Making and breaking History
Events in the Middle East are infuenced by diferent views of history. Surely only one can be right?
Raymond Ibrahim, author and commentator on Islam’s historical and current war on Christianity, asks, “How can a fundamentally weak Muslim world be a threat to an economically and militarily superior West?” One answer is how the West views Islam today, “compared to its actual historic experiences with Islam.” From its first contact with “Western civilization” and for centuries after, Muslims acted like today’s Islamic State terrorists, convinced “that Islam commands war on, and the enslavement or slaughter of, non-Muslims.”
Starting in the 7th century, almost 75% “of Christendom’s original territory” was taken by Islam, including areas of “Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Iceland, Denmark, England, Sicily, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania, Albania, Serbia, Armenia, Georgia, Crete, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Belarus, Malta and Sardinia.“
From the 15th to the 18th centuries, “approximately fve million Europeans were abducted and enslaved in the name of jihad.” The European slaves taken from the 8th to the 11th centuries are uncounted. “The largest Islamic army ever to invade” Europe, some 200,000 Muslims, tried to conquer Vienna in 1683, but failed. Yet the so-called Barbary Pirates of North Africa, Islamic slave-traders, “wreaked havoc all along the coasts of Europe…” America’s frst war, fought before it elected its frst president, was against these Muslim pirates.
Yet, defeating Islam, Europe became arrogant. As historian Hilaire Belloc (b. 1870) noted at the height of Western might and Muslim weakness, multitudes in “Europe and America, have forgotten all about Islam,” thinking it is fnished, but it is “the most formidable, persistent enemy which our civilization has had and may at any moment become as large a menace in the future as it has been in the past.“
Ibrahim says, worse than “forgetting” is how today’s West rewrites “history to ft its postmodern paradigms.” In academia, the news, and Hollywood, “the predominant historic narrative is that Muslims are the historic victims of intolerant Western Christians.” History books aid this distortion, talking “of ‘Arab’, ‘Moorish’, ‘Ottoman’,or ‘Tatar’, rarely Islamic invasions, without mentioning that “the selfsame rationale, jihad, impelled those otherwise diverse peoples to assault the West.“
Many argue this is past history; let’s move on and “begin a new chapter of mutual tolerance and respect,” even if history must be forgotten. Yet Muslims “are still exhibiting the same imperial impulse and intolerant supremacism of their forbears” as over 215 million Christians are under “high levels of persecution,” and many other “infdels” face “genocide in the name of jihad. (“The dire consequences of rewriting Western-Muslim history,” R. Ibrahim, JP Op-ed, 24 Nov. 2018)
Trump recognises the Golan Heights as Israeli US President Trump tweeted on March 21st, “After 52 years it is time for the US to fully recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel & Regional Stability!” Bibi phoned Trump and thanked him for “making history.”
Later, with US Secretary of State Pompeo, Bibi said, “[Trump] recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the US embassy here. Then, he pulled out of the disastrous Iran treaty and re-imposed sanctions. But now, he did something of equal historic importance,” adding that this comes as “Iran is trying to use Syria as a platform to attack and destroy Israel… We’re celebrating Purim, when 2,500 years ago, other Persians [ancient Iranians], led by Haman, tried to destroy the Jewish people,” They failed then and today’s “Persians led by Khamenei are again trying to destroy the Jewish people and the Jewish state. They’re going to fail again.” (“Trump: It is time for the US to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” JP, 21 Mar. 2019)
Most of the reasons expressed for this move were linked to security, but there is a deep Biblical link between Israel and the Golan, aka “Bashan” in Scripture and a lengthy historical link. As Haim Rokach, head of the Golan Regional Council wrote that, in the 52 years since Israel regained “the Golan, 34 ancient synagogues from different points in history have been discovered there, far more than anywhere else in the country.” (“Affirming an ancient bond,” H. Rokach, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 22 Mar. 2019)
ICEJ’s David Parsons wrote, “[It] would be amiss to claim that Trump just ‘gave’ the Golan to Israel, because God already did that long ago.” The world claims Israel “illegally ‘occupied’ the Golan Heights ever since it captured the area from Syria” in the 1967 Six Day War, as if “it was always Syrian territory.” Yet the Golan is part of the land “promised to Abraham and his descendants” (Gen. 15:18-21). “Bashan … was conquered under Moses and Joshua… some 3500 years ago [see Deut. chapters 3-4] and was the inheritance of the tribe of Manasseh.”
