Does Israel Belong to The State of Israel?

At the start of a new article, rarely do I quote from a previous Eye of Prophecy post; let alone begin with the title of a prior article.

However, regarding the stunning announcement earlier this week by United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it’s fitting to begin with the question posed in the title of that article, posted 5-4-19.

We’ll get to this announcement shortly, including world-wide reactions (approval and disapproval) and its repercussions regarding the elusive pursuit of peace between Jews and Arabs in Israel … in the entire Middle East.

That prior article (Does Israel Belong to the State of Israel?) was somewhat general in nature; although, it did focus on the volatile region of northern Israel called the Golan Heights.

Whereas, today’s post is a result of dramatic developments that continue to focus the world’s attention on and angst with the tiny nation of Israel in the last days of the end times. Just as the Bible predicted long ago. Specifically, in the region of Israel called Judea/Samaria. What the geopolitical world designates as the West Bank.

“This message concerning the fate of Israel came from the Lord: ‘This message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves” (Zechariah 12:1-3).

Look closely at some of the amazing features of that passage, not the least of which is the extraordinary juxtaposition of Israel and her fate in the context of the supernatural sovereignty of God creating the universe and forming the human spirit.

  • In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). He also gave the entire land of Israel with boundaries that encompass modern-day Israel and much more to Abraham and his descendants, the Jewish people (Genesis 12, Obadiah 1:19-21, Joshua Chapters 13-21, and other passages).
  • Not just Jerusalem, but Judah’s (representative of Judea/Samaria and all of Israel) fate is in the hands of God as we approach the end of this age.
  • That divinely controlled fate starts to unfold when nations begin to wring their collective hands over what to do with and about Israel. Which is exactly what’s happening in today’s world and has been for some 70 years now, since Israel became a sovereign nation in 1948. And even more so since Israelis reclaimed Jerusalem and ALL disputed territories (1967) within this Holy Land set aside for the Jews by God himself.

Does Israel Belong to the State of Israel?

Are you thinking: “What kind of a question is that?”

Meaning that if all of Israel—including Judea/Samaria and the Gaza Strip—does NOT belong to Israel, then it’s a rhetorical question. If only part of the geographical boundaries of the State of Israel as found on any legitimate map of the globe belongs to the Jews, then the answer is a foregone conclusion, i.e. only some of the land in Israel belongs to the State of Israel. So why ask the question?

The opposite is just the same. If the entire land mass within Israel’s external borders with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt are the legal possessions of Israelis, then the question is equally rhetorical.

With an equally obvious answer: Of course, the entire area belongs to the Sovereign Jewish State of Israel—including Judea/Samaria, the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

(As small as Israel is–including the West Bank and Gaza Strip–It is still too big for the Palestinians and surrounding Arab nations!)

Here is an excerpt from the previously identified article that is applicable to today’s titled topic, which is also in the form of a question concerning the legal status of Jewish settlements (homes and businesses) in the Judea/Samaria region of Israel:

One reaction to the title of this week’s article might be: Is that a trick question?

Not really.

Why?

Because many have allowed themselves to be tricked (misled) into thinking that certain disputed regions of Israel do not belong to the Israelis. Or there is a legal; or, if non-legal, then at least an acceptable argument to challenge Israeli sovereignty over and Jewish communities within Palestinian territories … also the Golan Heights.

There are three groupings of people world-wide that to some extent or another participate in this debate—whether all of Israel’s borders, annexed or not, include sovereign Israeli ground within what the Israeli government recently affirmed as the Jewish nation-state. (Refer to Eye of Prophecy article, Israel’s Controversial Nation-State Law, posted 8-11-18; which explains what this law means, what it does not mean, and the repercussions thereof).

The three groups are:

(1) Those who deliberately distort contemporary facts on the ground (reality) and intentionally dismiss or flippantly falsify (rewrite) history to promote the agenda that Jews are occupying land that does not belong to them. For the most part they are Palestinians, Islamic nations, and other national leaders and their people—most notably many western nations within the European Union.

Although non-Muslim nations occasionally express their support for the Jew’s right of self-determination and security, they (even the United States, particularly under the Obama administration) accuse the Israeli government of allowing “illegal Jewish settlements” and even of apartheid. (See Eye of Prophecy article: Israeli Occupation … Fact or Myth? Posted 5-16-15. Also, Jewish Sovereignty on Temple Mount Part I & II … August 2017).

