‘Land for peace’ deal continues to reap bitter harvest

With Israel now on a war footing after Gaza-based terrorists rain down more rockets on the Jewish state, we can anticipate yet more bloodshed in the ongoing conflict.

It appears that patience in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has finally run out, with ferocious rioting on its southern border showing no sign of abating and a rocket destroying a home in the city of Beersheva. Now, residents from southern Israeli communities are taking to the streets to protest what they perceive as government failure to deal with the situation.¹

It is four years since the ‘Protective Edge’ engagement which severely blunted Hamas’ firepower. Now I hear that tanks are moving into position to launch a fresh attack on the terrorists, who have been firing rockets into Israel on a regular basis ever since the latter’s reluctant 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

That was when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon caved in to international pressure by agreeing to pull out as part of a ‘land for peace’ deal. And what peace did it bring? It only served to embolden Israel’s enemies all the more. They took advantage of what Arabs would generally perceive as weakness (i.e. negotiated compromise) by using the Palestinian-led enclave as a launch-pad for missiles to destroy Israel – or ‘wipe it off the map’, as their slogan goes.

Returning Refugees?

For several years following the 2014 war, the IDF kept a relatively low profile in a bid to contain the conflict while the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted many rockets bound for Sderot and other southern Israeli towns. But back in spring this year, a new tactic was devised in the shape of the so-called ‘March of Return’, in which rioters have descended en masse on the border fence demanding ‘re-entry’ as refugees allegedly forced out of the country.

Their status as ‘refugees’, backed by the United Nations, is entirely bogus and based on the claim of descending from the 700,000 Arabs who were panicked into leaving Israel in 1948 by the surrounding Arab nations. Instead of Arabs and Jews living together and sharing the land as intended in the Balfour Declaration, these 700,000 left at the orders of Jordan, Egypt and Syria, who promised they would be able to return once the new-born Jewish state had been defeated – which they fully expected.

For several years following the 2014 war, the IDF kept a relatively low profile in a bid to contain the conflict – until spring of this year and the so-called ‘March of Return’.

Of course, that never happened. Since then, though Israel’s enemies could easily have absorbed these refugees into their combined vast territories, they have been cynically used as pawns in a sick political game designed to make Israel look like an uncaring bully. And yet a similar number of Jews, who had really been forced to leave Arab states at the same time, were quickly absorbed into the Jewish state with no fuss or bother.

Meanwhile generations of descendants of these unfortunate Arabs would subsequently claim not only to inherit refugee status – uniquely in the world – but also Palestinian nationality, though no such state or people existed in 1948. If anything, it was a case of stolen identity as it was the region’s Jews who were known as Palestinians at the time of the British Mandate.

The UN had in the meantime set up a body to look after the needs of these Arab ‘refugees’ (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – UNRWA) at the cost of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money in America and elsewhere. Thankfully, President Trump has the measure of this bogus body and has begun to cut US funding.

Terrorists Smell Blood

See Photo Credits.

Every Friday for the past seven months, when Jewish people are getting ready for their weekly Shabbat (Sabbath) day of rest, thousands of Gaza-based Palestinians have answered calls from terror group Hamas to put their lives on the line with violent protests. Tactics have included throwing Molotov cocktails, flying burning kites and balloons packed with explosives, and from time to time causing further mayhem by blasting holes in the fence and charging into Israeli territory uninvited.

Then they wonder why they get shot at by soldiers called to protect their citizens from waves of terror which have left many dead and caused considerable damage to crops and property. Hamas claims it as a ‘peaceful protest’ but this is yet another lie because the rioters are hired.

They smell blood – and the opportunity for ‘martyrdom’, or suicide. This is what has been drummed into them – through school education and the media – much as British children are brainwashed by LGBTQ+ propaganda. Israeli soldiers, by contrast, are taught to value life, based upon the Bible which teaches that life is sacred. ‘Thou shalt not kill’ is among the Ten Commandments, the basic laws by which they live and conduct the nation’s affairs.

While Israeli soldiers have been taught to value life, Hamas’s ‘martyrs’ are brainwashed to value bloodshed and suicide.

Calling Evil Good

Brutality and dishonesty is a defining portrait of many of Israel’s enemies. Saudi Arabia, though currently an unofficial ally of the Jewish state due to their common enemy Iran, also fits this description, as you will no doubt have noticed from the shocking assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Though Khashoggi was himself ‘no angel’, being an Islamist sympathiser and fervently anti-Israel, the tangled web of deceit being weaved by the Saudi authorities desperately trying to cover their tracks is as farcical as it is tragic. Yet our political left-wingers would rather focus on the supposed injustices committed by tiny Israel while dissenters in neighbouring states face summary execution.

There are at least 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi, where torture chambers abound and where beheadings as well as crucifixions take place.² And yet we ingratiate ourselves with them. The Crown Prince, now under fire over the Khashoggi scandal was given the red carpet treatment in Britain earlier this year.

Mindful of all the injustices we are seeing, particularly in the Middle East, my wife and I were encouraged on our recent train journey to London to see Bible Society posters on the stations quoting the words of Isaiah: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isa 5:20).

References

1 World Israel News, 29 October 2018.

2 Daily Mail, 22 October 2018.

God is doing wonderful things!

We are delighted to bring you another update from Mark van Niekerk, a South African evangelist who has been partnering with believers in Iraq and Kurdistan to spread the Gospel, amid difficult and dangerous circumstances. Read on and be inspired!

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Dear family in Yeshua,

Once again I’ve been privileged to visit an area of the world very few manage to get to. If truth be told, without us knowing of someone going there and hearing about the people and their circumstances, we’d be none the wiser. I’m deeply conscious of the enormous privilege I have in being called to the Muslims of Kurdistan along with suffering Christian and Muslim refugees of the Nineveh Plains. Is there a place more needing of the good news, the great balm of Gilead, than the land where Jonah was sent and where Nahum served the Lord?

This was my third visit, each time flying into Irbil in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq known as Kurdistan. The ‘work’ in Iraq has pretty much settled into three different areas:

1. The Kurds living in the border region with Iran
   
2. Refugees in Irbil
   
3. Returning refugees and Muslim inhabitants of the Nineveh Plains

There is nothing easy about evangelism in this part of the world. Great care needs to be taken at all times. The costs of leaving Islam remain high - Shariah shows no mercy to apostates. Even though many Kurds are leaving Islam they are not necessarily all turning to the God of Scripture. Some who have turned to Messiah are bold enough, while others, understandably, remain cautious.

