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Reprinted with permission
Shoreshim Updates
Jerusalem, Israel

Palestine, Bigfoot and other fairy tales

by Michael Freund The Jerusalem Post February 25, 2014  What a welcome breath of fresh air: for the first time in recent memory, a Muslim scholar in Jordan has had the courage to speak out, demolishing the mythology and deceit that lie at the heart of the Palestinian narrative. In a post on his Facebook page, Sheikh Ahmad Adwan unabashedly declared that Palestine is a fabrication, and that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. “I say to those who distort the Koran: from where did you bring the name Palestine, you liars, you accursed, when Allah has already named it ‘the Holy Land’ and bequeathed it to the Children of Israel until the Day of Judgment?” he wrote. “There is no such thing as ‘Palestine’ in the Koran. Your demand for the Land of Israel is a falsehood and it constitutes an attack on the Koran, on the Jews and their land,” he said. Citing verses in the Koran (such as Sura 26, verse 59), Adwan argues that according to the Muslim holy book, Israel was given as an inheritance to the Jewish people and not to anyone else. While it would be naïve to think that Adwan’s pronouncements will bring about any significant change in how the Muslim world relates to Israel, it does offer a timely reminder of an important historical truth. To put it simply: Palestine and the Palestinians are a modern invention, a fiction created with the aim of dismantling Israel and undermining its claim to its ancient patrimony. The myth of Palestine is the diplomatic equivalent of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman. Although plenty of people may persist in believing in these fairy tales, that doesn’t make them true. Indeed, prior to the 1947 UN partition plan, even Palestinian Arab leaders openly affirmed this to be the case. Take, for example, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, who testified in 1937 before the Peel Commission, which was established by the British government to investigate the outbreak of Arab violence in British-ruled Palestine. Abdul-Hadi told the commission that “there is no such country as Palestine! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.” A decade later, in May 1947, the representative of the Arab Higher Committee told the UN General Assembly much the same. Palestinian nationalism only gained steam in subsequent decades, as the Arab states found it to be a useful proxy tool in their ongoing war against the Jewish state. They cultivated a Palestinian national consciousness and identity in order to create a narrative of Arab victimhood and Israeli aggression which suited their political agenda. Thanks to the Left and the media, the Palestinians’ claims to the Land of Israel became amplified and even accepted by a large number of people around the world, many if not most of whom do not know the first thing about the Middle East. Sadly, even many Jews are no longer familiar with the historical record and have come to accept Palestinian assertions as true, even though there has never been a Palestinian state in all of history. And yet, not that long ago, this was a widely recognized and accepted fact. Consider remarks made by the late Golda Meir. In an interview with The Sunday Times on June 15, 1969, Meir said, “There were no such thing as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state?” Furthermore, she noted, “It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist.” To our ears, such assertions may sound jarring because they are so at odds with what has come to be accepted as the conventional wisdom. But that is merely because we have succumbed to decades of pro-Palestinian propaganda and indoctrination which have virtually drowned out dissenting voices. Indeed, the mainstream media uniformly ignored Sheikh Adwan’s comments, failing to report them despite their newsworthiness. This should have been front-page news, if only because of its extraordinary nature. After all, how often does a Muslim religious scholar come out with such pronouncements? Nonetheless, Adwan’s brave remarks provide an important opportunity for pro-Israel activists to right the historical record and begin to undercut decades of successful Palestinian propagandizing. We must seize on this opening to remind people of what many have forgotten: Palestine is an illusion with no basis in historical reality. It does not appear in the Torah, the Christian Bible or the Koran, or in the historical record. The only place it does appear is in the imagination of those who wish Israel ill. Our task must be to ensure that it remains that way.

Pali-who ?

