and explosives. Fathers were shot in front of their own families. This was followed by the routine, ongoing rape of innocent females. 100,000 such rapes are estimated but it may have been as many as 300,000.

Lebanese surgeon Dr. Khalil Torbey said:

“I treated men whose testicles had been cut off in torture sessions. I saw like men dragged through the streets by fast moving cares to which they were tied by their feet. I know of cases of people being thrown into acid tanks and reduced to unrecognizable masses of porous bone. Many young girls came to me for abortions after being raped by PLO gangsters.”¹

Professor augustus H. Strong shares a harrowing tale

“The PLO killed Susan’s father and brother and raped her mother who suffered a hemorrhage and died. They raped Susan many times, cut off her breasts and shot her. Later found without her 4 limbs. So battered had to be amputated. Now she has only the upper part of one arm.” (Quoted by Professor Augustus H. Strong in Morey The Islamic Invasion)

How did the world chose to deal with Yasser Arafat, the murderer and rapist? By awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize. After all he shook hands once with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzuk Rabin. In fact, Arafat has denounced terrorism many times. Here is an example of how he used to call for “peace.”

“I as Chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization hereby once more declare that I condemn terrorism in all its forms.”

Sounds great so far. Unfortunately, he went on to say;

“I also offer a reverent salute to the martyrs who have fallen at the hand of terrorism and terrorists, foremost among whom is my lifelong companion and deputy, the martyr symbol Khalili-al-Wazir (Abu-Jihad who planned and directed some of the words massacres of Israeli citizens.) ²

Get it? Terrorism was defined by this weasel as what Israel had done to the PLO, not what the PLO had done to Israel.

One of today’s tired Politically Correct phrases says, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”

How clever! Wow! Yeah, I get men like George Washington confused with Yasser Arafat all the time! Unfortunately, these mindless sayings are quite effective if repeated often enough.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Ten

07/01/2010

True or false: Arab nations only object to America because of its support of Israel.

ANSWER: False!

Have you ever witnessed a Middle East chant? The crowds shout, “First we will fight the Saturday people, then we will fight the Sunday people!”

Jerusalem Prophecy Digest Vol 19

“Saturday people” refers to the Jews with Saturday being an obvious reference to the Jewish Sabbath. Sunday, of course, points to the Christian community, the day they attend church, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus.

The Muslim world does not hate America because of Israel. Indeed, the Muslim world hates us for the same reason it hates Israel and this reason, (if you’ll pardon me for speaking a painful truth) is Muslim.

You are now very prepared (over prepared) for the next section of our true/false quiz.

True of False: The Koran is a peaceful book, and its author, Mohammed, was a peaceful man.

ANSWER: False!

I know this smacks against the popular disclaimers of the day. I know we are supposed to say that Islam is actually a very peaceful religion and that only a handful of terrorists are misrepresenting the religion. May I make the most important suggestion you will ever hear? Stop worrying about what sounds Politically Correct and concern yourself a little more with what is going on in the world. Wake up, before it is too late!

After all, on what do we base the premise that Islam is a peaceful religion? Why do we keep repeating that statement as though it were true? I’ll tell you why.Because Muslims keep telling us how peaceful they are! That’s it! But they do not offer a shred of evidence. What Muslim government would we point to today as an example of human rights in action? And how many countries of alternative governments with large Muslim populations are getting along peacefully with their Muslim citizens? Maybe its time we pay less attention to what Muslims sayand more attention to what they do!

The Arab world does not hate us because of Israel and the Arab world does not hate us because we want their oil. The Arab world hates us because they serve a hateful religion. Period!

The following quote is from Ramon Bennett (a Christian who lives in Israel, not a Jew or Arab. This quote is from the early 1990’s, long before 9/11. This brave writer tried in vain to warn a sleeping Western Civilization:

“I have expressed for a number of years my belief that Islam is the Western world’s most potentially dangerous enemy. Long before the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Communist ideology, I had said that communism did not nearly equal Islam’s threat to the west. I have repeatedly warned of what lies ahead unless definite steps are taken to curb the increasing momentum of fundamental Islam, but my warnings have thus far fallen upon deaf ears.”

