ISRAEL… “To be, or not to be: that is the question”

I have given my family tree a good shake, and no Jews fell out. I aﬃrm that up front to abate any apprehension of bias for my stance of being pro Israel and pro the Jews. ¹ To be clear, I am not suggesting everything Israel does is right. No nation can wear that crown, but I am a fan of Truth, Fact and History which is where I want to go with this script. The following information has been sourced from the public domain and is available for all to see and verify via the 90 footnotes provided.

As best can be determined, historical records place the 12 original tribes of Israel in the land of Israel circa 1271BCE.² This sits well with Merneptah Stele³ dated 1205 BCE, which is a secular Egyptian reference to a people known as “Israel.”According to the Torah, ⁴ at that time the designated land boundaries of Israel (aka The Promise Land and Holy Land) covered a much larger territory than the Israel of today and stretched “from the river of Mits’rayim ⁵ as far as the river, Perat.⁶” This land holding included parts of modern day Sinai, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. When in Lebanon, I was to learn first hand the common knowledge among Lebanese, that they live in part of what was known as “The Promise Land”- and how beautiful it is.

Prior to the Israelites, this portion of land was referred to as Canaan. This was a Semitic-speaking civilisation and region of the Southern Levant. It was not a unified state but an expansive region occupied by city states, nomads, tribes, travellers, and clans, who did not always get along, with many battles ensuing. These groups ⁷ collectively were referred to as the Canaanites. The tribes of Israel as a unified force, joined in the quest for this portion of real estate, and eventually succeeded as the victors, exactly as was prophesied to Abram⁸, his son Isaac⁹, and his son Jacob.¹⁰ Jacob’s name was changed to Israel,¹¹and it is his 12 sons who were the original 12 tribal leaders and great grandsons of Abraham,¹² thus Canaan became Israel.

Archaeological finds reveal much about Israel’s successes and failures. The Mesha Stele ¹³now housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, records the battle between King Mesha of Moab and the Kingdom of Israel circa 840BCE. Details of this confrontation can also be found in the Hebrew Bible.¹⁴ Other significant archaeological finds such as the Tel Dan Stele ¹⁵ circa 870-750BCE, and the Kurkh Monoliths ¹⁶ circa852-879BCE also make reference to ancient Israel.

The ancestral roots of today's Jews to the Holy Land reach back 3 millennia. Events since the establishment of the Israelites in what was Canaan, can be found in various historical, religious, political and archeological sources, written by both friends and enemies of Israel, recording the good, the bad, and the ugly of the journey of these people, the Israelites/Jews ¹⁷, right into the 2020’s. It is relevant that there has never been a time since 1271BCE when there have been no Jews living in their ancestral land. Since entry to Canaan until the glory days of a United Kingdom of Israel (1047-930BCE) with Kings Saul, David and Solomon, there has been a continuity of Jews in the Land of Israel. Even when Israel was successfully invaded by foreign powers, with severe displacements resulting in a reduction of Jews in the Land, there were never none.

For example, in 740BCE King Pul of Assyria attacked the northern tribes of the Kingdom of Israel and took into exile Hebrews from the tribes of Ruben, Gad and to a lesser degree Manasseh ¹⁸.…but there were still Jews in the Land. Nearly 20 years later circa 722BCE, Shalmaneser V lay siege to Samaria capturing 27,290 ¹⁹ Israelites ²⁰ with large groups of Jews resettled in Assyria, and north of the Tigris River in Media… but there were still Jews in the Land. In 701BCE the Assyrians under King Sennacherib, ²¹ again marched south into Judah but was unable to capture Jerusalem ²²…so there were still Jews in the Land, even though there were now thousands of Jews living in foreign lands. The fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian Empire under King Nebuchadnezzar ²³ in 586BCE, saw the destruction of Jerusalem and many Jews taken captive and held in Babylon, but there was still a remnant of Jews in the Land. ²⁴

Of significance during the Babylonian captivity, was the prophesy of Ezekiel, which assured the Jews that God would bring them back to the Land of Israel:

“I will take you from out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back to your own land” ²⁵.

“I will bring you back to the Land of Israel … and I will settle you in your own land” ²⁶

Babylon was defeated by the Medo-Persian Empire in 539BCE, and Cyrus King of Persia allowed the Jews taken captive by Babylon to return to Jerusalem ²⁷… so there were more Jews in the Land. In 475BCE, the Prime Minister of Persia (Hanam) presented the Persian King (Ahasuerus) with a genocide strategy against the Jews. The genocide plan fails, and Jews were given exceptional favour confirmed by an annual celebration and a written proclamation that was sent “from India to Cush (Ethiopia)… “to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes kingdom” ²⁸ …so Jews were still in the Land. This event has been remembered for the last 2,500 years as the annual celebration of Purim.

