NO. 462B: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART TWO

by Epiphany Bible Students


No. 462B

THE JEWS

The Vision That Does Not Fail: Any student of world trends can detect the coming conflict that the streams of human endeavor and existence are heading for. This collision of thought, expectation and ethics will not be a small one! It will be colossal involving religion, politics and social systems.

“Already a desperate world is seeking to find ways and means to head off this danger. The recent global conference in Cairo on the world’s population crisis is an example of this. The need for such a conference was undoubtedly an urgent one but the conference found real solutions illusive.

“The issues were entangled in religion, politics and social systems. Power blocks, such as the Moslem world, saw the conference as a sinister scheme to weaken it. Others, like the Vatican, shuddered at the prospect of having to revise age-old traditions. Such a revision would lead to a crisis of credibility. On the other hand poorer nations of the third world saw their population problems being solved by financial upliftment programmes that would impart better medical care, education and social structures. All this has to be paid for by the so-called developed or first world. A world that is already beginning to show the early signs of financial ‘melt down.’ That is, too few trying to pay for the needs of too many.

“In the final analysis, and not surprising, the conference closed with not too much having been achieved. In the meantime our world continues to plunge toward global over-population and with it chaos, misery and starvation.

“This is only one area of global concern. Add to this the nuclear leakage problem, the financial problems, the problems of famine, conflict, global warming, religion, destruction of the environment and the need for social upliftment and the picture becomes more depressing. Man’s dream of a utopia or new world order continues to fade with each passing day.

“As our television screens are filled with horrific scenes of genocide – as in Rwanda – violence, murder and conflict, our dreams of a peaceful world become more remote. Our globe is tottering under the weight of global mismanagement. The truth is, man cannot solve his problems. He is a prisoner of his fallen nature. His actions everywhere confirm this. So, what hope does he have? Only one – the grace of God.

“That is, he needs a solution outside of himself. Some mistakenly think that it will come from the UFO phenomenon while others are trying to awaken the so-called spirit of mother earth! Still others are looking for answers in the psychic confusion of the new age movement. All these options will fail. They are counterfeit!

“The only hope for the globe is the grace of God revealed in the Bible. What makes this offer of grace the only reliable one? Two things:

“1. It has been proved in the crucible of history. The Bible is the only religious revelation that dares to describe God’s acts in history. Archaeology has always verified the biblical account... and...

“2. The preservation and restoration of Israel. This modern day phenomenon has no human explanation. It does however enjoy a biblical one. Moreover the Bible declares that Israel’s second and last return from exile will culminate in the coming of Messiah and a golden age for all men everywhere. (Isaiah 11 and Zechariah 14)

“Should this be true – and it certainly is – then:

“1. The offer of God’s grace and love so freely made in the Bible is worthy of acceptance and...

“2. The tiny nation of Israel is a miracle that will lead the nations shortly into true peace. (Isaiah 2:1-4) [The vision will not fail — Hab. 2:3]” (Christian Action for Israel — 3rd Quarter 1994)

On Israeli Withdrawal From the Golan Heights: No settlement should be evacuated except for peace. But if we need to evacuate settlements for the sake of peace, I was in favor of that in the past and I am in favor of it now. For me, peace is a more important value for Israel’s future security than one group of settlements or another. (Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, speech before the United Kibbutz Movement, April 21, 1994.)

“On the Killing of Israelis by Arafat’s Fatah Faction: In the past six months, Arafat’s Fatah faction has committed 37 attacks on Israelis, resulting in six deaths and 24 wounded. (Likud party leader, Benyamin Netanyahu, April 18, 1994.)

“We shall distribute weapons to the Palestinian residents and return to the armed struggle. (Jibril Rajoub, aide to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, March 4, 1994)

“There is no decision in Fatah to cease the armed struggle against the occupation. (Abbas Zaki, member of the PLO executive committee, nominee to head the PLO police, Jerusalem Post, March 15, 1994.)” (Dispatch From Jerusalem, May-June 1994)

Arafat Appoints Convicted Terrorist To Head Police Unit: Unbelievable, Yasser Arafat has appointed Fatmeh Birnawi as commander of the Palestinian women’s police. In 1967, Birnawi planted a bomb in a west Jerusalem movie theater. The movie was a ‘western’ and the theater was packed with children. She was later apprehended and sentenced to two life terms, only to be released sometime afterward in a prisoner exchange. In 1993, she became a media celebrity, lionized as a brave ‘guerrilla fighter.’ She recently told the Associated Press that she looks back ‘with pride and few regrets’ at the operation she said was planned by Dr. Abu Mohammed – the code name for Yasser Arafat.” (Dispatch From Jerusalem, September-October 1994)

If Arafat Can’t Halt Terror, Why Negotiate With Him?: In the aftermath of three bloody episodes – reminiscent of the days when Yasser Arafat was an active terrorist rather than a Nobel Peace Prize laureate – it’s clear Israel has an Arafat problem.