A young Peshmerga widow asking about the Jesus at a food distribution. I’m not sure we in the West can fully grasp the enormity of leaving a cloistered, structured and familial society to follow Messiah. An interesting aspect is this: it seems for the most part that it is the men who are coming to faith, while the women hold back. They are no doubt acutely aware of their close family ties and tribal identity which will be negatively impacted by any serious decision to follow Jesus. We need to be praying particularly for the wives of believers.

Coming together is not easy as groups of Christians draw unnecessary attention. Consequently, larger gatherings are held in the privacy of the mountains. Every single night we had visitors, both young and old, who came to meet with us to discuss Scripture. Bibles were handed out to all who asked. Peshmerga widows, a Mullah and numerous men took Bibles. It’s truly an incredible experience to hear a knock on the door at midnight and find men asking for a Bible! It reminded me of Nicodemus.

I’m not sure we in the West can fully grasp the enormity of leaving a cloistered, structured and familial society to follow Messiah.

A meeting with a brother who we visited on the way to Iran was hugely inspiring. He is taking Bibles into Iran regularly where he tells us home groups are exploding.

Writing in bibles destined for Iran. So, on to Irbil. Those fleeing from the marauding ISIS on the Nineveh Plains headed straight to Irbil as their closest place of relative security. They have languished here for four years in various refugee camps spread throughout the city and other Kurdish cities. All camps are divided into religions, Christians and Muslims. None are mixed. Tens of thousands were housed here.

The latest refugees arriving in Irbil are those driven out by the chaos in Syria. Those we met have left for good and seek asylum in any country that will take them.

We had daily meetings at the fellowship of a local pastor. He has been an incredible servant these four years, reaching out with food supplies and the Gospel to the cultural ‘Christians’ (mostly from Chaldean Catholic backgrounds). This group of people are so desperately in need of the Gospel. The notion of these Christians being beheaded by ISIS, literally going as sheep to the slaughter, is haunting. It would appear that most of them were proud of their Christian heritage and culture and were willing to die for it - as opposed to being born-again believers laying their lives down for Christ. This is deeply disturbing – but thankfully we serve a God who is able to know the hearts of all men and who we know judges righteously.

Messages to this ancient Christian community always include the need for God’s saving grace by faith. A works-based righteousness ethic remains entrenched. The Gospel is sneered at and attacked by bishops and priests. Their power is abusive and their spirit controlling. They are no doubt in the character of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned for shutting up Heaven to those wanting to enter.

In one camp, Syrians were flooding in literally minutes before I was privileged to address them. It is not easy delivering a message to a people already broken - mentally, emotionally, financially - and yet we know this is the message that gives hope. I’ve truly sensed the suffering of Messiah, to some degree, when speaking to these people. They too need to appreciate that the Lord enters into these trials with them.

It’s truly an incredible experience to hear a knock on the door at midnight and find men asking for a Bible.

After we left I was told the man sitting next to me was a member of ISIS, himself living in fear of being executed. While in this camp he cannot be arrested, but will be the minute he steps outside. Many of these murderers are back in their communities. They fled cities like Mosul with the liberated inhabitants. All they needed to do was shave their beards, change their clothing and merge in with those leaving.

Muslim women in refugee camp who have lost everything to ISIS - including husbands and children. One group of women were all open to listening to the Gospel. While we visited them three men walked in and sat down. The wife had immediately left once they entered and the conversation was stilted with these intruders. After a few minutes evaluating this new situation, a brother entered the tent and told us to get up and follow. We were leaving. The wife had told him they did not know who these men were and there was possible danger. They had obviously seen us walking around the camp and had caught up with us to hear what we were saying. It was not the first time this had happened to us. But this is life in a world that does not know Messiah.

I left this ancient land, which has been so torn apart, feeling burdened for this people I’ve come to know and love. There is so much to do and there is great need. I’ve realised major players can only do so much. Someone like myself with individuals supporting, along with one or two churches, can truly have a major impact – and just our encouragement, our going and being with them, means a great deal. Paul speaks so much about encouraging the brethren in Scripture. It’s an honour to do this.

I believe it’s the Lord’s will I continue supporting these brave men and women. Your support is invaluable and greatly appreciated. Again, I do not personally take any money for ministry; our business covers my costs. Finances that have been raised have gone towards provision of food and household materials, kerosene for widows and orphans during the winter, the purchase of Bibles, urgent medical needs and financial aid for Christian families in dire need.

I also value your prayers. I am under no illusion that this is your average mission. I’m desperately in need of being bathed in prayer, not only for my safety, but for those turning to the Lord from Islam who continue to live in these hostile conditions.

Thanking you all in Messiah Yeshua, who alone sustains us and enables us to serve him.

Mark van Niekerk

Additional Information

If you would like to give towards Mark’s work in Kurdistan, please make a direct payment to Prophecy Today (details below) and include the instruction ‘Kurdistan’ – we will collect the gifts and send them directly. Please do not give via our Paypal account – Paypal will take a cut!

Bank transfer details: Prophecy Today Ltd / Account Number: 19560260 / Sort Code: 77-66-03

Please click here and here to read previous updates about the mission work in Kurdistan.

Below, from left to right: Muslim refugee camp where we sat with Islamic fighters of ISIS and their families / A Muslim family who invited us to come and speak to them (this is nothing less than a work of God’s Spirit!) / Distribution to Syrian refugees / Our gracious hosts in Kurdistan - please pray for them.

Our leaders have a veil over their eyes.

Up to 50,000 people attempted to break through the border between Gaza and Israel this week according to press reports. Their use of smoke and mirrors, petrol bombs, incendiary kites and other weapons must have been a terrifying experience for the tiny detachment of Israeli part-time soldiers guarding the border to protect Israeli citizens from slaughter.

But far from giving a factual picture of events, the BBC, The Guardian and others¹ poured out their anti-Semitic invective against Israel.

The BBC had been preparing for this event for a long time and sent some of their senior reporters to give maximum cover to criticise Israel. In the event there was no breakthrough and no massacre.

Though each life lost is a heart-rending matter, it is to the credit of those defending the border that relatively few died, and most casualties were known terrorists. Hamas called off the protest the next day after Egyptian intervention; but not before they achieved their objective of getting anti-Israel propaganda into the Western media and calling for a UN enquiry - even at the expense of lives of their own people.