(2) Those ignorant of or indifferent to Israel’s true history and the Middle East chronicle in general. Without bothering to become familiar with at least the basics, they blindly support the anti-Israeli rhetoric accompanied by an intersectional bandwagon approach that includes the Palestinian narrative along with other causes on their eclectic bucket list, e.g. LGBT, racial discrimination, women’s rights.

Ironically, the extremists (of group #1 above) like political activist Linda Sarsour, a “leader” of the women’s rights movement, don’t like or want other women who support Israel in any fashion as part of these intersectional movements. Even more paradoxical is that Sarsour’s strenuous support of Islam includes toleration for Islamic subjugation of women as 2nd class citizens, who have nowhere near the rights of Muslim men; nor anything resembling the liberties of western women. As is said, “Go figure.”

On the other hand, it’s easy to figure out. Everything that campaigners like Sarsour, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib promote (literally for Omar and Tlaib, as each is a U.S. Congresswoman) is fueled by and couched in their innate (antisemitic) hostility toward Israel and the right of Jews to a sovereign state. Which is the ONLY Jewish nation on the planet. And the ONLY democratic nation in the entire Middle East. Yet, they and most Muslims want Israel replaced with yet another Arab nation (currently there are 22 of them) or at least an Islamic dominated nation, of which there are 57 in the world, including the 22 Arab countries.

(3) Those who have studied Israel’s national and spiritual heritage (Biblical and secular), keeping abreast of historical and contemporary cause and effect developments in the Middle East. I put myself in this category.

Though several Eye of Prophecy articles have dealt at length with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict generally and the disputed territories as understood (or not) by the world community specifically; it’s time to revisit this issue that has captivated global attention in an exponential fashion since Israel’s rebirth as a sovereign-state in 1948. (Refer to Eye of Prophecy article: Global Obsession with Israel … In Biblical Proportions! Published 1-6-18)

From north to south in Israel those contested regions: the Golan Heights, Judea & Samaria (in the last 50 years or so-called the West Bank), and the Gaza Strip.

In this week’s post, we’ll focus our looking glass on the Golan Heights. Next week’s article will concentrate on Judea/Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

*Note: You may also want to visit that subsequent article, entitled: Judea/Samaria & Gaza Strip / Who Has Sovereignty? (posted 5-11-19).

Since those articles were posted, no one could have known for certain what would come next in the theater of the Middle East and never-ending drama of Israel. But it’s a sure thing that something would happen and soon to heighten the global anguish and/or anger over Jewish settlements in so-called Palestinian territory.

Sure enough; something did happen.

With two clarifications needing to be made (yet again as I have done in several prior articles) before examining this electrifying event:

(A) The term “settlements” and “occupying” must be understood in the traditional (neutral, even positive) meaning. They are those neighborhoods which are entirely legal because the land has been purchased by Jews and because Judea/Samaria was originally part of the British Mandate from which the State of Israel was reborn. As opposed to the negative connotation that the Jews are occupying (trespassing by building illegal homesteads) on land that doesn’t belong to them.

They are not trespassers.

(B) There is no such thing as “Palestinian territory” in the legal or geopolitical sense. Because there is no such thing as Palestine. Nor a Palestinian State …yet. Therefore, there is (really) no such thing as a Palestinian … by birth, race, passport, language, or citizenship).

Instead, there are about four million Arabs living within the legal national boundaries of the sovereign state of Israel who have refused to even apply for Israeli citizenship. And neighboring Arab nations (such as Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia) have declined to allow any more of these “Palestinians” to migrate to their country and become citizens with their fellow Arabs. As opposed to some 1.8 million Arabs who are citizens of Israel and can live wherever they like within the scope of Israel’s national borders. Plus, they have all the citizenship rights of Israeli Jews, including voting and holding governmental positions.

[For in-depth examination of the non-existent entity of Palestine and how/why Arabs are now called Palestinians, please see Eye of Prophecy articles: What is Palestine & Who Is A Palestinian? (posted 12-2-17) Followed by, The “Right of Return” … For Palestinians or Jews? (4-7-18).]

A Stunning Historical Shift in United States Policy Toward “Jewish Settlements”

This past Monday (11-18-19), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo relayed President Trump’s official change in policy toward Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, on behalf of the United States of America.

(U.S. Sec. of State Mike Pompeo with Israeli President Rivlin)

Among other things, Pompeo said: “…after carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

And: “The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.”

