HaY'Did Learning Center UPDATE: November 21, 2000
Shalom and Happy Thanksgiving to
Everyone! We wanted to send this out before the long weekend so
you could have this outstanding article by Dr. Richard Booker.
One note: Dr. Booker quotes British military officer Captain Orde
Wingate in this article and we wanted you to know that Captain
Wingate was known as The Haydid, which is the person that our
ministry is named after. You can read more about this Christian
Zionist on our website. We first met Captain Wingate in
Bodie Thoene's book Jerusalem Interlude (available at any
bookstore and well worth reading now especially!). Have a great
holiday and do share this article with your friends and family.
IN HIM, Cheryle and Tom
Holeman
THE BATTLE
FOR TRUTH
Middle East Myths
Richard Booker - Institute for Hebraic-Christian Studies
Sounds of the Trumpet
Institute for Hebraic/Christian Studies
8230 Birchglenn Lane
Houston, TX 77707
218-469-1045
shofarprb@aol.com
http://www.rbooker.com
An excited crowd of 5,000 Christian Zionists attending the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem leaped to their feet with thunderous applause when former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked them to join Israel in the battle for truth. Unfortunately, Israel has been losing the battle for truth to Arab propaganda that is expert in turning Arab fantasies into facts and Israeli facts into fantasies. A once proud Israel has become weakened by Arab propaganda, internal dissension and, in desperate longings for peace, a willingness to appease their enemies. Britain followed the same policy of trying to bring peace to the Middle East by appeasing intimidation and terror. From the wisdom of someone who knows, Winston Churchill would caution us that "acts of appeasement today will have to be remedied at far greater cost and remorse tomorrow." A strong, secure Israel is in the national interest of the United States politically, militarily, economically, socially, and spiritually. It is important politically as Israel is the only democratic state in the Middle East. It is important militarily as a front line defense against radical Islamic fundamentalism. It is important economically because a strong Israel deters Arab aggression which stabilizes oil prices. It is important socially as it shares our values of freedom and the sanctity of human life. It is important spiritually in regard to Judeo-Christian ethics that serve as the foundation of Western culture. If Israel succumbs to radical, Islamic fundamentalism, American Judeo-Christian culture, synagogues and churches will be threatened. Today, it's Joseph's tomb that is desecrated. Tomorrow, it's our synagogues and churches. For these reasons, it is important that America stand for a strong, secure Israel with Jerusalem as its undivided capital. American citizens, both Jews and Christians, need to enlist as soldiers in the battle for truth regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. This conflict is spiritual in nature, and the final outcome is clear. The God of the Bible made an everlasting covenant with the Jewish people, and He is a faithful covenant-keeping God (Genesis 17). Yet, a famous passage in the Bible says to "pray for [actively seek the peace of] Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:6). Christian and Jewish supporters of Israel are not anti-Arab. The battle for truth is not against the Arab people. God loves all people the same, but He has different plans and purposes for different people groups. The root cause of the conflict in the Middle East is due to the fact that radical Islamic Arab leaders are seeking to establish and extend themselves beyond the limits God has set for them. When they recognize God's divine order for Israel and the nations, there will be peace. David Ben-Gurion expressed the motivation and expectation for joining this battle for truth in his statement on November 29, 1947 regarding the United Nations partition of Palestine. He said, "I know that God promised all of Palestine to the children of Israel. I do not know what borders He set. I believe they are wider than the ones proposed. If God will keep His promise in His own time, our business as poor humans who live in a difficult age is to save as much as we can of the remnants of Israel." British military officer Captain Orde Wingate played an important role in the establishment of the state of Israel. When asked by his Jewish friends why he supported them, he said, "There is only one important book on the subject, the Bible, and I have read it thoroughly. This is the cause of your survival. I count it as my privilege to help you fight your battle. To that purpose I want to devote my life . I shall fight with you against any of these influences. But remember that it is your battle. My part, which I say I feel to be a privilege, is only to help you." As "people of the Book," Jews and Christians must look to the Bible as the standard of truth regarding this conflict. And the Bible clearly promises the land to the Jewish people with Jerusalem as their eternal and undivided capital. If one reads the Bible for the plain sense of its meaning, there is no way to misunderstand what it says. We can be confident that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will keep His promise in His own time and way to save the remnant of Israel. Until then, Jews and Christians must join the army of the battle for truth.