The Creation of the Gazan Refugees

The whole Gaza issue is tragic, both for the people who live there and for Israel. But it has been deliberately created as the front line in the drive to destroy Israel. The Palestinians themselves are despised by the Arab nations. Before they were brought together in the 1960s, there never was a Palestinian nation.

Historically, before the Jewish resettlement began in the early 20^th Century, Palestine was a largely barren land. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica 1900, there were less than 100 trees in the whole of Palestine with a sparse population of nomadic Arabs living in tents, whose goats ate every bit of vegetation. The absentee land-owning Arabs were only too willing to sell land to the Jews in those days.

The whole Gaza issue is tragic, but it has been deliberately created as the front line in the drive to destroy Israel.

When the state of Israel was created in 1948 the neighbouring states of Jordan, Egypt and Syria combined their armies, ordered any non-Jewish residents to leave their homes and go to two newly created refugee camps at Jericho and Gaza so that their forces could clear the land and drive the Jews into the Mediterranean. What they now call their ‘catastrophe’ was the failure of their armies to defeat the tiny group of Holocaust survivors who, in successive conflicts, went on to retake Jerusalem and to clear the whole land of foreign fighters.

With 70 years and a high birthrate the dreadful conditions in Gaza have been created by the Arab nations, who could easily have solved the situation by taking in the Palestinians. But even the small groups who succeeded in crossing the River Jordan and settling in Jordan and Syria were never accepted and today live in separate enclaves, denied citizenship. This is the measure of hypocrisy among the Arab nations who simply use the West Bank and Gaza situations for political purposes – in their drive to destroy Israel.

Leaders Without Knowledge

The Gaza issue was debated in the House of Commons this week with the usual mixture of anti-Israel and friendly comments. I was particularly disappointed to hear Alistair Burt, Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East, whom I’ve counted among my friends for the past 25 years, making a politically-correct bland statement.

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned Israel's activity at the Gaza border. See Photo Credits.As a Bible-believing evangelical brother I was hoping that he would put some backbone into the Foreign Office and declare that the time has come for Britain to implement the policy it advocated 100 years ago in the Balfour Declaration and move the British Embassy up to Jerusalem, alongside that of the USA.

But postmodernism, with its Darwinian and Marxist roots, has not only driven radical change to the social and personal values of the nation, but has spread a veil over the eyes of the leaders of both Church and state, so that they are unable to perceive the truth. They are like the leaders whom the Prophet Isaiah referred to as ‘blind watchmen’ who “all lack knowledge” (Isa 56:10). They cannot see the big picture because they do not understand the purposes of God and what is happening in the world today.

Postmodernism has spread a veil over the eyes of the leaders of both Church and state, so they are unable to perceive the truth.

Our leaders are part of a generation of biblical eunuchs: they have no understanding of the ways of God because they have turned their backs upon the word of God. For years we have been living upon the spiritual capital of our 19^th Century Victorian Bible-believing forefathers; but it is not enough to support us today, as the world moves onto the cusp of the most incredible period of turmoil since the creation of the world. There is a desperate need for people to hear the word of God before it is too late.

Coming Judgment

In the spring of 1986 there was a gathering of men and women with prophetic insight who met in Israel for a time of prayer and seeking God, to understand what is happening in the world today. One day I was standing alone with Lance Lambert on the top of Mt Carmel looking up at a remarkable sight I’d never seen before, of a complete rainbow encircling the sun; although Lance said it’s not unusual in Israel. We both received words which we shared with others in the evening meeting.

I was led to the prophecy in Haggai 2:6:

This is what the Lord Almighty says: in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty.

I said that the USSR, the mighty communist empire that appeared all-powerful in 1986, would very soon collapse. Three weeks later the Chernobyl nuclear power station blew up which began the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

That same evening Lance Lambert gave one of the most remarkable prophecies of our time. He said:

It will not be long before there will come upon the world a time of unparalleled upheaval and turmoil. Do not fear for it is I the Lord who am shaking all things. I began this shaking with the First World War and I greatly increased it through the Second World War. Since 1973 I have given it an even greater impetus. In the last stage, I plan to complete it with the shaking of the universe itself, with signs in the sun and moon and stars. But before that point is reached, I will judge the nations, and the time is near.

It will not only be by war and civil war, by anarchy and terrorism, and by monetary collapses that I will judge the nations, but also by natural disasters: by earthquakes, by shortages and famines, and by old and new plague diseases. I will also judge them by giving them over to their own ways, to lawlessness, to loveless selfishness, to delusion and to believing a lie, to false religion and an apostate church, even to a Christianity without me.

Our leaders are part of a generation of biblical eunuchs: they have no understanding of the ways of God because they have turned their backs upon the word of God.

Need for the Word of God

This next stage in the history of the world has now been reached. Most of the nations of the world are conspiring to hate Israel, as foretold in the word of God: “Come, they say, let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more” (Ps 83:4).

The Prophet Zechariah received a revelation that the day would come when the focus of the world would be upon Jerusalem. He said:

This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel…I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure [rupture] themselves.

Never has there been a greater need for biblical truth to be brought into the affairs of the nations than today, with the nations armed with weapons capable of destroying the world and driven by a spirit of hatred and destruction.

Jeremiah foresaw the fall of the mighty Babylonian Empire and that Babylon would become “a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals” (Jer 51:37), as it is today. So, in our lifetime, unless the nations of the world study the word of God and bring their policies in line with his truth, they will create a catastrophe that will engulf the world.

The great question is: – Will the Bible-believing faithful remnant in the Western nations break their silence and declare the word of the Lord to bring life and light to this generation, and hope for our children and grandchildren?

Notes

1 For further information on this, we recommend UK Media Watch, a watchdog seeking to hold the British media to account for their biased treatment of Israel.

An excerpt from Sandra Teplinsky’s book ‘Why Still Care About Israel’. Part I of II.

Last week on Prophecy Today UK we reviewed ‘Why Still Care About Israel’ as part of our ongoing coverage of Israel’s 70^th anniversary. This week, we are pleased to bring you the first of a two-part excerpt from this book (taken from chapter 10), focusing particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Please see the base of the page for more information about the author. Reprinted with permission.

 Israeli Statehood and the Arab/Palestinian Plight

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2

A true story opens on May 14, 1948, as the Jewish people prepare to declare a state. The air is electric. After two thousand years of exile, the sons and daughters of Jacob have come home. High-pitched excitement circles the globe.

