Israel Prepares for New Reality

 

For quite some time Israel has seen the writing on the wall and knew she was not prepared for what lies ahead in her future. She had absorbed influxes of immigrants over the years with varying levels of effectiveness. There was the initial pouring in of European Jews who survived World War II and the European death camps. This is the only influx of immigrants most of the world remembers and thus get the warped opinion that Israel is simply a European colony. The second influx of immigrants laid that misconception aside as false as these were the nearly one million Jews expelled from across the Arab and Muslim worlds from Pakistan to Morocco and Turkey to the Sudan to Yemen and beyond. These Asian, Middle Eastern and North African Jews comprise almost half the population of Israel at the time of the Six Day War in June of 1967. There have been subsequent waves of immigration with the largest single source being Russian Jews many of which spent time in work camps while others simply took advantage of a means to leave the Soviet Union. Other immigrant waves were less in numbers but some of those Israel is most proud to have found the means to settle and incorporate into the population. There were the Ethiopian Jews who have been airlifted from camps in Ethiopia and other Ethiopian Jews have made their way to Israel through airlifts and some by their own volition. There were the Bnei Menashe Jews from India and various other groups of Jews from the world over.

 

Israel is truly a multi-ethnic nation as well as multi-religious with approximately twenty percent of the Israeli population made up of Arabs, both Christian and Muslim, who enjoy the full rights as citizens of the State of Israel. There are Arabs in the Knesset, they are judges, doctors, nurses, teachers and virtually every other profession one can think of and have their own churches and Mosques worshiping as they please. They vote in all elections and are equal citizens in every aspect bar none. There is also a community of Bahá’í who have two shrines in Israel, one near the recognized heritage site outside of Akko on Israel’s northern coast and the other on Mount Carmel in Haifa (see image below). These are the resting places of Baha’u’llah and the Bab, the founders of the Bahá’í Faith. Israel and India are the sole nations with such Bahá’í religious structures and grounds. The Bahá’í Faith was founded in Iran in the mid-19th century in Iran where the religion is all but outlawed today.

 

Bahá’í Gardens in Haifa

 

Things in Israel are about to change with yet two more waves of immigration by Jews to come. The first has already started and will result in the many European Jews and remaining Jews throughout the world with two main exceptions, Canada and the United States, will begin their exodus to Israel though a fair number of European Jews may choose to immigrate to the United States given half an opportunity. The European influx has already begun with France, Sweden, the Ukraine and the Balkan States being the early entries as anti-Semitism grows once again across the continent. Perhaps by now we should call it the Dark Continent of Europe as its history of anti-Semitism dates back to the early Greeks through the Roman and Byzantine Empires and continued through every age of Europe with Jews often keeping a couple of suitcases packed in case the family had no time to pack before leaving. There were those who believed anti-Semitism was a monstrous evil which had been put in its grave but alas that did not even prove true for Europe, let alone the MENA States (Middle East and North Africa). What was disparaging was one particular result of the worldwide anti-Semitism study which found that some seventy percent of those considered anti-Semitic said they have never met a Jew. That has to be one of the most vexing discoveries from the universal study of anti-Semitism in the world today. Still, such does not alter the fact that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe and if truth be told, also in the United States. There remains approximately one and a quarter to one and a half million Jews across Europe which is one reason there has been such a concentration on building new apartments within the Green Line and any demographic scientist would point out that Israel does not have sufficient lands to support the entirety of the World Jewish population, though that is a definitive possible future. Where Israel would face incredible difficulties would be should the nearly six and a half million Jews from the Americas (North, South and Central America) move in great numbers to Israel as this would be a doubling of the Israeli population when adding in the coming Europeans whether these Europeans first settle in North America or come straight to Israel. These demographic bombs are part of the reason that Israel must insist that she be granted what was promised by the Oslo Accords and be permitted to annex at a minimum the lands of Area C.

