commentary: Israel's Case Regarding the Land

Their Cause is Solid
John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)
Given 24-Jul-10; Sermon #1003c; 14 minutes

Description: (show)

The Federal Government is spitefully punishing Arizona for assuming the responsibility that the Federal Government refuses to enforce. Like Arizona, Israel continues to be under attack. When questioned by a British reporter as to why more Palestinians were killed in the recent conflagration between Israel and the Palestinians, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel turned the tables on the naïve reporter, asking why more Germans were destroyed in Dresden by the British than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Also when the RAF planes, in an effort to destroy Gestapo headquarters, wiped out a Danish children's hospital, snuffing out 80 innocent lives, the world did not condemn Britain as Britain now seems to be condemning Israel. When asked why Israel would not give Jerusalem back to the Arabs, Prime Minister Netanyahu educated the reporter, informing him that Israel had the deed to the real estate 2000 years before Islam even existed, and that Jerusalem has always been its capital. The Islamic culture never recognized Jerusalem as its own capital. The so-called Palestinian refugees (630,000 disgruntled Bedouins) became refugees when fellow Arabs (especially the modern country of Jordan) showed them contempt by not absorbing them, hoping to create perpetual tension and hatred toward the sons of Judah.




Just a little added note to the commentary that I gave last week. I heard recently that the lawsuit that the US government has lodged against the state of Arizona is on the specific basis that Ecuador and Mexico have filed formal complaints against the state of Arizona, and therefore the federal government concludes that Arizona is interfering with American foreign policy. So the suit is not on humanitarian grounds; it is on politics.

However, the preamble to the Constitution of the United States states that the federal government is first responsible to promote the general welfare and provide for the common defense of its citizens. Arizona is under attack, and an invasion is greatly working toward destroying its economy and creating much public unrest. And so, in defense of itself, Arizona moved because the Feds aren't doing their job. It's going to be very interesting to see how that court out there in Arizona, which I believe is a federal court, is going to make a decision on this.

Many of you may have received an email this week that I received. It was sent to me by John Reid, and he, in turn, received it from Bernice Fraund up there in Crystal Like, Illinois. I bring this to you in case you did not read it or you did not get it. Of course, there are people out there in cyber-land who may not have seen it, either. But I bring it only because it very clearly states Israel's right to live in the land of Israel.

It begins with a part of an interview of Benjamin Netanyahu that took place in Britain. Now listen to this. Even those who are not particularly sympathetic to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu could get a good measure of satisfaction from this interview with British television during the retaliation against Hamas' shelling of Israel.

The interviewer asked him, "How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?" (Whoever wrote this said, "A nasty question, if there ever was one.")

Benjamin Netanyahu replied, "Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?"

The interviewer said, "Why not?"

"Okay," said Netanyahu. Now listen to this: "Because in World War II, more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined."

Who was the attacker? See, it was Germany. You see what he's alluding to: We were attacked. We responded. We killed more Palestinians in the way that we responded. But we did not start this. Neither did Britain against Germany. Germany attacked. Britain responded.

Netanyahu said,

In response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, Germany, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima, Japan [when we dropped the atomic bomb]. You British are so innocent, are you? [That's the point.] Moreover [he goes on], I could remind you that in 1944 when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen [Denmark], some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children's hospital, killing 83 little children.

See, the Israelis are always being accused of killing little children. Well, you British are not so innocent either, are you? You retaliate in defense of your land, and this is what happens. Some innocents are killed.

Then Netanyahu said, "Perhaps you have another question."

Apparently that guy did not go any further. He was in a corner that he could not get out of without accusing the British actually of worse than the Israelis are giving to the Palestinians.

Later on, he gave another interview, apparently in another place, and it was asked about Israel's occupation of Arab lands. His response was very simple: "It's our land. It's not theirs. It's ours." The reporter was stunned because he seemingly had no idea of the Israeli's claim on that land, that it far exceeded any kind of claim that the Palestinians had. In fact, that Palestinians have no claim whatever. This is a political thing that has been manufactured in order to make the Israelis look bad. So, it's important information for us since we do not get fair and accurate reporting from the media, and the facts tend to get lost in the jumble of daily evil events.

This writer lists 20 reasons why the Israelis have every right to claim that the land is theirs, but I'll just give a couple of them because of a lack of time. In regard to nationhood and the city of Jerusalem—we will not go any further than that—the writer says this: Israel became a nation in 1312 BC, 2,000 years before the rise of Islam. You know, possession is 9/10 of the law, and who has it first is 9/10 of that.

Now, where did they get this date of 1312 BC? Well, they are getting that on the basis of the Exodus, of Israel coming out of Egypt, and then 40 years in the wilderness before they actually entered into the land. The Church of God would say this date is actually too late, because our researchers have determined that they came out of Egypt somewhere around—we'll say, in the vicinity of—1440 BC. Not 1312, 1440 BC. Subtract from that—again, we're just estimating here loosely—40 years that they spent in the wilderness. Then under Joshua, they went into the land roughly about 1,400 BC, and then that period of time in the Book of Joshua, in which they were clearing the Canaanites out of the land so that they could live within it was another, we will say, 8-10 years. It's right in that neighborhood. They were then established, and distributed all of the territories to each of the tribes. Therefore, the time of that was very likely to be somewhere about 1,350 or 1,360 BC, somewhere in that neighborhood. That's long before even the 1312 that they have here.

Islam rose to a position of power after Mohammed was born. Mohammed was born in AD 570. That's almost 1,000 years after Israel was already established in the land as it being theirs. It was not for another 130 years that Islam actually became a power to be reckoned with. That's around AD 700. You have you have over 1,400 years that Israelis already had possession of the land.

Now, guess how long Islam actually controlled the city of Jerusalem? This happened during the Crusades. How long did they control Jerusalem? Twenty-two years—and they never claimed Jerusalem as their capital. Jerusalem has always been Israel's capital, since David secured it somewhere around 1,100 BC—somewhere between 1,100 and 1,000 BC. His army freed the city, and David named it as his living place and the capital. It has never ceased to be the capital of the Israelitish people.

Just on those two areas alone, the Palestinians have absolutely no claim.

I will add one more thing. Before 1948, the people in the area of Jerusalem knew there was going to be a war, and those people now called the Palestinians—they were not called Palestinians then, but they are called Palestinians now—but those of Arabic descent began to abandon the area of Jerusalem like rats fleeing a ship. It is estimated that at least 630,000 of them abandoned the area. Where did they run to? They ran into the nations of others who are also of Arabic descent, namely Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and so forth. They went—they abandoned that area.

Why did not those nations take those people into their nation and adopt them as their own, since they were all of the same religion, and they were all of the same general descent? They never did. They made a political decision to reject the citizenship of these people, and these people then became permanent outcasts from everywhere. It is very interesting that anyone of Arabic descent who stayed in the land when the war came there in 1948—the Israelis liberated it entirely, and they gave those people who stayed citizenship, something they are Arab counterparts did not.

We will stop there. But this thing is so unfairly reported in the newspapers, it is incredible. They are always making every effort to make Israel look bad.

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