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Out of the Ashes

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“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuilt for Me…The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley (near Jerusalem) on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.” 

 In many prophecies, the Lord God of Israel has promised to bring back His people, the Jewish people, from the diaspora back to the Land of Promise.

For 2000 years, the Jews were scattered around the world, at the mercy of the nations, hated, despised and persecuted. Their homeland, the Land of Israel, was devastated and overtaken by strangers. During the Holocaust in WWII, the German Nazis finally came up with the plan of their “Final Solution” to annihilate all the Jews. They were gathered from every European country into concentration camps to be murdered in gas showers and then cremated in gas. They were shot and tortured in ghettos. Six million Jews were murdered in the worst racial genocide the world has ever known. But out of the ashes of the dead bodies, the Jewish nation and the land of Israel was reborn.

Today, seventy-two years later, Israel is considered a miracle that could only have happened by the hand of God according to His prophecies in the Bible.

The Royalty, Presidents, Dignitaries who came to the Fifth Forum in Jerusalem this week.

“Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” (Isaiah 66:8)

Most of the surviving, Jewish remnant was on the brink of starvation and Gentiles possessed their homes. Most were homeless and penniless. They were gathered by the Jewish Agency into refugee camps, waiting and hoping that Israel, which was changed to Palestine, would once again be the Land of the Jews.

For centuries the Jews were victims of pogroms, blood libels, forced conversions, expulsions and other forms of religious persecution. A small remnant, the holocaust survivors, reached the lowest point of human dignity.

The prophet Ezekiel prophesied of a time when the people of Israel would say: “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!” Yet God assured them that He would “cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” (Ezekiel 37:11-12)

In May 1948, just three years after the end of the Holocaust, the Jewish people rose from the ashes, and in one day a nation was born – the Nation of Israel. The resurrection power of God did this miracle.

God promised He would fight for His people Israel, and He did. When Israel’s leader David Ben-Gurion declared independence on May 14, 1948, the Jewish state was immediately attacked by five neighboring Arab armies. These large trained armies were well-armed, while the new nation of Israel hardly had an army or weapons. Frail Holocaust survivors arriving in Israel by sea were given guns upon stepping down from the ships without even shoes on their feet. Arab leaders who had vowed to “drive the Jews into the sea” were sure they would win, but against all odds, Israel won.

Jews are the only people who were uprooted from their homeland, scattered among the nations, speaking their languages, and then after two thousand years have returned to that same land to re-establish their national sovereignty while reviving their ancient language. Yet, anyone who reads the Bible can see it was foretold in His word. One prophecy that repeats itself more than any other, by nearly all the prophets in the Bible, is God promising to gather His people Israel from all the corners of the world and bring them back to the Land of Israel as He promised their forefathers.

The Jewish people clung to God’s Word and promises in the Bible, which kept them together as a people even in all those nations where they were scattered. They never lost hope that one day God will fulfill His promises and they will come back to the Promised Land. In their prayers they said confidently: “Next year in Jerusalem!”

God’s ultimate purpose for the ingathering of Israel to the Land physically is Israel’s ingathering to Himself spiritually. His love for Israel is everlasting: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. 4 I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.” Jeremiah 31:3-4

God is faithful to His Word both physically and spiritually. His faithfulness to His people Israel is expressed by Paul the apostle in Roman 11:15, when he writes about Israel (the Jewish people) who temporarily were “set aside” after rejecting the Gospel, which led to many gentiles coming to God. “what will their acceptance be? life the dead.”  Roman 11:15  “and so all Israel shall be saved.”  Roman 11:26

Insight into Voter Conflict

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JEWISH CITIZENS

The Jewish population in Israel is very diverse.

 

Jews immigrated to Israel from nearly 120 different countries, with different cultural, political, and ideological backgrounds. There are liberals, Ultra-Orthodox religious, conservatives, and socialists. All wanting to have representatives in the government, which led to the formation of the many political parties.

Israel is a democracy and like most parliamentary democracies, the party that wins a majority of the vote typically ends up forming the government, asking a few of the smaller parties to join a coalition government if they have not received a clear majority. Relatively, Israel has a larger number of parties each competing for the biggest representation in the Israeli parliament.

Secular vs Religious

A major issue in Israel today is the influence, (and power) of the religious parties. They make decisions on many aspects of Israeli citizen’s lives regarding conversions, recognizing “who is a Jew,” marriages, and even burial in a Jewish cemetery. One religious ruling that is particularly annoying is their impact is upon public transportation which is discontinued on Shabbat. Public transport is essential in Israel, and for many citizens, their only means of travel. At the same time, the youth of the religious communities receive special waivers from the IDF regarding draft status, and religious communities receive significant tax considerations, as well as actual subsidies.

A major portion of the Israeli population has grown to resent this “special” consideration for the religious parties and their communities.