 

That brings us to the election of Donald Trump, a man who might become the most supportive President concerning Israel. It is undeniable that the Republican Platform plainly states that they no longer support the two state solution. President elect Trump has stated he does not see the “settlements” as a problem for making peace. One advantage Donald Trump has is that he fully understands contracts and can read the Oslo Accords and the promises and preconditions placed into that agreement and the related United Nations Resolution and realize at no point does anything demand Israel vacate all of the lands won in their defensive war in 1967 and the Six Day War and 1973 and the Yom Kippur War. It is obvious that Israel having returned the Sinai Peninsula and given up Gaza has already fulfilled any obligation for returning lands and that the main reason there has been no peace reached between Israel and the Arab Palestinians has been the Arab intransigence demanding the total destruction of Israel as a Jewish State, let alone the Jewish State. Between the Republican Platform and statements from Donald Trump an end to this decades’ long nightmare might actually be forthcoming.

 

This likely also explains the opposite voting patterns between American Jews residing in the United States and American Jews residing in Israel. In the United States it was reported that approximately, if not more than, three-quarters of Jews voted for Hillary Clinton while Israeli Jews and Orthodox Jews in the United States voted over three-quarters for Donald Trump. This last fact, especially orthodox Jews, of Jewish support for President elect Trump should dispel the ugly rumor that Donald Trump harbor anti-Semitic feelings. He will be the first American President with Jewish grandchildren as well as a daughter who has converted to Judaism (see images below). Trump’s chosen Middle East and Israel advisors support Israel and the Zionist enterprise of reestablishing the ancient home of the Jewish People with Jerusalem as its political and religious Capital City. Of course everything remains to be seen and what will be borne out after the State department gets their say into the mix will remain to be seen.

Ivanka Trump with Jared Kushner
and daughter Arabella Rose and son Joseph Frederick
and Ivanka with youngest son Theodore James

The final concern which Israel very well may face in the future would be the near unthinkable of anti-Semitism becoming so strongly engaged by populations the world over that Israel becomes the sole refuge from the storm. This would most certainly double the population of Israel and as what starts with the Jews rarely ends there, the potential for certain, if not all, Christians becoming victims of secular purges where any religion outside secular humanism are chased from the world’s societies. There are many who claim that the numbers of Christians would prevent such from ever coming to fruition in the Western world. The problem is looking at the Western world, especially Europe, and one sees a land destitute of Christians. The churches and cathedrals stand with empty pews Sunday after Sunday with some being sold to be torn down, used for Mosques or any other assorted uses. Should Christianity face the same withering assault from secular purists they too might seek refuge where religion still has a home, Israel and certainly areas in South America and Central and Southern Africa and Asia. There can be little denial that much of Western society no longer finds a place for religion and in a couple more generations such a trend to believe in mankind and the governments that man creates could lead to a cleansing of what would be viewed as a backward and suspicious practice with archaic structures and beliefs which would have no place in the perfect world presumably designed by man dedicated to pure intellect. For me, just leave me be and let me know how that works out in the end. I have my suspicions and they do not appear to be pretty, at least not as pretty as the secular humanists like to paint their bleak existence.

Beyond the Cusp

Why the Temple Mount was Denied Connection to Judaism

 

UNESCO recently ruled the Temple Mount was of Islamic origins ignoring all evidence of its age easily reaching back at least one or as many as two and a half thousand years before the birth of Mohammed. The fact it was given to the Muslims was of less importance than the fact that it would be denied the Jews. The Temple Mount could have been presented to the Roman Catholic Church in Rome, the Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Coptic or other Christian sect, or the Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Evangelical Christian and even the Anglican Church of England; just as long as it was not recognized as having any relation to the Jews and especially their history. There is too much riding on Jerusalem and ancient Israel being simply part of an old storybook which taught a few basic morals through stories with flawed people and holier than thou seers and magic. Some advanced and currently influential religions, both Christianity and Islam utilized some of these stories in moral tales in their holy works. But as Christianity was long based on their religion being the replacement of Jews as the Chosen People with a new set of Prophets whose writings were of the selected most recognized few used to compose the New Testament. Islam came and was based as the final replacement theology replacing both Judaism and Christianity and making the claim there could be no further alterations or adjudications and this final word was written in the Quran in its pure and final form. There is one thing which must be made about all three holy books, the Old Testament which includes the Five Books of Moses (Torah) and the books of the Prophets, Judges, Kings, plus Psalms and Proverbs written largely by Kings David and Solomon; New Testament; and Quran were all written years if not centuries after the people who originally authored them had lived carried forward by oral repetitions, memory, adaption to political designs and cultural needs thus are not likely to be quite as accurate as often advertised. The one item which becomes obvious is that the Old Testament is the origin for the other two writings and the Quran uses parts and references to both previous works and incorporates many customs though some appear to having been twisted and possibly inverted to fit the idea of a superseding Islam.

