By Esther Korson
Last week ‘Palestinian’ President Abbas addressed the Arab heads of 22 Arab nations at their summit in Kuwait, telling them that he has so far refused to even discuss recognizing Israel as a Jewish State and that by raising the issue Israel was trying to disrupt the peace talks.
There are rumours about a deal-in-the-works to extend the peace talks after the April 29th deadline. Israeli Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett expressed skepticism over the deal, calling it a farce. “How long can we continue to be suckers?” he asked. “The man says, ‘I will never, ever recognize you’. How much can we demean ourselves?” And that is indeed a major stumbling block in the talks, Netanyahu’s red line—recognition by Abbas that Israel is the Jewish State. The ‘Palestinian’ leader has stated over and over again that he will not do it and now he has backing. The Arab League announced in their Kuwaiti summit that the League fully supports Abbas’ position. “We express our total rejection of the call to recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” read a statement from the member’s body on the final day of the summit.
On the 20th of March, there was a really clever “Dry Bones” cartoon entitled “Theological Questions”. There are two men facing each other. In the first frame, one comments to the second, “Could the reversal in American prestige and power be due to the Biblical curse on those who betray Israel?” The second guy shouts irately, “WHAT? Are you insane?! A religious fanatical nut case? How can you even suggest that?!?!” But in the final frame, he asks in a whisper, “There’s a Biblical curse?”
Well, yes, there is, actually. Way back in Genesis the Lord promised to the Jewish people, “And I will bless those who bless thee, and curse those who curse thee…” Genesis 12:3.
First of all, I want to state categorically that the United States has always been our best friend and our staunchest ally in the world and it still is. The problem has been with President Obama. When George W. Bush was president, this nation recognized that he was the best friend as a president that Israel ever had and he had an approval rating of 80%. Obama, on the other hand, has in a personal way not been friendly, and from the very beginning following his trip to Egypt without visiting Israel until now, his approval rating has been around 4%. (The US congress has always been amazing in their friendship towards Israel, by the way!) (Do any of you remember how Obama humiliated Netanyahu on his first visit to the White house? How Obama brought him in through a side door without any of the usual fanfare, and left him sitting in a room alone while Obama and the First Lady went in to dinner?)
Now that I’ve clarified Israel’s solid friendship with the United States, back to the topic of the curse. Someone once asked an Israeli, “Why do you Israelis always answer a question with another question?” to which the Israeli gave the typical reply. “Lama lo?” (Why not?) So I’m going to answer the question of the curse with a few questions of my own. The first one is—have you met any Babylonians lately? Any Romans? And before 1948, the “Great British Empire Upon Which the Sun Never Set”—where is it now, exactly? And actually, where is the sun? And now aren’t most of Israel’s Arab enemies sadly killing themselves?
Whether the Arab league of nations chooses to recognize us or not, the fact is that the God of Israel still exists. Maybe they should think a little harder about that, especially now when Israel is preparing once again to celebrate our exodus from Egypt. (I’ll tell all about what Israel is like during Passover in a later blog). I love this Scripture, because it speaks so strongly of His sovereignty and power and of the fact that His support is all that really matters. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Another good question, eh? It’s something to hold on to in our daily walk with the Lord as well.
Here’s something else to tell about the peace process. There is an Arab doctor named Dr. Tawfik Hamid. He used to be a member of the radical Al-Gama’s Al-Islamiyya organization in Egypt which is blacklisted by the US and other countries as a terrorist group. But this former Islamist discovered the truth and is now a self-declared “reformer of Islam”. He is now a senior chair for the study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. I love it when Arabs truly understand the issues involved and have the courage to state the truth. In an interview broadcast on Arutz Sheva in Israel, he had the following to say about the stalled peace talks: “Although it is undeniable that many Palestinian Arabs are suffering, the facts on the ground prove that the finger of blame should be pointed not towards Israel, but towards Hamas and the Palestinian leadership who instead of responding to repeated Israeli overtures for peace, instead pursue an agenda of anti-Semitic incitement, rejectionism and terrorism.”
“You have one million Arabs living in Israel with the Jews and they are not suffering like the Arabs who are actually controlled by Arabs elsewhere in the region,” Dr. Hamid pointed out. “To be honest, you have to say that the suffering of the Palestinians is because of their leadership and the wrong decisions of leaders like Hamas, not Israel,” he said. “The moment the Palestinian leadership stops its arrogance and barbaric attitude towards the Jews, then you will see that things will change and you will see that no Palestinian will be suffering there.”
Dr. Hamid continued, “So I think the solution is in the hands of the Palestinians now. They have to take the decision to stop the suffering of their own people by giving the hand full of peace to the Israelis. Remember President Sadat? President Sadat wanted the Sinai back. He gave a hand full of love and peace to the Israelis and he got Sinai back. But the Palestinians didn’t do this. Hamas just wants to kill every Jew. They promote this. I’m asking them to stop this and give a hand full of peace to the Israelis and try it for once and be sincere about it. They will see the results. I have been to Israel twice and I’m telling you that the Jews do not hate the Arabs. It’s we who are causing the problem and we have to change. Thank you…” Dr. Tawfik Hamid is a courageous man.
One more thing to say before I finish for the day. As the news has reported, at this point Netanyahu has refused to release the final group of prisoners until something is forthcoming from the other side. I want to tell you a little bit about what prisoner releases are like for the Israelis. Whenever they are released, it is a gesture towards peace to the ‘Palestinians’ which has so far not been reciprocated in any way except that were willing to sit down with us. But these prisoners are terrorists and most of them have blood on their hands, which means that they have purposefully killed innocent Israeli citizens.
When the names of the terrorists-to-be-released are announced, the families of those loved ones who were killed by those very terrorists hold a demonstration in front of the Prime Minister’s home in Jerusalem begging him not to follow through with the release. They hold placards and pictures of the family members they lost through the hands of the men who are about to be freed. It is very painful for them and for the nation as a whole.
To make matters even worse, when the prisoners arrive at their towns and villages—even though they are murderers—they are given a heroes welcome beyond belief. Crowds are there to cheer them, with fireworks and hugs and kisses and a true hero’s welcome. They are ‘heroes’ because they killed Israeli civilians. So when Israel releases those terrorists in the hope of peace, it is not as simple as it may seem. It is a very painful experience for us all…
After I finished this blog but before it was posted, something happened that I simply have to add. Perhaps you have heard of Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli convicted in the United States of spying for Israel. He has already served 25 years in prison. All other convicted spies from every other country have been released after serving far less time, but the States consistently refused to release Jonathan, even when he became quite ill during the current administration. So many people both in Israel and in the United States and even in the US government petitioned for his release, to no avail. However, today it was announced that he would be set free before Passover if Israel agreed to release the remaining group of ‘Palestinian’ prisoners in the deal and even release additional Palestinian prisoners with no blood on their hands; and partially freeze settlements to enable the peace talks to continue until 2015. (Needless to say, Kerry is here once again). From the loneliness of Pollard’s prison cell, even though it would mean he would be reunited with his wife after many long years and allowed to come home to Israel, he categorically rejected any deal for his release that would be in exchange for the release of murderers of Israeli citizens. That takes a special kind of courage.
At this very minute, it is all being decided. Finally sending this on its way to you!!!!!!!!
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