As America has Done…
Many of us in Israel have not been happy with the American foreign policy towards Israel for quite some time. We feel that despite the strong friendship between our two countries the US government is trying to push us into dangerous territorial "compromises", i.e. the USA is asking us to give away our land in exchange for a promise from our many enemies. As we like to say here, the Native Americans, (formally known as Indians), have taught us that this is not the best deal for us. We left Gaza, uprooting 8,500 Israelis, and this has certainly not brought us any peace. The bombings and rocket attacks continue and our people have no peace.
We believe in God, we believe in the Torah, (the Bible), and we believe that God has given us this land. We also believe that our thousands of years of historical connection to this land entitle us to this homeland of ours. History has also shown that the rest of the world has been less than hospitable. It became very clear some time ago that we needed to return to our own land. A land which has had a continuous Jewish presence since biblical times.
When I was in Puerto Rico teaching Krav Maga I visited with my friend David Luttrel and his kind family. David and his family are proud Americans, Puerto Ricans and supporters of Israel. They have been to Israel many times. They introduced me to the writings of a man named John P. McTernan. This Christian has written several books on the relationship between the United States and Israel. In these books he details how the Biblical promise made to Abraham, thousands of years ago, is still valid. God is alive and well in our world, even if many deny this.
He begins with the promise made to our father Abraham, long long ago, "And I will bless them that bless the, and curse him that curseth the..(Genesis 12:3)
Throughout his books he shows how this promise has come true throughout American history. I am currently reading the book, "As America Has Done to Israel". This is the same idea I hear from good Americans all throughout my Krav Maga trips in America, "We stand with Israel, we support Israel, we pray for Israel, and we know that those who bless Israel shall be blessed."
When I return home I bring these warm messages to my neighbors here in Israel, and they are delighted to hear these comforting words.
I strongly recommend for everyone to read these books. Of course as a Jew I do not accept the part about the return of Jesus as the Messiah, but be that as it may, each one of us is entitled to our point of view, the books are well worth reading.
I know that the author wants to spread this important message, so I hope he will not mind that I quote one brief section from his book. I just felt I must, simply must, share this with all of you. It is my belief that the God of Israel is alive and active in our world. I feel it everyday.
From the book "As America Has Done to Israel" by John P. McTernan
October 1991
After the Gulf War ended in 1991, President George H. W. Bush began the initiative to start a Middle East Peace plan involving Israel, the (so called) Palestinians, and the countries surrounding Israel. On October 30, 1991, President Bush opened the talks with a speech, in which he said, "Territorial compromise is essential for peace."
From the very start of the Madrid Peace Process, the President made it very clear that Israel was required to surrender parts of covenant land for peace. (i.e. the land that God had promised to Israel via a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob , Moshe's addition) This surrender was the foundation of this peace process.
In their opening speeches, delegates from Egypt, Syria, and "Palestine" (the author uses this term, so I will include it. Personally I recognize no such state or nation; I recognize them as Arabs, Moshe) said that Israel must surrender land for peace. The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Amir Moussa, summarized the Arab position regarding the land of Israel. Jerusalem became the very heart of this conference. An excerpt of Moussa's speech follows:
'Secondly, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights are occupied territories.
Thirdly, settlements established in the territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem are illegal, and more settlements will foreclose potential progress toward real peace and cast doubts on the credibility of the process itself.
Fourthly, the holy city of Jerusalem has its special status…the occupying power should not exercise monopoly or illegal sovereignty over the holy city. It should not persist in unilateral decisions declared to annex the holy city as this lacks validity or legitimacy.'
On October 30, a powerful storm developed off Nova Scotia, catching the National Weather Bureau completely by surprise. It developed suddenly form unusual weather patterns that typically only occur once each century. The National Weather Service never officially named this storm, but it reached hurricane strength. This storm was extremely rare because it traveled for one thousand miles in a westward direction. The weather pattern for the United States is eastward! Meteorologists called this storm 'extra tropical' because it did not originate in the tropics, as most hurricanes do.
On October 31, this ferocious storm smashed into New England. It was a monster hundreds of miles wide, described by meteorologists as one of the most powerful ever to occur. It created ocean waves over one hundred feet high, which were among the highest ever recorded. The storm traveled down by the East Coast into the Carolinas, creating millions of dollars of damage from Maine to Florida.
The National Weather Service later nicknamed this hurricane "The Perfect Storm." Sebastian Junger wrote a best-selling book about this storm that became a motion picture and captured the drama of the ships caught in it. The Perfect Storm was the title of both the book and movie.
President Bush owns a home along the East Coast in Kennebunkport, Maine, that was heavily damaged by the Perfect Storm. Eyewitnesses said that waves as high as thirty feet rose from the ocean and smashed into the President's seafront home. When the President returned from Madrid, he canceled speaking engagements to inspect the damage done to his house.
This storm hit the President's home the same day he initiated the Madrid Peace Conference. What awesome timing! An extremely rare and powerful storm developed in the North Atlantic Ocean and went one thousand miles in the wrong direction. The storm then struck the Presidents' own home on the very day he was opening the Madrid Peace Conference. The President's land was touched the day he attempted to touch the covenant land of Israel!.
The front page headlines of the newspaper USA Today on November 1 even had the Madrid conference and the Perfect Storm next to each other! The newspaper titled one article, "One on one peace talks next." At the beginning of a peace plan involving Israel, a rare and powerful storm smashed into the entire East Coast of the United States. On October 30, 1991, the Lord God of Israel put America on alert.