Middle East Myths
Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda and Information,
said that a big lie that is told often enough and long enough
will eventually be accepted as truth. With cooperation from the
world's media, coupled with ignorance, apathy, and anti-Semitism
among the nations, Israel is being presented as a giant Goliath
killing little Davids who are only armed with stones. There would
be peace in the Middle East if only Goliath Israel would agree to
little David's demand for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as
its capital. This is one of the many lies constantly repeated to
the uninformed West. The purpose of this presentation is to
expose some of the myths (read that big lies) regarding the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
Myth #1 - The Myth
of Palestine
In an article entitled, "The Lesson of Palestine,"
printed in the Middle East Journal, October 1949, Arab activist,
Musa Alami, wrote, "how can people struggle for their
nation, when most of them do not know the meaning of the word? .
The people are in great need of a "myth" of
imagination. The myth of nationality would create
"identity" and "self-respect." The
Arab world has certainly demonstrated great skill in the
"myth" of imagination. They have done such a good job
that they have convinced much of the world that their
"myths" are facts. Perhaps their biggest myth is the
myth of Palestine. The Arab world would have us believe that the
Palestinians have been in "Palestine" from "time
immemorial" but were displaced by the Jews when Israel
became a state in 1948. But what are the facts? While we
are not certain of the exact dates, Joshua conquered the Land God
promised the Jews in the 13th century BCE. King David established
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel around 1000 BCE. King Solomon
built the Jewish Temple about 960 BCE. This was almost 1000 years
before the beginning of Christianity and 1600 years before the
rise of Islam. As Prime Minister Barak has noted, "When
Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts, he didn't come
to a church or a mosque, he came to the Temple." It is not
the Church Mount or the Mosque Mount that is fought over, it is
the Temple Mount. It was the Temple Mount centuries before
Christianity tried to make it the Church Mount and Islam tried to
make it the Mosque Mount. However, not to be confused with
facts, in a personal audience I had several years ago with the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was appointed by Arafat, he boldly
declared that the Arabs had been living in the Land for 10,000
years. Based on conservative Bible chronology, that means the
Arabs have been living in the Land before the Almighty created
Adam and Eve. How did Israel become Palestine and who are
the Palestinians? The second Jewish war with the Romans took
place in 132-135 CE. Led by Rabbi Akiva and Simon bar Kochba, the
Jewish uprising was crushed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian who
sought to de-Judaize Jerusalem and make it a pagan city. Hadrian
renamed Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" in honor of
Jupiter. He changed the name of Judea and gave it the name of the
Jews ancient enemy, the Philistines. He called it¾ Palestine.
Over time, Palestine was ruled by the Roman Byzantines
(312-637) [Persian interrupt 614-629], Omayyad Arabs (638-750),
Islamic Abbassid's (750-1099), Crusaders (1099-1291) [Saladin the
Kurd interrupt 1187-93], Mamluks (1291-1516), Ottoman Turks
(1517-1917), and the British Mandate (1917-1948). None of these
rulers established a sovereign state in the Land and Jerusalem
was never the capital of any empire since the time of King David.
Palestine was a forgotten desolate, wasteland, but historical
records show there was always a Jewish presence in the Land.
The revival of modern Jewish life in the Land began in the
1880's with the arrival of Russian refugees from the Russian
pogroms. A second wave of immigration, also from Russia, was in
1905. This was followed by later immigrations resulting in a
growing Jewish population in the Land. When the Jews came to the
Land, they found a malaria infested swamp in the north and an
uninhabitable desert in the south. It was as if the God of the
Bible had kept the Land hidden away in obscurity until the
rightful owners¾ the Jews returned to claim it. The
Jewish pioneers did not steal the Land from the Arabs. They
purchased the Land at highly inflated prices from absentee
landlords living outside the Land. As the Jews worked the Land,
it began to prosper. While there were Jews and Arabs living in
the Land, there were many poor migrant Arab farm workers in the
surrounding Arab countries who needed work. When they heard that
the Land was prospering under the hand of the Jews, they migrated
to Palestine to get work from the Jews. Furthermore, the British
allowed many thousands of Arabs into Palestine illegally while
barring the Jews from entering the Land. For the most part, the
Arab Palestinians are these peasant farm workers and illegal
aliens. "Palestinians" have never been a
distinct people, they have never had a sovereign land called
Palestine, Jerusalem has never been their capital, there is no
Palestinian language or culture, and there is no Palestinian
people. It is a myth created after the Jews liberated Jerusalem
in 1967. Before the birth of the State of Israel, Arab
leaders themselves denied the existence of an Arab country called
Palestine. In 1937, Arab leader, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi said,
"There is no such country [as Palestine]! 'Palestine' is a
term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible.