In 333BCE Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and in 168BCE the Seleucid Emperor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, gives orders to loot the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. He then outlaws Judaism causing a Jewish revolt, until the Jews reclaimed the Temple in 165BCE. … so there were still Jews in the Land then. This successful event has also been celebrated by Jews annually for the last 2,100 years. The festival is known as Hanukkah.

In 64BCE the Roman general Pompey, conquered Syria and made Judea a Roman vassal kingdom…and there were still Jews in the Land. The second Temple was built in Jerusalem circa 516BCE and was destroyed by the Romans in 70CE, so clearly during this period… there were still Jews in the Land. The Western Roman Empire disintegrated in 476CE while the eastern half of the Empire continued to exist until the fall of Constantinople. Since the year 390CE nearly all of the territory of present-day Israel came under Byzantine authority and heavy imposts were the lot of Jews in order to quell their growth, both economically and as a people. However archaeological evidence in Israel indicates that illegal synagogue construction continued throughout the sixth century… so there were still Jews in the Land; and when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453CE…there were still Jews in the Land.

Having established the continual albeit fluctuating Jewish presence in their ancestral homeland since 1271BCE, it is relevant that during much of the “exiled years,” the majority of Jews were living outside of the Holy Land, and this was clearly the case in the late 1800’s.

ISRAEL FOR THE JEWS has been common knowledge for millennia, yet current headlines emphasize the ongoing tensions over “rights to this land” particularly between Israel and Palestine - Jews and Arabs.

Last year my wife and I were given a copy of the Quran from a Muslim friend. Although not unfamiliar with much of its content prior to the gift, I took the opportunity to re-establish some first hand references of Muhammads teachings from this fresh copy. The Quran includes much material found in both the Jewish Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) and Christian the Bible (New Testament) which is understandable as we are told the written Quran was completed circa 650CE which clearly postdates both the Jewish and Christian holy books. According to various Islamic sources, we learn that Muhammad (born 570CE) could not read or write, so he dictated the contents of the Quran to those who could, who then wrote for him. Non the less, the Quran remains the work of Muhammad who gives credit for the script to Allah the God of Islam. In light of the ongoing struggle between Jews and Arabs over the Holy Land, the dilemma many Muslims have is that the Quran contains various passages that claim the Land of Israel was given to, and is the land of, the Jews. For example, in Al-Ma’idah 5 (“chapter 5”) verse 21 we are told:

“Oh my people! Enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned for you…”

The footnote to that passage in the Quran explains that the details of this assignment of land can be found in the Jewish Holy Book, (Tanakh/Old Testament) in particular the book of Numbers chapter 13 & 14.

Further the footnote encourages the reading of this as commentary to understand the context. The section of the Tanakh/Old Testament referred to in the Quran footnote explains how the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, assigned the “Land of Israel” to the Israelites. If this is the case, then why have a large contingent of Muslim Arabs determined otherwise? This reference in the Quran confirming Israel for the Jews is not an isolated occurrence as there are numerous such endorsements in the Quran²⁹ in recognition of the Children of Israel and their rightful place in the Holy Land.

The involvement of Arab peoples in the Holy Land predates Islam which began circa 610CE when the Prophet Muhammad began receiving what Muslims consider to be divine revelations from their God. The Islamic conquest of the Levant began around 634CE, with the construction of the Dome of the Rock Shrine and Al-Aqsa Mosque on the foundations of Solomons Temple in Jerusalem beginning in 688CE. A number of Arab Muslim figures had their day in the sun at influencing this part of the Levant until the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) took control of the Holy Land circa 1520CE under Selim I.

The 1700’s saw a relatively large number of Jews from Eastern Europe move to the Land of Israel, and from 1881 to 1901 it’s estimated over 15,000 Jews came to their ancestral homeland. Such influx was significant to a land that had been largely desolate for some time, as much of this region was uninhabited, malaria infested, and inhospitable. In addition to the Jews, the indigenous population at that time were mainly Bedouin Arabs in the south, Christian Arabs near Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and a larger population of Muslim Arabs.

During this period, there began a resurgence of interest in the Holy Land as if by an unspoken call for Jews to return to Zion, (Jerusalem) the historical capital of Israel. Theodor Herzel, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist/activist, is credited as being the founder of Zionism. ³⁰Herzel spearheaded that movement when in 1896 he published the pamphlet Der Judenstaat, in which he elaborated his visions of a Jewish homeland. His ideas attracted international attention among Jews and further Jewish migration to the Holy Land followed.

