{"id":12612,"date":"2018-05-15T16:46:33","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T15:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=12612"},"modified":"2018-05-21T17:14:36","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T16:14:36","slug":"israel-seventy-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/israel-seventy-independence-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel’s 70th Independence Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ivanka<\/a>
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner sit alongside Benjamin Netanyahu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We celebrate with Israel and Israelis the seventieth anniversary of David ben Gurion’s Declaration of Independence on 14th May 1948.<\/p>\n

Independence Day<\/h2>\n

Independence Day is ‘Yom Ha’atzmaut’ in Hebrew.\u00a0 It gave Israelis the opportunity also to celebrate\u00a0GDP growth of around 3.5%.\u00a0 That’s much higher than the still-slumping euro zone.<\/p>\n

But, as Max Schindler puts in the Jerusalem Post<\/a><\/strong>, ‘since the 1970s, Israel has fallen behind the rest of the West when it comes to investment in education, healthcare, infrastructure and transportation per capita \u2013 as anecdotally demonstrated by the worst congestion among developed OECD nations.<\/p>\n

‘At the same time, Israel faces two primary socioeconomic challenges: declining labor productivity \u2013 which makes it harder to raise living standards, and the many ultra-Orthodox and Arab pupils \u2013 comprising nearly 40% of all students \u2013 who are receiving a third-world education.’<\/p>\n

US Embassy opens<\/h2>\n

Moreover, on Independence Day the United\u00a0 States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.\u00a0 The US embassy is in an upmarket district of southern Jerusalem called Amona.\u00a0 Donald Trump made a promise to move the embassy during the US presidential election.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara had front row seats. \u00a0Republican billionaire donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam were highly visible. \u00a0Haaretz.com says<\/a><\/strong>: The Adelsons’ presence in the front row symbolized the weight of their role in pushing for to the embassy’s opening.<\/p>\n

David Friedman, the US Ambassador,\u00a0hosted the event.\u00a0 Ivanka Trump unvelied the plaque.\u00a0 Not one US Democrat politician attended.<\/p>\n

Mr\u00a0Netanyahu\u00a0 quoted from the Bible:<\/p>\n

Zech 8:3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Except, according to Haaretz, he omitted the final eleven-word phrase.\u00a0 Or maybe they did.<\/p>\n

For Arabs, the ‘Catastrophe’<\/h2>\n
\"Riots<\/a>
Riots in Gaza near the border with Israel. The smoke from burning tyres is intended to obscure the participants from recognition and sniper fire.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the Palestinians or Arabs of Gaza, Judea and Samaria, there were no celebrations.<\/p>\n

They refer\u00a0to Israel’s Independence Day\u00a0 as ‘Nakba’, ‘the catastophe’. \u00a0Naturally, Hamas organised protests which were seen television screens around the world.\u00a0 The terrorist group have threatened to break through Gaza\u2019s border fences.<\/p>\n

Of course Israel\u2019s military will contain the protests.\u00a0 But the Daily Telegraph reports today<\/a><\/strong> that 58 protestors have died already.\u00a0 Almost 3,000 have been wounded.\u00a0 Sky News was broadcasting from Gaza last night. Its reporter Alex Rossi<\/a><\/strong> explained the Israeli snipers were deliberately targeting people’s legs.\u00a0 Viewers saw people injured that way.<\/p>\n

We know Hamas are only out to provoke and get a reaction.\u00a0 We know the Israeli Defence Force needs to contain the protests.\u00a0 But such sniper activity seemed to go beyond crowd control.\u00a0 Christians who support Israel expect a higher standard from the Middle East’s only true democracy.<\/p>\n

However, Hamas has succeeded in its objective.\u00a0 The world knows there is a conflict and that it remains unresolved.<\/p>\n

Post-script: On 17th May, as the Metro reports<\/a><\/strong>, (but it’s all over the press) Hamas claimed 50 of the 62 killed were its fighters. \u00a0Hamas published their names and ranks online, the paper says.<\/p>\n

The President’s words<\/h2>\n

President Donald Trump addressed the audience via satellite.\u00a0 He said the move was ‘a long time coming.’\u00a0 Israel, like all sovereign nations, had ‘a right to name its own capital’.\u00a0 (Jerusalem Post<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Mr Trump claimed the US would still be observing the status quo in terms of contested territories such as on Temple Mount.<\/p>\n

‘The US will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace,’ The President said. ‘We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, the Palestinians and to all of their neighbors. May there be peace.’<\/p>\n

Boris Johnson said in January that Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital in December 2017 was a \u201cmoment of opportunity\u201d for peace.\u00a0 His critics accused him of putting a two-state solution in the Middle East at fresh risk.\u00a0 But the ‘two-state solution’ has always been easier to say than to set out plausibly on paper.<\/p>\n

No Muslim claim to Jerusalem<\/h2>\n
\"Jerusalem<\/a>
Jerusalem showing the Dome of the Rock Mosque and the Western or ‘Wailing’ wall of the Temple Mount<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Foreign Secretary has since moved closer to other European countries.\u00a0 They all say moving the embassy is a threat to peace.\u00a0 \u00a0They all want Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state. \u00a0Muslims hold Jerusalem sacred.\u00a0 Nevertheless, we point out in this article<\/a><\/strong> that their claim is founded on a lie.\u00a0 Mohammed was never in Jerusalem.\u00a0 He made up a story about flying there so as not to be caught in an indiscretion.<\/p>\n

Moving the Embassy will, in our view, do little for peace.\u00a0 But that is not the point.\u00a0 It is more a statement of intent, or as Jared Kushner put it: ‘the right thing to do.’<\/p>\n

Psalm 122:6\u00a0 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We celebrate with Israel and Israelis the seventieth anniversary of David ben Gurion’s Declaration of Independence on 14th May 1948. Independence Day Independence Day is ‘Yom Ha’atzmaut’ in Hebrew.\u00a0 It gave Israelis the opportunity also to celebrate\u00a0GDP growth of around 3.5%.\u00a0 That’s much higher than the still-slumping euro zone. But, as Max Schindler puts in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[3889,3894,341,15,3887,3896,3888,1971,1352,3902,3898,3890,1540,3903,1555,3893,3900,3892,3901,3895,43,3897,3891,3899],"class_list":["post-12612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel-antisemitism","tag-14th-april-1948","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-boris-johnson","tag-christian-voice","tag-david-ben-gurion","tag-david-friedman","tag-declaration-of-independence","tag-donald-trump","tag-gaza","tag-hamas-israeli-defence-force","tag-hosted-the-event-ivanka-trump","tag-independence-day","tag-israel","tag-jared-kushner","tag-jerusalem","tag-jerusalem-post","tag-judea-and-samaria","tag-max-schindler","tag-nakba","tag-sheldon-adelson","tag-stephen-green","tag-us-ambassador","tag-yom-haatzmaut","tag-zion"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t