'Palestine" is alien to us; it is the Zionists who
introduced it." In 1946, a distinguished Princeton professor
and Arab historian said, "There is no such thing as
Palestine in Arab history, absolutely not." All who
lived in the Land, Jews, Arabs, and Christians, were called
Palestinians. In fact, the Jerusalem Post was called the
Palestinian Post. Under the British Mandate, the Palestinian Jews
were given a state. But before this state came into existence,
Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill, in 1922, took away
seventy-seven percent of the geographic area promised to the Jews
and created Transjordan as a state for the Palestinian Arabs.
Israel would be for the Palestinian Jews and Transjordan (now
Jordan) for the Palestinian Arabs. Israel became a state
in the War of Independence in 1948. At that time, approximately
600,000 Arabs fled to become refugee pawns in the hands of
neighboring Arab states. Some number of Arabs stayed to become
Israeli citizens. While we certainly sympathize with the plight
of the Arab refugees, their problems could easily be solved if
their Arab brothers cared enough to assimilate them as the Jews
did their own 800,000 immigrants from the Arab countries.
Myth #2 - The Myth
of Al Quds
In the Bible, the prophet
Zechariah writes of the time when God will gather all the nations
to battle against Jerusalem. He says, "Behold, I will make
Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples,
when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall
happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone
for all people; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in
pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against
it" (Zechariah. 12:2-3). "It shall be in that day that
I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem" (Zechariah. 12:9). We are seeing this
battle unfold before our very eyes with Israel and the Arabs on
the front lines of the battle. But according to the Bible and
unfolding events, the nations will also soon join in the battle.
For the purpose of this discussion, we want to look at the battle
in view of the historical claims Islam has on the Temple Mount as
the "third holiest sight" in Islam. The Arab word used
for Jerusalem, which you hear often in the media, is "Al
Quds." Let's consider the "Myth of Al Quds."
Jerusalem in the
Bible and Koran
You can tell how important a person, place or thing is to people
by how often they speak of that person, place or place. We speak
most about what we love and cherish. Since people talk about that
which is most dear to them, we should be able to get a good idea
of how important Jerusalem is to Jews and Arabs by reading their
holy books, the Bible for the Jews and the Koran for the Arab
Muslims. We discover that Jerusalem is mentioned over 800
times in the Bible. There are 657 references in the Tanakh
(Hebrew Bible) and 154 references in the New Testament. Yet,
Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran. And there is
no reason that it should be because Mohammed never went to
Jerusalem. In Mohammed's lifetime, Jerusalem was outside the
sphere of Islam. This should make it clear that
historically, Jerusalem is very important to the Jews, but has
had little or no importance to Moslims until recent times.
Furthermore, observant Jews pray facing Jerusalem while Moslims
pray facing Mecca. Jews make pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Moslims
make pilgrimages to Mecca. The Temple Mount became part of Islam
long after the time of Mohammed. And this was for political
reasons arising out of the military expansion of Islam. It was
certainly not for religious purposes. And even then, Moslems have
only seemed to be interested in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount
when the Jews control them. So how is it that the Temple Mount
has become the "third holiest site of Islam?
Mohammed's Night
Flight
The Koran, in Sura 17:1 states, "Glory be to Him who made
His servant [Mohammed] go by night from the Sacred Mosque to the
farthest [or remotest] Mosque." All agree that the Sacred
Mosque is in Mecca. It's the location of the farthest or remotest
Mosque that has been unclear. Earliest views were that the
farthest mosque referred to Medina. It wasn't until the seventh
century that some Islamic leaders identified it with Jerusalem.
