Living on the Edge of Destruction: Israel's 60th Anniversary
“Trusting in the Rock of Israel we now place our signatures
in witness to this proclamation, sitting as the Provisional State Council, on
the soil of the homeland, in the city of
Tel-Aviv,
this day, Friday afternoon, the 5
th of Iyar, 5708,
the 14th of May, 1948.”
This was the moment of the re-birth of
Israel
announced by Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. I would call your
attention to the year of the Jewish calendar he cited, 5708. It reaches back
over the millennia, deep into the Torah, the Old Testament, with its long
history of a people chosen to be “a nation of priests and a holy people.”
This fact alone eviscerates all arguments and lies put forth
that the Jews do not have a right and a claim to their own homeland. Historians
put the birth of Judaism at approximately two thousand years before the advent
of Christianity. When the
Roman Empire fell, it was
restructured as the
Holy Roman Empire with Christianity
at its core. Jewish resistance to the
Roman Empire
shaped much of its early history.
At the heart of the Islamic protestations of modern
Israel
is their contempt for the two faiths that preceded their own that began in 622
A.D. By then Judaism was already a very ancient faith. To be anything other
than a Muslim, then and now, was declared to belong to an inferior faith. Islam
is distinguished by its inflexible fixation on Allah, a former moon god
worshipped in
Mecca, and the cult
of Mohammed.
More than a billion of the world’s population is Muslim.
More than a billion is Christian. Billions believe in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Judaism, which was never an evangelizing faith, existed in small numbers, but
for reasons of faith, both Christianity and Islam persecuted the Jews in their
midst because their very existence raised questions of spiritual legitimacy.
Throughout this long history, the Jews remained steadfast to
their ancient faith under circumstances that would have destroyed a people less
committed. In the last century, an evil so vast that it defies comprehension
attempted to kill every Jew in
Europe and
Russia.
Out of the ashes of an estimated six million Jews, the
Zionist movement that had been established at the very end of the previous
century reached its moment in history when a re-born nation of
Israel
was the sanctuary needed for the survivors and others who would flee
persecution in Arab nations, in
Russia,
and elsewhere.
“After the people were forcibly exiled from their land,”
said Ben-Gurion on
May 14, 1948,
“they kept the faith with it in all the lands of their dispersion, and never
ceased praying and hoping to return to their land…”
Within hours of Ben-Gurion’s announcement,
Israel
was attacked by
Egypt,
Lebanon,
Syria,
Jordan, and
Iraq.
By
June 11, 1948, a truce
was arranged. Thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers had arrived from
around the world. Hostilities resumed on July 8, but it went poorly for the
Arabs as the Israelis won about 20% more territory than was originally granted.
There has never really been any peace since then. Several
more wars and the Intifada declared by the Palestinians have been markers in
Israel’s
short history. There has only been the tiresome demand that it return to 1967
borders. Even when
Israel
relinquished
Gaza to the
Palestinians, it has not stilled their rockets for a single day.
Today,
Israel
remains surrounded by its enemies, despite a peace accord with
Egypt
and
Jordan. It
remains a tiny nation and Jews worldwide remain a minority. These days
Israel
is directly threatened by two Palestinian entities, Hezbollah and Hamas,
assisted by
Syria,
funded and armed by
Iran,
a nation led by men who promise to destroy
Israel.
The failure of the
Middle East as a
society is the failure of Islam, a faith whose name translates as submission.
The success of
Israel
is the success of Judaism, a religion whose believers have greatly blessed the
modern world. It is the success as well of the support of Christians who are Judaism’s
spiritual heirs.
There are serious lessons to be drawn from this sixtieth
anniversary and serious threats on the near horizon. If we permit the
destruction of
Israel,
we nullify the values of both Judaism and Christianity. We put our souls at
risk.
Alan Caruba writes a
weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com. He blogs at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
© Alan Caruba, May
2008
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