First: it’s the informed opinion and (now) official policy of the United States Government that Jewish residents of Judea & Samaria (West Bank) are not living there illegally.

Second: even if they were, to some extent or another, in violation of international law (which they are not—as I’ve explained in prior articles with documentation provided), our Executive Staff’s position is that no international court can unilaterally and ultimately resolve this issue of who the land belongs to and who belongs to the land. Rather, Arabs and Jews themselves must do that.

Which is why Mike Pompeo also said (as others have said many times before): “We recognized the reality on the ground … [and] provided a space for Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate…. Calling the establishment of settlements inconsistent with international law has not worked. It cannot bring peace.”

With that, he is 100% correct. But neither will negotiations result in any measure of peace until the non-citizen Arabs of Israel and the world at large fully recognize that Israel is a Sovereign Jewish State.

No more or less than Germany is a German State; France is a French State; Spain is a Spanish State; so forth and so on. With all democratic countries (including the only democracy in the Middle East—Israel) allowing minority groups citizenship if they apply and qualify. Thus, the LEGALITY (reality) of the situation in Israel is that the non-citizen Arabs are foreigners, no matter how long they have lived there. Which (not just incidentally) is not nearly as long as the Jews have. Not even close, if you go back 3000 years to Israel’s nationhood in Old Testament times, with Jerusalem as its uncontested Capital. Or even go back only 2,000 years when the Romans “occupied” Israel (now that’s occupation in the worst sense of the word).

No less that President Trump’s executive authority to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem (May, 2018) which both symbolically and literally affirmed his 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided eternal capital and his recent endorsement of Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, this latest decision is quite historical in nature. Or, if you prefer the term historic, that works too.

(U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. I’ve not been to Israel since 2006, thus my last visit to the US. Embassy was while it was still in Tel Aviv. But good for President Trump and the USA that our Embassy in Israel was finally moved to Jerusalem)

There are several implications of and variables to the expressions historical or historic. Yet, anytime a government of a prominent nation on earth decides to change something that has influenced or potentially will affect the fate of other nations, including its own, that to me qualifies as historical.

I’m not alone in that opinion. For example, well-known author Caroline Glick began her article posted earlier this week in the online Jewish News Syndicate, entitled New US Policy on Settlements is a Diplomatic Turning Point, with: “Monday will long be remembered as a turning point in Middle East history. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement Monday that Israeli settlements are not illegal per se is the most significant shift in U.S. Middle East policy in the past generation…”

In her article, Trump Makes Pro-Israel History Again, another respected columnist Ruthie Blum begins with: “US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s dramatic announcement on Monday that the ‘establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law’ sent shockwaves around the world…. Since his election three years ago, US President Donald Trump has been consistent in his efforts to reverse the policies of the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Not only in relation to Israel. But his pro-Israel stance has been steady and unapologetic from the get-go, which is as it should be.”

This decision is momentous because it challenged and therefore changed the previous position of the United States; a policy based on misinformation and foundational ignorance of Israel’s history—contemporary and ancient. It was a reversal of a 1978 State Department view imparted through what was called the Hansell Memorandum. Essentially, that rationale (which became official U.S. policy) presumed that Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria were “inconsistent with international law.” (Note: not necessarily illegal, just inconsistent?!)

It was no coincidence that the Hansell Memorandum arose out of the Jimmy Carter Presidency.

Then and to this day, President Carter has been an (ill-informed) critic of Israeli governments to the extent that he places virtually all the blame for lack of peace or a Palestinian State on Israel herself. This misguided mindset continued under President Obama, with each of those presidents virtually ignoring the true history of how/why Israel became a nation again. Plus, repeated Palestinian rejections of chances/offers for their own state. Conditions for an Arab State within Israel made possible not only by the United Nations Resolution of 1947; but also subsequent offers from two Israeli Prime Ministers (2000 and 2008) that would have given away 95+% of Judea/Samaria, had the Palestinian Authority accepted. Instead, the PA stubbornly rejected these offers because they do not recognize Israel’s legitimate right to exist as a nation.

Despite President Ronald Reagan rejecting the Hansell Memorandum in 1981 and despite a myriad of articles and books on the subject (including Eye of Prophecy articles), it has remained U.S official policy until now. As indicated, it was a rule based on erroneous evaluation of international law, especially language which states that a country cannot occupy territory conquered through war. But with qualifications that stipulate which kind of war (unprovoked hostile aggression versus a provoked defensive response) should determine who or what constitutes an occupying power.

