Israel

 

First, please consider the following three passages, in the context of today:

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.” -Zechariah 12:3

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land” – Joel 3: 1-2

“See the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see it and know by your own selves that the summer is already near. Even so you also, when you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things are accomplished. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.”— Luke 21:29-33

The nation of Israel, with an area smaller than that of New Jersey, and a population less than that of Virginia, figures prominently in both the Old and New Testaments- particularly when it comes to Biblical eschatology. All of the Hebrew prophets, most all of the New Testament prophecies and, according to three of the gospels, Jesus himself, spoke of Israel in the last days. The first citation above refers to the nations of the earth coming against Israel, the second regards God’s judgment against these nations, and the third refers to Israel’s rebirth in 1948, indicating that the generation who was alive at that time to witness Israeli statehood, would not pass away, until all of these things had been consummated.

Sixty-six years later, what do we see? Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, surrounded on three sides by nations committed to its destruction, and who stands beside Israel? No one, not even the United States under its present regime, supports Israel’s right to defend itself against aggression from without. Israel, far and away, the only middle eastern country that truly has freedom of religion, representative democracy and embraces the concept of tolerance- a concept unheard of in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Iraq (under ISIS), Syria and in the West Bank and Gaza strip, whose Palestinian authorities (Hamas) is unwilling to even acknowledge Israel’s very right to exist, and uses its own civilian women and children as human shields to protect the rockets that are used to bombard Israel.

Who gets the condemnation? Israel- from the United Nations, from the major media, and even our President and Secretary of State, who once again play the “Moral Equivalency” card, saying that peace must be attained by both sides, when knowing full well that one of those sides will not even acknowledge the other’s right to exist, and is wholly determined to annihilate the Jewish people.

While conservatives in the United States tend to back Israel and its efforts to survive aggression from all sides, liberals here, predictably, back the Palestinians and others who are dedicated to its destruction- liberals who pretend to be tolerant- except when it comes to Christianity anywhere and Judaism everywhere. Both of these two religions are under assault all over the Islamic world, but to even mention this is to bring on charges of Islamophobia- when, in fact, Islam is the most intolerant of the world’s monotheistic religions, which underscores liberal hypocrisy, yet again.

How much land will Israel have to cede to its enemies, once again, in pursuit of peace? Answer – “all of it”, say the Palestinians, who ironically are shunned even by their own Arab neighbors. Even then, if all of Israel were given to the Palestinians, the Jewish people of Israel would not have peace, but would instead have no homeland in which to exist. So, why should Israel cede a single acre to those bent on their destruction ? Why shouldn’t they invade the Gaza strip in order to destroy the tunnels with which Hamas smuggles its missiles and weaponry into Israel, to wreak havoc and destruction on Israeli civilians ?

More importantly, why should the nations of the world, including the United States under its current regime, condemn Israel for being committed to its own survival ? With anti-Semitism exploding all over Europe, once again, and the world aligning itself with those who seek the destruction of Israel, it seems that we are living out the script in a play written thousands of years ago- a play whose final act may only serve to bring about our own demise.

-Drew Nickell, 23 July 2014

 

© 2014 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved