Jerusalem Watchman

As a Christian minister, living in America, I recognize the great civil, moral, spiritual, and material debt I owe to the Jewish people and Israel. There is no way I can ever repay this debt. I can only show my gratitude by loving and serving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, speaking out against anti-Semitism and standing in solidarity with the people of Israel.

The LORD called Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob to be His redemptive people on the earth. This is the highest possible calling and honor. The Jewish people gave the world the Word of God; they gave witness to His existence, nature and character and will ultimately bring redemption to the world. Jews have suffered greatly because of their unique role, and we can certainly understand why some wish that the Almighty would choose someone else for a change. Those of us who are non-Jews can only say “thank you” and show our love and support when needed, even when it is not wanted nor sought.
 
Because the LORD chose the Jewish people for His redemptive purposes, they have been the primary targets of evil from those who have an ancient hatred of them and their God. They have been hated and persecuted with an irrational and relentless fervor that can only be understood as unnatural in its origin. They were falsely accused of killing Jesus, savagely butchered by the Crusaders (the scum bags of Europe pretending to be Christians), charged with ritual murder at Passover, forced to wear degrading clothing, blamed for the black death of Europe, accused of poisoning the drinking water, tortured and murdered during the Inquisition, starved during the Russian pogroms and gassed and burned by the Nazis.

The age old anti-Semitism is now disguised as anti-Israel or anti-Zionism. Israel is in the news everyday. Her enemies are rewriting her history, turning the world against her and threatening to destroy her. God warned of this special hatred against the Jewish people and promised to bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them. As we look back in time, we see that the LORD has blessed nations, people groups and individuals who have assisted the Jewish people in their time of need. Likewise, the Almighty has and will judge those who harm them. Nations that put Israel at risk do so to their own peril. Does anybody know how many Jews equal a barrel of oil?

I’m told you can put about forty Israel’s in Texas. I also understand a pilot can fly his F15 over Israel from north to south in 14.5 minutes and east to west in 45 seconds. While there are 22 countries in the Arab League of states with a population of over 200 million, the population of Israel is about 6 million. The territories of the Arab League states are more than 500 times the size of Israel, more than a third larger than Europe and more than 50% larger than the United States.

Although only about the size of New Jersey, her Arab neighbors and the nations of the world, blame Israel, particularly those fanatical settlers (the ordinary men and women who left the creature comforts of the Diaspora to build houses, plant gardens, raise their children, make the desert bloom, worship their God, help their neighbors and contribute to their country), for all the problems in world. 

The outrageous resolutions passed against Israel by the United Nations (stands for Usually Nothing) and the accusations from the blind hatred of Israel by her Arab neighbors would fill volumes of books written about Middle East Myths. No matter what the latest international tragedy or incident, Israel is seen as the culprit responsible for all of mankind’s suffering.

To name a few, Egyptian “intellectuals” have written that the Jewish Matza at Passover is made from Arab blood (sound familiar). Yasser Arafat’s widow (the poor woman who lives in luxury in Paris while her people suffer) accused Israel of poisoning the Arab wells (sound familiar). When Faisal Husseini, grandson of Haj Amin al-Husseini, the notorious Arab Fuhrer who murdered thousands of Jews, died of a heart attack, Israel was accused of foul play. When Arafat was dying in Paris, Arab newspapers accused Israel of poisoning him. Hamas and Hizballah want to destroy Israel and Iran threatens to annihilate Israel. Not to be outdone, anti-Semites in Russia are bring up the old “Jewish Matza at Passover” lie.
 
Israel is blamed for the poor living conditions of the Arabs while the corrupt murdering thugs who ran the Palestinian Authority stashed away millions of dollars that was to be used to help the people. Instead of releasing this huge amount of money to help their people, these corrupt leaders continue to “wine about” being broke and beg the rest of the world to give them money to buy more weapons. Israel is blamed for the “refuge camps” but it is the Arab countries that keep the people in poverty and use their human suffering to fan the flames of hatred against Israel.

These are minor accusations compared to the charge that, somehow, the Israelis managed to recruit all those Saudi terrorists to hijack US planes and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Furthermore, we have very reliable sources in the Arab world that tell us the devastating tsunami in Asia was probably caused by a nuclear experiment conducted by India with the help of Israel and the United States.