 

The foremost need with the descendants of the Israelites, the remaining tribes being Benjamin and Judea with the majority of the priestly casts who became known in Grecian and Roman eras as the Judeans which was eventually shortened to Jews, that their returning and founding the nation of Israel not be recognized as the realization of the Prophetic predictions of the eventual return of not only the Jews, but of all of the Tribes of Israel, all twelve and their priestly Levites and Kohanim. As lost tribes of peoples who claim relations and whose ancestry has been checked and rechecked, passing all requirements, having been restored to join their long separated brothers and sisters, for they are all from one family, the family of Jacob, son of Isaak, son of Avraham; are indeed the fulfillment of prophesy and now the final resistance. The last obstacle is to deny them their ancient heartlands, their beating heart of Jerusalem, and to deny them their most prized Temple Mount so as to belittle their return and mock Hashem and His people. Jewish tribes have returned from across Europe from France and Britain through Poland into Russia entering Asia. Tribes of Jews arrived from Spain south to Morocco across North Africa on through the Middle East through Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. There was the airlifting of Ethiopian Jews facing horrific threats to their very lives. There are the Menashe Tribe in India and a potentially new tribe in southern India. There is a set of Jews from Morocco mostly residing up the Amazon River where a grand Synagogue once was the center of a burgeoning community which has died off over the years and the Synagogue still stands but has lost some of its grandeur. Some wonder if theirs was not a somewhat lesser meaning as the building was not built in any grand European style synagogue. There have been groups of Jews, more often than one might expect but entire groups who can trace their ancestry back all the way to when they were forced from Eretz Yisroel. There have been numerous resident Jews residing in Hevron and Old City Jerusalem in the family house tracing ancestry whose graves they can point to and tell how they are related back to the earliest periods. Jerusalem has long held a Jewish community which has always made up a majority. But the problem was not those Jews who remained throughout some cities in Israel; it was those Jews who were returning home, as they described their making Aliyah, sometimes in droves since the founding of the new Zionist Movement in the 1880s.

 

The Jews returning was fulfilling prophecy completing the Bible providing validation of their place as Hashem’s chosen people. It was this validating of the Old Testament and that by doing such invalidating the claims by Christianity and Islam as having replaced the Israelite people, the Jews, as the chosen by Hashem. This made everything become a problem and the center of the building storm was Jerusalem and more accurately, the Temple Mount where a rebuilt Holy Temple, if constructed, would be the final tile falling into place completing the construction of a mosaic started some 3500 years ago where, with the slight change of two names, the first tile in the hopefully never ending mosaic were lain. It is understood by both the leadership across Islam and Christianity that the Jews must be prevented by any and all means necessary from one, building the Temple specifically on Mount Moriah and the Temple Mount and second, the Jews must be prevented from returning and owning their sacred heartlands and holiest cities which all revolves around Judea and Samaria along with the cities of Jerusalem, Hevron, Shiloh, and/or Shechem (renamed Nablus) as well as a few others beyond the Green Line all of which have holy places relevant to stories in the Old Testament. Further, the Muslims control the Temple Mount Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Bethlehem Church of the Nativity and have a controlling population in Nazareth thus holding the cards for preventing Christians their historic sites as well. All of this has placed the Muslims in control of historically and religiously vital and near essential holy sites and holy cities and is working to cement their presumed control over all the above mentioned areas. It is well understood that Abbas is willing to refuse any deal where the Arab Muslim Palestinians do not control not only all the lands beyond the Green Line but also all of Jerusalem as well as areas within Israel which includes Nazareth. This would cement control of the important Christian sites and cities as well as a long list of Jewish cities filled with Jewish history. This has been the Islamic playbook from their very beginning, to conquer, destroy or Islamize other religion’s holy sites often by simply raising one to four or even beyond minarets as was done to the Hagia Sophia.