(Philistine, Ramon Bennett, Pg. 42)

Undoubtedly you will want to tell me that there are millions of peaceful Muslims in the world. Indeed, you have met many of them. I believe you. I have met many peaceful Muslims as well. But this does not mean there is any such thing as a “moderate Muslim.” It means there is such a thing as a nominal Muslim. What is the difference? Just as there are people who consider themselves Christians, simply because they were born in America or have some kind of church background and just as these people have no real knowledge or understanding of Jesus Christ and His teachings, likewise there are literally millions of people who are born into Muslim countries, who would call themselves Muslims if you asked for their religious affiliation, but who, in reality, have no idea what the Koran actually teaches. On the other hand, one who genuinely understands the Koran realizes it leaves no room for moderation. I have interviewed many Muslim scholars on my radio show. Some of them are ex-Muslims and even ex-terrorists. Others were brought up in the Middle East and had a broad exposure to Islam. They will all tell you the same thing: One who understands the Koran understands the commands to conquer the world in the name of Islam. They are to offer people the choice of converting or dying. This is the destiny of their cause. This is the teaching of their prophet, Mohammad. If they say otherwise, one of two things is going on: They are lying (and they are actually taught that the ends may justify the means during a time of warfare) or they have not truly studied the Koran. When terrorists site the Koran, they are not “hijacking” a peaceful religion and they are not misquoting their scriptures. Neither are they pulling anything out of context. Instead, they are being brutally honest.

So yes, there are peaceful Muslims, many peaceful Muslims. But these are Muslims who understand Islam about as well as The World Council of Churches understands and obeys the Bible. In terms of honest, literary criticism, the terrorists are reading the Koran more honestly and more accurately than the nominal Muslims. In terms of safety and irony I am grateful that so many Muslims are in fact nominal.

I once shared the gospel with a nominal Muslim from Saudi Arabia. I met him at Cal State Stanislaus. He was there as an exchange student. Eager to learn more about the Bible and wanting to give his life to Jesus, he still took Jesus’ command to count the cost very seriously. I’ll never forget the words of this brave young man. “You need to understand. If I become a Christian and return home and if it is discovered that I am a Christian, they will cut my head off, literally!”

He did become a Christian and he did return to Saudi Arabia, our “allies,” that “peaceful Muslim country” that “helps us” in the war on terror. I do not know what ever became of my friend.

I have met many such Muslims who hunger and thirst for God, who want to live in peace like so many others. I have no quarrel with them. In fact, they have my respect. But saying that I have met peaceful Muslims is not the same as saying that Islam is a religion of peace and this is a very important distinction to make.

When a religion has a body of scripture, it is actually quite simple to determine the religion’s teaching. To settle this question, we must look to the source, the Koran itself.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Eleven

07/01/2010

There are numerous books about the life and teachings of Mohammad so I will talk about him sparingly and limit myself to two very important points:

1) The Koran does not claim to be an alternative to the Bible but rather a sequel to the Bible. This little known fact seems lost in a sea of ignorant discussion today. Islam claims that in addition to the Koran, both the Old and New Testament are the word of God.¹ Jesus is described in the Koran as a holy prophet but not an incarnation of God Himself.² The test for a prophet in the Old Testament is that he must be accurate in everything he teaches (Deut. 18:22). Jesus taught that He was God (John 14). If Jesus was lying, He was not a prophet, but Islam claims Hewas a prophet. If Jesus was telling the truth, then He is God. But Islam claims Hewasn’t God. Either way, we have a rather serious contradiction. A matter of theology to be sure and this series is concerned more with the morality of Islam than the doctrine of Islam but the lofty claims of the Koran and subsequent contradictions to the Bible are worth noting, especially from a book that influences so many lives around the world.