France and Great Britain bickered over the Golan, in dividing up the Ottoman Empire before the end of WWI. “In the secret Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916, Britain caved to French demands that the Golan be included in its mandate for Syria,” because of its water sources, yet Jewish benefactors, via the Jewish National Fund, “had already purchased large tracts of land on the Golan in anticipation of settling Jews there…“
Syria ended up with the Golan and with Syria’s independence it made it a “massive military base,” forbidding civilians to live there, except for “three ancient Druze villages … From their fortifed positions … Syrian gunners routinely took target practice at Jewish farmers in their felds and fsherman” on the Sea of Galilee. This constant bombardment “tested Israeli resolve … but tensions ratcheted up to a new level in 1964” as Syria began, “to divert the headwaters of the Jordan River” located on the Golan. “Some historians say this … was the original spark of the 1967 confict.” (“‘Gift’ of the Golan?” D. Parsons, ICEJ News Briefs, 29 Mar. 2019)
After Trump’s move, the EU issued this statement: “We do not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan.” (“Israel will protect Europe, even if Europe doesn’t deserve it,” G. Meotti, Arutz 7 Op-ed, 27 Mar. 2019)
International law expert, Alan Dershowitz, said the EU gave no “compelling argument beyond its usual demand that the status quo not be changed.” Yet Israel’s control over the Golan has been the status quo for 52 years, and its “legitimate need to control the heights has only increased over time, with war in Syria, and the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah military” now on its borders. Does the EU really want Israel to hand the Golan to Syria today? “Has any European country ever handed over high ground, captured in a defensive war, to a sworn enemy?” After both world wars, “European countries made territorial adjustments to help preserve the peace. Why should the EU subject Israel to a double standard it has never demanded of itself?” (“Trump is right about the Golan Heights,” A. Dershowitz, Gatestone Institute, 30 Mar. 2019).
Israel and Russia
In March, a vital meeting in Moscow between Netanyahu and Russian President Putin took place. Former Israeli ambassador Zalman Shoval said that the top agenda item “was Iran’s extensive activity in Syria. Given that Russia’s establishing itself in the region has become” a reality, “Moscow is now a central player in any scenario in this respect.”
Iran, Israel’s main and immediate security threat, is “actively pursuing its goal of creating a strategic corridor toward the Mediterranean and enhancing the capabilities and activities of its proxies such as Hezbollah…” In response, Israel has taken “multi-faceted actions to prevent the formation of an Iranian front in Syria.” Militarily, there has been signifcant success, yet Russia’s role in what happens next is vital.
“Relations between Russia and Iran with regard to Syria are based on shared, not necessarily long-range, interests – which both see as mutually benefcial for the moment. But there are also opposing interests,” so that “Russia’s attitude toward Israel’s strategic aims, specifcally its military operations,” is impacted by various and often conficting factors. Some say Moscow may even be happy with the Israeli anti-Iranian actions, “provided they don’t jeopardize its direct interests or endanger Russian forces there.” Under Putin, “Russia strives to establish its standing in the ME, not at Israel’s expense, but rather by including Israel.“
Shoval says, “Diplomatic history is sure to mark Netanyahu’s act of balancing Israel’s fundamental relations with America with its pragmatic coordination with Russia on Syria, without the latter being perceived by Washington as negatively affecting its global interests, as major diplomatic achievements. And Israel is acting wisely in operating with full transparency toward the US in this and other respects, keeping in mind that the US is Israel’s long-term strategic and value-based ally, while Russia is an important and practical partner in dealing with certain particular issues.” (“The Netanyahu-Putin entente,” Z. Shoval, JP Op-ed, 29 Mar. 2019)
The peace idol in today’s world
Most of the world demands a peace between the Palestinians and Israel based on a “two-state solution.” Not long ago, there was another “solution” to the Jewish problem – Hitler’s Final Solution ! Yet regardless of how nice “peace” sounds, Israel dare not barter with its God-given inheritance of the Promise Land – which is His land (Lev. 25:23; Joel 3:2). Far better to have God on Israel’s side and the world against it, rather than having the world’s support if Israel turns its back to Him (Psa. 118:6, 8-9).