That morning, Israel's founding father and first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, pores over maps showing the array of Arab armies poised to attack. The Jews are outnumbered 100 to 1.¹ “I feel like a mourner at a wedding," he writes in his diary.²

In a few hours Ben-Gurion will deliver Israel’s Declaration of Independence. He scribbles down notes for his speech on the only writing material at hand - sheets of toilet paper.^a

At exactly 4:00pm, he steps to the podium in an overcrowded hall in Tel Aviv, before a hushed audience. This is the moment for which millions of Jews have lived and died. As Ben-Gurion reads the Israeli Declaration of Independence, those present cling to his every word. He speaks of Bible history and the Jews’ undying hope to return to their ancestral home. Then with prophetic clarity Ben-Gurion decrees: “By virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people…we hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called the State of Israel…for the fulfillment of the dream of generations—the redemption of Israel.”

At once, cheers and tears resound. Golda Meir, who would later serve as prime minister, cannot stop crying. Her sobs, she explains, are for the many who should have been there, but are no more.³ According to the nation’s chief rabbi, “The dawn of redemption has broken.”⁴

As the Jewish people prepare to declare a state, the air is electric. After two thousand years of exile, the sons and daughters of Jacob have come home. High-pitched excitement circles the globe.

Euphoria erupts in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where traffic stops as streets swell with singing and dancing. But the party is soon interrupted. Sirens wail to warn of Egyptian bombers overhead. Joining them are the armies of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, together with militants from throughout the Arab world. All have a common goal: to annihilate the Jewish state in Allah’s name.⁵ The War of Independence has begun. Happy birthday, Israel.

Since 1948, tomes have been written on the history of Israel’s restoration, and the Islamist/Arab/Palestinian resistance against it. Time and space permit us to summarise only basic facts (for more detail, please refer to the notes at www.whystillcareaboutisrael.com). I think you will discover a surprising perspective on today’s conflict emerges when you consider the context from which it arose. You will see that Israel is not so much in a fight for land as for her life - and that changes everything.

Palestinian History: The Back Story

In the first century AD, Israel was renamed Palestine by the Romans who conquered her. This was done in derisive remembrance of the Jews’ former - and extinct - enemy, the Philistines. The Philistines had by then already died out, so despite the similarity in name, they are not related to the Palestinians of today.^b Collectively, Palestinians have no traceable ancient tie to the land of Israel and never identified as a self-governing people group. Like other Arabs in the Middle East, most of their ancestors dwelt as scattered family tribes on lands they often did not personally own. Generally, they coexisted alongside Jews who had, in small numbers, lived in Palestine since biblical times on inherited or legally purchased land.⁶ But periodically, Islamic terror would erupt⁷ and jihadi expropriation of Jewish real estate took place.⁸

From the 1500s up until World War I, the entire Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, a type of Muslim caliphate. No autonomous Arab state was on the map; most Arabs belonged to nomadic tribes wandering all over the Middle East.^c At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Jews also lived in the region under Ottoman rule. According to a census taken in 1882, approximately 25,000 of them lived in Palestine, along with 260,000 Arabs.⁹ As tourists and pilgrims testified, Palestine was by then mostly desolate and depopulated,¹⁰ a far cry from the land of milk and honey it had once been for millions of Jews.

Israel is not so much in a fight for land as for her life - and that changes everything.

By the early 1900s, Palestinian Arab identity was said to be extremely mixed.¹¹ Persons counted as indigenous Palestinian Arabs included ethnic Balkans, Greeks, Syrians, Latins, Turks, Armenians, Italians, Persians, Kurds, Germans, Afghans, Circassians, Bosnians, Sudanese, Samaritans, Algerians, Tartars and others.¹² An official British document published in 1920 stated the majority of people living in Palestine were not indigenous Arabs but only Arabic-speaking.¹³

When Zionist pioneers began arriving in the early twentieth century, the number of Arabs immigrating to Palestine also sharply increased. With Jews from the West came new job opportunities, vastly improved medical care and a higher standard of living, all of which attracted their tribal neighbors.¹⁴ Once inside Israel, most Arab immigrants continued living as bedouin, built simple villages or served for decades as tenants on farmlands owned by others. Later, countless more poured in from surrounding countries - not to carry on normal lives but to fight the formation of a Jewish state.¹⁵ Together with the small indigenous Arab population, these individuals and their descendants comprise the Palestinian people of today.

Palestinians are not, as some have rather unkindly said, “an invented people". They are flesh-and-blood human beings created in God’s image, with inherent dignity and worth. Though most of their ancestors came from across the Middle East and even beyond, they did form an identifiable collective by the mid-twentieth century. Palestinians are not the first people group formed by the force of history. They are, however, the only modern group whose creation and self-definition, as one Palestinian journalist writes,¹⁶ rests largely on the planned elimination of another, namely Israel - or as they prefer to call her, “the Zionist entity."

Zionism and the Reestablishment of a Jewish State

Zionism is defined, in a broad secular sense, as the national liberation movement of the Jewish people. The Zionist movement contends that the Jewish nation, like every other indigenous people, is entitled to live autonomously in its ancestral homeland. As such, Zionism cannot be viewed as something separate from the Jewish people and nation-state. To be anti-Zionist is akin to being anti-Israel and, to a degree, anti-Jewish.

Zionism is not and has never been entirely secular; a strong religious element has always underlain it.^d Officially launched in 1896, modern-day Zionism involves the return of the Jewish people to their God-given ancestral homeland.^e The name of the movement derives from the Bible, where Zion is used over 150 times. “You will arise and have compassion on Zion; for it is time to show favour to her; the appointed time has come…For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory” (Psalm 102:13, 16). Zionism precipitates His Kingdom glory.

Palestinians are not the first people group formed by the force of history. They are, however, the only modern group whose creation and self-definition rests largely on the planned elimination of another, namely Israel.

In rebuilding Zion, Sovereign God has worked through nations and human beings. The modern story starts with World War I, when the Ottoman Turks aligned with Axis nations, and collectively they lost the war. As a result, the Allies dismantled the Ottoman Empire and created Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq for the Arabs and Persians to inhabit.^f In an international agreement known as the San Remo Resolution of 1920, they set Palestine aside for the Jews.^g Great Britain was made responsible for implementing the resolution by unanimous vote of the League of Nations, predecessor organisation to the UN. The League of Nations directive, called the Mandate for Palestine, reserved explicitly for the Jews not just present-day Israel, but all of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Jordan.¹⁷

The Mandate for Palestine was scarcely issued when Palestinian Arabs began rioting and conducting terror operations in protest of it. The deadly terror had nothing to do with occupation, settlements or allegedly disproportionate military force. From the beginning, Islamic terror had everything to do with opposing the existence of a Jewish state.

In an effort to appease Palestinian Arabs - and although international law forbade such an action^h - Great Britain unilaterally took back 78 percent of the land allotted to the Jews. She then gave it to Palestinian Arabs—specifically to create a Palestinian state. Today that state is known as Jordan. Palestinian Arabs were expected to move to Jordan, and any Jews living in Jordan would relocate to the 22 percent of land remaining from the San Remo and Mandatory allotments. A smaller section of land in the Golan Heights, originally designated for the Jews, was also given away by Britain to Syria. But appeasement did not work - which we would do well to remember. Those who forget history, it is said, are doomed to repeat it. The acts we engage in for appeasement today, Britain’s Winston Churchill presciently forewarned, we will have to remedy at far greater cost and remorse tomorrow.¹⁸

Not surprisingly, after Jordan was established, Palestinian rioting and terror killings of Jews persisted.ⁱ An exasperated Great Britain finally turned the political foray over to the UN (when the League of Nations failed to prevent World War II, the UN was formed to replace it). The UN’s charter required that it adopt all laws and resolutions passed by the League of Nations. So when it inherited the Mandate for Palestine, the UN became responsible for creating a Jewish state.

As you can see, plans for the reestablishment of Israel were underway well before the onset of World War II. Israel’s right to exist by international law is not fundamentally based on the Nazi Holocaust, as compelling a cause as that is from a humanitarian point of view. Certainly, the Holocaust demonstrated the need for a Jewish state to protect Jewish lives. But if we believe Israel’s right to exist is rooted in a compassionate response to the Holocaust, when that compassion wears off, so will our belief that Israel has a right to exist. Israel’s fundamental right to exist under international law rests on the recognition of the Jews’ ancestral, sovereign control over identifiable land that, since their forced removal from it, remained sparsely occupied and mostly undeveloped.

Israel’s right to exist by international law is not fundamentally based on the Nazi Holocaust, as compelling a cause as that is from a humanitarian point of view.

Notwithstanding Israel’s historical and legal right to the land, and dismissing international commitments to the Jews, the UN continued with a policy of Arab appeasement. In 1947, it partitioned the remaining 22 percent of the original Mandate for a Jewish homeland into two proposed states: one for Jews and yet another, second state for Palestinian Arabs. The Partition Plan, also called UN Resolution 181, recognized the Jews’ right to sovereign control over a sliver of space amounting to a mere 10 percent of the original British Mandate. It offered the Arabs who lived within Mandate territory a state - in addition to Jordan - consisting of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Zionist pioneers felt it best to accept the UN’s offer. Ten percent of the Promised Land after nearly two thousand years was better than zero. Moreover, they had no political clout or practical means with which to resist whatever the world community told them to do. The Arabs, however, thoroughly rejected the Partition Plan, which legally voided the offer to them. Ninety percent of the land, they insisted, was not enough. They wanted it all - an empire spanning the entire Middle East, leaving no place on earth for the Jews. They mobilised for a war against Israel they felt certain they would win. The world wondered, much as it does today. Will Israel survive?

Israel's Rebirth—Into War

Israel did not want the War of Independence to occur and tried extremely hard to prevent it.¹⁹ When her every effort toward peace was rebuffed, Ben-Gurion extended a final appeal to the Arabs in his Declaration of Independence speech:

We yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and institutions…We extend our hand in peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to co-operate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all.²⁰

The same invitation had been offered daily for weeks.^j British Mandate authorities who were stationed on the ground testified: “Every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with their normal lives…and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe.”²¹ Most, however, chose to flee, creating a local refugee crisis that would upend history. A Palestinian priest who watched the events unfold stated, “[The Arabs] fled in spite of the fact the Jewish authorities guaranteed their safety and rights as citizens of Israel.”²²

Arab-Nazi Alliance

Why did so many Palestinians run from their homes and livelihoods? An overlooked historical fact is perhaps one of the most pivotal and still fuels the conflict today. An unshakeable Islamic/Arab-Nazi alliance predated World War II, and as a result of it, many Arabs vehemently despised and feared the Jews.

Early in his career, Hitler formed a pact with Jerusalem’s grand mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini. The notoriously anti-Semitic mufti held religious and political sway over Muslims throughout Palestine and the larger Middle East. He and Hitler schemed together to annihilate the Jewish people worldwide. The fuehrer would focus on Europe and the extraordinarily influential mufti would target Palestine’s growing Jewish population.²³

An unshakeable Islamic/Arab-Nazi alliance predated World War II, and as a result of it, many Arabs vehemently despised and feared the Jews.

Building on fundamental Islam’s anti-Jewish ideology, Husseini mobilized an Arab militia, which served as a formal Nazi brigade. Supplied with German weaponry, the brigade murdered Palestinian Jews in acts of heinous terror throughout World War II.²⁴ To keep the violence going, Husseini saturated the Middle East with lies about the Zionists via propaganda broadcasts radioed in from Berlin.^k So after the Holocaust ended in Europe, he and other Arab leaders hoped to immediately start another.

Creating a Refugee Crisis

When, to their profound dismay, Israel declared statehood, Palestinian Arabs panicked. An estimated 600,000 to 700,000 fled.^{25 l} Approximately 150,000 to 160,000 chose to remain inside the Jewish state.²⁶ Today, they and their descendants enjoy full democratic rights of Israeli citizenship, including a standard of living much higher than that of their brethren anywhere else in North Africa or the Middle East.

Under the influence of Muslim/Nazi anti-Semitism, the majority of Arabs who left their homes did so because their leaders told them to. Evacuations were ordered to make way for approaching armies that would quickly destroy the Jewish state.^m Arab leaders boasted that lsrael would be “driven into the [Mediterranean] sea" within a few days. Accordingly, the Higher Arab Executive gave Palestinians a choice: Quit and run, or accept Jewish protection and be regarded as a renegade in the Arab world that would imminently take over. The Arab National Committee in Jerusalem ordered its constituency out of their homes, adding “Any opposition to this order…is an obstacle to the holy war…and will hamper the operations of the fighters in these districts.”²⁷

The Arab Legion and Arab Liberation Army directed whole-sale civilian flight form entire villages. Leaders like Iraqi prime minister Nuri Said warned, “We will smash the country with our guns and obliterate every place the Jews seek shelter. The Arabs should conduct their wives and children to safe areas until the fighting has died down.”²⁸ To ensure compliance, some leaders planted rumours of Israeli terror operations and non-existent atrocities.^{29 n} Shortly after the war – which to their deep humiliation they did not win – Arab leaders freely admitted to having created the refugee crisis.^o Mahmoud Abbas,^p who would later serve as president of the PA, confessed:

The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny, but instead they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and leave their homeland, and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live.³⁰

Next week: Part II concludes the chapter, looking in more depth at the refugee crisis (including claims of Israeli atrocities) and the attempts at peace settlements since.

