What Is the History of Israel?

Parents who teach correct history to their children can strengthen their families, communities, and nations. The land of Israel is at war with Hamas, the terrorist organization that has taken over the Palestinian area of Israel. Last Saturday morning, Hamas attacked Israel and massacred more than 1,300 Israelis, and Israel has been fighting back for the past week.

One of the reasons for the attack is the hatred of the Palestinians for the Jewish people. Iranians, Palestinians, and other Muslims are trying to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth. The hatred comes from being taught lies for history. Seth Grossman gave the following thirteen basic facts to help us to defend Israel. 

I. Until 1964, the word “Palestinian” rarely described Arabs who once lived in Israel. That was when KGB Agents of Communist Russia created and funded a terrorist group called the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)….

II. “Palestine” was never an Arab nation. Until the Roman Empire crushed a Jewish revolt there in the year 132, the land was known as Israel, Judah, or Judea….

III. Israel or Palestine was ruined and mostly empty after the Jewish revolt. The Arabs and Turks did little to rebuild its cities or irrigation canals….

IV. Starting in the mid-1800s, Jews from Europe and elsewhere in the Middle East began moving back. They bought land from Arab and Turkish absentee owners who had no interest in living there. For the next 90 years, Jews rebuilt cities, roads, and irrigation canals. They drained swamps, watered deserts, and planted trees and crops. As Jews made the land prosperous again, thousands of Arabs form Egypt, Syria, and other nearby countries moved there.

V. After World War One, the British and French carved new nations out of the defeated Ottoman Empire. In 1920, they created Lebanon for persecuted Christians. In 1921, they divided the Turkish province of Palestine. Eastern or “Transjordan” Palestine became an Arab kingdom. Palestine west of the Jordan River was set aside for settlement of Jews. More Jew bought empty land and moved there. By 1948, there were roughly one million Arabs, 600,000 Jews, and 160 Christians and Druze living in that part of Palestine.

VI. In 1947, the British granted independence to India. British India was mostly Hindu but had a large Muslim minority. To avoid conflict, the British allowed regions with Muslim majorities to form the new Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan, which included what is now Bangladesh….

VII. In 1948, the United Nations equally divided the “Jewish National Home” part of Palestine between Jews and Arabs. The Jews accepted what they were given as their State of Israel. The Arabs in Palestine rejected statehood. They instead invaded Israel with the help of armies from five neighboring Arab countries. After a year of bitter fighting, Jews had control of roughly three fourths of western Palestine. In 1949, all parties agreed to a ceasefire. The lines where the fighting stopped became the “Green Line” borders of Israel.

VIII. During and after that 1948 war, there was a population transfer for Israel like that of India. Roughly 700,000 Arabs moved from mostly Jewish Israel to Arab parts of Palestine and other Arab countries. Roughly 700,000 Jews left Arab Palestine and other Arab countries and moved to Jewish Israel.

IX. The original 1948 “partition” boundaries between Jews and Arabs could work only if there were peace and cooperation between the two. When the Arabs chose war, Jews needed a nation with “defensible borders” ….

X. The war in Gaza is part of a global war between an alliance of militant Islam and communists on one side, and Judeo-Christian Western civilization on the other.

XI. Islam began as an aggressive warrior religion 1,400 years ago. In just 50 years, Mohammed and his followers destroyed and occupied the powerful Persian Empire. They also occupied most of the Greek Byzantine Empire. Then they took North Africa and Spain away from what was left of the Roman Empire. The Koran, the holy book of Islam, has many contradictions and is difficult to understand. However, it clearly declares that Mohammed was God’s final prophet and that his words (hadith) and deeds (Sunna) must be followed. Many Muslim scholars teach that Mohammed allowed peace and respect for non-believers. However, three influential sects do not. They are the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, the Deoband school in India that inspired the Taliban, and the ayatollahs of Iran. Followers of those three branches are behind most attacks and murders of Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists today. We need an information campaign to push back against them.

XII. Communists worked closely with militant Muslims for many years….

XIII. Finally, Israel, America, and the West all made many strategic and tactical military mistakes during the past 40 years. However, our moral sins are more troubling. We abandoned and betrayed countless friends who tried to help us. They included most of the people in Iran who love both America and Israel. They included pro-American Shias in Iraq like Ayatollah Sayyid Abdul Majid Al-Kohei, who was murdered in 2003. Israel also shamefully abandoned and betrayed its friends and allies. They include its Christian and Shia allies in Lebanon and thousands of Arabs in Gaza who risked their lives to warn Jews of planned attacks. We must quickly repent and change our ways.

Knowing the history of Israel can help us to defend Israel from the lies being spread. Knowing American history can help us to defend against the secret combinations trying to destroy the United States and its Constitution. The schools are no longer teaching correct history. Therefore, parents must study and learn history and teach it to their children. By doing so, they will be influential in strengthening families, communities, and nations.