“Yes, the bus bombing yesterday in downtown Tel Aviv in which at least 20 died and scores more were wounded was the work of Hamas. So, too, was the assault in central Jerusalem which saw two pedestrians killed by machine-gun fire – as well as the kidnap-murder of Captain Nachshon Waxman. But many Israelis – with good reason – believe that Arafat and his Fatah ‘moderates’ have entered into a tacit alliance with Hamas.

“Certainly, the PLO chairman is more afraid of Hamas than he is of the Israel Defense Forces. As a consequence, PLO-controlled Gaza, for all practical purposes, has become a Hamas base.

“This analysis of what has happened in Gaza since the IDF withdrew is held across the Israeli political spectrum – not just in the precincts of the right. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, whose determination to see the negotiations with the PLO through to a satisfactory conclusion is beyond dispute, acknowledged the unhappy reality of Gaza as a point of refuge for Hamas in the course of a press conference held directly after Waxman was killed by his captors.

“‘We know that the activities of the murderers were directed from Gaza,’ said the prime minister. Rabin went on to emphasize that peace itself depends on the ‘Palestinian Authority’ preventing Gaza from becoming a ‘haven for terrorists.’

“Sad to say, the prime minister knows that it’s a bit late for prevention. What’s needed now is a change in the existing circumstances.

“As things stand, Hamas leaders publicly acknowledge the benefits that attended the withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza. Said one (after Waxman’s murder): ‘Before, the Israeli army would chase our fighters, besiege their hideouts and catch them. Now, those fighting the jihad can attack and then go back to their homes.’

“This certainly makes life easier for the terrorists; it’s nice to kill a few civilians and head back home for supper and a good night’s sleep. But it bespeaks an intolerable circumstance for Israel.

“Jerusalem has two viable alternatives: Force Arafat to keep his pledge to curb Palestinian terrorism. Or reoccupy Gaza.

“True, Arafat launched a search by Gaza-based Palestinian police for Waxman – at Rabin’s insistence – after the soldier was abducted. But the corporal’s captors were holding him in the West Bank town of Bir Nabala, a fact the Palestinian police didn’t share with Israeli intelligence – if, in fact, they learned it.

“Moreover, the degree to which the search represented a genuine effort to strike out at Hamas remains unclear. A member of Arafat’s cabinet has acknowledged that the PLO leader continues to avoid ‘the real job of cleaning up the extremists in Gaza.’

“Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres – who is sharing the Peace Prize with Rabin and Arafat – argues that the latter doesn’t have to show ‘100 percent success’ in fighting Hamas terror.

“What’s required, according to Peres, is ‘100 percent effort.’ The argument is reasonable. But it points up an unmistakable reality: Arafat hasn’t demonstrated very much effort at all in this realm.

“Arafat apologists warn that Israeli pressure on the PLO chairman may provoke civil strife among the Palestinians. Indeed, some suggest darkly that there’s no guarantee Arafat would prevail in any such conflict with Hamas.

“This, however, doesn’t militate against his obligation to try. If Arafat can’t halt or even curb Hamas terror – and if his base is too narrow for him to wage an all-out campaign against Hamas — why is he an appropriate negotiating partner for Israel?

“Israelis are told that returning the rest of the West Bank to Arafat’s benevolent hegemony, and permitting the autonomous areas to hold free elections, will strengthen the PLO’s hand. But there’s no evidence that supports this claim. An end to terrorism was supposed to attend the onset of the peace process, not its conclusion.” (By Eric Breindel — The Jewish Press, October 28, 1994)

EMANUEL RACKMAN AND MARTIN PERETZ SPEAK UP VERSUS RABIN-PLO PACT

One of America’s most respected magazine editors, Martin Peretz, and an outstanding and revered Rabbi-author, Emanuel Rackman, have shocked many observers and delegates here at the UN as well as Jewish communities around the world, by publicly scoring the Rabin-PLO “Peace” pact.

Known for his political insight and wisdom in thought both in Israel and here in America, Rabbi Rackman, in reviewing recent developments in the “peace” process, especially the agreement between Israel and Jordan, expresses the belief that “some good may yet come from all that happened heretofore.” But he adds that “historians may one day question whether that good is, in fact, the result of what was done to date by Israel’s proponents and exponents of the peace process, or [whether it] could and would have happened without the pain and anguish caused [to] millions of Jews world-wide, by the way the PLO was given the victory after almost 50 years of waging war, bloodshed and terror against Israel.”

Emanuel Rackman’s theme fits well into this High Holy Day Season when efforts are being made world-wide to combat terrorism and punish terrorists both past and present more particularly, in the light of Biblical prophecy as linked to Israel’s eternal history from the days of Abraham through the Exodus.

“True, the Jordanian option has been discussed a long time,” Rackman declared in his syndicated column, “but there are still many Jews who hold that G-d may have had more to do with it than the key leaders on Israel’s side” – voicing the view expressed by this writer on several occasions in this column. “That could be,” he adds. “After all, He is known to have dealt with the hearts of kings in the past” – Cyrus, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, etc. – “it certainly will come as a shock to some of Israel’s leaders that there still are Jews who are so naive, that they have not removed G-d from the fate and destiny of the Jewish people, but that is a fact. And there are perhaps 50 million Christians who feel the same way.”

