Eye on the Middle East Aug/Sep 1999

There is a Muslim family living on a kibbutz in Israel today. How they arrived at their new home is a story that defies virtually all conventional wisdom about the ability of Jewish people and Muslims to coexist.

The family is from Albania. They were forced to flee when a wave of violence swept through their town. During the attack, the young mother’s father was slain. As she hurriedly went through his clothing, she found a slip of paper in one of his pockets. When she had time to read it, she discovered that it was a certificate of appreciation. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem had issued the document. It expressed the gratitude of the Jewish people for something her father had done more than fifty years ago.

It was during the Holocaust, when Adolf Hitler’s legions were scouring Europe in search of Jews marked for annihilation. This man had courageously turned his home into a safe haven for Jewish people and did what he could to save at least some of them. His kindness was not forgotten after the war. Thus, the certificate was issued.

Half a century later, his actions were rewarded by a nation that has a very long memory. That he was a Muslim was inconsequential. Now Israel could do for his family what he had done for Jewish children of Abraham years ago.

The lessons are compelling and much too obvious to attempt to detail here. I will say that mercy does have its rewards. Ask a young Muslim mother living on a kibbutz in Israel.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Features

The Many States of Palestine

An early Zionist leader was fond of speaking of the land that was to become Israel as “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Although his observation was, in large measure, accurate, it was not quite the whole of...

The Zion Connection: The Biblical Mandate

When God called Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees, He was demanding that he strip himself of his identity. Abram was to leave all that made him who he was—his family, his possessions, and the land that he had known as...

The Zion Connection: Jews and Christians—Common Ground

A growing alliance of Jews and Christians is attracting increasing attention today. It is an alliance rooted in Judeo-Christian values. The Christians involved are known as evangelicals or Bible-believing Christians. They are joining...

The Zion Connection: Common Enemies

Possibly the most disturbing event in our nation’s recent history took place in a cozy mountain state in upper middle-class America. At a time when young people concern themselves with test scores, term papers, and final exams, students were...

A Nation in Decline

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,” wrote Charles Dickens...


Subscription Options

1 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$9.99 every 1 year

1 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archive - eventually dating back through our inaugural 1942 issue

$19.99 every 1 year

2 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$19.99 every 2 years

2 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archive - eventually dating back through our inaugural 1942 issue

$39.99 every 2 years

3 Year Digital Subscription

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Download of Current Issue

$29.99 every 3 years

3 Year Digital with Archive Access

  • Free PDF Book Download - "What on Earth is God Doing?" by Renald Showers

  • Free Full-Issue Flipbook & PDF Downloads of Current Issue & select Archives

  • Complete Access to our Growing Archive - eventually dating back through our inaugural 1942 issue

$59.99 every 3 years