Beit Or ~ The House Of Light

The uproar over the Palestinian people is an uproar created from ignorance, hidden agendas, and anti-Semitism. The Muslim nations along with the Palestinians make claims that have no basis in truth regarding Palestinian claims to the land of Israel. The Arab and Palestinian intent and motives are laid bare when one considers that Israel’s total land mass is one-tenth of one percent of the total land mass that makes up the land of the Middle East. And somehow they are expected to become two nations with the Palestinians. But yet not a single Arab nation bordering with Israel can give just 1% of their more than 99% share in the total land mass of the Middle East for a Palestinian nation they claim to support. To do so would offer the Palestinians more land than they would ever have in Israel.

It was from the Romans who the Palestinians have adopted their name; a name that was meant to be derogatory to the Jews living in the land of Israel. The name is derived from “Peleshet” which for the English speaking people we know as the “Philistines”. The wide spread use of the name came about as a result of a migration of people from the Aegean Sea area. These migrant people were neither Arab nor Semitic. They had no previous connection to the land of Canaan to which they came to settle. They did not speak the language or carry the cultural heritage associated with the peoples of the Middle East, let alone Israel.

The Palestinians are a people with no home and have no origins in the Middle East. They are hated by their Arab neighbors, but are supported by them only to be used as a political football by which they attempt to harm and kill Israel. Despite the abuse and injustice Israel has suffered at the hands of their Arab neighbors and the Palestinians, the Israeli government has done nothing but cater to the Palestinians.

Since 1948, the Israeli government has improved infrastructure for the Palestinians, they give them free health care, and they have exempted the Palestinians from military service and paying income tax. The Palestinians who stayed with Israel in 1948 have full rights of elections and citizenship as well as the benefits of freely doing business with the Jewish people. The Palestinians who live in Israel’s territory without exception have prospered. They agree that their quality of life has vastly improved from the days of being under the Jordanian government.

The Palestinians and the Muslims both make claims to holy cities and sites in Israel that carry no merit according to history or even from a supposed directive from their god. The Koran of the Islam religion is nothing more than an imitation of Jewish writings. Until the invention of the Koran, there were no Islamic or Palestinian writings foretelling prophecies of Mohammed, prophets, or even of future acts of Allah.

The words used to define the Muslim religion have Hebrew origins. “Islam” comes from the Hebrew word “shalom” which means “peace”. “Koran” comes from the Hebrew word “koreh” which means “readings”. And “madras” comes from the Hebrew word “midrash” for “schools of study”. Even history records that Mohammed borrowed heavily from Jewish literature to start his own religion.

The Muslim nation with the Palestinans has attempted to lay claim to Yerushalim (Jerusalem) as a holy city. Yerushalim is hardly mentioned in the Koran accept possibly a few times and never as a holy site. But somehow the Muslims want to make this claim. Shouldn’t there be a test for what is holy? Anyone can claim to have heard from God or a god. Anyone can make claims to things and sites that are “holy”. Shouldn’t we demand more from those people to give factual, historical evidence for these claims? The Jewish people have “holy” writings that record God’s commandments, their history, their futures, and even their “holy” sites. The Jewish “holy” writings are even verified by historical and archaeological evidence. What do the Palestinians in the Islamic faith have- nothing but their claims.

The God of Israel through the books of Moshe, the Prophets, and the Writings; has given Israel a connection to the land, a starting point and history that goes back 4,000 years. Bible history records that there was a Jewish dynasty starting with King David almost 3,000 years ago. The Palestinians do not have any such thing. These writings are the only known writings in the world that have accurately foretold events with great detail that history has recorded as coming to pass. And even in these last days we continue to see the words of the Holy Scriptures continue to come to pass- God’s word has not returned void. The Muslims with their Koran cannot make these kinds of claims.

Both Babylonian and Roman historical records kept by these empires themselves indicate that the Jewish people lived in the land of Israel. The Babylonian historical records show that they destroyed a Jewish temple and took the Hebrew people as captives back to Babylon from the land of Israel. The historical records kept by the Romans also indicate that the Romans destroyed the second Jewish temple and killed and ruled over Jewish people in the land of Israel. The records of both these empires do not indicate that they captured, killed, or destroyed en mass anyone or anything that was something other than Jewish or Hebrew in the land of Israel. Their records do not show that they destroyed Muslim holy sites or that they killed or captured Palestinians or Arabs in the land of Israel.

What Israel has that the Arabs and Palestinians don’t have is an uninterrupted 4,000 year history of who they were, where they come from and what their destiny is. They have a supreme God who He elected as His chosen people with a promised land, writings of laws, a Hebrew language, and appointed kings and prophets who predicted future events. Of the predicted future events, 60% has come to pass and the other 40% is unfolding in front of our eyes.

The world should consider carefully how they proceed with Israel who is the apple of God’s eye. To do anything less than to free Israel to claim all of God’s Promised Land is to choose the loosing side in this life and the next.

By Rabbi Isaac Levy