About the author: Sandra Teplinsky is a Messianic Jew who lives in Jerusalem and teaches about Israel. With her husband, Sandra runs a ministry called Light of Zion. Find out more about the book 'Why Still Care About Israel?' on its website.

References

Letters a-p refer to notes on this page.

1 The Peace Encyclopedia: Palestine, 2002.

2 Charly Wegman, “Friday May 14, 1948: Israel’s Debut”, Agence France Presse-English, 1998; Benny Morris, 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 178-79.

3 Golda Meir, My Life (London: Futura Publications, 1989), 186.

4 Mark Lacqueur, “The Struggle for a Jewish State,” The Palestine-Israel Journal.

5 Palestine Post [predecessor to the Jerusalem Post], May 16, 1948.

6 Jewish Virtual Library, “Demography of Palestine & Israel, the West Bank and Gaza”.

7 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 392.

8 Benzion Dinur, “From the Conquest of the Land of Israel by the Arabs to the Crusades”, Israel in the Diaspora, Vol. 1 (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1960), 27-30, as cited in Netanyahu, A Durable Peace, 27.

9 Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf, 1996), 24, 167.

10 Michael Rydelnik, Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict: What the Head-Lines Haven’t Told You (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 58-59. Israel consisted mostly of swampland, desert and barren wasteland due to the Ottoman policy of denuding forests through the centuries. Peters, From Time Immemorial, 221-68.

11 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 156-7, citing Jacob de Haas, History of Palestine (New York: Macmillan, 1934), 145, 258.

12 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 155-56, citing The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911 ed. While some of Peters’ research is disputed, it has also been recently corroborated.

13 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 157.

14 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 223, 396; Shimon Apisdorf, Judaism in a Nutshell: Israel (Pikesville, Md.: Leviathan Press, 2003), 62-64; see generally Walter Lowdermilk, Palestine: Land of Promise (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1944).

15 Netanyahu, A Durable Peace, 84.

16 Ray Hanania, “The Wandering Palestinians”, Jerusalem Post, December 20, 2011.

17 See Howard Grief, The Legal Foundations and Borders of Israel Under International Law (Jerusalem: Mazo Publishers, 2008); Martin Gilbert, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Its History in Maps (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974), 10-11.

18 As quoted in Peters, From Time Immemorial, 412.

19 Efraim Karsh, Palestine Betrayed (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), 21-38.

20 The New Palestine 38, no. 18 (May 18, 1948): 1.

21 British Superintendent of Police Memo, Haifa, April 26, 1948, as quoted in Samuel Katz, Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine (New York: Bantam Books, 1973), 19.

22 Monsignor George Hakim, Greek Catholic Bishop of Galilee, New York Herald Tribune, June 30, 1949.

23 Wistrich, A Lethal Obsession, 662-683, referencing Joseph Schechtman, Mufti and the Feuhrer (Loneon: Thomas Yoseloff Publishers, 1965), 139ff., 147-52; Karsh, Palestine Betrayed, 16-20, 30, 62-63.

24 Karsh, Palestine Betrayed, 62-63.

25 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 16; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited (Cambridge, Mass.; Cambridge University Press, 2004), 603-04; Karsh, Palestine Betrayed, 264-272, see also 8-15.

26 See for example Morris, Palestinian Refugee Problem, 588-89; Gilbert, The Arab Israeli Conflict, 57.

27 As reported in Middle Eastern Studies, January 1986, cited in Mitchell G. Bard, “The Palestinian Refugees,” Jewish Virtual Library, accessed April 30, 2013.

28 Myron Kaufman, The Coming Destruction of Israel (New York: American Library, 1970), 26-27, cited in Bard, “The Palestinian Refugees”; Iraqi prime minister Nimr el-Hawari, Sir Am Nakbah (Nazareth, Israel: 1952), as cited in “Refugees Forever?,” International Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2003, special supplement.

29 Karsh, Betrayed, 241-42.

30 Reported in Falastin a-Thaura, March 1973, as cited by Mitchell G. Bard, “The Refugees”. Myths and Facts Online, Jewish Virtual Library, accessed April 30, 2013.

Discover books from Instant Apostle.

Last year we interviewed Manoj Raithatha, pioneer of Christian publishing house Instant Apostle. Now Prophecy Today readers give their verdict on a selection of Instant Apostle books.

The Judas Trap: Why people mess up (and how to avoid joining them)

Derek Williams (2016)

Ian Farley comments.

This stimulating book takes a look at the infamous apostle, unpacking why he did what he did before asking how we can avoid acting in the same way. Williams takes a generous view of Judas and encourages us to think more carefully about him – which draws the reader in, although deeper theological questions about Judas’ betrayal are not dealt with at length.

Williams does not restrict himself to figures from the Bible, however, but also includes a plethora of modern illustrations that help unpack his points. Some of his comparisons are hard to swallow – nevertheless he does well to remind the reader that every human, no matter how given over to darkness, also has within them the possibility of turning back to the light. God does not give up on anyone.

Each chapter contains a list of suggestions for readers to apply, and the final chapter provides a good and helpful summary of the characteristics of the renewed Christian mind – the kind of people we are called to be. Thought-provoking, at times controversial, and eminently readable.

The Judas Trap (256pp) is available from Amazon for £5.75.

Refugee Stories: Seven personal stories behind the headlines

Dave Smith (2016)

Maureen Trowbridge comments.

These stories of the lives of refugees make disturbing reading – even as one learns of the persecution and traumas they endured before the dangerous journey to safety. Reading this book gives one a deeper understanding of their circumstances and engenders a growing compassion for them, plus an awareness that things often remain difficult for them even after reaching Britain.

The refugee crisis may well cause consternation by being something of a Trojan horse for Islamic extremists. In the face of this, it is good to be reminded of the genuine plight of so many hundreds of thousands fleeing the horrors of war, poverty and persecution.