The noted spiritual leader and writer opens his heart: “I am pained, as an Israeli citizen and Jew, that my pride in Israel has been shaken. I can no longer boast about its democratic character. I have seen basic freedoms of Jews violated. I have been witness to the grossest undermining of Zionist ideals. All in all, no matter what prizes have already been given or will yet be given to Israeli leaders, the presenters must chuckle to themselves that the Jewish State is no more fulfillment of the vision of the Prophets than any other European, Asiatic or American State. We have reburied Herzl and Ahad Ja-Am at the same time...”

Editor-in Chief of The New Republic Martin Peretz, speaking from the point of view of a secular individual but as a historian specializing in the Middle East, and highly respected by his colleagues in the media, speaks out as strongly as Rabbi Rackman on the present trend of affairs in Israel.

In a special message received by World Union Press here at the UN, he opens thus: “The handshake in Washington has changed the character of the Arab-Israel conflict but it has not truly brought it to an end. No single episode can conclude 100 years of enmity. Therefore, the struggle to ensure the security of Israel and the safety of its citizens continues.

“Let it be clear: the accord between the Rabin Government and the PLO was founded on a brave and risky initiative by Israel itself. No one and nothing – and certainly not the United States – pushed the Rabin Government into this agreement, save its own commitment to take risks, great risks, for peace.

“Thus far, however, the Palestinians have not reciprocated the tangible concessions Israel has made to them, their demands remain maximalist. Indeed, terror continues. Not the isolated and mortifying atrocity in Hebron. But the ongoing terror against Jews in the territories and out, which has become a routine of Palestinian politics. About this Arafat says hardly a word, and does nothing. In the meantime 9,000 Palestinian police, equipped with armored carriers, helicopters, and machine guns will now exercise authority in Jericho and Gaza....

“Maybe some of the Arab States are ready for some sort of peace with Israel, though surely not the kind of peace that exists between Germany and France. It’s clear that the Arabs are not yet ready for peace with each other. Is Syria at peace with Iraq? Lebanon with Syria? Iraq with Iran? Egypt with the Sudan? Libya with Morocco? Saudi Arabia with Yemen? Algeria with its own population?”

Martin Peretz questions the Arabs’ and Palestinians’ sincerity. Let them revoke the Charter calling for Israel’s destruction, and then we may know. He concludes: “...in this world, the only guarantors of Jewish lives can be the Jewish State. Put in a nutshell, that is the position of The New Republic on the peace talks.”

May the voices of both Rackman and Peretz be heard in Israel and in all Jewish communities around the globe and even here in this UN House of Contention.

As this writer sees it, the one hope may well be Hussein of Jordan, whose grandfather, the Emir Abdullah, many years ago corresponded with your correspondent on the topic of a lasting peace among all the Abrahamic brethren. Such a peace would be based on the Bible and the Koran, both of which had their mainspring at Mt. Sinai under Nebi Musa, Moshe – hence the motto for all must be “Mosaic Law for One World.” (By David Horowitz, The Jewish Press, September 16, 1994)

“Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” (Isa. 30:1-3)

Nine Lights Of Faith And Hope: Hanukkah commemorates the Jewish victory nearly 22 centuries ago over the Greek kings who ruled the land of Israel from their base in what is now Syria.

“Mattathias Maccabee and his five sons formed a fighting force to take back the temple in a small village near Jerusalem that had been overrun by Greek idols.

“Once the temple was rebuilt, the Maccabees were ready to begin the sacred rededication by lighting the sealed oil that had been blessed by a rabbi. Miraculously, that little bit of oil was enough to light the nine-candle menorah for eight days.

“Today, Jewish families celebrate Hanukkah, which began this past Sunday, for eight days. On the first night of Hanukkah, two candles are lit on the family menorah. The first candle is used each night after that to light another candle until all candles are lit on the menorah by the eighth night.

“The candle-lighting celebrates Jews’ faith in God and the Maccabees’ victory over religious persecution.

“With Israelis and Palestinians working toward peace in the Middle East, there is, indeed, much to celebrate. Already, Jordan and Israel have agreed to end decades of animosity.

“Nevertheless, the road to peace will be a long and hard one. On Hanukkah’s eve, a rabbi was shot to death and an Israeli policeman was wounded by bullets fired into their car as they drove toward a Jewish settlement on the West Bank. Islamic militants claimed responsibility for the attack.

“As hard as Israel’s road to peace will be, it is one that surely will be lighted by Jews’ never-dying faith in overcoming the obstacles ahead.” (The Orlando Sentinel, November 30, 1994)

“For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve.” (Isa. 14:1-3)

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Many thanks and much appreciation for the beautiful Christmas cards received, with special thanks for the love and prayers expressed – which we heartily reciprocate. We wish all our readers a prosperous and Blessed New Year.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The date of our Memorial is April 12, 1995, after six p.m.

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