F1, as I noted in my priour post......
enigma57 wrote:...... I am not here to start nor participate in a religious debate. All in America are free to worship (or not) as we so choose......
FYI, I am Sephardi from my Mother's side, traced back to 11th century Spain and Irish of Milesian descent on my Father's side, traced back to 5th century Ireland. Beyond that, you have no need to know.
Regarding the remainder of your comments pertaining to scripture...... A little bit of knowledge intertwined with a lot of misconceptions can lead you far afield of the truth. If you really want to learn about such things, introduce yourself to a learned Conservative or Orthodox rabbi and convince him you are a serious student of scripture and for the right reasons. If he sees in your heart that you are worthy of this knowledge, be prepared to study and apply yourself to the maximum of your abilities for 2 to 3 years and then you will know the truth, if it is truth you genuinely seek.
Regarding your assertions pertaining to Jews and the modern state of Israel, much of what you say has its basis in the anti-Israeli propaganda spread about following the 1967 war and repeated to the present day.
I will give you a few facts to get you started and then you are on your own......
The late Golda Meir was asked by Western reporters several times when peace would come to the Middle East. She had this to say and it is just as true today and it was back then......
1957...... "Peace will come when the Arabs will (choose to) love their children more than they (choose to) hate Jews."
1969...... "When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons."
You will note that she used the term 'Arab' rather than 'Palestinian' because it was not until several years after the founding of the terrorist Arafat's 'Palestinian Liberation Organization' (PLO) by the Arab League (nations at war with Israel since 1948) in 1964...... Specifically, shortly after the 6 Day War of June, 1967...... That certain of the Arabs began calling themselves 'Palestinians' following their defeat in the 6 Day War when Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq attacked Israel.
There has never been a sovereign land called 'Palestine' where a distinct people called 'Palestinians' lived. 'Palestine' is a regional term that came into being following the destruction of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish people by the Roman armies in the year 70 CE (or AD if you prefer). The Romans laid waste to the biblical nation of Israel and renamed the region. As was common in ancient times, the victors sought to erase any memory of the conquered and occupied territory's past by renaming the region 'Palestine' (for the 'Philistines' who had lived nearby to Israel.
I say 'region', for no single sovereign nation has existed over the past two millennia where once the much larger ancient homeland of our people existed...... Except for the smaller modern nation of Israel...... And the modern Arab nations which presently occupy the remainder of biblical Israel and now border modern Israel. Rather, until modern times, the region remained under the control of various conquering nations as occupied territory from Roman times until the modern nation of Israel was created in 1948 out of an area much smaller in size than the nation of Israel in biblical times. The Israeli state of modern times is only about 50 miles wide and 150 miles long and is inhabited by 6 million people. It is surrounded on 3 sides by much larger Arab nations populated by 200 million people hostile to it and by the Mediterranean Sea on the other. By way of comparison, the population of Cairo, Egypt alone exceeds 10 million.
And Israelis are not occupying 'Palestinian' land as so many have been led to believe by the Egyptian-born terrorist Arafat and his propagandists over the past 40 years.
As the late Syrian-backed Zuheir Mushin, head of the PLO's Military Department and a member of its Executive Council stated publicly in 1973......
"The 'Palestinian' people does not exist. The creation of a 'Palestinian' state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, 'Palestinians', Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a 'Palestinian people', since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism."
And again in his March 31, 1977 interview in the Dutch newspaper 'Trouw'......
"There are no differences between Jordanians, 'Palestinians', Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation (referring to the Islamic vision of a united pan-Arabic nation which will one day dominate the world and subjugate all the world's peoples under Muslim rule and shariah law). It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our 'Palestinian' identity, because it is in the interest of the Arabs to encourage a separate 'Palestinian' identity. Yes, the existence of a separate 'Palestinian' identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a 'Palestinian' state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel."
The Arabs living in the region chose not to accept the land allocated to them by the British as a separate, autonomous state in the 1948 treaty which would have created a separate 'Palestine' for the Arabs and a separate 'Israel' for the Jews. Instead, the Arab nations declared war on the modern state of Israel when the Jews signed the treaty, accepting the terms of the British...... And with two exceptions where a separate peace was negotiated with the Israelis many years later, the Arab nations remain in a state of declared war with Israel to this day. It was because of his separate peace with Israel that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by operatives of the 'Muslim Brotherhood'...... Most of whom were allowed to slip away by Egyptian military authorities in the aftermath.
With respect,
Harry