The article below is a reprint from Arutz Sheva News, Israel, Feb. 3, 2014.  It reminds me of the promise Father God made to and through Abraham . . . ‘I will bless them that bless you and will bring a curse on them that esteem you lightly, ignore or trifle with you’ . ( literal rendering Genesis 12:3)  If we as a nation are underwriting the forcing of Israel to give up their ‘God-given’ right to the Land, we can expect nothing less than God’s Hand against us. Anybody having any weird or severe weather ? I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact we are behind freezing Israel’s exports into the EU and other markets and, for all intents and purposes, drying up over a third of their national economy. What would happen if ‘something’ stifled a third of the US economy ? What impact is this deep freeze over a large portion of our country as well as the extended extreme drought of California having and going to have on our economy ?  . . . just thinkin’ outloud  . . . The bottom line ? Don’t mess with what God has set-part for Himself. He will deal with Israel, if they need dealing with. We need to pay attention to God’s Word. HE means what HE says. Pray as Abraham prayed . . . for the ’10 righteous in the town’ . . .  The days of praying for God to ‘bless America’ are past. Judgement has been determined for this nation and all who stand against God, His covenant, His Word and His promises. Pray for mercy and grace for those that are His. We must be like Nehemiah, who, when the time came, was able to stand and proclaim to the heavens, ‘Father God, remember me, for I did and said what You instructed. I Stood where You told me to stand . . .’  The Good News ?   He will bring His people through. Yeshua said ” I have overcome the world ”    Shalom –

1. Minister Says Kerry is a ‘Biased Intermediary’
Ari Yashar

Communications Minister Gilad Erdan harshly criticized US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, accusing Kerry of not being a fair intermediary in the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

On Saturday in Munich, Kerry threatened Israel with international boycotts if it did not accept his “peace proposal” with the PA, saying that “for Israel there’s an increasing de-legitimization campaign that has been building up… there are talks of boycotts and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?”

Kerry’s comments were seen as all the more galling given previous reports that Kerry himself is orchestrating the European boycotts.

Erdan was speaking at Arutz Sheva’s eleventh annual Jerusalem Conference.

“Currently threats are still heard against citizens of Israel and they try to terrorize us. When we hear John Kerry and the American State Department, we think they are wrong in their analysis of what’s happening in the Middle East,” emphasized Erdan.

“It would be expected from someone who’s supposed to be a fair and objective intermediary to also tell the Palestinian side about the price they will have to pay over their stubborn refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish people to their own nation state,” remarked Erdan. “Where’s the Palestinian price on all the continued incitement against Israel‘s existence?”

This kind of balanced approach of warning both sides isn’t seen in Kerry, who constantly “puts the pressure on the prime minister and the government of Israel,” Erdan noted.

Erdan added that while the US is an “important friend and ally,” in this “harsh dispute” Israel doesn’t intend to submit to the US plan to have Israel withdraw to the 1949 Armistice lines and create an Arab capital in Jerusalem.

“Yes – we won’t divide the land of Israel; yes – we won’t divide Jerusalem, and our right to live in Shiloh and Beit El is no less than the right of the people of Israel to sit in Tel Aviv and Ramle and Haifa or any other place,” declared Erdan, referring to two ancient Jewish towns in the Samaria (Shomron) region.

‘Israel must stand firm’

In response to the American pressure, Erdan said Israel must stand firm, learning the lesson from the Oslo Accords and the “Disengagement” plan that expelled all Jews from Gaza and parts of northern Samaria.

“We can’t be afraid and we can’t be shocked by the modernism and trends that appear to be directing us to only one solution,” he declared, joining other right-wing politicians and academics in warning against the idea that the only alternative to a PA-ruled mini-state in Judea and Samaria was a “binational” or “one-state” solution which would end Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel.

“We have to continue to strengthen the Jewish education and the Jewish values that have guarded the people of Israel in their land for thousands of years, and it’s important to do that while guarding the unity of the Jewish people,” stressed the communications minister.

Regarding Oslo, Erdan called the 1993 agreement an “historic mistake,” noting that at the time as a Bar Ilan University student he led protests against the process.

