Israel My Glory

Myths/Facts: Israel & the Middle East Sep/Oct 2005

In March 2005, Israel announced the intention to build 3,500 homes on a strip of territory that has been declared state land between the community of Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem (Jerusalem Post, March 20, 2005).

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A Grave for Israel?

In light of the situation in the Middle East, the poet’s words are hauntingly prophetic. Not only do they carry refrains from Israel’s ancient prophets, but they echo the Holocaust, pogroms, and the perpetual anti-Semitism…

Jephthah’s Vow: Did He or Didn’t He?

For centuries scholars have debated the fate of Jephthah’s daughter. Did Jephthah sacrifice her as a burnt offering (Jud. 11:31) because of a foolish vow he made to Jehovah, or did he constrain…

Slated for Destruction: Life in Gush Katif

When Israel abandons Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip, it will walk away from 21 communities that house schools, businesses, farms, and 900 acres of high-tech hothouses that yield nearly 70 percent of all Israel’s…

They Cry in Silence Sep/Oct 2005

It is hard for those of us in freedom-loving countries to imagine being thrown in jail for teaching children the things of God and the love of Jesus. But this is precisely what is taking…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Sep/Oct 2005

In the quest for peace and survival in the Middle East, a little history and a few questions may be to our benefit. Following Britain’s defeat of the Muslim Ottoman Turks in 1917, the Mandatory…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Sep/Oct 2005

ARUTZ-7—An outstanding issue in the ever-so-complicated disengagement/expulsion is what to do with the residents’ property. “What-ever we can fit into two large containers, we will take,” army Brig.-Gen. Guy Tzur told the people of Gush…

What Darwin Did Not Know

We now know that if Darwin could have foreseen coming scientific developments, he would have had good reason to be concerned that his theory might one day be proved wrong. In particular, Gregor Mendel had not…

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A Hand of Help for Gaza

Although the context is far removed from the essence of that ancient encounter, if you have ever ventured into the Gaza Strip you have likely thought something similar. On my last visit…

Myths/Facts: Israel & the Middle East Jul/Aug 2005

Long before 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank, Arabs used violence to try to first prevent the establishment of a Jewish state and then to destroy Israel. Anti-Jewish riots began in 1920 and were…

Creation vs. Evolution: The Battle for Truth

Richard Dawkins, noted scientific scholar, ethologist,1 and author, describes someone who does not believe in evolution this way: “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in…

Have you an Answer?

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? (Job 38:4–5)
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Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Jul/Aug 2005

In this troubled world, it’s always a plus to live in a safe place where the neighbors are friendly and always ready to lend a helping hand. Good neighbors are even more important…

Tales From a Tract

Shortly after his death on April 19, 1882, a rumor spread that Charles Darwin repudiated his “discoveries” and had turned to Christ. The story first appeared in the American Baptist journal, the Watchman Examiner…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Jul/Aug 2005

Police detectives searched the IDF soldier’s vehicle after they deemed his behavior suspicious. Heroin was found, and he was arrested. During his arrest, the soldier told the police officers that he was a neo-Nazi…

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You Only Get One Mistake

I have a friend who spent his military career in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a sapper—a military demolitions specialist. His job was to defuse land mines and other lethal explosives. Upon being inducted…

Can Abbas Deliver?

None should have any illusions about newly elected Palestinian Authority (PA) president, mahmoud Abbas. He was the number two person in the Palestine Liberation Organization and a founder of the Fatah terrorist …

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East May/Jun 2005

The Palestinian leadership has proven its ability to keep the situation under control. It has also proven its ability to coordinate the activities of all Palestinian organizations, including those who hold tough positions…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News May/Jun 2005

Two sisters who had not seen each other since the start of World War II have been reunited through the Yad Vashem database. Hannah Katz, 78, and Klara Blire, 81, were separated in 1939…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Mar/Apr 2005

Late last year a number of positive developments appeared to be taking place in the middle East. For starters, Egypt’s president Hosni mubarak freed an Israeli druze who had been convicted of spying for Israel…

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When Forgetting Is Unforgivable

It is the choice of the educational system on both sides of the Atlantic. The West buries the grim realities of historical atrocities beneath a gloss of contemporary superficiality. Our obsession to pursue pleasure…

Myths/Facts: Israel & the Middle East Mar/Apr 2005

“Hamas as a political organization does not mean that every member is a militant and we do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion against another.” Although Hansen makes specious distinctions between…

How We Got Easter Sunday

Christians originally observed the Jewish passover, which begins at sundown on the 14th day of Nisan. Thus they were called Quartodecimans, Latin for “fourteeners.”1 However, instead of feasting on lamb, they fasted until dawn…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Mar/Apr 2005

Israeli security figures show that Palestinians nearly doubled the number of Kassam rockets they fired from Gaza after the Israeli cabinet approved the disengagement plan. And their smuggling operations have netted them a Strella missile…

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School’s Out for Aviel

Three-year-old Aviel Atash was excited as he boarded the bus with his mother headed for his first day in school. Aviel never made it. A short distance from where he and his mom boarded…

Map of the Middle East.

