Myths and facts about Israel
The devil hates the Jewish people with a passion. The Jews are the ones who gave mankind the Bible and the Savior, Jesus Christ. It should come as no surprise that nations who are demonically controlled would share in the devil's hatred of Israel. On this page, I've listed a number of popular myths about Israel, and I've also provided facts to counter those lies.
MYTH: "The land of Israel is really the land of Palestine."
FACT:The term "Palestine" is believed to be derived from the Philistines, an Aegean people who, in the 12th Century BC, settled along the Mediterranean coastal plain of what is now Israel and the Gaza Strip. In the second century AD, after crushing the last Jewish revolt, the Romans first applied the name Palaestina to Judea (the southern portion of what is now called the West Bank) in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. The Arabic word Filastin is derived from Latin. There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc.
MYTH: "The Jews have no historic claim to Israel."
FACT:Only one group of people have continuously lived in Israel for the past 3,700 years - the Jews. Jerusalem, in particular, has had a Jewish majority since the 1840s, 40 years prior to the beginnings of Zionism. Seventy-five percent of the land in east Jerusalem, which the press calls "historically Arab east Jerusalem," has been owned by Jews since 1947. The nations that inhabited the land prior to the Jews are no longer in existence, for they have been absorbed into various other peoples throughout the millennia. The Arabs of Israel only came to the land in 632 with the Muslim invasion.
MYTH: "The Jewish sovereignty and control of the state of Israel in 1948 changed political and border arrangements between independent states that had existed for centuries."
FACT:The boundaries of most Middle East countries were arbitrarily fixed by the Western powers after Turkey was defeated in World War I and the French and British mandates were set up. The areas allotted to Israel under the UN Partition Plan had all been under the control of the Ottomans, who had ruled Palestine from 1517 until 1917. When Turkey was defeated in World War I, the French took over the area now known as Lebanon and Syria. The British assumed control of Palestine and Iraq. In 1926, the borders were redrawn and Lebanon was separated from Syria. Britain installed the Emir Faisal, who had been deposed by the French in Syria, as ruler of the new kingdom of Iraq. In 1922, the British created the emirate of Transjordan, which incorporated all of Palestine east of the Jordan River. This was done so that the Emir Abdullah, whose family had been defeated in tribal warfare in the Arabian peninsula, would have a kingdom to rule. None of the countries that border Israel became independent until this century. Many other Arab nations became independent after Israel.
MYTH: "Israel violates the human rights of the Palestinian Arabs."
FACT:The facts are different. Israel granted full citizenship to all of the Palestinian Arabs who fell within its borders after the War of Independence. Arabic is an official language in Israel. Israel remains to this day one of the few countries in the Middle East where Arabs can legitimately vote--and it is the only one where women can vote.
MYTH: "The West Bank is part of Jordan."
FACT:The West Bank was never legally part of Jordan. Under the UN's 1947 Partition Plan--which the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected--it was to have been part of an independent Arab state in western Palestine. But the Jordanian army invaded and occupied it during the 1948 war. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank. Only two governments--Great Britain and Pakistan--formally recognized the Jordanian takeover. The rest of the world, including the United States, never did. During the 1950-1967 period of its occupation, Jordan permitted terrorists to launch raids into Israel. Amman lost the West Bank after the Jordanian army entered the 1967 war.
MYTH:"Jerusalem is Islam's third most holy city."
FACT:Muslims try to connect Jerusalem to Islam by using a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a vision, Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs. ..." In the seventh century, some Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem. And that's as close as Islam's connection with Jerusalem gets--myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.
MYTH:"The Temple Mount has always been a Muslim holy place and Judaism has no connection to the site."
FACT:The area of Solomon's Stables is believed to date as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple. According to Josephus, it was in existence and was used as a place of refuge by the Jews at the time of the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 A.D. More authoritatively, the Koran--the holy book of Islam--describes Solomon's construction of the First Temple (34:13) and recounts the destruction of the First and Second Temples (17:7). The Jewish connection to the Temple Mount dates back more than 3,000 years and is rooted in tradition and history. When Abraham bound his son, Isaac, upon an altar as a sacrifice to God, he did so atop Mount Moriah, today's Temple Mount.
