Biblical Zionism
The Qur'an 17:104 - states the land belongs to the Jewish people
Biblical Zionism
The world is in the midst of a revolution. We are young American-born Jews living in Israel who have dedicated the last two years of our lives to spreading the beauty, depth, and dimension of Judaism and Israel to the world. We have been speaking to Jews in their synagogues on Saturdays and to Christians in their churches on Sundays, seeking to strengthen the emotional and spiritual connection of people around the world to the Land of Israel. There is a new brotherhood growing – one that is unprecedented in world history. A unity is being formed between the Jewish and Christian worlds anchored in common beliefs, shared values, and a love for Israel and her people.
Many Jews in Israel and around the world are skeptical of this new “Christian love”, and understandably so. Practically since the advent of Christianity, Christians have either tried to convert us or kill us. The Crusades, pogroms, Inquisition, and the Holocaust are scars on the Jewish collective consciousness and were all waged in the name of the cross and Christianity. Even today, it seems that most of the world despises Israel, demanding to divest both economically and isolate politically. Yet in a world that often seems so cold and lonely for the Jew, there is a unified voice growing stronger and more effective every day calling to protect us and support us; unconditionally.
Large segments of the Christian world are in the midst of a metamorphosis. “Christian Zionists” are the most rapidly burgeoning movement in the Christian world today. One of our first encounters with these Jew-loving Christians was at The New Covenant Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. As we entered the Church, a “battalion” of Christian youth in IDF uniforms stormed into the building waving Israeli flags, singing Israeli songs in Hebrew while dancing joyously around us. While at first we were astounded by this spectacle, we have grown accustomed to these acts of love and solidarity.
To truly understand this transformation, one needs to look no further than the Tanach – The Jewish Bible, otherwise known as The Old Testament. To these evangelical
Christians, “The Old Testament” is no longer considered an obsolete covenant between the Jewish people and their G-d, but rather the fundamental roots of the Christian belief system. Christians are reconnecting to their Jewish roots, heritage, and tradition by celebrating Passover, Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles), and Shavuot (Pentecost). They will opt to buy a Mezuzah over a wreath or a Star of David rather than a crucifix. Most Judaica retailers can tell you that their fastest growing customer demographic is the Christian world.
One of the biblical verses that lie at the heart of this upheaval is Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you, I will curse. All of the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” There is an inherent desire of people to understand where they come from and where they are going. In recent history Christians have witnessed numerous prophecies promised to the Jewish people come into fruition ranging from the blatant miracle of the creation of the State of Israel to the ingathering of the exiles from the four corners of the earth, and they are drawing their own conclusions. Believe it or not, there are pastors who are not comfortable calling themselves Christians anymore; they associate the term with two millennia of hatred towards the Jew and don’t feel connected to the religion that historically called itself Christianity. These leaders seek to change the course of history and extricate what they see as “pagan” influences from their faith, returning to what they believe are their Jewish roots.
As orthodox Jews, we welcome their love and support for it is based on our Torah, which we know is true. There are no arguments about the importance of the book of Genesis anymore. We all see the value and wisdom of the Tanach and if this love is based on truth with no strings attached, then we see it as a positive force that needs to be nurtured and developed.
One pastor from North Carolina came to visit us in Israel after we spoke to his community in the U.S. At the end of our meeting, he handed us an envelope of cash, collected in a wicker basket passed around his church as an offering for the poor and needy Jews of Jerusalem. He handed it to us, explaining that he knew he could trust us to get it into the right hands, and seemed offended at the idea of a tax deductible receipt. What struck us most was that he didn’t want it given to Jews in the name of Christianity or for them to even know it came from Christians. There were no ulterior motives. This community of righteous gentiles nestled in the hills of North Carolina wanted one thing – to bless the Jewish people. To us, that is a revolution.
This column is meant to be an invitation to the world to unite and stand for Israel, to discover and nurture our common sources of inspiration and belief, and to work together to accomplish good in the world. This column is also a warning to Christians who seek to change the Jewish people. Although you may see your intentions as good, we see you as the force that divides our worlds and burns the bridges we are striving to build. We hope that you will choose to unite and not divide. In Isaiah, Chapter 14, there is a prophecy of righteous gentiles who join the House of Jacob and others who do not. We urge you to read what happens to both. This is an invitation from Ari & Jeremy as we strive to be an authentic Jewish voice coming out of Jerusalem to the nations of the world. We look forward to your letters and e mails; ask questions, suggest topics for discussion, give us feedback. The dialog has begun: may these efforts and those of many others help bridge the gaps between us.
“…for my house will be a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7.
