World News and Trends: Does Israel have the right to exist?
A one-state solution to the Israeli—Palestinian conflict is gaining favor in some circles.
A one-state solution to the Israeli—Palestinian conflict is gaining favor in some circles. According to an editorial in the Los Angeles Times (Oct. 10), it would constitute "a single secular state in which Jews and Arabs would live in democratic harmony. This idea is percolating through the Western intelligentsia and even into left-wing circles in Israel."
The problem is that such a "new" state would not remain Jewish for long. As the article also stated, "the higher Arab birthrate would make Jews a shrinking majority." Reading between the lines, this proposal seems to be just another ostensibly more "humanitarian" way of grinding a very old axe.
The astonishing title of the Los Angeles Times editorial is: "Who Needs a Jewish State?" Although the text clearly states that "Israel must remain a Jewish state, and to do that and be a democracy as well it must always have a Jewish majority"—the title just on its own is very misleading if readers do not follow up by reading the clarifying remarks in the text itself.
Other recent sources, however, make the real issue more apparent. Consider the comments of Dr. Michael Glueck in Insight magazine: "For as long as there has been a State of Israel, there has been a temptation to believe that if Israel could somehow conveniently disappear—then the United States and the Arabs would have no major disagreements" (Oct. 4).
Also according to a report in World Net Daily, the Palestinian Authority continues to urge genocide against Israelis. One specific directive was: "Use TV broadcasts to urge killing of "brothers of the monkeys and pigs' . . ." (Sept. 16). This implies much more than mere distasteful rhetoric.
Author Shalom Freedman commented on the Iranian threat to Israel: "But the threat is such—the threat of using weapons of mass-destruction to destroy the state—that its transformation into reality would mean in effect the murder of hundreds of thousands perhaps even millions of Jews" (Israel Insider, Aug. 26). Shades of the Holocaust, or the Shoah, as the term is expressed in Hebrew.
Mr. Freedman continued: "This threat is openly made every Friday in the central mosque of Tehran where it is proclaimed that the "Zionist state' must and will be eliminated. This threat has been made frequently by various leaders of Iran, especially over the past three years" (ibid., emphasis added throughout).
In summary, noted author Conor Cruise O'Brien has asked: "Does Israel have the right to exist? The state of Israel has lived since its birth . . . under the pressure of that question and that question was preceded by another question: Do the Jews have the right to exist?" (The Siege, p. 25). That it would even be necessary to pose such absurd questions says something about our supposedly advanced, civilized world today.
You need to understand these grave issues in the Middle East and the essential biblical/historical background behind them. Please write for our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. (Sources: Los Angeles Times, World Net Daily, Insight, Israel Insider, The Siege.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: November - December 2004
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