The Arab, Yousef al-Khalidi, served as the Ottoman Mayor of Jerusalem during this period and wrote to the chief rabbi of France (Zadok Kahn) on 1st March 1899 as follows:

“…You are well aware that I am talking about Zionism. The idea in itself is only natural, beautiful and just. Who can dispute the rights of the Jews to Palestine? My God, historically it is Your country! And what a marvellous spectacle it would be if the Jews, so gifted, were once again reconstituted as an independent nation, respected, happy, able to render services to poor humanity in the moral domain as in the past! ³¹

WWI orchestrated a major shift for what is now modern Israel. Prior to that war, Britain relied heavily on Germany for the supply of acetone; a vital ingredient for cordite which replaced blackpowder as a propellant for military firearms, artillery shells and tank guns. On 4th August 1914 the United Kingdom declared war on Germany and by extension the Central Powers,³² thus compromising Britains supply of acetone. Enter Chiam Weizmann, born of humble Jewish parents in1874 in Motol, in the Russian Empire. In 1904 Chiam settled in the United Kingdom where he served as a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester specialising in organic chemistry. He became known as the father of industrial fermentation as he devised a process in 1916 to extract acetone from maize, thus supplying the British munitions industry with cordite which proved a major support to the Allies success in WWI. No doubt Weizmann’s contribution to the war eﬀort indebted Britain to Weizmann. In 1917 Weizmann was instrumental in persuading the British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour, and David Lloyd George who became Prime Minister in 1916, of the advantages of a pro-British Jewish Palestine in a post-war Empire. The Balfour Declaration ³³ dated November 2, 1917 was the outcome, which secured the support of the British Cabinet for:

“… the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people…”

The letter Arthur Balfour wrote to Lionel Walter Rothschild ³⁴ consolidated the concept of Jews returning to their ancestral homeland; a legitimacy that was never lost. Interestingly, at the age of 11, Chiam Weizmann wrote a letter in Hebrew to his Hebrew teacher in Motol urging with boyish fervour that the Jewish people must return to Zion. ³⁵

In November 1918 with the Allies emerging the victors of the Great War, the French and British divided the land in accordance with their prior agreement reached in 1916 ³⁶ which defined their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire. The British Mandate over Palestine covered what is today southern Israel, Palestine, Jordan and southern Iraq. This represented an area closer to the original designated lands of ancient Israel which made sense, and was formally approved by the newly created League of Nations on 24 July 1922. However, in the end, east of the Jordan River was designated for “Arab Independence” and became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan under Abdullah I bin A-Hussein, the Emir of Transjordan, a British protectorate until May 1946, after which he was king of an independent Jordan.

Palestine existed under the British Mandate for almost 3 decades, in which time Britain presided over a succession of protests, riots and revolts between Jews and Arabs. Finally the British handed the “Palestine problem” to the United Nations, announcing its end to the Palestine Mandate eﬀective 15th May 1948. The UN solution to the “Palestine problem” was that when the British Mandate ceased, Palestine should be partitioned into an Arab state and a Jewish state as per Resolution 181 (November 1947). The Arab state was to have 11,100sq km and the Jewish state 14,100sq km with Jerusalem designated an “International zone.”

On the 14th May 1948, the day before the British Mandate ended, David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the World Zionist Organisation, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine and soon to be the first Prime Minister of modern Israel, addressed his audience in the Tel Aviv Museum and declared the establishment of the State of Israel. What the world witnessed in 1948 was a revitalisation of Israel and a return of Jews to settle in their own land as an independent sovereign people, and the prophesy of Ezekiel had come to fruition:

“I will take you from out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back to your own land”

“I will bring you back to the Land of Israel … and I will settle you in your own land”

The fulfilment of this prophetic phenomenon is still playing out. The census of 1922 showed the total population of “Palestine” as 757,182. (590,890 Mohammedans - 83,794 Jews - 82,408 Christians and others).³⁷ By1930 the population had grown to 945,991 (692,195 Mohammedans - 162,069 Jews - 91,727 Christians and others). ³⁸ By 1948, the State of Israel’s population consisted of approximately 2 million Arabs and 600,000 Jews, and the 2023 census showed 7.8 million Jews and 2.08 million Arab/ Palestinians. Migration to Israel continues. ³⁹

The divide between Muslim Arabs and Jews continues to grow, but to put it in perspective, Israel is a single country of 8,000 square miles and 8 million people. The Arab world ⁴⁰ consists of 19 countries with a total of 4,814,637square miles ⁴¹ and a population of 450 million. Israel is clearly the underdog, but if one follows other prophesies concerning this land and its people, the last chapter in this story plays to Israel’s favour by what some might call a ‘supernatural intervention.”