2) People often defend Islam by suggesting the violent verses of the Koran are being taken out of context. Well, yes, human beings certainly are notorious for taking statements out of context. In fact, the Bible, itself is misquoted quite frequently. For this reason I am sympathetic to the question of context. But sympathy doesn’t make us the victims of a hanging question without an answer. The correct context to any literature is the author himself. What the author originally meant to say and what his readers originally understood him to mean is the correct interpretation of any writing. Now, Mohammad did not write the Koran. He recited it and his followers wrote the words down after his death. If we want to question whether or not Mohammad intended his recitations about waging war to be taken literally, we have only to look at his life. Mohammad not only talked about violence in the name of religion, he declared war in the name of religion! This settles the question of context.

It is true that many verses in the Koran also talk about making peace. This is because Mohammad was originally hoping to spread his new movement peacefully. When this did not happen, when not everyone found the words as soothing and as spell binding as he had anticipated, when he found that he needed to conquer places like Mecca by force, and that this was the only way he would get individuals to accept Islam, Mohammad suddenly received new revelations from Allah and by an amazing coincidence these new teachings not only condoned force but commanded Jihad. Jihad refers specifically to the forceful spreading of Islam.

And so, when people try to change the subject by ignoring the war like verses of the Koran and instead bring up the peaceful verses, it should be immediately pointed out that these contradictory teachings exist side by side because Mohammad tried to spread his religion in contradictory ways.

And now we will take an honest look at the commands of the Koran:

“Mohammed is God’s apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to unbelievers but merciful to one another.” Surah 48

I’d say those words are fairly clear, wouldn’t you? But wait! There’s more! Here’s what the Koran says about the Jews:

“The most implacable of men are the Jews and the pagans” Surah 5

Those words were first spoken in the 600’s. They have nothng to do with Irsael’s “illegal occupation of the West Bank” in 1967.

The Koran also forbids friendship with Jews or Christians.

“Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship will become one of their number. God does not guide the wrong doers.” Surah 5

And here is the Jihad command itself. Note: Infidel is defined in the Koran as anyone who refuses the teachings of Mohammad.

“Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you…Prophet make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home ….They uttered the word of unbelief and renounced Islam after embracing it.” Surah 9

Back to the subject at hand: The Arabs resent Israel because they resent a non-Muslim country in the Middle East. Americans once recognized this. So did many other countries of the world. But such a successful P.R. campaign has been ignited against Israel, that today people are believing lies about boarders and separate states and refugees. In fact, these excuses were made up for useful idiots. I do not intend these words as a derogatory phrase. Useful idiot is an actual term coined for those who unwittingly assist an agenda because they do not understand the agenda and instead are listening to propaganda.

One of the reasons we have so many “useful idiots” in America today is because of Post Modernism. Post Modernism has been influencing our universities for many decades now with its ideas of moral relativism.

It is next to impossible in a university environment to call Islam evil, to or to call any movement evil.

This leads to our next true/ false question.

True or False: The events of 9-11 have led Americans to the conclusion that Islam is dangerous.

ANSWER: False:

Oh sure, for a while after 9-11, schools were returning to prayer and universities were even asking Christian campus ministers to lead memorial services. It lasted about five minutes. And in time, for some reason, Islam to come out smelling like a rose.

In public schools, a new common tradition has kids participating in “dress up like a Muslim day”. Interesting how we never heard of this educational/cultural experience before planes were rammed into the World Trade Center. But now it’s a reoccurring part of the school curriculum. Can you just imagine if we tried that with Christianity? “Hey kids. Everybody wear a cross tomorrow. It’s just for education’s sake.” The ACLU would be over there so fast it would make your heads swim!

As for universities? They are more puzzling than an episode of The Twilight Zone. College professors derail Christianity at every opportunity. But everything they hate about the Bible, and I mean EVERYTHING THEY HATE ABOUT THE BIBLE is also found in the Koran. What religious doctrines do college students absolutely despise today? Hell? The Koran talks about hell. In fact, The Koran describes hell more graphically than the Bible does. How about the role of women in religion or the submission of women to men in religion? The Bible is often accused of chauvinism, falsely I should say, and yet the Koran really does say demeaning things about women.

“Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them.” Surah 4

I would think today’s feminist organizations would be up in arms over Islam’s treatment of women. 80 percent of Arab women believe wife beating is both routine and normal. (“Have we Been Beaten By Our Wives Today?” Jerusalem Post Aug 30, 1991)

Phyllis Chesler, author of the book, The Death Of Feminism came on my radio show as a guest. During this fascinating interview, she shared about her unsuccessful attempts to get leading feminists to denounce the treatment of women at the hands of the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, What Miss Chesler discovered was that liberals were more afraid of perception than reality. They did not want to be perceived as being Pro-Bush and this somehow meant that they could not criticize Islam.

Let me put this as straight as I possibly can. If feminists cannot recognize that women are being demeaned and persecuted in Muslim countries more than anywhere else on earth, they should give up the cause. Has feminism been reduced only to a movement about the right to an abortion or the right to be a lesbian? Do feminists not care when young girls get their fingers cut off for refusing to wear certain coverings? Is it not a human rights issue when women, after being raped, are then murdered by their own families as “honor killings”, because they were seen in public with men, even in the so called peaceful Muslim countries like Jordan?

Are you catching on? Islam has become a Politically Correct religion. Post-Modernism has crippled our nation morally. It has left a large, moral vacuum. Vacuums always get filled. If you don’t fight for your standard of morality, somebody else is going to come along who will push theirs. Paradoxically, when discussing Christianity or the Republican Party or George Bush, college professors are quite willing to use words like evil. But in another context, the response is always, “Who are we to judge? Maybe Osama Bin Ladin’s mother never bought him a sled when he was a kid.”

How can we call Islam evil if there is not such thing as evil?

I had a chance to visit Ground Zero (formally the World Trade Center) practically one month to the day after 9/11. The smoke was still coming up out of the ground and workmen were pulling up debris all through the night. A husband and wife from California began talking to me from behind the fence where a few of us “spectators” were standing. This couple had a friend who had been at work in one of the towers that fateful day. She was now dead. I’ll never forget what the woman said to me. “I’m just trying to understand why they hate us so much.”

“Maybe they are just evil and they enjoy hating,” I replied.

The expression on her face was one of astonishment. Clearly I had given the wrong answer. It must have been something we did. It was our oil policy or something. Nobody could be this evil simply for evil’s sake.

We are at war, people! They do not merely object to Israel’s existence. They object to our existence too. If the war was only about armies and weapons we would win in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, this is also a war of ideas and on that front, we are losing hands down! If we are incapable of calling anything evil (besides George Bush) how will we recognize evil? This is why so many people are quick to reconsider whether the Holocaust really happened. The idea of a civilized nation calmly sitting down and planning the death of an entire race is inconceivable.

What I am saying is this: Post Modern America has tilled the ground, making it ripe for a religion which seeks to expand and conquer. It makes the terrorist’s job easier! Although their philosophies are different as night and day, Islam and Post-Modernism are involved in a strange, dangerous partnership, a partnership unconscious to the gullible Post-Modernist, a partnership being exploited by Muslim fanatics.

Liberals will read an article like mine and immediately dismiss it as being paranoid and Islamophobic. (a new Politically Correct word, invented by Muslims who take their cue from Post-Modernism, because they see “useful idiots” using similar terms).

Interestingly enough, the last time Al-Queda sent a letter to the United States, it said, “Americans. Be on notice. Convert to Islam or die.”
It did not say, “Gee, you liberal Americans. We really appreciate your attempts to understand us.” No, the letter was speaking to all Americans, even the Liberals. You see, Liberals keep defending the terrorists by explaining what they really want and how we could understand them better if we would only sit down and talk to them. I take a rather old fashioned approach myself and allow the terrorists to simply speak for themselves. They say if you let an evil person talk long enough, sooner or later he will explain exactly what he plans to do.

The Truth About Israel And Palestine: Part Twelve

07/01/2010

The theme behind this series was a simple one: Israel is not guilty of any illegal occupation. The “occupied territories” were taken during the Six Day War in response to a declaration of war from Israel’s neighbors. They took this land as a defensive posture to protect themselves from genocide, a genocide promised shamelessly by the Arabs. Even so, most of this was the same territory already promised to them under the Balfar Declaration, not to mention that this land had been their home for several thousand years before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and changed the name of the land to Palestine.