While Israel is continually vilified as the source of suffering of all mankind, her contributions to the betterment of the world are ignored. The world has been blessed beyond measure through the Jewish people in the Diaspora and the people of Israel. Not only have the Jewish people blessed the world with moral and spiritual truths and values, they have also dramatically improved the quality of life for all mankind.

Israel is the one of the 100 smallest countries in the world with less than 1/1000th of the world’s population. Yet her contributions to make the world a better place far exceed her numbers and resources. I have listed some of her more significant achievements below along with achievements by Jews living outside of Israel.

• In spite of their few numbers, Jews have received 126 Nobel Prizes, including 43 for medicine. This represents over 20% of all awards worldwide during the 20th century. (As a young boy growing up in the 40’s and 50’s, I am especially grateful to the Jewish doctor Jonas Salk who gave me and the world a polio vaccine that immunized us from this terrible disease.)
• In chemistry, Jews have been honored with 28 Nobel Prizes, which is 19% of the world total and 28% of the U. S. total.
• In economics, Jews have received 21 Nobel Prizes, which is 38% of the world total and 53% of the US total.
• In literature, Jews have received 12 Nobel Prizes, which is 12% of the world total and 27% of the U.S. total.
• In physiology and medicine, Jews have received 52 Nobel Prizes, which is 29% of the world total and 42% of the U.S. total.
• In contributions to world peace, Jews have received 9 Nobel Prizes, which is 10% of the world total and 11% of the U.S. total.
• In physics, Jews have received 45 Nobel Prizes, which is 26% of the world total and 30% of the U.S. total.
• Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce with 145 per 10,000, as compared to 85 per 10,000 in the United States, 70 per 10,000 in Japan and less that 60 per 10,000 in Germany.
• Israel leads the world with over 25% of its workforce employed in technical professions.
• In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world and the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world outside of Silicon Valley. (On a recent vacation, my wife and I joined a small group that hooked themselves to a cable and “zipped” high above the trees across the jungle. One of my “zipping partners” worked for a venture capital firm in Boston that specializes in investments in Israel. Now imagine zipping high in the air across the jungle (don’t look down) while discussing your latest trips to Israel).
• The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola-Israel.
• Intel researchers in Israel recently announced a new computer chip technology that will speed up the flow of data to the speed of light which will revolutionize computing and telecommunications.
• Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.
• The Pentium MMX Chip, the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were designed, developed and produced by Intel in Israel.
• The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.
• Israel’s Weizmann Institute recently announced the world’s smallest computer to diagnose cancer. It is made up entirely of biological molecules and is about a trillionth the size of a drop of water.
• Israel’s $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.
• Israel has the highest living standards in the Middle East with per capita far exceeding her Arab neighbors.
• Twenty-four percent of Israel’s workforce holds university degrees, ranking third after the U.S. and Holland.
• Israel has the world’s second highest per capita of new books and more museums per capita than any other country.
• Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computer per capita.
• Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
• Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation —109 per 10,000 people.
• Israel has one of the highest per capita of patents filed.
• Israel has the world’s second highest per capita of new books.
• Israel had developed many products in the medical field such as instrumentation to detect breast cancer, proper administration of medicine, the first ingestible video camera, a new device that helps the heart pump blood, etc., etc., etc.
• Israel’s development of drip irrigation and biotechnology has aided agricultural development in arid regions of the world.
• Israel has found ways to make the desert bloom. She raises fish in the desert, ships flowers to the Netherlands and exports food to her neighbors.

In spite of all these incredible accomplishments, the French Ambassador in England says that “Israel is nothing but a #*&*# little country.”

At a recent address to Nefesh B’ Nefesh, the organization that helps Jews from America to make aliyah, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the new immigrants their choice to make aliyah was a harbinger of change for the entire Zionist enterprise. “You will witness in your lifetimes a monumental shift,” he said, “not seen since biblical times and the days of the Second Temple; the majority of Jews will live in the Jewish state.”

Noting the prevalence of intermarriage in the Diaspora and the general erosion of Jewish identity there, Netanyah added, “For half a century, the survival and future of Israel depended on aliyah. In the next half-century, however the survival and future of the Jewish people will depend on the State of Israel.”

Am Yisrael Chai!
                             

Dr. Richard and Peggy Booker are the founders of the Institute for Hebraic-Christians Studies, a non-proselytizing Christian education organization dedicated to building relationships of love, understanding and mutual respect between Jews and Christians. They are best known for their dramatic annual Kristallnacht Memorial and their many years of service to Israel and the Israeli people.