So the history is there for all to see, however I suggest the morphing of language has caused much confusion on this topic.

PALESTINE …Where did that word come from?

“The word “Palestine” is not Arab or Middle Eastern in origin. It dates back 1,900 years and is derived from a people who were not native to the region — the Philistines, a people from the Aegean Sea who were closely related to the ancient Greeks. They lived on the coast of what is now the Gaza Strip and Israel, but had disappeared by the 6th century BCE. ⁴²"

Moving forward five hundred years from the disappearance of the Philistines, the use of the word “Palestine” can be traced to the time when Rome ruled the then known world and the Jews in the land of Israel revolted against Roman oppression. In 63BCE, Pompey the Great captured Jerusalem. At times all was not bad for the Jews during the next century, however in 66CE the Jews rebelled against Roman rule and 4 years later Jerusalem was besieged and almost wholly destroyed by Roman forces under Titus. By 130CE the city had been partially repopulated, and in 132CE the Jews revolted against Rome again, and were defeated in 135CE. In order to push back hard on the Jews for their Bar Kokhba Revolt⁴³, Emperor Hadrian determined to punished the Jews severely and disassociate them from their ancestral homeland. To achieve this he planted a Roman city on Jerusalem called “Aelia Capitolina” and publicly subjugated the Jews, their beliefs, and their culture by building a sanctuary to Jupiter on the Temple Mount, erecting statues of Roman deities in the city, importing large foreign populations, restricting Jews entrance to the city and then to top it oﬀ, renamed the region of Judea, “Syria-Palestina. ⁴⁴” The name of this province, “Palestine,” remained but was never recognised in any legal sense as a State.

At the close of WWI the Palestine identity became a growing consideration. In February 1919 the Arab Delegation from Palestine to the Versailles Peace Conference submitted a formal petition urging that rather than be recognised as an independent state, Palestine should be deemed part of and merged into Syria.

The petition said:

“We consider Palestine as part of Arabic Syria as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economical and geographic bonds . . .”

In 1925 Jamal Eﬀendi-Husseini, a prominent Palestinian Arab, challenged a decision of British High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel allowing local postage stamps to bear an inscription in Hebrew identifying the country as “Palestine E.I.” (Palestine Eretz Israel). Husseini’s lawyer, Auni Bey Abdul Hadi, argued to the court that “Palestine” was “not an Arab word.” “Palestine,” he argued, had no separate existence and was in fact part of Syria.

In 1937, the Arab leader Auni Bey Abduk Hadi told the Peel Commission: ⁴⁵

“There is no such country as Palestine. Palestine is a term the Zionists invented. Palestine is alien to us.”

In 1946, Princeton’s Arab professor of Middle East history, Philip Hitti, told the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry:

“It's common knowledge, there is no such thing as Palestine in history.”

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, an executive member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) said in an interview to the Dutch newspaper “Trouw”:

“The ‘Palestinian people’ does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel”⁴⁶

Joseph Farah, an Arab-American journalist, writes:

“The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. Palestine has never existed as an autonomous entity.”

Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist oﬀers clarity:

“Why is it that on June 4th 1967 I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian?…we considered ourselves Jordanian until the Jews returned to Jerusalem. Then all of a sudden we were Palestinians. They removed the star from the Jordanian flag and all at once we had a Palestinian flag.”

The Syrian dictator Hafez Assad said:

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people, there is no Palestinian entity…”

In light of the above, any consideration as to why Muhammad made no mention of Palestine in the Quran, may well be a moot point. The Quran does however mention “Israel” 45 times, which endorses the “land entitlement” case in favour of Israel, not Palestine. In addition, the above testimonies expose those demonstrating the pro Palestinian mantra of “from the river to the sea,” as either genuinely delusional, or intensely evil. Such vile incitement to genocide against the Jews remains morally indefensible and historically without merit, because historically, Palestine as a country, nation, state or empire has never existed. Ask yourself:

“In 993BCE, when David was anointed King in Hebron over Judah in the United Kingdom of Israel, ⁴⁷ who was the King in Palestine at that time?”

“How far back does the Palestinian family tree go and what archaeology has been unearthed to support Palestinian ancestry?”