There has never been a country named Palestine or a people named Palestinians. This was a publicity ploy that sucessfully deceived many under the leadership of Yassar Arafat. And Arafat was never interested in a two state solution. He was interested in the annihilation of Israel.

So where does this leave us today? Would a two state solution bring peace to the Middle East? Well, the Arabs were offered a state in 1948. They turned it down. At that time, they already had a separate Palestinian state, Jordan and this was not enough, even though it had been carved out from 75 percent of what had been promised to the Jews. In March of 2000, after years of violating the terms of the Oslo Accords (1993) Arafat was offered over 90 percent of the land he wanted. He turned it down. Why? Because the man never really wanted peace. He would have had no reason to exist any more if real peace came about.

Today Arafat is dead. The new Palestinian leader, Mahoumad Abbas says he wants peace. But this man has written about the Holocaust in ways that would make Iranian leader Ahamadinnejad blush: Yes, more nonsense about how the Holocaust never happened. And we are supposed to put our hope in this latest “peace lover”? As I once heard it aptly stated, “Abbas is nothing but Arafat in a suit.”

The Palestine National Covenant was adapted in 1964 (once again, prior to Israel’s “illegal” occupation of the West Bank) It was revised again in 1968. This document contains 33 articles which define the specific objectives of the PLO. Allow me to share just a few of its attractive highlights:

Article Two allows absolutely no provision for a Jewish state in the Middle East.

Article Twenty denies that the Jews have ever had any historical or religious claims to the area.

Article Twenty-One rejects all solutions which fall short of “the total liberation of Palestine.” Incidentally, such total liberation cannot take place until Israel ceases to exist.

Article Fifteen calls for the elimination of Zionism in Palestine.

The Oswald Accord called for the canceling of any clauses which did not recognize Israel’s right to exist but such clauses were never removed.

In 1993, on the same day in which Arafat signed an agreement on the White House lawn, he gave a public discourse to Palestinian Arabs on Jordan TV:

“Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine and establish sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel.”

The PLO’s Abu-al Aynawn also said: “We have to accept the deal and wait for a change in the circumstances that could lead to the elimination of Israel.”

Today Israel does not even show up on the maps in Palestinian schools. Kindergarten classes are taught that Jews are devils, to be hated and exterminated.

I myself had a chance to watch a Palestinian children’s TV Show, with a Sesame Street like costumed character talking to a cute little five year old girl in the audience.

“What do you want to do when you grow up, Sweetheart?” he said.

“I wanna kill Jews,” the adorable little girl replied.

The mascot winked at the audience with a big smile and then turned back to the child. “You do? How many Jews do you want to kill?”

“All of them!”

“All of them?”

Isn’t that sweet? Now exactly why would we believe that peace will come to this region if its children are taught that hating Jews is as natural a breathing?

When two nations make a peace treaty, there is supposed to be give and take on both sides. Israel’s deal (brokered by the U.S) always goes like this. “You give the Palestinians back some land and here is what they will do: They’ll promise to stop killing you.” That’s the deal. Then one day after the deal, the promise is broken and missiles are fired into Israel from Gaza (where the Palestinians were finally offered their own autonomous rule) or a suicide bomber kills women and children on a bus.

At the time of this writing, the Bush administration is still putting pressure on Israel to cooperate with “The Road Map to Peace.” Wow! More peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians! This could be the greatest thing since Chamberlain met with Hitler. I’ve been so excited; I can hardly sleep at nights.

Let me be as straight with my readers as I possibly can. Nothing Israel does, no gesture, no concession, no discussion, will make a hill of beans of difference. They can sign a peace treaty. They can jump on board for a two state solution. It doesn’t matter. Hezbolah wants Israel dead. Al-Qaeda wants Israel dead. Hamas wants Israel dead. But it isn’t limited to the terrorist groups. Palestine itself wants Israel dead. The surrounding Arab nations want Israel dead. The Persian nation of Iran wants Israel dead.