Strike Three! You’re Safe!

Turn a few Americans loose anywhere in the world and what do you get? Baseball! While most of the media in Iraq were chasing blood-and-guts stories in other parts of the country…

PLO Uses Violence to Suppress News

Suppressing news by threatening reporters with violence or death is one of the dirty little secrets of Middle east journalism.” so wrote Jeff Jacoby last year in The Boston (MA) Globe.

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Jan/Feb 2005

As Palestinian mortar shells and rockets continued to pound the Jewish settlement of Gush Katif at the rate of over three per day, destroying homes and sending people to the hospital…

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The Wahabi Invasion of America

In February of 2003 a University of South Florida professor and six others were charged with aiding Islamic Jihad, a global terrorist organization. In July a federal grand jury…

The MBB’s ‘Dirty Little Secret’

It was a meeting like the hundreds of others we have experienced over the course of twenty years. My brother Emir was gently debating another Arabic Christian…

Backlash

When the hierarchy of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) declared that it wanted to send a “strong message” to the international community to convey…

Islam’s Bogus Peace

Islam, amazingly lauded as a religion of peace since September 11, 2001, is built on violence. Its founder,  Muhammad, established this religion by plundering…

The Greatest Gift

Tis the season to fight your way through crowded malls, spend every dime you have, and max out your credit cards try­ing to buy gifts for those you love…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Nov/Dec 2004

“The Painful Truth: All the World Terrorists are Muslims!” So writes Abdulrahman al-Rashed, general manager of AI-Arabiya television, in his…

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Where Do We Sign Up?

Colonel Teddy Roosevelt, later to become the twenty-sixth president of the United States, was certified as an American icon during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Spanish presence in North America, especially in Cuba…

Daniel and Darius

Daniel in the lions’ den (Dan. 6) is probably one of the best-known accounts in the Bible. It’s the encouraging, satisfying triumph of faith, righteousness, and justice over wickedness and evil in high places.

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Sep/Oct 2004

I am a former Moslem, born and raised in the Middle East. I am very disappointed and almost scared after watching your presentation about Islam. One of the reasons I fled to the United States

Targeting Hamas

The goal of Hamas is clear. As stated in the organization’s covenant, the Islamic Resistance Movement “strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” No negotiations or compromises are possible.

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Sep/Oct 2004

An Israeli toddler being dropped off at nursery school by his mother was killed when a Palestinian Kassam rocket exploded in the heart of Sderot in the Negev. More than 20 others, including youngsters…

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Israel’s Significance Is Insignificant

Geo-political Israel today is not to be understood as God’ s promise to Abraham and Joshua. IT IS NOT! …It is fair to say, the world owes them a homeland. But, and this is important…

Defining Differences

Premillennialism: The prefix pre means “before.” Premillennialism is the view that Christ will return to earth before the Millennium or Kingdom of God. He will establish a literal, political Kingdom of God on earth…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Jul/Aug 2004

The family finished their evening meal and gathered in the living room to sing and enjoy a relaxing time exchanging pleasantries and stories. Later Esther put four of their young children to bed…

The Courage to Fight On

Yoni was two years old when Israel was created. He was born on March 13, 1946, less than a year after the most extreme and horrendous attempt—out of a long, almost unending line of attempts…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Jul/Aug 2004

ARUTZ-7—The United States has determined that Yasser Arafat approved the terrorist attack on a U.S. embassy convoy in which three Americans were killed in October 2003. Middle East Newsline reported in the name of U.S.

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East May/Jun 2004

We have known for years that Islamist terrorist cells have been operating in the United States and North America. In 1994 investigative reporter Steven Emerson produced a one-hour documentary, Jihad in America, that aired…

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The Cell Phones Wouldn’t Stop Ringing

A friend of mine who lives in Jerusalem was on his way to work on the morning of January 29. He was suffering the usual heavy morning traffic, three cars behind an Egged bus…

One Holiday, Two Birthdays

Thousands of Jewish people will make their traditional trek on foot to the Western Wall later in May to celebrate one of…

The Real Anne Frank

Had she lived, Anne
Frank would be seventy-five years old this
year. But in March 1945,
three months before her
sixteenth birthday, Anne
became one of eighteen
thousand prisoners who
died in a single month in
the Nazis’ Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