The word “Palestine” has been used extensively for centuries to identify a “district” or “region” similar to the application of the word Levant to identify the region in the Near East (another region), or the use of the word Iberia (another region), to describe the westernmost edge of Eurasia.(which is also another region). However, since the end of WWI Palestine had become a growing pseudo-political movement.

“Before Modern Israel was founded, several prominent Jewish and Zionist organisations used the name “Palestine.” These included the Palestine Post newspaper and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, which are now the Jerusalem Post and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.⁴⁸

Fast forward to 15 November 1988. Yasser Arafat as chairman of the PLO issued the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, and at that point, those who lived in the “Palestine region” had become “Palestinians” irrespective of their background or their wishes for or against self determination. The challenge was that Palestine’s borders were not clearly defined and the PLO found itself in exile, thus fracturing its claims to statehood. Today Palestinian statehood is disputed among scholars, diplomats and individual nations.⁴⁹

There is however a unifying element to the identity of Palestinians and that is, the language, culture, religion and customs of the Arab Palestinians are indistinguishable from their Arab neighbours, and so the conflict between Israel and Palestine is predominantly one between Jew and Arab notwithstanding the existence of other minority groups who call the Palestine region their home. To be clear, the objective of the “Palestinian movement” is not “Pro-Palestine.” It is “Anti-Israel.” That is the elephant in the room, and that is where Islam plays the leading role.

ISLAM is the name that has become synonymous with the Arabs since the mid 7th Century and is relevant to this conversation. It is the religion of Mohammad and his followers, of which many are passive individuals who embrace a moral code of virtue who anyone would enjoy having as a neighbour. In contrast there are the radical Islamic extremists who hate Jews, America, the West and anyone who is not Muslim… well not of their brand of Islam. A detail needs to be distinguished here. At the passing of Mohammad in 632CE, great tension existed as to who would be Muhammad’s successor. Should it be Abu Bakar, his long time friend and father to Muhammad’s wife Aisha (the Sunni camp) or should it be Ali Ibn Abi Talib a direct descendant of Muhammad (the Shia camp). Much war and bloodletting has been the lot between these two sects which continues today, but make no mistake, radical Islamic extremism is real and is coming to the West. What we saw in Israel on October 7th 2023 was radical Islam in action with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists invading a sovereign State and deliberately targeting innocent individuals, including many who were not Jews. The reports⁵⁰ included the violent raping of women and girls, necrophilia, mutilation of genitals, burning families alive, beheadings, gang rape, kidnapping of men, women, babies and grandmothers, dismembering body parts, exuberant use of AK-47 assault rifles firing on any moving target, and bagging a tally of 1200 dead, which was then bragged on ecstatically as they viewed the awesome video footage they had captured of their debauched rampage.

This is a taste of what we can expect from radical Islamic extremism not just against Jews, but in time, against the West.

The Hadith ⁵¹ clarifies the Muslim ambition of annihilation of the Jews:

“…Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;…” ⁵²

The founding document of Hamas (Hamas Covenant 1988) makes no secret of the same intention:

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it” ⁵³.

The footage and images I have seen taken from the go-pros and mobile phones of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas terrorists, and recovered IDF sources is deeply disturbing, arresting and sickening, but sadly this violent carnage is endorsed as fair play by Muslims who interpret the Quran and Hadith so. The occurrence of October 7 is not over. Hamas leaders have emphasised that they will redo October 7 again, and again, and again. But let's not isolate Hamas for criticism. It’s been said “not every Muslim is a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim,” and although that’s a casual generalisation, the evidence suggests it’s not that far from reality. Here in Australia, the Australian National Security website lists 29 Terrorist organisations of concern. Hamas is only one of 25 Extremist Muslim Terrorist Groups on that list. ⁵⁴

The end game for Islam is global control by dominating all existing religions ⁵⁵ which should be interpreted as an intended replacement of western values with Sharia Law. This is to be achieved via Jihad - Fighting Holy War, with “goods and person.” ⁵⁶

“Fighting is prescribed for you ⁵⁷ …” “Fight those who believe not in Allah ⁵⁸ …”

Allahs Apostle also makes a relevant statement of familiar expression;

“…I have been made victorious with terror ⁵⁹ …

In advancing their aspiration of world domination, Islam oﬀers solace to its followers in the assurance that