MYTH:"Under Israeli rule, religious freedom has been curbed in Jerusalem."
FACT:After the 1967 war, Israel abolished all the discriminatory laws promulgated by Jordan and adopted its own tough standard for safeguarding access to religious shrines. "Whoever does anything that is likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the various religions to the places sacred to them," Israeli law stipulates, "is liable to imprisonment for a term of five years." Israel also entrusted administration of the holy places to their respective religious authorities. Thus, for example, the Muslim Waqf has responsibility for the mosques on the Temple Mount.
MYTH:"The Arab states have had to keep pace with an Israeli-led arms race."
FACT:In most cases, the reverse has been true. Egypt received the Soviet IL-28 bomber in 1955. It was not until 1958 that France provided Israel with a squadron of comparable Sud Vautour twin-jet, tactical bombers. In 1957, Egypt obtained MiG-17 fighter planes. Israel received the comparable Super Mystere in 1959. Egypt had submarines in 1957, Israel in 1959. After the Egyptians obtained the MiG-21, the Israelis ordered the Dassault Mirage III supersonic interceptor and fighter-bomber. Egypt received ground-to-air missiles--the SA-2--two years before Israel obtained HAWK missiles from the United States. Later, Washington reluctantly agreed to sell Israel Patton tanks.
MYTH:"Israel's destruction of Iraqi nuclear facilities was an unjust act."
FACT:Back in June 1981, after the Israelis bombed the plant at Osirak, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned Israel. Washington ostentatiously held up its delivery of armaments to Israel. A decade later, however, the strike looks awfully good. Had Saddam Hussein been armed with nuclear weapons during the war with Iran, much of Tehran would now be obliterated and large sections of Iran annexed to Iraq. More: Iraqi forces might have rolled straight from Kuwait into Saudi Arabia, long before American forces could have arrived. Today, Saddam could already control five oil-rich countries and thereby over half of the world's oil reserves. Economic disaster would be one result; and American troops would have no good place to land.
MYTH: "Israel has been an expansionist state since its creation."
FACT:Israel's boundaries were determined by the United Nations when it adopted the partition resolution in 1947. In a series of defensive wars, Israel captured additional territory. On numerous occasions, Israel has withdrawn from these areas. As part of the 1974 disengagement agreement, Israel returned territories captured in the 1967 and 1973 wars to Syria. Under the terms of the 1979, Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Israel withdrew from the Sinai peninsula for the third time. It had already withdrawn from large parts of the desert area it captured in its War of Independence. After capturing the entire Sinai in the 1956 Suez conflict, Israel relinquished the peninsula to Egypt a year later. In September 1983, Israel withdrew from large areas of Lebanon to positions south of the Awali River. In 1985, it completed its withdrawal from Lebanon, except for a narrow security zone just north of the Israeli border. That too was abandoned, unilaterally, in 2000. After signing peace agreements with the Palestinians and a treaty with Jordan, Israel agreed to withdraw from most of the territory in the West Bank captured from Jordan in 1967. A small area was returned to Jordan and the rest was ceded to the Palestinian Authority. The agreement with the Palestinians also involved Israel's withdrawal, in 1994, from most of the Gaza Strip, which had been captured from Egypt in 1973.
MYTH: "Israel is the aggressor in the current conflict."
FACTS:One: The Palestinians are the aggressors; they started the conflict, and they purposely drive it forward with fresh killing on an almost-daily basis.Two: The Palestinians regard this second intifada not as a sporadically violent protest movement, but as a war, with the clear strategic aim of forcing a scared and emotionally exhausted Israel to surrender on terms that would threaten Israel's viability.
Three: As a tactic in this strategy, the Palestinians will not fight Israeli forces directly but instead have concentrated their efforts on murdering Israeli civilians. The greater the number, the more pathetically vulnerable the victims--disco-goers, women and children in a pizza restaurant--the better.
Four: Israel has acted defensively in this conflict; and while Israeli forces accidentally killed Palestinian civilians, their planned lethal attacks have all been aimed only at Palestinian military and terror-group leaders.
Myths and Facts About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
MYTH: “THE PALESTINIAN USE OF TERRORISM IS JUST BECAUSE THEIR CAUSE IS JUST.”