My advice to Christians: I hope you have discovered a better reason to side with Israel than theological reasons. Fascinating as prophecy may be (and I am a big believer in Bible prophecy) the issue in the Middle East is a human rights issue.

Israel is hated not because of any occupation. Israel is hated for the same reason the United States is hated: We are not Muslims. You will discover that defending Israel is only the beginning of defending the entire world.

Bibliography

1) Middle East Conflict by Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D, Third Edition

(Bard is one of the country’s leading experts on U.S.-Middle East policy. His work has been published in many academic periodicals. This Alpha book in the Penguin Group is part of the Complete Idiot’s Guide series.)

2) Philistine, by Ramon Bennett.

(Ramon Bennett is not Jewish, but rather, a Christian from England who chose to become an Israeli citizen.)

NOTE: Both Bard and Bennett offer detailed documentation in their books, but for those who would dismiss their books as secondary sources, the following newspaper articles are offered as authentication for other points in the preceding narrative.

Regarding the Lie that Jews stole Palestinian land

The Spokesman-Review Nov. 7, 1937

The Age, Dec. 26, 1936

Rochester Journal October 8, 1936

The Portsmouth Times Sept 23, 1938

The Vancouver Sun Sept. 17, 1938

Regarding the truth that Palestine was never a sovereign country and Jews did not steal land from “Palestinians”

The Spokesman Review, Oct 1, 1916

The Calgary Daily Herald Jan 21, 1931

Saskatoon Star Phoenix Feb 16, 1939

Regarding the interesting phenomenon that many Arabs supported Zionism and were killed for their support by other Arabs.

The Canadian Jewish Chronicle April 28, 1922

The Montreal Gazette Dec. 19, 1938

The Windsor Daily Star October 16, 1935

The Sydney Morning Herald July 24, 1937

The Evening Independent October 13, 1938

The Montreal Gazette Dec. 15, 1938

The Portsmouth Times Dec. 1, 1947

Lawrence Journal World Dec. 23, 1977

Combating the lie that Jews deliberately did ethnic cleansing

The Portsmouth Times September 26, 1938

Reading Eagle Jan 6, 1948

Pittsburg Post Gazette May 17, 1948

Spokane Daily Chronicle May 15, 1948

The Pittsburg Press May 16, 1948

The Montreal Gazette My, 17, 1948

The Miami News May 25, 1948

Authentication that the Palestinians left their own land because of the war against Israel, not because Jews drove them off.

Lodi News Sentinel April 28, 1948

Sydney Morning Herald May 3, 1948

The Montreal Gazette Jan 5, 1948

Canadian Jewish Chronicle April 2, 1948

The Free-Lance Star May 5, 1948

The Milwaukee Journal April 24, 1948

St. Petersburg Times April 25, 1948

The Canadian Jewish Chronicle August 20, 1948

The Milwaukee Journal August 19, 1948

Youngstown Vindicator Jan 19, 1956

Rebutting the charge that Zionism and racism are the same thing:

Boston Evening Transcript August 30, 1897

The Spokesman Review Dec 27, 1919

The Canadian Jewish Chronicle March 1, 1918

Toledo Blade Dec 3, 1947

Concerning the charge that Palestinian terrorism is inspired or caused by Israeli aggression

The National Era October 27, 1859

Warsaw Daily Times August 28, 1888

Boston Evening Transcript Aug 23, 1907

The Canadian Jewish Chronicle April 22, 1921

The Evening Independent Aug 29, 1929

Lewiston Morning Tribune Jul 8, 1934

Pittsburg Post Gazette Jun 2, 1936

The Montreal Gazette Jul 27, 1938

The Milwaukee Journal Nov 13, 1945

Connection between certain Palestinian leaders and Nazis

The Portsmouth Times September 25, 1938

The Victoria Advocate September 15, 1947

Ludington Daily News Feb 6, 1971

These news stories can be found in Google News Archives.

Photos of certain sections of the same articles were posted on Youtube courtesy of Mideast Watcher

1) Philistine, Ramon Bennett

Footnotes:

1) Philo, Embassy to Caligula

Mandate for Palestine aka Israel

Sunday, September 6, 2015