Why support Israel unconditionally?

1. God has promised to bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel.

• Genesis 12: 1-3 "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

2. God promised to bless Abraham's son Isaac, not Ishmael.

• Genesis 21:12 "And God said unto Abraham...in Isaac shall thy seed be called."

3. God promised to bless Abraham through his grandson Jacob, not Esau.

• Malachi 1:2-3 "I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."

4. It is not "unfair" that God "loved" Jacob & "hated" Esau.

• Romans 9:13-16 "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."

5. God has not turned His back on His people.

• Romans 11:1a,2a,29 "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid....God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew....For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

6. God's special relationship with the Jewish people is everlasting.

• Genesis 17:1a,6-8 "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God...And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

7. God's covenant with Abraham was not conditional on anything that Abraham did.

• See Genesis 15. The ancient custom to confirm a pact between 2 people was to divide an animal and both parties would walk through it. In Genesis 15, God waited until Abraham fell asleep and then God walked between the pieces. The covenant is dependent only upon God's faithfulness, not upon anything the Israelis or Jewish people do.
  

8. God promised the Jewish people land in the Middle East to be theirs forever.

• Nehemiah 9:7-8 "Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:"

• Genesis 17:8 "And I will give unto thee [Abraham], and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

9. God promised Israel more land than she possesses today.

• Genesis 15:18-21 "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,"

[Above photo from Partnership 2000 website.]

Beit Hanoun

Nov. 17, 2006 - Press Conference by Israel
(Dan Gillerman, Israel's Permanent Representative at the United Nations)

"Asked about the fact that 300 Palestinians had been killed, including a family of 18 some days ago, he said the bloodshed could be stopped immediately. If Palestinians, while targeting Israeli civilians, used their own people as human shields, they had to expect a response. 'When we are targeting people, we are targeting people who are planning to execute terror attacks and launch Qassam rockets against our people,' he said. 'We are not planning to hit a single civilian.' For Israel, every dead Palestinian child was a mistake and a horrible tragedy, 'for them, every dead Israeli child is a victory and a cause for celebration.' The Palestinians killed were victims of the Palestinian Authority. Beit Hanoun, where the family was killed, had been used as a launching pad for 300 Qassam rockets."

Aliyah

"Lost Tribe" of Indian Jews Migrates to Israel - Zarir Hussain (AFP/Yahoo)

"More than 200 Jews from India's northeastern Mizoram state have emigrated to Israel, religious leaders said.

"A total of 105 people left for Israel on Thursday, while another 103 people went Wednesday with the Israeli Prime Minister's office formally inviting them," said Israeli rabbi Hannoch Avizedek."

Terrorism

Angered by Rockets, Israelis Weigh Response - Joshua Mitnick
"With one Israeli dead and two critically injured from Palestinian rocket fire on Wednesday, the attack has ratcheted up pressure on the Israeli government to order an all-out offensive in Gaza. Advocates of an incursion say Israel must reoccupy a corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border to block smuggling of weapons with longer firing ranges and improved precision. Palestinians have fired more than 1,000 Kassam rockets into Israel in the last year, killing three civilians and wounding dozens."

Call Terrorists By Their Rightful Name - Ed Koch
"The people the New York Times refers to as "militants" in Gaza have been firing rockets daily from the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun at nearby towns on the Israeli side of the border, seeking to injure or kill Israeli civilians. Those who intentionally aim to kill civilians should be referred to as terrorists."

"Israel Stealing Land"

In response to a comment made about Israel stealing land, I want to re-post this picture.