The author of the book is the founder of the Boaz Trust which works with destitute asylum seekers. This book is both challenging and well worth reading.

Refugee Stories (225pp) is available for £9.98 (new) on Amazon.

Found By Love: A Hindu Priest Encounters Jesus Christ

Rahil Patel (2016)

Derek Bownds comments.

Found By Love tells the true story of Rahil Patel, a young Indian who was drawn deeply into Hinduism as a teenager and pursued the call to become a swami, a priest set aside to minister to the Hindu gods.

Despite being favoured in his new ‘calling’, Rahil grew restless with questions as he came across inconsistencies in Hinduism, religious practice that left him dissatisfied, and always a still small voice inside saying “You’re not supposed to be here. You’re in the wrong place.” Eventually, he abandoned his high-profile position and flew from India to London. One day he wandered into a church, and knew he had finally come home. He had been found by love – and over the next two years he was stripped of the scars of the past, and given new life.

This is the story of one who tried so hard to reach God by his own efforts but discovered that his standing before God depends entirely on Jesus. In place of a human guru, Rahil found the eternal Saviour. Instead of a title and rank and constant searching and doubt, he has been given sonship and truth. In place of rules, he has found grace and a loving community. How can it not be a good read?

“…one of the most enthralling books…once I started to read it I found it so absorbing I could not put it down. I thoroughly recommend it and feel sure you’ll feel the same about it too!” ~ Maureen Trowbridge

Found By Love (230pp) is available for £9.98 (new) on Amazon.

Clifford Hill suggests that God might be offering European Christians a great opportunity through the refugee crisis.

There are no signs of stemming the flow of people seeking to escape war and poverty in the Middle East. Nearly half a million people have crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe this year, and this is just a fraction of the millions who may be heading for Europe. EU leaders meeting on 23 September decided to "tackle the dramatic situation at our external borders and strengthen controls at those borders".¹ So Europe's open door is soon to be closed in face of the tide that has overwhelmed Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Hungary, Serbia and Croatia and created problems throughout Europe.

Even Germany is struggling to cope with the sheer numbers involved and the nightmare task of registering people with no passports or personal papers. But these numbers could lead to a vast inflow from the 60 million displaced people worldwide according to UN estimates.

Germany has at last realised that continuing to signal welcome signs could have catastrophic effects upon the social and economic health of Europe and they too say they must limit numbers. But Germany is now facing other problems.

Germany is finally realising that continuing to signal welcome signs could have catastrophic effects upon the social and economic health of Europe.

German DominationGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel.

For a number of years Germany has been boasting of its riches and flexing its power muscles in Europe; dominating the European Central Bank, forcing disastrous policies upon Greece and directing EU economic and political policy.

Suddenly the VW scandal has broken on the scene. The motor company with the world's largest sales has been caught cheating with a device that gives a false reading of its engine efficiency when on the test pad. Millions of euros were wiped off the value of the company within 48 hours and the scandal is so enormous that it has the potential of bankrupting the firm and seriously affecting the German national economy. Germans need to ask what God is saying to them through such a humiliation.

Quota System

Meanwhile meetings of EU heads and officials this week struggled to agree a quota system for those already in Europe, in the face of fierce opposition from East European nations who do not want an influx of Muslims into Christian countries. Having triggered the large inflow of migrants, Germany is now agreeing with others who believe the right way to deal with this crisis is to put EU funds into helping Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, where they are struggling to cope with the 4 million displaced Syrians already in their countries. In addition there are 11 million homeless Syrians in their own country, displaced by a brutal war.

Russian Involvement

A further complication to an already confusing situation is the evidence that Russia is becoming involved in military action in support of President Assad. There seems no chance of the rebels in the Syrian civil war being victorious. But Russia's fears are of the real possibility of an Islamic State victory, which would undoubtedly destabilise already troubled relationships within Russia with its own large Muslim minority.

This is presenting the USA with a dilemma: their bombing missions over many months have been unable to deter the advance of ISIS in the region, but they have no wish to see Russia establish a base in Syria and become a dominant force in the Middle East.

Russia's growing military support of Assad is presenting another Middle East complication, as the US has no wish to see Russia a dominant force in the region.

Israel Anxiety

Sitting on the sideline, people in Israel are watching the situation developing on their doorstep with growing anxiety. Lance Lambert believed that solving the Syrian crisis would not bring peace and security to Israel. In fact he believed that once the Muslim nations stopped fighting each other they would turn their attention to Israel because their ultimate objective is the annihilation of the Jewish State (see Part 2 of his 1988 interview with Gary Clayton, here).

International negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, March 2015.

This is why the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been so strongly opposed to the deal with Iran agreed by Obama that allows the continuation of Iranian nuclear ambitions. He knows that their aim is to build a nuclear bomb for an attack upon Israel.

Is there any word from the Lord?

How will it all end? Is there any word from the Lord to guide us in these chaotic days? One of the things that Jesus said would be a sign that we are approaching the time of his Second Coming is what we've often described as the "shaking of the nations". This is prophesied in a number of places in the Bible, notably Isaiah chapters 2 and 24, as well as Haggai 2 and Hebrews 12. The main places in the Gospels are in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.

Luke records the teaching of Jesus on this subject, saying that it will not only be the earth and the nations that will be shaken but that "Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken" (Luke 21:26).

But Jesus also said, "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28). So, far from being nervous, we should be excited when we see these things beginning to happen in our own lifetime! But it is most essential both to study the word of God and also to learn to use our prayer times for listening to the Lord and not just for speaking. We need to know what God requires us to do.

Jesus said that when we see things prophesied in Scripture coming to pass, we should stand in hope – not faint from fear – for his Second Coming draws near.

False Religion

One of the things that Jesus says will be a feature of the end times is that there will be a lot of false religion around. He warns about being deceived, "for false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible" (Matt 24:24).

The greatest threat from false religion today is Islam, whose militant leaders are deceiving many to give up their own lives and take those of others. Right across the world, Christians are being persecuted by Muslims. This is most intense where militant Islamists operate and in areas where multitudes of Muslims are converting to Christianity (such as in Indonesia, where two million Muslims a year are leaving Islam and accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour). Militant Muslims are carrying out a savage persecution of Christians. Churches are being attacked and Christians beheaded, but all this is only causing more conversions to Christianity.