Biblical Zionism
The world is in the midst of a revolution. We are young American-born Jews living in Israel who have dedicated the last two years of our lives to spreading the beauty, depth, and dimension of Judaism and Israel to the world. We have been speaking to Jews in their synagogues on Saturdays and to Christians in their churches on Sundays, seeking to strengthen the emotional and spiritual connection of people around the world to the Land of Israel. There is a new brotherhood growing – one that is unprecedented in world history. A unity is being formed between the Jewish and Christian worlds anchored in common beliefs, shared values, and a love for Israel and her people.
Many Jews in Israel and around the world are skeptical of this new “Christian love”, and understandably so. Practically since the advent of Christianity, Christians have either tried to convert us or kill us. The Crusades, pogroms, Inquisition, and the Holocaust are scars on the Jewish collective consciousness and were all waged in the name of the cross and Christianity. Even today, it seems that most of the world despises Israel, demanding to divest both economically and isolate politically. Yet in a world that often seems so cold and lonely for the Jew, there is a unified voice growing stronger and more effective every day calling to protect us and support us; unconditionally.
Large segments of the Christian world are in the midst of a metamorphosis. “Christian Zionists” are the most rapidly burgeoning movement in the Christian world today. One of our first encounters with these Jew-loving Christians was at The New Covenant Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. As we entered the Church, a “battalion” of Christian youth in IDF uniforms stormed into the building waving Israeli flags, singing Israeli songs in Hebrew while dancing joyously around us. While at first we were astounded by this spectacle, we have grown accustomed to these acts of love and solidarity.
To truly understand this transformation, one needs to look no further than the Tanach – The Jewish Bible, otherwise known as The Old Testament. To these evangelical
Christians, “The Old Testament” is no longer considered an obsolete covenant between the Jewish people and their G-d, but rather the fundamental roots of the Christian belief system. Christians are reconnecting to their Jewish roots, heritage, and tradition by celebrating Passover, Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles), and Shavuot (Pentecost). They will opt to buy a Mezuzah over a wreath or a Star of David rather than a crucifix. Most Judaica retailers can tell you that their fastest growing customer demographic is the Christian world.
One of the biblical verses that lie at the heart of this upheaval is Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you, I will curse. All of the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” There is an inherent desire of people to understand where they come from and where they are going. In recent history Christians have witnessed numerous prophecies promised to the Jewish people come into fruition ranging from the blatant miracle of the creation of the State of Israel to the ingathering of the exiles from the four corners of the earth, and they are drawing their own conclusions. Believe it or not, there are pastors who are not comfortable calling themselves Christians anymore; they associate the term with two millennia of hatred towards the Jew and don’t feel connected to the religion that historically called itself Christianity. These leaders seek to change the course of history and extricate what they see as “pagan” influences from their faith, returning to what they believe are their Jewish roots.
As orthodox Jews, we welcome their love and support for it is based on our Torah, which we know is true. There are no arguments about the importance of the book of Genesis anymore. We all see the value and wisdom of the Tanach and if this love is based on truth with no strings attached, then we see it as a positive force that needs to be nurtured and developed.
One pastor from North Carolina came to visit us in Israel after we spoke to his community in the U.S. At the end of our meeting, he handed us an envelope of cash, collected in a wicker basket passed around his church as an offering for the poor and needy Jews of Jerusalem. He handed it to us, explaining that he knew he could trust us to get it into the right hands, and seemed offended at the idea of a tax deductible receipt. What struck us most was that he didn’t want it given to Jews in the name of Christianity or for them to even know it came from Christians. There were no ulterior motives. This community of righteous gentiles nestled in the hills of North Carolina wanted one thing – to bless the Jewish people. To us, that is a revolution.
This column is meant to be an invitation to the world to unite and stand for Israel, to discover and nurture our common sources of inspiration and belief, and to work together to accomplish good in the world. This column is also a warning to Christians who seek to change the Jewish people. Although you may see your intentions as good, we see you as the force that divides our worlds and burns the bridges we are striving to build. We hope that you will choose to unite and not divide. In Isaiah, Chapter 14, there is a prophecy of righteous gentiles who join the House of Jacob and others who do not. We urge you to read what happens to both. This is an invitation from Ari & Jeremy as we strive to be an authentic Jewish voice coming out of Jerusalem to the nations of the world. We look forward to your letters and e mails; ask questions, suggest topics for discussion, give us feedback. The dialog has begun: may these efforts and those of many others help bridge the gaps between us.
“…for my house will be a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7.