The legend is that Mohammed, either literally, or in a
dream/vision made a journey to heaven from Mecca with a stopover
in Jerusalem. This tells us there are no direct flights from
Mecca to heaven. You can only get there through Jerusalem.
Mohammed's second wife, Ayesha, said that on the night Mohammed
was supposed to make this night flight, he was sleeping soundly
by her side. In view of her testimony, Mohammed's night flight
has often been presented as a dream or vision rather than as a
literal event, although there are still those who choose not to
be confused with facts and present Mohammed's flight as a literal
happening. The story is that Mohammed flew north on his
horse, Burak, which had two wings and the face of a human. After
stops at Mt. Sinai and Bethlehem, they landed at the sight of the
mosque in Jerusalem. At this point, heaven lowered a ladder to
carry Mohammed to the Seventh Heaven where he was met by Abraham,
Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus and received their blessing to
become the last prophet of God. Mohammed then returned by the
ladder to Jerusalem from whence Burak flew him back to Mecca.
Moslems point to the footprint Burak left when Mohammed leaped
onto his back for the return trip to Mecca. Now all
religions, including my own, have their legends. I am certainly
not the one to judge them. But the problem with this one is that
Mohammed died decades before a mosque was built on the Temple
Mount. So Jerusalem and the Temple Mount cannot possibly be the
location of the farthest mosque mentioned in the Koran. Mohammed
died in 632, six years before Jerusalem fell to the Arabs under
Caliph Omar in 638. The Dome of the Rock was not built until 692,
which was sixty years after Mohammed's death. The Al- Aqsa Mosque
was not built until 712, which is eighty years after Mohammed's
death.
The Mosque on the
Temple Mount
The Caliph Omar defeated the
Byzantine Christians in 636 at the battle of the Yarmuk River.
Jerusalem surrendered to him in 638. Until this time, Jerusalem
had been outside the realm of Islam. Caliph Omar built a small
house of prayer near the rock on the site of the destroyed Jewish
Temple. The purpose was to show that Islam had replaced Judaism
and Christianity as the last divine revelation. Later, the
Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik, whose capital was in Damascus, built
the Dome of the Rock on the same site. Twenty years later, his
son, Caliph al-Walid built the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Aqsa is Arabaic
for furthermost or remotest. As a way of establishing a
legitimate claim of Islam over the Temple Mount, this mosque has
been identified as the one spoken of in the Koran.
Historians tell us that Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock
on the site to: 1) link himself as the successor to King Solomon,
(2) to contradict Jesus' statement that the Temple would be
destroyed (Matthew 24, Luke 21), (3) To compete against
spectacular church sites such as the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher, and (4) to encourage Moslim worshippers in his
territory to make pilgrimages to the Dome of the Rock rather than
making pilgrimages outside of his territory to his rival Caliph
in Mecca. Abd al-Malik was eager to emphasize the
independence and the triumph of the new religion over
Christianity both militarily and ideologically. He put a lengthy
Arabic inscription on the Dome of the Rock condemning
Christianity. It contains many verses from the Koran, but not the
one about Mohammed's night journey. Surely, he would have
included that verse if he thought it referred to the Temple Mount
Mosque. While Abd al-Malik considered himself building the
Dome of the Rock on top of the place where Solomon's Temple
stood, Islamic leaders today deny there was even a Jewish Temple
on the Mount.
Mohammed and the
Jews
In the early day of Islam, Mohammed held the Jews in high esteem
and even tried to befriend them. Oddly enough, he recognized that
the Jews were God's chosen people and that God had promised them
the Land. The Koran reads, "O Children of Israel! Remember .
that I exalted you above all people" (Sura II, The Cow, v
2:47). The Koran also includes the following statement from Moses
to the Hebrews, "Remember, my people, the favor which Allah
bestowed upon you. He has raised up prophets among you, made you
kings, and given you that which He has given to no other nation
[the Land]. Enter My people, the holy land which Allah has
assigned for you . "(Sura V, The Table Spread, vv 20-21).
These are certainly not politically correct statements today.