FACT: Terrorism has a clear and unambiguous definition – the deliberate targeting of innocent men, women and children for death or injury by a political or religious movement. No political or religious cause can justify such cold-blooded mass murder.
MYTH: “THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES IS ILLEGAL.”
FACT: The Israeli military presence on the West Bank (and Gaza prior to Israel’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005) is not an “occupation.” The territories are disputed, and no nation had recognized sovereignty over them when Israel arrived there after winning its 1967 defensive war. The land has never been under Palestinian jurisdiction. Even during the years 1948-67 when Jordan controlled the West Bank, no Palestinian state was established or even talked about.
Since 1993, Israel has been trying to end its presence in the territories by negotiating an end-of-conflict agreement with the Palestinians. In interim agreements, Israel’s army has withdrawn from territories on the West Bank containing 98% of the Palestinian population, as well as from the entire Gaza Strip. Israel is the only “occupier” in the world which has been and continues to be willing to negotiate an end to its military presence. Meanwhile, Israel’s critics remain silent over China’s refusal to end its occupation of Tibet and India’s control of Kashmir.
MYTH: “ISRAEL HAS STOLEN PALESTINIAN LAND.”
FACT: Jewish historical and religious claims to the land date back to Biblical times. Since then, a continuous Jewish community has existed there up to modern times. Jewish immigration into Turkish Palestine – a neglected, sparsely populated area – began to accelerate from 1880 onward, with settlements built on land purchased legally from absentee landlords. As Palestinian Jewish settlements prospered, Arab migrants moved to Palestine in search of jobs..
MYTH: “ISRAEL IS EQUALLY TO BLAME FOR THE CONTINUING VIOLENCE.”
FACT: There is “no cycle of violence” between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. There is only Palestinian terror and Israeli efforts to end it. Israel’s military actions are done in legitimate self defense. For example, when Palestinian structures are targeted, it is because those locations hide snipers shooting at civilians, contain basement weapons factories, or conceal arms smuggling tunnels. Israel has agreed to every cease fire negotiated since the outbreak of violence in September 2000. Without exception, every cease fire violation has been caused by Palestinian Arabs.
MYTH: "THE ARAB REFUGEES WHO LEFT ISRAEL IN 1948 AND THEIR DESCENDANTS HAVE A LEGITIMATE CLAIM TO COMPENSATION AND THE RIGHT TO RETURN."
FACT: Most of the Arab refugees of 1948 left voluntarily at the urging of the surrounding Arab countries, who thought that they would easily destroy Israel in 1948. When against all odds Israel survived its war of independence, the Arab states failed to or even refused to absorb or integrate the Palestinian refugees within their borders – this despite their vast unoccupied territory and growing oil-based wealth. Instead, they forced the refugees to remain living under appalling conditions in dismal camps, using them as propaganda tools against Israel. In contrast, about the same numbers of Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands with no compensation, but most of them were immediately welcomed by and resettled in Israel. Out of the 100 million refugees created since World War II, Palestinian Arabs are the only refugee group in the world that has not been absorbed and integrated into their lands of refuge.
Under the Roadmap to Peace two-state solution that Israel has accepted, Palestinian refugees could return to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as other countries willing to accept them. Some may also be allowed to return to Israel, but too many returning would threaten the Jewish majority of the Jewish homeland. Israel has also proposed compensation for Palestinian Arab refugees. A negotiated comprehensive peace agreement should encompass all of these issues, as well as compensation for Jewish refugees from Arab lands.
MYTH: “ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ARE ILLEGAL AND AN OBSTACLE TO PEACE.”
FACT: Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza were built by Israel to address her security concerns about the surrounding Arab states whose armies had threatened or invaded Israel several times. Israel gave back settlements and an entire city, Yamit, to make peace with Egypt, and has been willing to apply the same “land for peace” formula with its other neighbors.
While experts may disagree about their legality, the settlements were accepted by the Palestinians as a negotiating topic in the Oslo peace process which began in 1993. But in summer of 2000, the Palestinians rejected a peace deal brokered by President Clinton that offered them more than 95% of the West Bank including the dismantling of most Israeli settlements.