“…the whole earth has been made a mosque for us… ⁶⁰ ”

and Mohammad’s claim that

“…Allah has trusted all the people of the earth to me…” ⁶¹

Such totalitarian ambition mandates three options to be applied to non Muslims: Conversion, Submission, or Death ⁶² which presents significant diﬃculty in debating the Islamic objective on the basis of logic and practicality. Foremost, is the impasse that in order to further the Islamic cause of world domination, Muslims retain religious consent to lie to and deceive non-Muslims,⁶³ and even to temporarily deny their own religious belief if deemed advantageous. ⁶⁴ Clearly one can never know if and when this “concealment of truth” prerogative is being applied to business dealings, peace talks, general discussion or critical negotiations such as hostage release deals, or territorial agreements. Then there is the issue that a Muslim is instructed to not make friends with non-Muslims ⁶⁵ and of great concern to national stability in western culture is the principle taught in the Quran that a Muslim cannot obey a non Muslim, which would include a non Muslim Government or authority and should actually strive against them. ⁶⁶ These issues expose the dilemma that “importing” Islamic extremism creates for those in the west who wish to maintain the lifestyle they enjoy based on western values. Even though many Muslims would refuse to engage in such deception and vice, it does place anything a Muslim says in the “not sure this can be relied on” file, as one has no way of knowing what Islamic “resource” is being drawn upon at any given time. This makes Israel’s attempts to achieve any settlement with Islamic extremists impossible, which history has confirmed.

Based on the above, there is certainty that Israel will experience an ongoing “disturbance of the peace” as Islamic extremists enjoy religious comfort for their acts of violence due to passages in the Quran that grant them licence to conduct terror in their Jihad of Islamic progress. ⁶⁷ The dismembering of body parts, and the use of fire as punishment is part of the arsenal of Islamic terror we read of in the Quran. ⁶⁸ In addition, Islamic terrorists don't value life like westerners do and are keen to be martyred due to the sexually driven reward of 72 virgins in the life hereafter should an Islamic Terrorist die in service to Allah. ⁶⁹

Add to this, Islams view of women that:

… women are mentally deficient, expressed in the notion that the evidence of a woman carries only half the weight of a man's testimony⁷⁰

… and that women are also considered spiritually deficient due to the constraint on prayer during their menses period ⁷¹

… and that a Muslim man is permitted to have multiple wives ⁷²

… and a wife can be a child⁷³

… and that permission is granted to Muslim men to beat their wives ⁷⁴

… and that a Muslim man can exchange his wife for another ⁷⁵

… and that a woman's witness (in court) is only worth half a mans testimony ⁷⁶

… and that a male is to get twice the inheritance of a female ⁷⁷

… and that men are destroyed when they obey women ⁷⁸

… and the belief that a nation who entrusts their command to a woman will not succeed ⁷⁹

… and that women are classified as possessions similar to silver, gold, horses, or cattle ⁸⁰

… and that a Muslim man is free to have sex with women captives in a Jihad ⁸¹

and you begin to understand why there was so much disgustingly savage treatment of women in the October 7th frenzy, and why we can expect much abhorrent treatment of women under radical Islamic regimes.

To be clear, not all Muslim men adhere to these views but certainly the green light is there in the Quran, Hadith and authoritative Muslim writings to treat women as sub-standard and worthy of contempt; just one impost of living under Islam's Sharia Law.

The Islamic aspiration of world control has brought together the opposing Muslim sects (Shia and Sunni) in order to claim the trophy scalp - Israel. My tip is they wont succeed, but the loss of innocent lives, damage to property and ongoing emotional trauma of this war is at the worst end of life’s display of disgust and tragedy… but that’s war. It’s brutal. War makes life cheap and everything else expensive, and the war Israel is fighting against Islamic extremists ticks too many humiliation and catastrophe boxes, particularly for the innocent public of Jewish, Arabic and Palestinian persuasion. But maybe instead of hating and criticising Israel, the West should be thanking Israel for being on the front line of this Islamic Terrorist confrontation that “will be coming to a town near you soon!” What the West can learn from this conflict I expect will rewrite the manual on dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. Most western countries enjoy a level of liberty, along with the values and lifestyle that the Judaeo-Christian ethos has provided.

Such Western States and its people would not want a Radical Islamic Terrorist as a neighbour, or even as their neighbour’s neighbour, which is exactly Israels position. Lets not forget, Gaza has two neighbours, Israel and Egypt, and the Egypt/Gaza border has multiple security fences too ⁸² and both countries have their extensive border security for the same reason - protection against their radical Islamic extremist neighbour.