 

Istanbul, Turkey pictures of Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque Montage. The Hagia Sofia Mosque was originally a cathedral built when the city was known as Constantinople.

 

Lastly, the Temple Mount being given over to Islam was one of many slights, insults and forced servitude done to prevent the re-establishment of a Biblically intact Jewish State and the first of many steps so that a military crush can be initiated whereby Hashem will prevent such. Under the Sharia all lands ever trodden by a Muslim must be conquered and brought back under their rule at all cost as all of the Middle East had been colonized by the Arabs during their many assaults expanding their colonial empire.

 

Expansion of Islam Across MENA and threaten Europe before Ottoman Rule

 

The above map depicts the conquests of the initial Caliphate and also depicts lands where the Arabs through various means have all but destroyed, decimated the original conditions, peoples, religions and all else. The means are unimportant as long as all surrender to Islam as the presumed end result for all within their areas of control must surrender to Islam. Their desired end aim is world subjugation by any and all means necessary including the slaughter of their noncompliant peoples who refuse to convert. Those are the truths. The world may ignore all they desire but they do so at their own peril.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Where Have the Zionists Gone?

 

With the Jewish support for Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders being gauged and taking flak from Jewish Republicans and many Zionists even from the Democrat Party, some editorialists are wondering why the relative silence challenging the Jewish support. Many believe, whether backed by fact or not, that Hillary Clinton would be better for Israel of the two Democrat hopefuls challenging to represent the party in November. There is an easy answer to this quandary by simply looking at the voting record of Jewish voters in the last two Presidential elections where in the United States close to 80% of American Jews supported President Obama while over 80% of Jewish Americans residing in Israel voted against President Obama. This provides the answer that the vast majority of Zionists have already realized their dream and made their move to Israel and those who remain as Jews residing in American have drifted away from concerns about Israel and aligned with leftist politics over concerns for support of Israel.

 

 

Israeli Flag

 

 

We realized this when we were preparing to realize our dream and make Aliyah to Israel and the reactions of the congregation in Oklahoma. Where the Rabbi was very supportive and the few Republican conservatives were also supportive the majority had one simple question, why were we going to Israel and what was our problem with living in America, was that not good enough for us? To many of these Jews moving to Israel was not a realization of the Jewish dream of returning to our ancient home as much as it was performing an act of hatred and loss of faith in the United States. The reality was that the decision which brought us to Israel was made by one of us around fifty years earlier as a youth who realized very early that the pull to return to the Jewish homeland has grabbed them and had decided that once all the parents were cared for the time to realize the dream would be addressed. Where that obligation was met in a way unanticipated, we came when it had been satisfied or at least started the paperwork. It is remarkable how difficult it can be to document an entire life to the satisfaction of governments, any government. After many, many months we had completed our documentation and realized we had had full lives, or at least almost a book’s worth of documentable life between us. We still want the best for the United States and will vote and even continue to vote for our former Representative though we will not likely vote on the individual questions which dot every election ballot but as we still have friends and a son residing in our former district we still want the best for them and will likely consult to make sure we grasp the choices for the different candidates.

 

Yes we participate and vote here in Israel and are beginning to understand the parliamentary system of voting for party and their lists and realize its shortcomings which have granted us a greater appreciation for the direct election for the American President as against getting whoever the party that makes the governing coalition decides should be Prime Minister. In order to vote for the person you want to be Prime Minister you need to accept the slate of party ministers listed and hope the ones farthest down the list, the ones you know virtually nothing about, and neither do most others you talk with, are in the government as you need the party of the desired Prime Minister get the most seats. So, everywhere has its appeal and its not so appealing which makes sense on some level and thus wherever one goes there are those benefits and deficits and the sums often are quite surprisingly near identical. So, for those friends who wondered why we would leave America and who claimed we would regret the move we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there are things where the United States has great advantages over life in Israel and then there are some things so much greater in Israel. The straightforwardness of politics in the United States and the variety of products available in the stores and malls in the United States have no equal we have found thus far and we are comparing places of relative same size populations except we have yet to spend a week in Tel Aviv (which we have sort of renamed Los Angeles) which might have everything materialistically while the quality and social life here is beyond imagination as the people are by in large very much more accommodating and friendly and it is so much more natural to just be Jewish, no surprise there.