At the time, Erdan relates that the Israeli press “told us that peace was at the doorstep, which was apparently obvious, but the fact was that before our eyes was the involvement of (former PA Chairman Yasser) Arafat and his murderous gang of terror funding and incitement against Israel.”

Erdan’s comments are just the latest in a series of criticisms of the US Secretary of State’s attempts to force an agreement on Israel by senior Israeli government officials.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu labeled the boycott threats “immoral and unjust”.

He Means what He Says . . .

Dreams……

Can Israel say ‘No’ to the US? Yes, we can!

By Michael Freund, The Jerusalem Post Reprinted by permission from Moshe Kepinski of Shoreshim Updates, Jerusalem, Israel January 7, 2014 Believe it or not, there are some things that are more important even than American goodwill. Survival, I dare say, is one of them. Amid reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry is applying mounting pressure on Israel to make significant concessions to the Palestinians, there is an increasingly common refrain that has seeped into our political dialogue which needs to be exposed for the fallacy that it is. Israel, we are told by various pundits and politicians, has no choice but to go along with American demands. After all, our relationship with Washington is our greatest strategic asset and we cannot allow anything to get in its way. Hence, whatever America wants, the Jewish state must more or less accept. Needless to say, such an approach is not only short-sighted and misguided – it is oblivious to history and perilous to our destiny. And the sooner we expose it for the misleading oversimplification that it is, the better off we will all be. To begin with, Israel is not a vassal state, an American overseas territory or a serf that must cower before his feudal overlord. We are a sovereign independent nation with our own national and security interests, and while we must surely take into account what our friends and allies have to say, we cannot and must not lose sight of our right and obligation to determine our own fate. And regardless of how short our memories might be, the fact is that on numerous occasions Israel has defied and resisted, flouted and even disregarded American demands when it came to matters that went to the core of our very existence. Take, for example, the Reagan plan. On September 1, 1982, US President Ronald Reagan delivered a nationally-televised address in which he called for a “fresh start” in the Middle East peace process. He laid out a series of proposals which included a construction freeze on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and a transition period leading to “self-government by the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza in association with Jordan.” Astonishingly, the plan was drawn up in consultation with various Arab leaders, while Israel was kept in the dark until right before Reagan’s speech. But Jerusalem reacted quickly and with resolve. On September 2, then-prime minister Menachem Begin interrupted a vacation in Nahariya, returned to Jerusalem and convened a special cabinet meeting, which lasted for three hours. Afterwards, the government issued a communique that was striking in its audacity. It contained a point-by-point rebuttal of Reagan’s speech, stating that, “The positions conveyed to the Prime Minister of Israel on behalf of the President of the United States consist of partial quotations from the Camp David Agreement or are nowhere mentioned in the agreement or contradict it entirely.” It went on to state that, “the positions of the Government of the United States seriously deviate from the Camp David agreement, contradict it and could create a serious danger to Israel, its security and its future.” And guess what? The sky did not fall in, the sun still rose the next morning, and Israel and the United States continued to be friends, even if there was tension in the relationship. Several days later, Begin went even further, sending a personal letter to Reagan which should be required reading for every Israeli diplomat and statesman lacking a backbone. With a mixture of grace and determination, Begin made clear to the leader of the Free World that as much as he valued the ties between Israel and the US, he would not compromise his core principles or Israel’s national interests. “Dear Ron,” wrote Begin, “What some call the ‘West Bank,’ Mr. President, is Judea and Samaria; and this simple historic truth will never change. There are cynics who deride history. They may continue their derision as they wish, but I will stand by the truth,” he said. “And the truth,” insisted Begin, “is that millennia ago there was a Jewish kingdom of Judea and Samaria where our kings knelt to God, where our prophets brought forth the vision of eternal peace, where we developed a rather rich civilization which we took with us, in our hearts and in our minds, on our long global trek for over 18 centuries; and, with it, we came back home.” After spelling out his objections to Reagan’s peace plan, Begin concluded with a paragraph as piercing as it was heartfelt. “Mr. President,” he stated, “you and I chose for the last two years to call our countries ‘friends and allies.’ Such being the case, a friend does not weaken his friend, an ally does not put his ally in jeopardy. This would be the inevitable consequence,” Begin asserted, if the president’s proposals were to become reality. “I believe they won’t,” the prime minister concluded, before quoting from the prophet Isaiah: “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.” Other Israeli leaders, both before and since, have stood up to American pressure and had the courage of their convictions, just as Begin did. Confident in the justness of Israel’s cause, Begin, Golda, Ben-Gurion and others were willing to buck Washington for the sake of Israel’s future. So, I ask you, can Israel afford to say “no” to Kerry’s proposals? Of course! Or, to borrow a phrase from President Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign: “Yes we can!” Sure, there will be consequences, and strains in our bilateral relationship. But Israel has said “no” before and should not be afraid of doing so again. We cannot put our security at risk and forgo parts of our ancestral homeland, simply to win favor with the powers that be in the White House. Israel must stand firm and reject any further withdrawals or retreats, regardless of what Mr. Kerry has to say. We cannot return to the 1967 borders or allow a hostile Palestinian entity to arise next door. Believe it or not, there are some things that are more important even than American goodwill. Survival, I dare say, is one of them.

