Written by A.D.H. Thomas

Brethren Of Christ Articles - Israel

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Is Israel’s Existence Threatened?
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Does the Bible have anything to say about her survival prospects? Who or what are we referring to when we speak of Israel? Is it a people, a land or a nation? For the purposes of this article we define Israel as the Jewish people living in the land of Israel under the Jewish constitution. It is this, which her enemies wish to destroy. There is no question that Israel has been threatened. The president of Iran has stated on more than one occasion that he is determined to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. And both Hamas and Hezbollah have made it clear that having been set up for the express purpose of eliminating Israel, they will not rest until that purpose has been realized.

What we would like to consider is how realistic are their threats and how likely is it that their aims will be realized. In so doing we will not be comparing the military strengths of Israel and her avowed enemies, but looking at what the Bible has to say, if anything, about such threats and about the prospects for her survival. The Palestinians and their supporters, argue that Israel, as we have defined it, only came into being relatively recently, and has no long term claim on the land they now occupy. The people of Israel, on the other hand, claim an historical right to the land, which they conquered under the leadership of Joshua, over 3,500 years ago, not to mention the promises concerning it made by God to Abraham some 500 years beforehand.

In order to understand how and why the present conflict between the Palestinians and her allies and Israel arose, it is necessary to briefly familiarize ourselves with the history of its origins. Ever since the Romans expelled the Jews from Jerusalem in AD 70 the land has gone through a long period of desolation and wars by different occupying powers until it fell under the occupation of the Ottoman Turkish power in 1516. Under the Turkish administration little attention was given to the lot of its relatively few inhabitants, both Jews and Arabs, who for the most part eked out a meagre existence. Estimates of the Arab/Israeli inhabitants of the land during the mid 1800s vary, from 100,000 to 480,000. Although the Arabs were in the majority, a sizeable number were immigrants from Egypt, Algeria and Turkey. By the early 1900’s the Jewish population was estimated at around 80,000 and small, mainly agricultural settlements were being established. The pioneering Jews were slowly transforming the land, which encouraged the immigration of Arabs as well as Jews. By 1939 Winston Churchill said that “far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied until their population has increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up (i.e. increase) the Jewish population.” In November 1917 the British Government recognized, in a document called the Balfour Declaration, the need for establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine and promised to use its best endeavours in the achievement of that objective. A month later the British forces pushed the Turks out of Palestine and with the demise of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the liberation of the Middle Eastern territories they were now able to implement this declaration of intent. But under pressure from the Arab nations they placed restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1920 Britain was given the mandate over what is now Israel and Jordan. In 1921 a large part of this territory was given to the Emir Abdullah. Named Transjordan, this territory was then closed to Jewish settlement. After a number of Government White Papers on the proposed division of the land of Palestine, the United Nations, on the 30th November 1947, approved a plan for separate Arab and Israeli states. It is instructive to note that the Arabs refused to accept this partition plan and when the British withdrew and the State of Israel was set up on the 15th May 1948, they declared war against the fledgling state of Israel. The war resulted in changes to the intended partition of the land. On that date six Arab nations invaded the newly formed state with the aim of destroying it at its birth. So confident were the invading armies of victory that they encouraged the Arabs in Palestine to leave so as to clear the way for the expected overrunning of the country. This exodus, together with those who fled from the fighting resulted in some 750,000 Arab refugees. At the same time some 820,000 Jews were expelled from the Arab countries. The unwillingness to recognize the State of Israel and the efforts to destroy it have continued from its inception. From time to time this has erupted in wars between the Arab nations and Israel. Although the Arab nations have sometimes argued that Israel should return to the pre 1967 borders, i.e. the 1948 situation, this is only advanced as a short term move towards the eventual elimination of Israel as Hamas and Hezbollah have made clear.