When Mohammed was forced to flee Mecca, he went to
Yathrib, later renamed Medina. Yathrib was founded by Jews and
populated by Jews as well as Arabs. He sought to win over the
Jews to his new religion by declaring Moslems should face
Jerusalem when they pray. But when the Jews refused to
acknowledge Mohammed as a prophet, he turned against them and
slaughtered all he could. He then literally did an about face and
declared Moslems should face Mecca to pray. Arabs and Jews have
been in conflict ever since. In spite of Arab propaganda
to the contrary, the Temple Mount is not sacred to Islam. The
Temple Mount is the focus of Islam only when it is not under
Moslem control. Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and the Temple
Mount from 1948-1967. During that time, no Arab leader thought it
important to make Jerusalem an Arab capital and no significant
leader from the Arab world thought it necessary to come to pray
at the mosque. It was only in 1967, when the Jews liberated the
Temple Mount from Arab control that it became the "third
holiest site in Islam."
Myth #3 - The Myth
of Arab Refugees
When Israel became a nation, 800,000 Jewish refugees fled from
the Arab states to Israel. While it took tremendous sacrifice on
the part of the new nation, these refugees, whose land and money
was confiscated by the Arabs, were assimilated in the fledgling
new state and became productive citizens of Israel. The growing
Arab Palestinian population was not as fortunate. Arab
leaders from the neighboring countries declared war against
Israel. They then instructed the Arab Palestinians to flee the
Jewish state until the Jews were annihilated. They then could
return and possess the land. While there is no doubt that Jewish
fighters drove some Arabs away, the Jewish leaders encouraged the
Arabs to stay. The great majority of Arabs were not expelled but
left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier. The hated
"Jewish-Zionists" did not force the Arab Palestinians
to leave. Their own leaders forced them to leave the land. This
created the Arab Palestinian refugee problem. The Arab countries
have refused to assimilate the Arab Palestinians and care for
their needs. Instead, they continue to use them as political
pawns in their struggle against Israel. Promising them
glory, money, and paradise, and I might add CNN cameras, the PLO
and other terrorist organizations have no problem recruiting
young Arab Palestinians to fight the "Zionist" enemy.
In fact, Yasser Arafat conducts youth camps where he teaches
young people how to fight the Jews. He dresses up small children
in uniforms and teaches them how to blow themselves up as
martyrs. And as the whole world now knows, he sends children out
to fight his battles for him. The United Nations Relief
and Works Agency (UNRWA) was given the responsibility of
administrating the refugee problem. The billions of dollars given
by the UNRWA to assist the "refugees" comes primarily
from the American taxpayer. This has become a big business with
thousands profiting from it. No one connected with it has any
interest in ending the plight of the displaced Arab Palestinians.
The real legitimate right of these people is to be assimilated by
the Arab countries from which they initially came.
Myth #4 - The Myth
of Moslem Tolerance
Another of the "big lies" is that that Jews who lived
under Moslem Arab rule before the birth of Israel had harmonious
relations with the Arabs and were treated with dignity and
tolerance. The implication is that if Israel would submit to Arab
rule, the fighting would stop and Moslems, Jews, and Christians
in the Middle East would live happily ever after. Yasser
Arafat has said, "We are not against Jews. On the contrary,
we are all Semites and we have been living with each other in
peace and fraternity. Muslims, Jews and Christians, for many
centuries." But what are the facts? Prior to the time
of Mohammed, Jews and Arabs did live in relative peace with one
another. However, when the Jews rejected Mohammed as a prophet,
he turned against them with a vengeance as seen in his violent
actions against the Jews. His negative attitude is found in the
many hostile comments against Jews in the Koran. The
caliph who succeeded Mohammed was Omar. He produced a document
called the Omar Charter in which he codified the conditions Jews
were to live by under Islamic Arab rule. Here are some of the
conditions of peace and fraternity the Jews enjoyed. Christians
lived under similar restrictions.
1.. Jews were forbidden to
touch the Koran.
2.. Jews were required to wear distinctive clothing.
3.. Jews were required to wear a yellow piece of cloth as
a badge (blue for Christians).
4.. Jews were not allowed to perform their religious
practices in public.
5.. Jews were not allowed to own a horse which was a sign
of a nobleman.
6.. Jews were required to bury their dead without grieving
in public.
7.. Jews were required to pay special taxes.