BUT THE HATE GOES DEEPER. As a 5th generation Australian, and in my line of business and social circles, I mingle with Arabs, Jews, Christians, Muslims and the odd Atheist. I seem to get along with them all and have established some excellent business relationships and some fine friendships. In relation to the negative attitude that is shown toward Jews, there is something I just don't get, and no-one has been able to enlighten me or oﬀer a satisfactory answer, and that is; Why hate the Jews? They have been targeted throughout history, but why? I have found those who wave the hate flag in either a passive way or an aggressive manner are void of sound reason, and when challenged, will either shrug their shoulders with a “don't know” reply, or just turn up the volume and continue to vomit unintelligent vitriol and venom. Today, antisemitism is growing and in many countries resembles the prelude to the persecution and murder of Jews during the WWII era. The history of the late 30’s and early 40’s taught us that civil silence is default consent and yields acquiescence to the butcher. Public displays of hate and aggression toward Jews in Muslim countries has largely “evicted” their Jewish population and few now remain in Arab States. It’s the West that is now leading the charge of antisemitism as Islamic Extremists, and their defacto conformers either march to the beat of the “Hatred Drummers” or observe the passing parade with deference. But at times like this, silence is not golden… it's yellow! Is it just that some people “Love to Hate” and are desperate for a cause? What am I missing that I don't understand? Are those loud chanting protestors fearful that if they stop and take a breath from shouting to engage in a rational conversation that it may destroy their passion for hate? Surely there are alternative “therapies” they can adopt to release the sluice gate of deep unresolved intrapersonal turmoil that these protestors display with their ugly degrading demonstrations.

“BOYCOTT ISRAEL” is a hollow mantra we see promoted from the “hadn't thought that through” protestors who seek to promote their version of nobility and integrity to the cause of the anti-Jew campaign. Are you kidding me? Boycott Israel… Seriously…? Do they really know what they are talking about? Well then, to the boycott enthusiast let me say, don’t just dip your toe in the water to get the selfie, or impress your friends… go all in. To boycott Israel with sincerity, I guess you won’t want to have anything to do with:

VoIP (Marian Croak)

Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin)

The Pacemaker and Defibrillator (Paul Maurice Zoll)

Blue Denim Jeans (Levi Strauss)

Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg)

Science Fiction Movies (Steven Spielberg)

Stainless Steel (Hans Goldschmidt)

Lazers (Theodore Maiman)

Ballpoint pen (Laszlo Biro)

Oral contraceptive pill (Carl Djerassi)

AZT drug for treating AIDS (Gertrude Elion)

Printed circuit boards (Paul Eisler)

Valium (Leo Sternbach)

Cellphones (Martin Cooper)

USB flash drives (Dov Moran)

Viber (Talmon Marco)

Pressure bandages (Bernard Bar-Natan)

Nanowire (Uri Sivan)

Cherry tomatoes (Naham Keidar)

…Intel 8088 microprocessor, Quicktionary electronic dictionary, Laser keyboard, super iron battery, drip irrigation system, Smartphone duel lens technology etc. etc. etc.

Then on cinema night you will have to delete movies with Sarah Jessica Parker, Harrison Ford, Natalie Portman, Zac Efron, Mila Kunis, Daniel Radcliﬀe, Scarlett Johansson, Sacha Baron Cohen; and films directed by Mel Brooks, Cecil B. DeMille or any other of the 61 Jewish Movie Directors; ⁸³ and “black-ban” movies by Warner Brothers ⁸⁴, Louis B Mayer ⁸⁵ and Samuel Goldwyn. ⁸⁶ And your music takes a big hit too. No music from George Gershwin to Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Adam Levine, Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, Paula Abdul, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Joel, Amy Winehouse or Pink.

Do you also want to erase the benefits of Albert Einstein’s discoveries from your world ? The Theory of Relativity, Photoelectric Eﬀect, Mass-Energy Equivalence(E=mc2), Brownian Motion, Bose-Einstein Condensate, Unified Field Theory, General Theory of Relativity, Cosmological Constant and Quantum Entanglement.

And lets not forget that Jews account for only 0.2% of the worlds population yet receive a disproportionally high number of Nobel Prizes. ⁸⁷ They have been awarded all 6 of the Nobel Foundation’s awards, so a boycott would preclude enjoying any benefit from all of these outstanding achievements.

Chemistry: 36 awards - (19% of total)

Economics: 38 awards - (41% of total)

Literature: 16 awards - (13% of total)

Peace: 9 awards - ( 8% of total)

Physics: 56 awards - (25% of total)

Physiology or Medicine: 59 awards - (26% of total)

So a boycott of Israel is a big job, but with the above “starter list” you can begin your boycott… or just maybe, revisit the bone fides of the premise to your argument, and try to understand why you hold the view you do… then hopefully break free from these unintelligent ignoramus hate gangs.