MYTH: “ISRAEL'S MILITARY OPPRESSES THE PALESTINIANS”
FACT: Israel is at war against Palestinian terrorists. War necessarily means destruction, roadblocks, and disruptions to the economy and to everyday life. Israel does its best to minimize the impact of its security measures on ordinary Palestinian civilians, and the IDF has strict rules of engagement to protect civilians. But Israel’s first priority is and must be the safety of its people. The difficulties posed by Israel’s military presence in the territories will end when the Palestinians end the terror and return to the negotiating table.
MYTH: “ISRAEL DISCRIMINATES AGAINST ARAB ISRAELIS.”
FACT: Arab Israelis are full-fledged citizens of the State of Israel, enjoy all of the legal rights of Jewish Israelis, and even serve in Israel’s parliament. Israel’s democracy, while not perfect, is self-critical and self-corrective. It has a free press, independent judiciary and freely operating civil liberties organizations which, together, safeguard the rights of women, gays, Arabs and other minorities. There are no such institutions elsewhere in the in the Arab world, and Arabs in Israel enjoy more freedom than anywhere else in the Middle East.
MYTH: “PALESTINIAN LIVES ARE VIEWED AS 'CHEAP' BY ISRAEL.”
FACT: The tension and animosity between Israelis and Palestinians can at times be great. But there are no buses being blown up by Jewish terrorists in Ramallah or Hebron or Nablus. Israeli hospitals treat Palestinians who are sick or injured. Israelis employ Palestinians and trade with them.
MYTH: “ISRAEL THREATENS ITS NEIGHBORS WITH NUCLEAR BOMBS.”
FACT: While Israel does not admit to possessing nuclear weapons, its alleged nuclear program is said to have begun in the late 1950s after two wars launched by the Arabs to annihilate it. As the only Jewish nation, Israel views itself as the refuge of the Jewish people and an obstacle to another Holocaust against the Jews. If Israel has nuclear weapons, they are meant not as a threat but as a deterrent to enemies who would destroy Israel. Iran continues to “wipe Israel off the map.” Israel has never threatened to destroy any nation.
Click here for more “Myths and Facts” that can help answer Israel’s critics.
The Arabs have a state, which is Jordan. Jordan illegally occupied and confiscated about 80% of the land allocated to Jews under international law and treaties of post WWI. The Arabs also have over 75,000 square miles of land (which is 6 times the size of Israel) which the Arab countries illegally confiscated from the million expelled Jewish families.
It is time to take another approach. Forego all peace talks until the Arabs can prove they can control their population and live with the Jews in peaceful coexistence for at least 5 years. Furthermore, Arabs must eliminate the education of its people to commit terror and violence; replacing it with education and practice of living in harmony and coexistence. Nothing less will be accepted. It is not negotiable.
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is Jewish territory for over two millennium and has been since prior to the building of the two Jewish temples. It is a historical fact that King David of Israel paid the Jebusites money to purchase that property, in order to avoid conflict. Israel, after liberating Jerusalem and Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism in 1967, Israel graciously permitted the Arabs to continue to pray at Temple Mount.
The time has come to terminate said arrangement. Jewish worshippers have suffered years of abuse by Arabs committing unwarranted acts of violence on a consistent basis. Israel has the right, duty and obligation to revoke the unappreciated privilege formally granted. It is the Arab s who are defiling The Jewish "Holy of Holies".
It is time for Israel to take back Jewish its sacred ground, which is the holiest site in Judaism, once and for all.
I am sure Arab-s would not permit anyone in the world to build and control the holy Site in Mecca. Let the Arabs have Mecca, and the Judeo-Christian people have Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.
Supreme Muslim Council: Temple Mount is Jewish
The widely-disseminated Arab claim that the Temple Mount isn't Jewish has been debunked - by the Supreme Muslim Council (Waqf), in a 1925 pamphlets.
The widely-disseminated Arab Muslim position that the Temple Mount is not Jewish has been debunked - by the Supreme Muslim Council (Waqf) of Jerusalem, in a Temple Mount guide published in 1925.
Wakf guidebook, 1925, cover
The Temple Institute.
http://www.raptureforums.com/IsraelMiddleEast/guide.pdf
Treaty of Peace Between The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
And The State of Israel October 26, 1994.
Status Quo – Jews and non-Jews are permitted to pray on Temple Mount – This is confirmed by Israel’s Supreme Court.
YJ Draiman
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