Time sensitive prayer needed for your nation and ours
January 6th 2014

Heather Butler Pastor of Prayer Ministries

Messiah Ministries

 Please continue to pray for the weather world wide, many are suffering, and don’t know where to turn, many have no hope. Please pray for those in the USA who are being hit by large very cold snow storms, an arctic vortex has slipped across the states only usually felt in Alaska. Temperatures are set to be -52 in one state, this is so cold that frostbite can take place within minutes. Please pray for the vulnerable, the elderly, those who have no home… this is treacherous weather, and we really care about the welfare of the people. Pray for the asthmatics and those who have weak chests.

Please also continue to pray for the flooding throughout the UK, the waves are higher than we have seen in many instances….Much is happening throughout the nations, and people are fearful, and in despair. Thank you so much for your hearts to pray, the nations need our prayers, when we cry out with one voice in accord with one another much can happen.

Many blessings Heather.

If you are suffering right now, with fear, concern, sickness, worry, if your home has been flooded, or your business, please let us pray for you, we want to hear from you…. blessings in Jesus

The year has started with unexpected things for many, some sick and ill, bad weather flooding and low temperatures, I have had so many emails from people who are stressed, and who need hope for the future.

We need your prayers more now than ever, I feel that there is more to come, I feel that something is about to happen, I cant explain what it is, except to say in my Spirit I feel a hightened attack against the nations to wear us down.  But, we are the children of God the light of the word, born to stand in the midst of the darkest of nights and declare that there is hope, that there is freedom from fear, that there is an answer to the cry of the heart.  I felt in the week to ask people to watch London, something big is on the horizon, that many are unaware of, that will become known soon.

The nations are reeling, and the Father is the only one who can bring us back from the brink, we must continue to cry out for those who need our help, to be a voice in the wilderness of their lives and situation.

Thank God for you as you dig in in prayer.

we bless you in Jesus name.

Heather  

 Heather Butler  Pastor of Prayer Ministries

for Messiah Ministries
www.messiah-ministries.org

FINALLY, the two-part teaching ( that was requested ) we recorded last year on ‘ THE TITHE’ is available on CD. it is a live recording, so the audio is not the best quality, but thanks to our resident ‘IT’ guru ( Thank you Marty ) it is ‘listenable’ . . . is that a word ?  Anyway, it’s done and available. It is NOT comprehensive, but does cover quite a bit of ground. If you are interested in a copy, please let us know by phone or email . . .   859.582.5525   or   Prodigal_101@yahoo.com  shalom to you and yours –

Finally, it’s ready . . .

DON’T WORRY AMERICA, WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK . . . ROLL-BACK, that is . . .

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/03/20/obama-limo-reportedly-sidelined-in-israel-by-fuel-mixup/#ixzz2ONMqnSdQ