In each of Israel’s four major wars against superior Arab manpower and armaments, she fought a defensive war of survival. During the Six-Day War of 1967, the IDF reclaimed the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and Judea/Samaria as an already legitimate and legal part of the State of Israel. INCLUDING JERUSALEM AS ITS CAPITAL.

Positive Reactions To The United States Recognition of Israeli Sovereignty in Judea/Samaria

As expected, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the announcement as one that, “…reflects a historical truth … rights a historical wrong. The Trump administration clearly rejected the false claim that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are inherently illegal under international law.”

He went on to say concerning the historical truth of the matter: “…the Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in Judea and Samaria. In fact, we are called Jews because we are the people of Judea.”

*Note: The Bible extends Judea to the entirety of Israel by sometimes substituting Judah (virtually the same as Judea) for the two southern tribes of Israel, and interchangeably to ALL Israel … especially when referring to the prophetic end times.

(Notice how much land is within the West Bank or the Judea/Samaria region of Israel)

Benjamin Netanyahu continued: “Israel’s legal systems, which has proven itself fully capable of addressing legal questions related to the settlements, is the appropriate place for these matters to be adjudicated—not biased international forums that pay no attention to history or facts. Israel remains ready and willing to conduct peace negotiations with the Palestinians regarding all final status issues in an effort to achieve a durable peace but will continue to reject all arguments regarding the illegality of the settlements.”

*Note: In commentary on Benjamin’s (and others) reliance on the Israeli judicial system to determine the “legality” of Jewish settlements free of international dictates that interfere with a nation’s sovereignty; it would be no different than questioning the ultimate United States Federal jurisdiction over land disputes between say the states of California and Arizona.

Israel’s Minister of Tourism (a prestigious office in the Israeli government as millions of tourists every year bring in a substantial revenue to Israel’s economy) Yariv Levin said: “We’re talking about another historic step of the most friendly government that Israel has ever had. The recognition of the legality of the settlements is a meaningful milestone on the way toward Israeli sovereignty in all parts of Israel.”

Ayelet Shaked, co-leader of the New Right Party and a prior Justice Minister of Israel echoed: “We’re talking about an important and meaningful decision. Therefore, better late than never. The settlements in Judea and Samaria don’t contradict international law, and it’s good that the greatest power in the world tells the truth and corrects this distortion of many years.”

Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein specifically connected the U.S. shift in policy to the recent European Union judicial decision on labeling (in a derogatory, delegitimizing manner) Israeli goods made in Judea/Samaria when he said: “The announcement of the American government is an outstanding Israeli victory against the scandalous ruling of the E.U. court that instructed that only products of Jews can be identified.”

He was referring to the E.U court decision to selectively in a discriminatory manner identify products coming from Jews in Judea/Samaria, instead of simply labeling them, “Made in Israel.”

It was another not so subtle endorsement of the BDS movement against Israel, gaining momentum across the planet. Only this time with entire nations of the European Union signing off on a bill that is flatly antisemitic. With the same misinformed, uninformed, or deliberate reliance on false claims that Israel is an apartheid nation and/or illegally occupies land that doesn’t belong to them.

Edelstein went on to say: “This is a historic and moral justice of the first rank that strengthens Israel. I commend President Trump on this unequivocal and courageous statement. The next step—establishing sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.”

*Note: When I write about Israeli sovereignty over Judea/Samaria and all of Israel, it’s in the context of the way it once was (in Biblical times). Plus, being restored in principle and more gradually in practice beginning with Israel’s rebirth in 1948. Followed by the legal acquisition of land through purchase or through victory in a justified war of defense. If the Jews had been defeated in any of those wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973), there effectively would be no more Israel. Because it would be absolutely guaranteed that the Arabs in and outside Israel and Muslim nations would have not tolerated any Jewish presence anywhere in Israel—not just in the “disputed territories” of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Which is the main reason that Benjamin Netanyahu has recently pushed for accelerated annexation of the Jordan Valley (1/4 of the region of Judea/Samaria) via a bill introduced by Knesset Member Sharren Haskel. This in follow up to Netanyahu’s stated promise during his pre-election candidacy: That if he would return as Israel’s Prime Minister (the 2nd election process is still ongoing), he would do everything possible to officially annex the Jordan Valley for the ongoing safety and security of Israel. On the tail of Mike Pompeo’s remarkable announcement, MK Haskel confidently said: “There is no reason that this important bill won’t pass with an 80-MK majority.”