8.. Jews were not allowed to defend themselves against a
Moslem.
9.. Jews were not allowed to testify against a Moslem.
10.. Jews were forbidden to build new synagogues.
11.. The houses and tombs of Jews were not allowed to be
higher than those of the Moslems.
12.. The graves of Jews had to be level so that anyone
could walk over them.
Throughout the centuries, Jews and Christians living under Islamic rule suffered great persecution and humiliation, the intensity of which was determined by the character of the particular Moslem ruler. Even under relevantly tolerant rule, Jews struggled to survive and lived in constant fear for their lives. So much for brotherly peace and tranquillity. In more modern times, when Jordan illegally occupied East Jerusalem from 1948-1967, all Jewish residents were expelled and barred from the Western Wall. The Jewish quarter, including all fifty-eight synagogues, was destroyed or desecrated. Approximately seventy-five percent of the tombstones on the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives were dismantled and used to serve army latrines. This was done under the rule of King Hussein, the most moderate of the Arab rulers. There is not doubt that an Islamic Palestinian state would turn synagogues and churches into mosques and expel Jews and Christians or force them into a life of fear and humiliation. Does the Christian world really want Arafat to control the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the empty tomb and Manger Square? Does the Jewish world really want Arafat to control the Temple Mount, the Mount of Olives and the Old City? Do Jews and Christians in Israel and in America really want to live under Islamic rule?
Myth #5 - The Myth
of Yasser Arafat
One of the greatest myths is the myth of Yasser Arafat. To
understand the deception of Yasser Arafat, we must look briefly
at the situation in pre-Israel Palestine during the British
Mandate. The moral of this story is that those who do not know
history are doomed to repeat it. At the end of the First
World War, Britain was given the mandate to administer Palestine.
The British government appointed Sir Herbert Samuel, a British
Jew, as Palestine High Commissioner. Sir Herbert Samuel arrived
in Palestine on July 1, 1920. Unfortunately, history tell us that
Sir Herbert was a weak administrator who was all to ready to
compromise for what he thought was for the sake of peace.
Perhaps because he was a Jew, and not wanting to appear partial,
Sir Herbert appeased the extremist, nationalistic Arab minority
led by a violent, fanatical zealot named Haj Amin al-Husseini.
Husseini was from a prominent Arab Palestinian family who were
fervent Anti-Zionists. The British had earlier imprisoned
Husseini for instigating an Arab attack against Jews who were
praying at the Western Wall. A crisis that would have
lasting consequences occurred in 1921 when the existing Arab
Mufti (religious leader) died. Due to influence by anti-Zionist
British officials on his staff, Sir Herbert released Husseini
from prison and appointed him as the new Mufti, even elevating
him to the title of Grand Mufti. He became the religious and
political leader of the Arabs. Husseini was only in his
mid-twenties at this time, but he already had a history of
violence against Jews. Husseini was the first proponent of
militant, Arab Palestinian nationalism. He was an all or nothing
terrorist who was determined to drive out or destroy the Jews or
be destroyed himself, regardless of how many lives were wasted in
the process. Once he was in power, he began a campaign of terror
and intimidation against anyone opposed to his rule and policies.
He not only killed Jews but also Arabs who did not support his
campaign of violence. Husseini was not willing to negotiate or
make any kind of compromise for the sake of peace. Once
again we turn to Winston Churchill who tried to reason with the
Arabs with the Western understanding of "give and take"
so that all parties would have at least some of their demands
satisfied. Churchill noted that the Arabs refused to negotiate
but came to the "peace talks" thinking they could give
nothing while expecting the other side to make huge concessions
with no guarantees that the concessions would lead to peace. He
was baffled that the Arabs were unwilling to offer even one
percent in order to get ninety-nine percent. They had no
consideration of the claims and needs of others, but only their
own. Many moderate Arabs fled Palestine out of fear of
Husseini. He raised the stakes of the Arab-Jewish conflict and
took control away from the more moderate Arabs who desired to
live in peace with the Jews. Mainly because of him, attempts to
establish peaceful relations between Arabs and Jews came to an
end. He plunged the Arab world into a political and religious
"jihad" against the Jewish people that set the course
for the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. Husseini
instigated bloody riots against the Jews in 1920-1921 and again
in 1929. In 1929, Husseini concocted a story that the Jews
praying at the Western Wall were taking over the Al-Aqsua Mosque.
