The Truth About Israel

On Saturday, October 7th, the Iranian-backed terror group Hamas launched a gruesome and barbaric attack on Israel and its citizens. At least 1,400 Israelis were killed, and more than 200 people were taken hostage. Israel has responded and begun retaliation on Hamas in Gaza. There has been much media coverage following this troubling and growing conflict. I’ve been disturbed by the lies and distortions in the media. I’m writing to confront these distortions and to help us understand the truth.

Is Israel a Colonizer?

I have heard the claim that Israel is an occupier and colonizer, stated as an unassailable fact multiple times in the media. The narrative is that the land of Israel is Muslim territory and that the Jewish people have taken it over. Historically, the land was inhabited by an essentially extinct group of people called the Canaanites. Due to their extreme evil, they had become a cancer to humanity, and God told Abraham he would give him their land (Gen. 12:1-6, 15:16-21). It was to be through his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel.

The Hebrew people first took possession of the land when Joshua and Israel invaded the land of Canaan in approximately 1400 BC. Islam didn’t arrive in Israel until 2,600 years after Abraham and 1,600 after David made the city of Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Mohammed never actually visited Jerusalem, and the famous Dome of the Rock wasn’t built until 687 AD, over 600 years after the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. There is no question that historically, the land of Israel was the land of the Jewish people.

Israel and the Jewish people have only 1/6th of 1% of the land in the Middle East. The Arab Muslims have 99 5/6ths% of the land. Yet, many Arab Muslims are demanding all the land. Thus, the chant, “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.”

Is Israel an Apartheid State?

I’ve regularly heard that Israel is an apartheid state. Apartheid is institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa prior to the early 1990’s. If you’ve ever been in Israel, you know this isn’t true. The Arab population of Israel is about 20%, and Arab citizens live side by side with Israelis with the same rights as Jewish citizens. Arabs fight in the Israeli military, are elected to Israel’s parliament, and serve as judges. In fact, there is an Arab sitting on the Israeli Supreme Court. In actuality, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that doesn’t segregate and oppress its minority population. It’s the only country in the region that has equal rights for all its citizens.

Does Israel Oppose Peace?

In 1979, Israel gave valuable land back to Egypt that they took during the 1967 war in exchange for a peace agreement. Israel has been willing to pursue peace with its other neighbors, but their offers have always been rejected. Outrageously, their offer of peace in 2000 resulted in the second intifada, a wave of terror that left thousands of Jews dead.

To understand the reason for the Arabs refusal of peace, you need only go back to the Arab League’s 1967 three no proposition, where they announced there would be no peace, no recognition, and no negotiations with Israel. A section in the Hamas Charter reads: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals, and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

The fourth Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir, said, “We can forgive [the Arabs] for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with [the Arabs] when they love their children more than they hate us…”

Though they have regularly been attacked and terrorized, every military action in Israel’s modern history has been for self-preservation. Though they have consistently been victorious, they have never been the aggressors in a war. It has been rightly said, “If Hamas stops fighting, there will be peace. But if Israel stops fighting, Israel will cease to exist.”

I’m not under the allusion that Israel is a perfect country or that they are without fault in the Palestinian conflict. Yet, they are a descent nation that has been smeared by false narratives. The underlying issue is spiritual. The antisemitism we see is historical, dating back to Pharoah’s attempt to kill the Hebrew babies, to wicked Haman and his genocidal plot against the Jews in Persia, also maniacal Hitler and his Jewish holocaust, and it will be seen in a future Anti-Christ, who will ultimately bring his power and fury against the Jewish people.

Israel has been brutally attacked once again. Both the Israeli and Palestinian people are being horribly affected by these events. We need to pray for all who have been impacted. But as she is under attack from much of the world, we must stand with Israel. Pray for peace in Jerusalem, the removal of the terror of Hamas, a quick calming of tensions in the Middle East, and that this conflict would not escalate into a regional war or even World War III.

Our sovereign God is almighty and well able-to deal with these horrible events. Our confidence is in Him, and we continue to pray that our Lord will take this which was meant for evil and use it for good and for His glory. We ask that this evil would turn out for the furtherance of the Gospel around the world and the opening of the eyes of the Jewish people to their Messiah, Jesus Christ.