Negative Reactions

Equally expected, were scathing responses from the Palestinian Authority and Hamas; even from the European Union.

Immediately following the declaration, the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank (Judea Samaria) called the decision, “unacceptable.”

Which is anything but surprising, as the Palestinians have deemed the entire State of Israel unacceptable from day one. Also unacceptable to most Muslims is any demonstrable American support for Israel, a nation reborn from the floods of dispersion and the fires of Nazi death camps (six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust).

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas—in the 14th year of a four-year term as President because there have been no Palestinian elections since 2005—blasted the United States by saying that the, “…declaration is baseless, unacceptable, condemned and totally in contravention with international law and international decisions that reject settlement building, especially United Nations Council resolution 2334.”

*Note: On that subject, another Eye of Prophecy post to consider: United Nations Downsizing of Israel (Resolution 2334); posted 1-1-17. As a reminder, that resolution was a result of out-going U.S. President Obama’s last jab at Israel.

(Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was also declared President of the State of Palestine in 2008 by the Palestinian Authority. No matter that the “State of Palestine” doesn’t exist)

Palestinian Authority spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh regurgitated Abbas’s criticism of the United States shift in policy by stating: “The American administration is not qualified or authorized to cancel the resolutions of international law, and has no right to grant legality to any Israeli settlement.”

Much could be said about that one-sided and inherently incorrect statement (resolutions of international law); part of which, however, is partially true. Namely that the United States has no legal authority to enforce such a decision. But that’s not the point made by our Executive Staff. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

What Trump and Pompeo are saying (based on extensive research into “international law” on the subject of “settlements”) is that in the final analysis no international judicial (such as the World Court) or executive body (such as the United Nations General Assembly or UN Security Council) has the preemptive power or prerogative to tell Israel to stop building houses in Judea/Samaria.

For two main reasons: (1) The “legal” evidence or rationale is completely groundless. Based on several factors; not the least of which was/is Israel’s legitimate right to include Judea/Samaria as part of the interior land of Israel’s borders. (2) Even if “international law” as applied to Israeli settlements was based on real history and accurate evidence, short of a nation usurping territory via an unprovoked, unjustified war against another people/territory, a nation has every right to maintain ultimate control and build settlements on land that they won by virtue of defending themselves from an aggressor.

However, there’s a greater reason why the Jews have had and should have autonomy over ALL of Israel. Which is the historical fact that they were in Israel LONG BEFORE the Arabs.

Then there’s another reason even greater than that, which we’ll get to in a moment, in close of today’s article.

But first, a quote from a European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherinia, who said: “The EU calls on Israel to end all settlement activity, in line with its obligations as an occupying power.”

There’s a huge problem with that statement. Which is the factual truth that Israel is NOT an occupying power, even by definition of international law. Simply put: You can’t occupy (negative connotation of the word … meaning illegally) land that already belongs to you. Nor can you be an occupying power over/in land that you claimed or reclaimed in a defensive, justified, righteous war. Which is exactly what the Jews did in their remarkable victory in the Six-Day War of 1967. But also, in Israel’s War of Independence (1948), Suez Canal War (1956), and the Yom Kippur War (1973).

How is it possible that a significant leader of the European Union doesn’t know just what international law says? Instead, she and countless other international organizations and heads of state (and, of course the Palestinians and all Islamic nations) are demanding that Israel “give back” Judea/Samaria to the Palestinians. And until that happens, stop building any more settlements there, because an “occupying power” doesn’t have that right.

And how many times do others (like me) who rely on historically accurate “facts on the ground” (such as the aforementioned Six-Day War outcome) need to remind these political pundits that the Jews have allowed Palestinians much more land in Judea/Samaria than that on which these settlements have been built? For example, there are some two million Palestinians in Judea/Samaria compared to around half a million Jews in Jewish communities of that region. Yet, proportionally, the Palestinians live on much more of that land than do the Jewish Israelis. Most of the Jewish communities and population in Judea/Samaria comprise only about 5% of the region.