Members of Hamas, a group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, are the Nazis of modern times. Israel is right to pound military targets inside Gaza, but much of the violence Israel brought on itself by giving up land it had to know would be used to rain down death on its civilians. That is always the pattern.
Why is anyone surprised that after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the vacuum created was quickly filled by Hamas, whose sole purpose is the destruction of the "Zionist entity," as it likes to call Israel, and the killing of as many Jews as possible? The fiction, which is greater than a belief in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, is that Israel, or the United States, or anyone else, can do anything that will deter Hamas from its objective. What did anyone expect when Israel pulled out of Gaza? The establishment of a Disney theme park, perhaps?
Jews are vermin and less than human, Hamas says. Oh, wait. Wasn't the same said of the Jews by the Nazis? The only difference is that today's killers don't speak German.
The year 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of Israel's re-establishment in its ancient homeland. It also marked the 60th anniversary of the first violent response to the formation of the State of Israel. The violence hasn't stopped despite the efforts of diplomats and politicians.
The incoming Obama administration has announced it will make a Middle East peace agreement a high priority. It might as well announce plans to defy gravity. Peace can only come once Israel's enemies are defeated. No "infidel" diplomat is going to stop Palestinian schools from teaching a new generation of children to hate the Jews and to regard all of Israel as occupied Arab land.
Hamas and its terrorist cousins know how to play the public relations game. Most recently we saw it in Lebanon with Hezbollah, as we have seen it in so many other places. The terrorists operate within civilian areas so that when Israel strikes and unintentionally kills civilians, the bodies are paraded before Western media. In some cases, in order to embellish the drama, bodies have been planted in rubble, along with a child's toy.
Most of the big media don't focus on the occasional rocket attacks inside Israel, only on Israel's attempts to stop them. So much of Western thinking continues along the delusional line that only "adjustments" by Israel have a chance of bringing peace by diminishing the passions of her enemies. If that were so, given all of Israel's concessions, shouldn't those passions have diminished by now and serious negotiations begun?
Instead, the more Israel concedes, the more violence it gets. At some point you might think people would say, "this isn't working" and try another approach, such as striking back in a manner that would not simply stop the present threat, but persuade Hamas and the others that there is no benefit in their continued aggression.
Iran is behind Hamas, supplying it with rockets, some of which are made in Russia, and with other weapons. The goal of the Obama administration ought not to be "peace," per se. Peace is like happiness: a byproduct of something else. Israel's goal should be peace through strength. The U.S. should commit to building up Israel, militarily and diplomatically, as a deterrent to Israel's enemies, many of whom also hate and wish to destroy America.
Israel already has given up too much. Every concession has been met with more war. It is time to finish the job. No more delays; no more cease-fires or truces, which merely allow Hamas now (and Hezbollah before) to dig new tunnels and smuggle in reinforcements and more weapons with which they kill more Israeli civilians.
Total victory or death should be Israel's slogan and goal. It is the slogan and goal of Israel's enemies. Is there an Arabic equivalent of "Sieg Heil"?
What some call the 'West Bank,' Mr. President, is Judea and Samaria, and this simple historic truth
will never change. There are cynics who deride history. They may continue their derision as they wish, but
I will stand by the truth. And the truth is that millennia ago there was a Jewish Kingdom of Judea and
Samaria where our kings knelt to God, where our prophets brought forth the vision of eternal peace, where
we developed a rather rich civilization which we took with us in our hearts and in our minds, on our long
global trek for over 18 centuries; and, with it, we came back home. By aggressive war, by invasion, King
Abdullah conquered parts of Judea and Samaria in 1948; and in a war of most legitimate self-defense in
1967, after being attacked by King Hussein, we liberated, with God's help, that portion of our homeland.
Geography and history have ordained that Judea and Samaria be mountainous country and that
two-thirds of our population dwell in the coastal plain dominated by those mountains. From them you can
hit every city, every town, each township and village and, last but not least, our principal airport in the plain
below.
Mr. President, you and I chose for the last two years to call our countries 'friends and allies.' Such
being the case, a friend does not weaken a friend, an ally does not put his ally in jeopardy. This would be
the inevitable consequence were the 'positions' [Begin refers here to the Reagan Plan which called on Israel
to withdraw to the 1967 lines] transmitted to me on August 31, 1982, to become reality. I believe they
won't. 'For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest.' (Isaiah 62).
Co-existence? Nonsense. You chose war every time- and ethnically cleansed ALL Jews from lands that you conquered here.
The simple fact is that the Philistines could have had a state in peace, but chose war on MANY occasions- INSTEAD:
The Philistines would have had a state IN PEACE in 1937 with the Peel Plan, but they violently rejected it.