In February, a senior US ofcial rejected the notion that some sort of “equivalency” between the Israeli and Palestinian sides was necessary to “mediate a fnal-status peace deal.” He said Trump’s administration “is proudly supportive of Israel and does not feel the need to try to counterbalance a pro-Israel statement with some carrots for the Palestinians,” nor is the US “embarrassed to defend Israel where Israel needs to be defended …“
Asked about the opinion that the US is no longer an “honest broker,” the official dismissed that. “We don’t believe that in order for us to work on a peace effort we need to have an equivalency, where we can only say certain things about Israel if … we also say something about the Palestinians … [We] speak the truth. The truth may be uncomfortable for some people. But we cannot solve the confict without being open and honest.“
The official hopes that once their “peace” plan is seen, and as of this writing it is not, Palestinian leaders will see how much their people can gain, yet he added, the “US will not try to force either side to accept the peace proposal …” (“US: The fact that we’re pro-Israel doesn’t mean we can’t mediate peace,” TOI, 5 Feb. 2019.) For America’s sake, we pray that last statement is true!
Peace with whom?
Peace is a wonderful goal, but if there is a cruel enemy who wants all Jews dead because the ‘god’ they submit to commands this – then there is no one with whom Israel can make true peace. The world and many in the Church need to fully digest this reality.
Israeli Arab Muslim Khaled Abu Toameh exposed how the Palestinians are now using “Islam to justify their vehement opposition to normalization of relations with Israel.” Palestinian Authority officials have “warned Arab states that normalization with Israel is tantamount to treachery” and a “stab in the back of the Palestinians.” However, seeing “that their appeals to the Arab countries are falling on deaf ears,” the Gaza-based Palestinian Scholars’ Association issued a fatwa, an Islamic religious opinion, to turn “the confict with Israel into a religious one.“
It states, “normalization with the Zionist enemy, and accepting it in the region” is very dangerous to “the Muslim community and a threat to its security, as well as a corruption of its doctrine … ” It gives power to “Jews over the land of the Muslims” and implies “surrender to the infdels …”
They are reminding Arab leaders of Hamas’ Charter which says: “The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day.” No Arab nation, leader or group has the right to give up any part of it.
This fatwa shows that “if some Arabs sign peace treaties with Israel, there will always be Muslims who will denounce them as ‘traitors’ and accuse them of acting against the Koran and the rulings of Islam.” This removes the chance of any Palestinian leader agreeing “to any form of reconciliation and normalization with the ‘Zionist enemy’.” (“Palestinians: No Peace or Reconciliation with the ‘Infdels’,” K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 4 Mar. 2019)
Bassam Tawil, an Arab Muslim, said Hamas diverts attention from its own leadership woes in Gaza by attacking Israel. Then as Israel defends itself, Hamas tells “its people there is no room for internal fighting and disputes ‘because we are under attack by the Jews’.” Any Gazan daring to criticize Hamas then would be labeled “a ‘traitor’ and ‘collaborator’ with the ‘Zionist enemy’.”
That recently happened. Two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv “shortly after thousands” of Gazans had openly protested “the horrifc economic situation there – that funds intended for them had apparently been diverted to fnance terrorism,” and demanded an end to “Hamas’ repressive measures against its people …” The rocket attack and Israel’s inevitable military response on Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, blocked out all news of these demonstrations, or Hamas’ vicious tactics in dealing with them. Shortly after, Hamas “security officers opened fre on hundreds of peaceful Palestinian protesters.” Eyewitnesses also reported that many children were “brutally beaten” by Hamas.
Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority twelve years ago, and has held the nearly two million Gazans there hostage. Even many Palestinians say Hamas is committing “war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Yet instead of dealing with Hamas, “the hypocrites at the UN, the international media and other international forums” blast Israel for “defending itself against rockets and missiles that are fired” on Israeli civilians.
Recently, “UN human rights ‘experts’ claimed Israel may have committed war crimes by shooting at Palestinian demonstrators who tried to breach the Gaza-Israel border fence and infltrate into Israel.” Yet most of the demonstrators were admitted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to be their members.
So Israel gets “accused of war crimes for defending its border against terrorists attempting to infltrate it in order to murder or kidnap Israelis,” yet Hamas’ leaders get a free pass as they commit “war crimes against Jews, and… against their own people.” (“Hamas War Crimes against Israel, Palestinians,” B. Tawil, Gatestone Institute, 18 Mar. 2019)