And once again to emphatically explain that the Jews are not occupiers in the negative sense of the concept. Which is why we seldom get an actual definition of occupying power by those who claim the Jews are doing just that. And when Israel’s critics do make a feeble attempt at explaining this perception, they invariably distort or ignore what really happened before, during, and after the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

Summary

Another substantial feature of the United States shift in official policy regarding the Jewish settlements in Judea/Samaria was the timing of the announcement. It came on the heels of eight more anti-Israel resolutions recently passed by the United Nations. Ironically, one of those motions reads: “the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of land by force and therefore the illegality of the annexation of any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Question: Which phrase in that statement (five words) would you think deserves a whole lot more scrutiny and explanation before blindly accepting it as fact; thereby exposing the resolution for what it really is … an outright misrepresentation?

I realize that it was a complicated question, but for a reason. To demonstrate that so many statements (resolutions) like the one just quoted are accepted at face value by the world-at-large. It’s the age-old: “Don’t bother me with the facts, my mind is already made up.”

The phrase that deserves an abundance of clarification and correction: acquisition of land by force.”

Because it’s that premise that lends a measure of credibility to the resolution, but only if “force” is defined. Furthermore, that definition must be in the historically correct context of precisely what happened in the Six-Day War of 1967. For you see, the entire premise for a Palestinian State presented by Israel’s enemies (and even by their friends) is that Israel must give back all the territory it won in battle—through the blood and lives of Jews. Territory that was never “Palestinian Territory” in the first place.

Once again: ALL territory within the sovereign borders of a sovereign state (in this case Israel) ultimately belongs to that state. No matter how the land is allocated for use or who lives on that land.

Did the Israelis acquire Judea/Samaria and Jerusalem by force?

Answer: Absolutely. How else could they have prevented the Arab armies of Syria and Egypt and Jordan from overrunning the land and slaughtering Israelis along the way—with the Arab avowed goal of eliminating Israel and Jews in Israel from the face of the earth.

*Note: In reality, the word acquisition (acquire) is misleading, as the Jews acquired Judea/Samaria long before the Six-Day War of 1967. A much more accurate term would be reclaimed or regained (by force).

(Israeli soldiers resting at the Western Wall after victory over Arabs and reclaiming all of Jerusalem and Israel in June 1967)

Do you see what’s happening here? The UN, the EU, all Muslim nations, and even some so-called neutral countries want Israel to stop building settlements in Judea/Samaria and eventually give back all the land they reclaimed in 1967 and again in 1973. With the incredibly lame rationale that Israel took the land by (unauthorized … so they say) force.

Which they sure did! And for a good reason: THE VERY SURVIVAL OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWS. Would you wait for anyone, especially your enemy, to give you authorization to defend yourself while they were attacking you?

By simply saying “acquisition of land by force” the UN resolution is deceptively implying that Israel was the aggressor.

Did Israel strike first in the Six-Day War? Indeed, she did. However, the facts were crystal clear at the time: the Arab armies were imminently prepared to launch their own attack.

What would/should any nation do if threatened by enemies who swore to kill them and whose mobilized military was much larger than theirs?

Okay, you get the point. And that’s good. Because the world-at-large simply doesn’t get it.

Sadly, most do not want to “get it.”

Things to Ponder

It’s unlikely that President Trump, nor most of the United States Executive Staff, nor many in the US Congress, nor the majority of Americans or the world realizes that the biggest positive impact (advantage) of our Presidential gesture of support for Israel is based on a guaranteed promise by God himself. Who several times refers to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Or the God of Israel.

Or the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 1:4).

“I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King” (Isaiah 43:15).

“Said King David of the LORD: “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved…” (Psalm 22:3-5a).

Just as surely as God’s prophetic promises to Israel have been and will continue to be fulfilled, so does the Lord assure blessings and favor to those (individuals and nations) who support Israel. Those who recognize that God is not (nor ever has been) done with Israel.

Said God to and about Abraham and his descendants: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

It is through Israel that Messiah Jesus has come to bless Israel and the nations.

Isaiah also declares another remarkable prophecy in which God is speaking to the Messiah (God’s Son … Psalm 2 & 110):

“He says, ‘You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.’ The Lord, the Redeemer, and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers: ‘Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the LORD, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you… Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people again’” (Isaiah 49:6-8, emphasis added to show that God himself has “assigned” all Israel to the Jews, including Judea/Samaria!)

Then later in that same prophetic chapter, Isaiah says this about Israel, including graphic details of what happens to Israel’s enemies:

“…For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children. I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel” (Isaiah 49:25-26).

Pity the time and dread the day if/when the United States irreversibly turns its national back on Israel. Or spurns on a national level the Holy One of Israel—Father and Son.