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 1939 with the MacDonald White Paper, but they violently rejected it (and Jews would have even been restricted from BUYING land from Arabs).
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 1948 with UN 181, but they violently rejected it (and actually claimed that the UN had no such mandate!).
They could have had a state IN PEACE in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1948-1967 without any Jews- because the Arabs had ethnically cleansed every last one; but they violently rejected it. In fact, that's exactly when they established Fatah (1959) and the PLO (1964).
They could have had a state IN PEACE after 1967, but instead, the entire Arab world issued the Khartoum Resolutions:
A. No peace with Israel
B. No recognition of Israel
C. No negotiations with Israel
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 2000 with the Oslo Accords, but they violently rejected it- as always.
Ali,
And as to the silly claim that; "I'm Palestinian to the bones, my dad was, my grand father was and myu great great great grand father was."
That's nonsense. The term "Palestinian" meant a JEW until 1948.
"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria."
- Ahmed Shuqeiry, later Head of the PLO, in a speech to the UN Security Council, 1974
"It is only for tactical reasons that we carefully stress our Palestinian identity, for it is in the national interest of the Arabs to encourage a separate Palestinian identity to counter Zionism: The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the ongoing battle against Israel…"
- Zohair Mohsin, then head of the PLO Military Operations Dept. and member of PLO Executive Council, in an interview for the Dutch newspaper Trouw, March 1977
Your language, habits, culture, and food are Jordanian. Your passport is Jordanian.
Your future is Jordanian.
The Arabs will just have to learn to "make do" with their own 99.9% of the Middle East- including all of the oil, and stop trying to steal OUR tiny 1/10th of 1% without oil. The Philistines won't have a state here in Israel, and if they don't stop their violence, they won't even exist here anymore. They will have to go to their own land- elsewhere.
Introduction
The increase in Jewish immigration to Palestine in the 1930s soon provoked fresh trouble. Palestinian nationalist groups led by the Husseini family and others demonstrated against the mandate and, in 1936, the unrest turned into widespread riots in Palestine. The riots were also used by Palestinian clans to settle accounts. The British, aware of the possibility of looming war, responded with with emergency measures and repression, and sought a solution.
The Peel Commission of 1937, sent to investigate the causes of the unrest, resulted in a report and White Paper. Their major recommendations were partition of the land into two unequal states, and population transfer:
Those areas, therefore, should be surveyed and an estimate made of the practical possibilities of irrigation and development as quickly as possible. If, as a result, it is clear that a substantial amount of land could be made available for the re-settlement of Arabs living in the Jewish area, the most strenuous efforts should be made to obtain an agreement for the transfer of land and population. In view of the present antagonism between the races and of the manifest advantage to both of them for reducing the opportunities of future friction to the utmost, it is to be hoped that the Arab and the Jewish leaders might show the same high statesmanship as that of the Turks and the Greeks and make the same bold decision for the sake of peace.
The solution was extremely unfavorable to Zionists, since the it recommended a second partition of Palestine, leaving a very small area for Jewish settlement.
After considerable debate, the Zionist executive accepted the Peel plan, despite the small size of the state on offer, because of the urgent need, that was felt even then, to provide a haven for the Jews of Europe. Strong objections to the Plan were raised in the Zionist executive because of doubts about the morality of transfer,
Berl Katznelson: an influential leader of the Mapai party favored transfer, including "compulsory" transfer. However, the "compulsion" was to come about as the result of agreement, and not through war or violent action. He wrote:
"The matter of population transfer has provoked a debate among us: Is it permitted or forbidden? My conscience is absolutely clear in this respect. A remote neighbour is better than a close enemy. They [the Palestinians] will not lose from it. In the final analysis, this is a political and settlement reform for the benefit of both parties. I have long been of the opinion that this is the best of all solutions.... I have always believed and still believe that they were destined to be transferred to Syria or Iraq." - (At the World Convention of Ihud Po'alei Tzion, August 1937. Al Darchei Mediniyutenu: Mo'atzah 'Olamit Shel Ihud Po'ali Tzion (c.s.)-Din Vehesbon Maleh, 21 July-7 August [1938], [Full Report of the World Convention of Ihud Po'alei Tzion, C.S.] (Tel Aviv,: Central Office of Hitahdut Po'alei Zion Press, 1938).
The subsequent Woodhead Commission, officially known as the Palestine Partition Commission, discussed several different partition plans, all were rejected by Arab representatives. and ultimately the partition plan was abandoned. However or the recommendation for continued suspension of Jewish immigration remained in force
Ami Isseroff