In the most recent elections, a popular dividing line was over the issue of the future place of these religious parties in Israeli society. The Blue and White party’s primary platform was the commitment of Gantz to greatly curtail, even possibly eliminate, the influence and special treatment of the religious parties. He pledged not to participate in a government that included the religious parties.

The religious parties have considered the focus on them and their communities to be an existential threat. Large numbers of Orthodox who had previously refused to vote in previous elections rallied to support one of the religious parties and/or Likud believing it was “life and death.”

 

ARAB CITIZENS

Israeli Jewish vs Israeli Arab citizens

The place of Arab citizen’s representation in Israel’s government

 

The Arab citizens in Israel make up 21% of Israel’s population. As a result of an increase in the percentage of Arab Israeli citizen’s electorates who cast ballots in this election (60% as opposed to 49% in the last election) the Joint Arab List, an alliance of predominantly Arab parties, won 13 seats in the 120-seat Parliament. Israel’s Arab parties are set to be the largest non-ruling bloc in parliament. If a national unity government emerges from this election, for the first time it is possible that the opposition leader in the Israeli Parliament could go to an Arab lawmaker. If Joint List head Ayman Odeh, 44, becomes opposition leader, he would receive monthly briefings from the Mossad intelligence agency and meet visiting heads of state, among other perks. That can be dangerous to Israel’s security, given the anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian stand of Odeh.

Joint List lawmaker Ahmad Tibi says his alliance would support a government ‘from the outside,’ even if they are not actually a part of a ruling coalition. 

Tibi said: “We are prepared to do so according to the [model of] the 1990s, negotiating with a written agreement to our demands.” Tibi said that the members of his party would not serve as government ministers “but chairman of the Finance Committee, what’s bad about that?”

Finally, Tibi was asked, hypothetically, whether his party would bring down the government if a military operation began in Gaza during a term of that coalition. “Unequivocally yes,” he answered.

Tibi is an anti-Zionist who supports Israel withdrawing to the pre-1967 borders and a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state, including a Law of Return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. He opposes the idea of Israel being a Jewish state and considers it racist. He opposes the Jewish national anthem, Hatikva (The Hope – of 2000 years in every Jewish heart “to be a free nation in the Land of Zion and Jerusalem.”) and the Israeli flag. He takes the Palestinian side and has even praised the Palestinian terrorists who murder Israeli soldiers and citizens, referring to them as “martyrs” at a ceremony held on “Palestinian Martyrs’ Day”. “The Palestinian shahid (martyr) is the height of glory,” Tibi said at the ceremony. “There is no higher value than death for the sake of Allah.”

In the last elections, both Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz and co-chairman Yair Lapid stated that they would amend the “National State Law,” something Tibi would love to see. “We want to topple the Right, we say it openly,” Tibi said. He stated his desire to one day become Israel’s prime minister, “and if not I then another Ahmed, Mohammed or Mahmoud,” Tibi said recently.

The Accomplishments of PM Netanyahu

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The prime minister of Israel is considered one of Israel’s great leaders and one of the free world’s finest statesman by countries like China, India, Russia and Africa, in addition to some European countries, and of course the USA. Many of them are seeking opportunities to cooperate with Israel on the international level. This is a great blow to the world movement that is trying to isolate and boycott Israel.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu has many international and domestic accomplishments. He succeeded in making Israel a secure and stable island in the stormy and unstable Middle East. He has secured Israel’s border and deterred other attacks from Gaza and Lebanon (the longest period of time of ceasefire on the border with Gaza in years.) Strengthened diplomatic relationships with China, India, Japan, Korea, Greece, and Bulgaria. Renewed relationships with African countries, and started peaceful relationships with Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, by seeking an unofficial alliance between Israel and most of the moderate Arab nations, in dealing with the growing Iranian and Jihadi threats.

Under Netanyahu’s leadership, Israel is now in 18th place of countries in the UN HDI – Human Development Index (before countries like Japan, Belgium, France, Austria, Finland, Spain and Italy). Israel is a gas powered country and a leading nation in sea-water purification. The country is sought-after by other nations for high-tech and other development areas. Under his leadership, we are enjoying the highest tourism rate of all time.

Domestically the improvements are too many to list. Among them, building a wall on the southern border to stop illegal immigration from Africa. Increase in building roads, bridges and light trains throughout the country. Open sky policy to reduce airline rates. Reduced rates on public transportation, and an increase of minimum wages and salaries for the military and police. Ensuring domestic government coalition stability and the growth of the economy.

Netanyahu has stood his ground in defense policies through steadfastness, patience, being both flexible and firm. He was able to endure the difficult years of US President Obama, and is now cultivating a great relationship with current US President Trump.

An overwhelming majority of Israelis ascribe the last decade of stability and triumph to Netanyahu’s leadership. He is not perfect, but most Israelis don’t see anyone else who can better serve Israel’s strategic needs.