I have always admired Benjamin Netanyahu, but it appears that his conservative values, views and strategies are not currently welcome or popular with many of the people in Israel. If I were a voter in the next election there, I would vote for him to become Prime Minister again.
As Christian believers, we are called to support, uphold, and defend (if necessary) the Holy Land. The Bible tells us that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. That is as cut and dried as you could get in one's decision making regarding God's Holy Land.
I don't agree with Farah that we should "give up" at this point. I don't think he really meant that anyway. He just seems very frustrated with the government there right now. He believes that Israel is "compromising with evil." This certainly appears to be so now that terrorist supporting Hamas is in power as the official government of the Palestinian people. What Farah says here is chilling:
I know I speak for many Jews and Christians throughout the world who see Israel's surrender as a cowardly betrayal, a sign that the Jewish state puts more faith in Washington and "international diplomacy" than in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of turning away from their God. Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of putting faith in kings and men over the promises of Heaven. Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of compromise with its ruthless enemies who seek not only the destruction of the Jews but the oppression of their own people.
Enough of "land for peace." It has never worked – not in Israel's history, nor in any other nation's history. Enough of retreat. Enough of unilateral withdrawals. Enough of staged surrender. Enough of the appeasement with evil. Enough of the madness.
Compromise with evil is evil. And that's what Israel is doing.
American Christians must continue to serve the Lord and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, all the while realizing and understanding that true peace will not come until the return of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.
Aaron Klein's article doesn't give Olmert any vote of confidence either.
Some letters on this topic:
ReplyDeleteWe'll be needing Farah again
I give up on Israel, too – and I'm Israeli. Your [Joseph Farah's] essay ["I give up on Israel"] is very moving, and goes directly to the truth of the matter.
I wish I had the luxury of actually giving up. It seems that what must happen is that the Israeli electorate must reap the whirlwind, pay an awful price, and then – God willing – choose to survive.
There's nothing I can do to change this course. I can only prepare for it, and hope we come out the other side. Please do stand by – we'll be needing you later.
Paul Kotik
God will have His way
Gam ani! (Me too!) I am so weary of watching Israel destroy itself, I hardly ever do more than check the headlines of my favorite websites dedicated to news in Israel, such as Arutz Sheva. National suicide is a sickening sight to behold, and strangely boring.
And I hold Israeli citizenship. My entire family does (eight children).
I'm glad you wrote this. But you know, I think the really interesting and exciting thing is this: God will have His way. We get to watch His will come about.
Debora Cohen
Don't give up on the Jews
As an Israeli Jew, I want to thank you [Joseph Farah] for your years of support for my country, most notably your successful efforts to clarify the historical record regarding the state of Israel's rebirth in the past century.
As someone who experiences Israel's follies firsthand, I can appreciate your demoralization ["I give up on Israel"] as a witness to the Israeli government's self destruction. Your sense of betrayal is appropriate. But its at times like these, we must take a broader view.
The modern state of Israel was founded based on the incorrect observation that Jewish observance was retarding the historical process of redemption. The early Zionist establishment was entirely secular, sometimes belligerently so, having taking as their inspiration the socialist upheaval throughout Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. So, a state for the Jews, but without Judaism, was founded.
The educational system taught secularism. The Supreme Court, whose chief justice hand picks all succeeding judges, adjudicated secularism. The government-controlled media advocated secularism. The Israeli Defense Forces acculturate secularism. The monopolies dole out patronage jobs to guess who – the secularists. The greased wheels of the system kept spinning until one day, the leftists awoke and realized that while they had been sleeping, the religious weren't.
The settlement enterprise and the redemption of the land; the secularist alternative to religious worship, had been hijacked. The new "Israeli" the secularists hoped to build was really the old Jew. He derives his inspiration from God and his prophets, not from the stock market nor bourgeois comforts. Newly liberated Judea, Samaria and Gaza were seen as an opportunity to advance the redemption, not a obstacle to achieving international acceptance. More than half the students in Jerusalem are religious. Nearly half the officers in the IDF are religious. Devout Jews are no longer found in their Jerusalem cloisters, but in every corner of the country. The outcry against the government-controlled media and judicial corruption is rising. The system is being destabilized. Alas, the escape from a burdened conscience was not to be. The old order has its back to the wall. The culture war is being lost.
But the old order just can't overtly oppress the religious without the risk of losing legitimacy. So it oppresses religious institutions instead. And the biggest religious institution is the Land of Israel. That's why the secularist government is running to appease Hamas. They share a common goal: There shall be as few Jews as possible in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. What you and I see as self-destruction, the old order sees as self-preservation. And as it sinks in the bog of its own corruption, it grasps for help with ever more vigor and decreasing logic, hastening its own demise.
So, yes, you may be correct to give up on the "Israelis." But don't give up on the Jews.
Steven Ruddell
Kiriat Yearim, Israel
Tears for Jerusalem
I stand with you [Joseph Farah] on your viewpoint regarding Israel giving more land to the enemy. You are correct, "compromise with evil is evil."
I almost cried when I read about all the holy lands from the Bible going to be in the hands of the Hamas, the Muslims. Even more when I read the plan to divide Jerusalem.
Melissa Hess