History of Israel

The history of the chosen people and their nation is so long I wouldn't think of troubling you with the whole thing in one blog post. I do, however, advise you to acquaint yourself with the history. Read the Bible. Familiarize yourself with intertestamental history and through Jesus' resurrection and the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Then at least study the 20th century, so that you can understand the gathering of the Jews back to the Promised Land, and the wars they waged defending their existence. With this you'll have a grasp on international politics, prophecy, the Middle East, and even terrorism. Israel is the expert on terrorism from the victim standpoint; they've experienced it since even before their independence.



The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is quoted in Imprimus as saying of the holocaust, "So we ask you [the West], if you indeed commited this great crime, why should the oppressed people of Palestine be punished for it? If you committed a crime, you yourselves should pay for it." He shows an ignorance (perhaps willful) of history. All of the West did not perpetrate the holocaust, the occurrence of which he has also denied, but rather Nazi Germany (who was allied with Arabs in British Mandate Palestine, who did and still do want to drive all Jews into the sea). Did I say British Mandate? Indeed I did. Great Britain still owned the land on which Israel and palestine are situated. The English, after the holocaust and World War II, kept a promise given years back to grant the Jewish people a homeland there. So the palestinians were not "paying" for the Jewish people to have their own land.


In fact, there were very few Palestinians when Israel became a nation, and they were not oppressed. Rather, as soon as British troops withdrew, surrounding Arab nations and the indiginous (or recently arrived and settled) Arabs made violent war on the brand new nation. Israel miraculously survived and became established as a country, yea, even a democracy, in the Middle East. Since then there have been more Jews returning to the Promised Land (there is extensive documentation that of living people groups, the Jews have the oldest claim to the land - see the Bible). There have also been more attacks, whether from murderous bombers strapping explosives to themselves in order to simply kill and maim as many innocents as possible, or from neighboring countries like Egypt and her allies in 1967 and the more recent offensives from Lebanon and the palestinian mandate.



Joel Rosenberg has a short history of the Soviet aspect of the Six Day War in 1967 on his blog right now. It sparks my imagination to hear of secret diplomatic threats and negotiations, quiet redirection of troops, and declassified information that Russia was instigating the entire war. Go read it for a fascinating bite of history. You may also read this Charles Krauthammer article about the Six Day War.



And keep reading more. Don't let the media or the Islam-directed propaganda machine tell you the history of the Middle East. Read actual history. Be able to discern the lies. In this way, know whom you can trust. If, for example, the president of Iran is telling you lies about history, what makes you believe that he is telling the truth when he says his country wants nuclear power for peaceful purposes?

You must be educated. You must know history. I'm not saying you have to know every name and date and city. Study the big events and the philosophies or pressures that drove them.



To God be all glory.