The Invasion by Gog and Magog

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against…

The Foul Fruit of Apostasy

Many people profess to be Christians but reject the Bible as God’s Word; deny the deity of Christ; or repudiate the incarnation, virgin birth, resurrec­tion…

Islam’s Suicide Solution

As if it were not already enormous, the gulf between Islam and Christianity grew even greater in January when Reem Rayashi, a 22-year-old Palestinian mother of two, blew herself up at the Erez Crossing…

From Terrorist to Zionist

Bethlehem-born Walid Shoebat detested Jews. Not that he had ever spoken to one. But he had been so well indoctrinated with…

Conversions Wont Hasten Christ’s Coming

True, Bible-believing Christians are commanded to make salvation through Jesus known to all (Mt. 28:19–20). Jesus Himself gave that mandate, called the Great Commission, after His resurrection and prior to His ascension into heaven.

Myths/Facts: Israel & the Middle East May/Jun 2004

Arab leaders have repeatedly made clear their animosity toward Jews and Judaism. For example, on November 23, 1937, Saudi Arabia’s King Ibn Saud told British Colonel H.R.P. Dickson: “Our hatred for the Jews dates from…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News May/Jun 2004

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the deal, saying it was too expensive. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, however, said that the importance of the deal surpasses merely the water issue and affects the strategic relationship with…

Only in Israel!

For example, in November 2002 a suicide bomber boarded an Israeli bus in Jerusalem that was so packed with Jewish schoolchildren no one noticed him. He waited until the bus was full, then exploded himself…

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Pondering Life in the ‘New Jerusalem’

That’s the dream. But dreams rarely reflect reality. And nocturnal pleasantries inevitably vaporize when exposed to the harsh light of morning. Such will be the case when foreign interlopers, dreamers, and wishful thinkers impose..

Myths/Facts: Israel & the Middle East Mar/Apr 2004

In the case of Israel, the necessity for checkpoints has been created by the Palestinians. By pursuing a violent campaign of terror against Israel’s citizens, they have forced Israel to set up barriers to make…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Mar/Apr 2004

Last December thousands of Palestinians flocked to the home of a family whose newborn son caused a sensation. Muslims are revering the boy as the “miracle
baby” of Bethlehem. The designation was given because…

Suicide Bombers

As part of its promotion of suicide terrorism, the Palestinian Authority (P A) has repeatedly taught its population the Islamic tradition that the Shahid (martyr) who dies for Allah will receive numerous heavenly rewards…

Israel’s Peculiar Position

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it…

Confronting a Legacy of Hatred

Hatred for Israel and the Jewish people in classrooms controlled by the Palestinian Authority is an ongoing problem. If and when a peace agreement is reached, how can a generation of Palestinian children and young…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Mar/Apr 2004

The growing alliance between Christians and Jews has prompted Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to create a Christian Allies Caucus to maintain that relationship and support it. Said Knesset member Yuri Stern…

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A New Kind of War in a New Kind of World

Talk to most people over sixty and you’re apt to detect an air of nostalgia in the conversation after a while. References to “the good old days” bore younger listeners to tears but are rewarded…

An Interview with David Bar-Illan

In 1998 David Bar-Illan was the policy and planning director for the administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel. He also was a primary spokesman for the prime minister. Below are portions of an…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on Middle East Jan/Feb 2004

Following the brutal suicide bombing that took twenty-one lives and wounded sixty others at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa on October 4, 2003, Israel went on the offensive. The terrorist group Islamic Jihad quickly claimed responsibility…

The Crescent and the Cradle

The main role of the Muslim mother is to raise children according to the wishes of her husband. With that said, she desires to rear children who will become good Muslims in hopes they will…

Getting the Picture

Paul Marshall’s deeply moving observation in his book Their Blood Cries Out (see adjacent article) helped inspire the Friends of Israel “Remember” pin that reminds us to pray for our Christian brethren who suffer…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Jan/Feb 2004

Forty-eight veteran Israel Air Force (IAF) pilots held captive in Syria or Egypt last year have petitioned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not to free terrorist Mustafa Dirani, who tortured IAF navigator Ron Arad, still in…

Apples of Gold

Zvi Jan/Feb 2004

History has shown us that where there is no faith there is hate. So it was with Hitler when the Nazis in Germany sang, “Today Germany belongs to us. Tomorrow, the world.” Then came Saddam Hussein….

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Five Big Words

When speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, visited Israel recently, he said cryptically, “Israel’s fight is our fight.” Just five words to be sure, but words defining what the conflict in the Middle…

Road Map to Armageddon

The PLO holds every terrorist record on the books, and Arafat has violated every agreement he ever made with Israel. What kind of “peace” lies ahead?