Indonesian Spiritual Awakening

Until recently, Indonesia was known as having the largest Muslim population in the world. But since the 1980s there has been an escalating growth in Christian churches right across the land. Our team from Issachar Ministries has ministered there many times in the past 20 years and had a small share in this. In the 1990s the Muslim Government became worried about this growth and they introduced a programme of mass resettlement – moving large numbers of Muslim families out of overcrowded Jakarta into islands that were solidly Christian.

Something amazing happened! The Christians welcomed the newcomers with open arms and great generosity; helping them to settle, find work and be part of the local community. They were shown so much love which the Christians said was "the love of Jesus" that most of the families converted to Christianity. The Imams complained that the policy was disastrous and so the Government stopped the resettlement after about 10 years. But news of what had happened spread like wildfire across Indonesia, fuelling the great spiritual awakening and move from Islam to Christianity that is now gathering momentum.

God's Purposes for Europe

Could it be within the purposes of God to bring large numbers of Muslim migrants into Europe in these days in order for them to be released from the spiritual darkness of Islam?

We've not done a very good job with the four million Muslims from Pakistan who have arrived in Britain since 1960. But that's due largely to our immigration policy that makes no attempt to integrate them into society and teach them our language and Judaeo-Christian heritage. It allows them to form closed communities where many women live in virtual slavery and there are few opportunities for Christians to have any contact with their neighbours.

Could it be part of God's purpose in bringing large numbers of Muslim migrants into Europe today is for them to be released from the spiritual darkness of Islam?

The migrants coming from Syria come from a very different culture to that in rural areas of Pakistan and there will be greater openness to integration and opportunities for Christians to share their faith. At the same time God has allowed the Islamic State to perform the same barbaric practices as the founder of their religion in the seventh century, exposing to the world the spirit that drives this religion.

Opportunity for Christians

This is giving Christians in Europe the opportunity of showing the difference between the god whom Mohamed served and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas Mohamed insisted on forced conversions at the point of the sword and beheaded those who refused, Jesus said:

You have heard that it was said, 'love your neighbour and hate your enemy'. But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven... (Matt 5:43)

There can be no greater contrast than this between the two religions. This is the opportunity that God is presenting to Christians in Europe through the great migration currently taking place.

References

1 Press release from the informal meeting of EU heads of state or government on migration, Brussels, 23 September 2015.

Clifford Hill considers the pros and cons of the refugee crisis.

We've got people drowning in their hundreds in the Mediterranean, trying to cross the sea to the overcrowded island of Lesbos; families dying of thirst in Serbian forests; children suffocating in lorries; thousands crowding into trains and buses or walking along highways in search of refuge – but what is Europe's response? According to Libby Purves in The Times, "razor wire and bickering over quotas" (02/09/15).

EU Leaders Unprepared

The migrant crisis continues to occupy centre stage in our daily news. EU officials in Brussels struggle to find some common ground in a policy to deal with what appears to be an unstoppable flow of migrants into Europe.

On 14 September EU ministers will hold an emergency meeting to try to work out an acceptable deal, although eastern European countries are expected to resist any attempt to enforce a quota system. The sheer numbers involved and the speed with which the crisis has gathered momentum over the summer months has caught EU leaders unprepared despite the warning signs being there for the past two or three years.

CompassionPeople organize aid in Erfurt, Germany. Jens Meyer/AP/PA Images

Several good things have emerged in the midst of the crisis; notably the compassion shown by countless individuals offering to open their homes to families escaping from war zones. It is not only in Britain where such compassion is being shown but in many other Western European nations too, such as Iceland where 10,000 families have announced willingness to take Syrian refugees into their homes.

Germany says they are willing to take 800,000 asylum seekers this year with Angela Merkel leading the way by saying that all Syrian refugees would be eligible for asylum in Germany. But Hungary and Austria have accused Berlin of increasing the chaos as human trafficking continues to pour thousands of migrants into the continent – an unknown mixture of genuine refugees, workers seeking a better living and possibly jihadists seeking opportunities of destruction.

Several good things have come out of the crisis – notably the compassion being shown by countless individuals across Europe in welcoming the refugees. But with the compassion is considerable fear and uncertainty.

HamburgFinding a Solution

It is this unknown mixture that causes fear and uncertainty in dealing with such large numbers. Britain has said that we will take 20,000 refugees from Syria while arguing that the major effort to deal with the situation should be to pour resources into the area immediately surrounding the war zone and to seek a United Nations policy on finding a solution to the civil war in Syria and defeating the Islamic State.

This is arguably the only way to defeat the people traffickers who exploit the plight of those fleeing the conflict and are stoking a never-ending flow into Europe. It is also the most sensible solution for the refugees themselves to remain in a largely Arabic culture rather than try to adjust to an alien Western environment. For those who do come to Europe there needs to be a radical change from the policy we have followed in Britain for the past 50 years in giving migrants no assistance in settling into a new environment.

Acculturating New Arrivals

If we had followed America's example in acculturating new arrivals we would not have the problems we have today in some of our cities where immigrants have formed close-knit communities with no attempt to integrate into British society and no love for their adopted country. With the new arrivals from Syria, even if they come from Christian communities, we should insist that they attend induction classes where they learn the history of Britain and the basis of our legal and cultural heritage.

For Muslims it is even more necessary that they should understand the elements of Christianity that are interwoven into our culture and social structure. We have neglected this at our cost and if we allow large numbers to swell the Muslim population in Britain without any understanding of our Christian heritage we will do so at our peril. We will be creating a community of disaffected young men alienated from British society - with all the dangerous potential this brings.

If we allow large numbers to swell the Muslim population in Britain without any understanding of our Christian heritage, we will do so at our peril.

Biblical Principles

There are good biblical principles to support a policy of teaching our culture and heritage to newcomers. When Israel entered the Promised Land they were instructed to show compassion and care for the aliens among them, but they were strictly warned against being influenced by their gods:

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. (Deut 10:18-19)

In the Promised Land, Israel was instructed to show compassion and care to foreigners, but warned against being influenced by their gods.

Christians need to take seriously the words of Jesus that there is no other way to the Father except through him (John 14:6), which gives us an obligation to share the Truth with others. We have already made huge mistakes in our immigration policy by neglecting to share our faith with those we have allowed to settle in our country. We need to make sure that we don't continue to make that mistake with this new group of immigrants. Where there is a serious attempt to do this as in the City of Leicester, through a combined churches outreach, it is making a remarkable difference to community relationships.