U.N.

Once again Israel made headlines, even temporarily pushing the Iraqi crisis from front stage at the U.N. As Christians, we are deeply grieved by all the suffering and shedding of blood in the Middle East. No doubt there have been wrongs on all sides (Jeremiah 3:11). Permanent peace will only come to the Middle East when the principles of Christ, the Prince of Peace, motivate all human actions and transactions (Isaiah 2:2-4).

The new State of Israel has been a miracle of history in fulfillment of Bible prophecy (Jeremiah 30:3,9,10,18). It is the work of the Lord, but an unfortunate pattern has developed. The Arab nations, the United Nations and now the United States are all opposing Israel. Jeremiah 31:16 has a warning for all such: - "... and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey."

Rocks large enough to kill rained down on 3000 Jewish worshipers and Israel was condemned for defending its most sacred place of worship, the Western Wall. Was excessive force used?

In 1987 Saudi Arabia slaughtered over 400 Iranian Pilgrims at the Moslem's most holy site in Mecca. Of course, then it was open hunting season on Iranians; just as it was open season on Jews during WWII. Allied powers then knew of the holocaust but refused to bomb out the railroad tracks leading to the death camps. And boatloads of Jews, like the St. Louis, were denied entry to the U.S. and sent back to their doom in Europe. Unfortunately, 1989 and 1990 continue to be open season on Jews. Anti-Semitic acts are on the rise to an alarming degree throughout the world. Israel bashing by news media and world powers is a popular pastime.

A Double Standard

Where violence is concerned, neither Israel or any other nation is above scrutiny; but the persistency of the outcry against Israel by the international community is suspect.

When the Arab Legion defied the U.N. and seized East Jerusalem in 1948, Jordan desecrated Jewish holy sites and banned Jews from the city. The world powers remained silent. In 1970 Jordan massacred 20,000 refugees when it expelled the P.L.O. out of its borders. In 1982 Syria destroyed the Moslem Brotherhood stronghold in the city of Hama. Nearly 19,000 were slaughtered. There was no cry of outrage by the international community about either carnage.

In 1985-86 the Amal Arab forces waged total war against the P.L.O. camps in Lebanon. The world viewed the limited television reports with indifference but now cry with outrage at Israel's handling of the Intifada. In the past year of the Intifada, about 50% of Palestinians killed were killed by fellow Palestinians. Intifada terror squads enforce Palestinian cooperation with the Intifada; a fact you don't hear about in the news media. A month ago, the Syrians killed 200 Christian Arab prisoners in Lebanon (US News & World Report, November 12, 1990). Where was the outcry?

The United States helped Iraq defeat Iran, then courted the friendship of Saddam Hussein while he slaughtered thousands of Kurds. But when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the U.S. turned on Hussein. Why? The source of U.S. oil was at stake. Unfortunately, it is often oil power and not moral power that motivates the U.N. Since most world powers are dependent on Arab oil, the 21 Arab nations exert a dominant influence on U.N. policies.

Facts Of History

At the breaking up of the Turkish Empire by the Allies at the end of WWI, both Arabs and Jews requested independent states. The world powers were generous in the extreme to the Arabs by granting them 21 independent Arab states, covering over 5,250,000 square miles. The Jews asked for only 3 percent of this vast territory and finally received less than half of 1 percent.

In 1922 the League of Nations recognized the legal, moral and historic right of the Jewish people to a national home in Palestine, including Jerusalem. Since then, vast oil reserves were discovered in Arab lands. If the Jews had a right to Jerusalem in 1922, that right is valid today. But the nations are compromising Israel's rights for their own oil interests. Consequently, the U.S. administration and the U.N. define East Jerusalem as "occupied territory." This is why Israel refuses to cooperate with the U.N. Resolution. No part of Jerusalem is "occupied territory." Jerusalem-indivisible-belongs to Israel.

The nations of the world would do well to heed the Biblical warning of Zechariah 12:3 - "In that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut to pieces."

Historic Rights

During the height of the Arab Empire's rule over the land of Israel, the Arab geographer Muqaddasi wrote in 985 A.D. about Jerusalem: "Everywhere the Christians and the Jews have the upper hand, and the mosque is void of either congregation or assembly of learned men." (KNOWLEDGE OF CLIMES, page 167) The first recorded population census of Jerusalem was made in 1845 A.D. by Dr. Schultze, the Prussian Consul. He recorded a Jewish majority of 7,120 compared to an Arab minority of 5,000. From that year onward, the Jewish majority in Jerusalem increased.

Although there was a separate Jewish quarter in Jerusalem during the 1800s and early 1900s, the Jews, Arabs and Christians lived throughout the Old City until the Arab persecutions of 1929 and 1936. Then the Jews fled to the Jewish quarter or outside the wall. In fact, a large section of what is now referred to as the Moslem Quarter and Christian Quarter was called Hebron Square because so many Jews were situated there. In both the Moslem and Christian Quarters, there are many homes that evince a mezzuzah was removed from the front door post. Plaques written in Hebrew with dates going back to the 1800s have been found inside buildings, thus establishing their Jewish identity.

During the final phase of the "time of trouble" prophesied by Jesus (Matthew 24:21), all nations will be gathered against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2; Ezekiel 38 & 39). Then God will fight for Israel as he did in the days of old (Zechariah 14:3). Christ will reveal himself to Israel and there will be great repentance and mourning throughout the land of Israel (Zechariah 12:9-14). Those that have the faith at that time will share in Jerusalem becoming the capital of Christ's Kingdom (Zechariah 8:22,23; Isaiah 60:10-12; 66:18-22).

Send for your free copy of the essay RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. Written in 1890, it gives remarkable insights about Israel today.

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Isaiah 2:2,3