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Nov/Dec 2003

Israel has been under intense pressure by the United States, Europe, the Arab nations, and others to stop construction of a security fence in areas that have exported suicide bombers and assorted terrorists bent on…

Timeline of Modern Israel

From San Remo to Nazi Germany 1918 British General Edmund Allenby defeats the Ottoman Turks and occupies all of Palestine. 1919–23 Third wave of Jewish immigration arrives, mostly from Russia. 1920 Britain receives League of Nations mandate over Palestine at San…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Nov/Dec 2003

What is the Palestinian fascination with the Kassam rocket, an imprecise weapon containing 10 to 15 kilograms (22–33 pounds) of explosives with a range of six to eight kilometers (3.73 miles)? Caroline Glick of The…

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Reliving the Thirties

The struggle over suppressing discrimination in Western societies is an ongoing problem that will grow with the ever-increasing influx of third-world minorities into more affluent nations. Additionally, judicial decisions that grant…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Sep/Oct 2003

When Israel, in accordance with its agreement with the new Palestinian government, pulled Israel Defense Forces troops out of Bethlehem recently, many residents of the Jerusalem suburb of Gilo feared the worst. And they…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Sep/Oct 2003

Had she been Palestinian, the entire world would be up in arms. But she was Israeli, so no one even noticed when seven-year-old Noam Liebowitz was shot to death while riding in her family car…

Apples of Gold

Zvi Sep/Oct 2003

We are again approaching Yom Kippur, this most solemn of days, when people ask the Lord to forgive their sins. And what is more, they are so sure that when they come with their “sacrifices,” their sins…

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Potholes in the Road Map

Just how difficult it will be to negotiate the much-ballyhooed “road map” to peace in the Middle East was summed up by Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, after the Israeli cabinet recently approved the plan…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Jul/Aug 2003

A former U.S. ambassador to an obscure Third World nation recently contributed his opinion on TV as to why the spate of terror attacks in the wake of the war in Iraq. His remarks postulated…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News Jul/Aug 2003

“I’m telling you frankly, the attitude of Islam is not to accept a foreign state in this area.” So said senior Hamas spokesman Mahmoud a-Zahar on the BBC. He later met with Palestinian Authority (PA)…

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Duty, Honor, Country—Still Alive and Well

A quiet debate reportedly has arisen in the Bush administration over whether our victorious men and women in uniform should be awarded ticker tape, flag-waving parades down New York City’s 5th Avenue…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye On the Middle East May/Jun 2003

The Iraq encounter has clarified precisely where major nations stand on tyranny and the prestige and power of the United States and Israel. President George W. Bush made his assessment of the UN’s power…

Jewish World Update - News

Israel in the News May/Jun 2003

Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs made no bones about whose side they were on during the recent war in Iraq as tens of thousands took to the streets waving flags and pictures of Saddam Hussein and calling…

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Show Us the Map

During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the infamous Berlin Wall and issued a challenge. “Mr. Gorbachev,” he said, “Tear down this wall…

Map of the Middle East.

Eye on the Middle East Mar/Apr 2003

Recent polls taken in a broad range of countries have revealed that many nations view the United States with increasing distaste. This situation…

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Selling Islam in America

The one-year commemoration of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon spawned a huge irony. While Americans and masses of people the world over held solemn…

The War of Independence

When the British received their League of Nations mandate over the Holy Land at the San Remo Conference in 1920, they were told to implement the Balfour Declaration that called for “the establishment…

Who Are the ‘Refugees’?

The original Palestinian refugees were about 650,000 (a UN mediator at the time placed the figure at 472,000) Arabs who voluntarily abandoned their homes before the 1948 War of Independence. Arab leaders encouraged…

Who Took Whose Lands?

Although the British were instructed in 1920 to help the Jewish people resettle into land that had been designated for a Jewish national home, they did just the opposite. Instead of facilitating Jewish…

What Are the ‘Occupied Territories’?

Israel acquired the “occupied,” or, more accurately, disputed territories during the 1967 Six-Day War.
They are Judea/Samaria (West Bank) and the Gaza Strip. In
1981 Israel annexed the Golan Heights, also acquired…

The Yom Kippur War

Anwar Sadat replaced Nasser as Egypt’s president after Nasser’s death in 1970. Sadat believed he had to regain the Sinai taken by Israel in 1967. Israeli intelligence warned the government that war…

Israel and Egypt Make Peace

The Egyptian press is virulently anti-Semitic, and the Egyptian government does little to stop illegal arms-smuggling to the Palestinians. Nevertheless, the March 26, 1979, peace treaty between Israel and Egypt has created…