Sound familiar? He massacred the Jews at the Wall. This triggered
a riot by Arabs in Hebron. On the Sabbath of August 24, Arabs
murdered sixty-seven Jewish men, women and children in Hebron and
destroyed the synagogues. This violent action brought an end to a
Jewish presence in Hebron that had been there for thousands of
years. He saw Hitler's "final solution to the Jewish
problem" as the answer to his own desire to eliminate the
presence of Jews in Palestine. Husseini imported Nazi influence
into Palestine and used Nazi funds to finance his terrorist
activities. He openly supported Hitler and Mussolini and led a
revolt against the British in 1936-1939. He was forced to flee to
Iraq where he cooperated with the Nazis in a failed coup attempt
against the British. He then fled to Germany where, in November
of 1941, he was greeted with open arms by Hitler himself.
Husseini was known as the "Arab Fuhrer." He used his
program on Radio Berlin to exhort the Arabs in the Middle East to
murder the Jews in a holy war that pleased Allah. While at the
same time, he prodded the Nazis to further zeal in completing
their "final solution to the Jewish problem." In one
instance, he learned that Adolf Eichman intended to swap
thousands of Jewish children for German POWs. His protest forced
Eichman to cancel the swap, resulting in the children being sent
to death camps in Poland. On another occasion, Husseini traveled
to Bosnia where he recruited Bosnian Moslems for the SS. They
slaughtered ninety percent of Bosnia's Jews. The only condition
Husseini set for assisting the Nazis was that, after they won the
war, they would murder all the Jews in Palestine. After the war
was over, Husseini fled to Cairo where he was given a heroes
welcome. During the war, Arab Nazi parties were founded
throughout the Middle East. The most influential one was
"Young Egypt" which was established in 1933. Young
Egypt imitated the Nazi party in their ideology, slogans,
processionals, and anti-Semitic actions. When the war was over, a
member of Young Egypt named Gamal Abdul Nasser led the coup in
1952 that overthrew the Egyptian government. He made Egypt a safe
haven for Nazi war criminals and, in 1964, he established the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Eventually the
leadership of the PLO was taken over by a man named Rahman Abdul
Rauf al-Qudwa al-Husseini. Al-Husseini was a nephew and great
admirer of Uncle Haj Amin al-Husseini. He was born in Cairo in
1929 and grew up in the Gaza strip. His mother, Hamida, was a
cousin of the Grand Mufti. Due to internal Arab strife, his
father Abdul Rauf al-Qudwa was forced to flee Gaza where the
family took refuge in Egypt. Al-Husseini's cousin is
Faisal al-Husseini who is the grandson of Haj Amin al-Husseini
and the PLO representative in Jerusalem who has directed attacks
on the Jews praying at the Western Wall. When Rahman Abdul Rauf
al-Qudwa al-Husseini enrolled at the University of Cairo in 1951,
he decided to conceal his true identity and registered under the
name "Yasser Arafat." Yes, Uncle Haj, the Arab
Fuhrer himself, passed his legacy of hatred of Jews to his nephew
Yasser Arafat who has passed the same legacy of hatred to the
next generation of young Arabs. Through the PLO, he seeks to
further the Arab Nazi goal of eliminating the Jews from the Land.
However, like his notorious uncle, Yasser Arafat will fail, and
after he has passed from the scene, the Israeli flag will still
be flying high over Jerusalem, the eternal, undivided capital of
Israel.
Richard Booker
Sounds of the Trumpet
Institute for Hebraic/Christian Studies
8230 Birchglenn Lane
Houston, TX 77707
218-469-1045
shofarprb@aol.com
http://www.rbooker.com
Cheryle and Tom Holeman
HaY'Did Learning Center
http://www.haydid.org
PO Box 804
Independence, KS 67301
(316) 331-7712 "To train, educate and equip for
study, both the Jew and the Non-Jew in the rich Hebraic Biblical
heritage of the Bible."
"You do not support the roots, but the root supports
you." Romans 8:18
shalom@haydid.org or choleman@terraworld.net