There is little doubt, that what we call Israel today is part of the ancestral homeland of the Jews, and although this does not sit well with sectors of the Arab world, we can’t change history. Clearly there are “Palestinians” with genuine intent caught in this “land rights” conundrum and no doubt, many are innocent peace loving passengers on the runaway “hate train” operated by vulgar islamic railroad engineers; but they speak out at their peril! They are trapped. I accept there may be legitimate reasons why some level headed Arabs feel somewhat cheated by historical events. I say some as there are currently 2 million Arab citizens living in Israel, the vast majority being Muslim, with less than 200,000 Christian Arabs. These Arab Israelis are full citizens of Israel and have the right to vote, and enjoy equality under the law. Israeli Arab political parties serve in Israel’s Parliament, an Arab judge sits on Israel’s Supreme Court, 150,000 thousand Arabs serve in the IDF to defend Israel, ⁸⁸ and many are employed as police and hold influential positions within society. Israeli Arabs enjoy a valued lifestyle in Israel, raising their family, running cafes, businesses, real estate developments and being part of a nation that is going places. It's not all bad.

So yes. I am proud to be among those who sought to be joined to Israel ⁸⁹ and in the words of Ruth, a Moabite convert to Judaism circa 1310BCE… “Your People will be my people and your God my God” ⁹⁰

Graham Daniels
graham@danel.ch
March 2024

1 The word Jew is derived from the name of Jacobs fourth son Judah. (Yehudah in Hebrew) In the 5th century BCE, the Kingdom of Israel in the north was conquered by Assyrian King Sennaherib, and many of the northern tribes were exiled. Among the remaining Israelites were the residents of the Kingdom of Judah, and the term "Yehudi" or "Jew" came to refer to all the Israelites, regardless of their tribal ancestry. The word Jew is an Anglisized version of the Hebrew word “Yehudi”

2 some sources put the date at 1406BCE

3 Created by the Pharaoh of Merneptah in 1205BCE. This 10ft high black granite carving is housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

4 The five books of Moses. The word means “teachings”

5 Mits’rayim is the Hebrew and Aramaic name for Egypt

6 The ancient River Perat is taken to be the Euphrates - Torah: Bereshit (Genesis15:18)

7 Tanakh: Yahushua (Joshua chapter 12)

8 Torah: Bereshit (Genesis 12:1-3,7; 13:14-17; 15:7,18) Later to be named Abraham.

9 Genesis 26:1-5

10 Genesis 35:9-12

11 Genesis 35:9

12 12 tribal leaders from oldest to youngest - Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin

13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele

14 2 Kings 3:4-28

15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Dan_stele

16 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurkh_Monoliths

17 circa 922 BCE under the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, a “split” in The United Kingdom of Israel occurred due to oppressive taxation. A number of the tribes ceded to the north to form the Kingdom of Israel while those tribes who remained in the south were known as the Kingdom of Judah. refer to footnote 1.

18 1 Chron 5:26

19 According to the annals of Sargon II - a stone cuneiform describing the 11 year campaign against Assyrian vassal states including Israel - https://allmesopotamia.tumblr.com/post/25376528967/royal-inscription-of-sargon-ii-of-assyria

20 2 Kings 17:5-6 and 18:9-11

21 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sennacherib

22 2 Chron 32:22

23 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebuchadnezzar_Chronicle (2 Kings 25)

24 2 Kings 24:14, Jeremiah 52:16

25 Ezekiel 36:24

26 Ezekiel 37

27 2 Chronicles 36:23, Ezra chapter 1&2

28 Esther 1:1 and 9:30

29 Al Baqara 2:47, Al Baqara 2:122, Al Maida 5:21, Al Aaraf 7:137, Al Aaraf 7:138, Yunus 10:93, Al Israa 17:2, Al Israa 17:104, Ta Ha 20:80, Al Mu’min 40:53, Al Dukhan 44:32, Al Jathiyah 45:16

30 Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people (descendants of the original 12 tribes and their converts) in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel. Those who support this view are called a Zionist.

31 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yousef_al-Khalidi

32 Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria

33 https://i1.wp.com/jcpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1743866_original.jpg

34 2nd Baron Rothschild, leader of the Anglo-Jewish community

35 Specifically Jerusalem, generally Israel

36 Sykes-Picot Agreement

37 Hope Simpson Report, page 24 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008167853&seq=7

38 Hope Simpson Report, page 24 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008167853&seq=7

39 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/total-immigration-to-israel-by-year

40 https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/arab-countries.html

41 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area

42 https://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/heres-how-the-palestinians-got-their-name,22410