There is no ‘But …”

“Whoever is not for Me is against Me, who whoever does not gather with Me, scatters.”
Luke 11 v 23
Again
“… whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
Mathew 10 v 33

For centuries peoples and tribes have moved across Europe, indeed the world, redefining boundaries, establishing their right to rule and govern conquered lands and people. We have seen great empires come and go from as far back as the Picts, the Jutes, the Vikings, the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napolean, the list is interminable. The conference of Berlin saw Africa’s boundaries redefined, the continent parcelled out to one ruler or another. Fights for territory and ownership rights continue unabated in many parts of the globe.

But only one war receives unabated and pernicious declamation, and that is the war of defense waged by Israel, a tiny territory the size of New Jersey in America. To hear the rants, you would think it was the size of Russia, and its bid to constantly enlarge its territories equal to the conquests of those mentioned above.

Not so. Israel is happy with her portion. Happy to share with her neighbours, the Palestinians. Which is more than their cousins in Jordan and Egypt are prepared to do. But time and again since 2004, Hamas, backed by Iran, and other rulers aligned with the terror group, and let us not forget that this is a terrorist organisation, not a government, have walked away from peace talks, from discussing and agreeing to the concept of a two-party state numerous times, unwilling to share, wanting only annihilation, first of the Jews, then the Christians followed by the rest of the world. They do not want their portion; they want all of it. That is what led to wars in 1949 and 1967.

Ownership of the city of Jerusalem, the right to have the city as the centre of worship for Jews and Christians, is central to this conflict. Let us remember the Muslims have Mecca.

Jerusalem means the city of Peace, a combination of Yireh – the abiding place, and Shalem, place of peace, although there are other interpretations. Scholars believe the first human settlements took place around 3500 BC, but it was in 1000 BC that King David, he of slingshot fame, conquered the city and made it the capital of Israel and Judah. The temple was built about 40 years later.

The Islamic history of Jerusalem began around 635, some 400 years later.

There has never, as far as I can find, been a country called Palestine. The territories making up what many refer to as Palestine or the State of Palestine were administered by Jordan and Egypt respectively.  Jordan renounced its claim to the territory in 1988. Egyptian occupation of Gaza began with the inception of Israel in 1948 and ended after the six-day war of 1967. This is where the ‘occupation’ by Israel began, of land she believes belongs to her. But in 2004, she surrendered Gaza to the Palestinians.

Come with me on a brief journey through the Bible, starting with the first claimant to the land, Abram as he was known then.

Genesis 12: 1-3: 
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
1.	Get out of your country
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2.	I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3.	I will bless those who bless you,
and I will curse those who curse you;
and in you all the families 
of the earth shall be blessed.

  

Interestingly, this promise is not to the Jews alone, but to all the inhabitants of the world.

Let us move forward a few chapters. Abraham has had two sons, one with a slave woman, one with his aged wife, Sara, who they called Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob was a dodgy character who decided he wanted the first son’s blessing – this is a tale for another day – which played out like this.

Genesis 27: 28 – 29
28. Therefore may God give you
Of the dew of heaven,
If the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of grain and wine.
29. Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brethren,
And let your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
And blessed be those who bless you!”

We move forward many generations after Moses has led the children of Israel out of captivity in Egypt, Joshua has led them into the promised land of Canaan, and David is King.

2 Chronicles 6: 5-6
5.	Since that I brought My people out of the land of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man to be a ruler over My people Israel.
6.	Yet I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.

The word tells us that God establishes everything with two or three witnesses, and He does so Himself, through the Psalmists.

Psalm 132: 13 – 14
13. for the lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place
14. this is My resting place forever,
Here I will dwell for I have desired it.

Psalm 137: 5-6
5.	If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget its skill.
6.	If I do not remember you,
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth –
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.

There are also words of warning to those who would attack Israel.

Zecheriah 2:8
For thus says the Lord of Hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.

Your response may well be that you do not believe in God, so none of what I write here is pertinent, and that is your prerogative, but your choice to disbelieve does not obliterate His existence. You cannot prove He does not exist.

Now, to the end of the Bible –

Revelation 21.
2. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

The city is described in intimate detail over the next verses.

It is for this reason that Jesus was adamant that His death and resurrection had to take place in Jerusalem – where else? The city of His Father, the Home of His Tabernacle, the Temple, the crux of Judaic, and, thereafter, Christian faith.

Gaza has the 39^th highest increase in population in the world. Why have they not developed their own electricity network, desalination plants to supply their ever-increasing numbers with water? Why have they not worked the land to produce food? Why are those services Israel’s responsibility? In fact, why are the Palestinians Israel’s responsibility? Why are Jordan and Egypt silent when asked if they will part with land for those they once administered? Why is so much aid directed to Gaza when Israel, with the same territorial conditions, flourishes?

Many questions, many that are overlooked in the flood of rhetoric that abounds in cities and campuses, parroted on social media by people who should know better.

As for Hamas and the Palestinians, am I sorry for their deaths? Yes, of course I am. Do I blame Israel only for the situation? No, I don’t.

I am more horrified and heartbroken at the pre-mediated and maniacal slaughter that took place on 7^th October, the unimaginable heartache of a four-year-old, abducted and kept captive for 50 days, unaware she is orphaned. Other children treated with utter contempt for no reason other than they are Jews. These are those who were not slaughtered on 7^th October in what can only be described as a frenzy of killing.

What comes back immediately in any discussion is, “But, Israel….” For me there is no ‘but’. It was an act of unspeakable horror and evil. Hamas knew what Israel’s response would be to their attack. It is an act that Hamas and other terrorist groups have threatened again. Their stated aim is the annihilation of the Jews first, then Christians, and then anyone who doesn’t think as they do. If you think they aren’t coming for you, you are deceived.

Who took billions in aid money to build tunnels and buy weapons of war instead of developing infrastructure to sustain their people? Who uses children as human shields? Who places their headquarters under hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. Put blame where it belongs.

I cannot entertain the ‘but’. To be anti-Israel is to be anti-Semitic. Anti-Semitic is anti-Christian. My Jesus is a Jew. Through the love of God and Christ’s sacrifice, I am grafted into His promised Kingdom – as such I can never be complicit in any action that looks to destroy God’s chosen people.

The Bible is clear: God will bless those who bless Israel. God will curse those who curse Israel.

Whether you are inclined to believe in Him or not, God exists. Your disbelief does not make Him disappear in a magical puff of smoke and bluster. The evidence is there for all who wish to see it, just as the truth is there for all who wish to see it.