 

The reality is the Jews remaining in the United States are wholly Americanized Jews with almost none if any Zionists remaining in any congregation. The American Zionists are here in Israel with some exercising dual citizenship and others having completely transited and are Israeli only. A small number reside in both nations as they have business interests in the United States which require their presence so they make regular visits, business trips, to the United States. Many of the Jews from the United States and the Anglosphere are retired and some still make trips back to their native country as they have family and this means grandchildren, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and other events which they choose to attend. Some of us have insufficient funds for such luxuries and making such a visit would take a concerted amount of savings to make such a trip so any such trip would be extensive as we would desire to visit family and friends which lie spread across the United States.

 

 

Let’s Run Them Up Any Flag Pole
and See Who Salutes Them Smartly
Showing Your Love of Freedom
and Feel Free to Add Your Flag
if the Moment Grabs You as You
See This Pair of the Flags for Freedom

 

 

There is one last advantage in Israel, the climate. With no snow or ice along the coast and residing a mere five blocks from the Mediterranean Sea one could claim to have retired to the Riviera of Israel as the weather here resembles San Diego more than anywhere else in the United States, especially Michigan, Oklahoma or the Washington D.C. area where winters can be more disasters caused by serious snowstorms. We would like to say we miss these wintery mixes, well; actually no we don’t miss such wintery blustery weather. We will take the mildly chilly and wet winter weather which makes a serious winter bluster for as long as six to ten weeks where it actually can get into the low 40o F which when it is also raining means hunkering down in place and waiting it out until it at least stops raining. Here in Israel there are those who don their winter coats while others wear their shorts and sandals no matter the weather, even the most blustery of days. Guess which group are Sabras, local Israelis. For those who do not know, a Sabra is both a native born Israeli and a cactus and both are said to have a prickly outer layer but a soft, gushy and sweet inside which in the cactus is edible and in native Israelis comes out as soon as you make a connection with them. The majority of Israelis speak English and many speak Russian as well as Hebrew. There is said that there will be an influx of French speakers we just do not know where they may settle.

 

The one misconception we encountered from our American friends is that due to terrorism living in Israel is unsafe and outright dangerous. We have gotten a handle on the reality and after some research found some unexpected realities. Crime in the United States has a greater possibility of striking one’s life than crime and terror combined in Israel. The similarity is that as long as you avoid known places where such threats are more likely one can mitigate almost completely any threat from anything untoward. So, all things considered, at least for us, Israel has a better quality of life though some things a very different. Instead of living outside of town and relying completely on a vehicle to get around we live right next door to City Hall and can walk nearly everywhere we need to get to in town. When we need to go elsewhere such as for medical appointments the Israeli trains are clean, comfortable, affordable and convenient. For places the trains do not have tracks there are options such as busses or shared taxis which hold eight to twelve people and are very reasonably priced and will drop one near or at where one needs to go. The only drawback is they pick up at set locations so one might need to walk almost a whole kilometer to get to the pickup points. Basically, a car is a luxury and one which is not really necessary. Will we get a car some day, perhaps but such is not a priority. Meanwhile life is good and the Zionists do appear to almost all reside here. The Jews remaining in the United States, as everywhere where Jews are largely assimilated; well, should they continue to have an easy acceptance, they will assimilate and likely cease to be practicing Jews and within two generations be completely secularized and not identify as Jews. Then again, the situation could turn ugly slowly across the entirety of the Western World even including the United States and these assimilated Jews who thought they were completely secularized and not actually Jews would find themselves treated as being very Jewish and if they are fortunate they will be able to get to Israel where whatever the drawbacks, at least being a Jew is not one of them.

 

Beyond the Cusp