WarSclerotic

The demand rages on regarding Israel surrendering about half of their nation to the Palestinians.  But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pointed out something rather interesting that the U.S. desperately needs to learn before it’s too late.  During a Yad VaShem memorial ceremony for Jews who died in the Holocaust, he admonished his people that they must remain mindful of the things that they have learned as a result of the holocaust. On Sunday, Israel National News quoted him as saying that, “The most important lesson is that if someone threatens to annihilate us, we must not ignore his threats. Has the world learned this lesson? I doubt it. Have we learned it? I believe so. But in the history of the Nation of Israel, we have not always excelled at prescience. On occasion, we repressed the reality that faced us.”

Israel is not the only nation that seems to have difficulty facing such a reality.  The U.S. is in something of a parallel with Israel.  One specific example to be considered would be the threats of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad.  Not only has he said that he wants to wipe out Israel, but he has also made plain his interest in wiping out the United States.  He isn’t the only Muslim extremist with such a focus, as the 9-11 attack would be another example of Muslim extremists that wanted to annihilate us.  If anyone remembers, that was the point of the attack. And the same can be said of the underwear bomber, the Fort Hood massacre and any other situation in which a suicide bomber was acting out their jihadist intentions.

A second lesson that Netanyahu brought out may actually be a more important one for America at this time in our history: “The next lesson comes from knowing that attacks upon our nation were always preceded by acts of hatred.”  Just as the Jews have been and still are blamed for the troubles of the world, the U.S. is also blamed.  While we sometimes deserve that blame, it’s funny how no one seems to notice that the U.S. has had a history of being a first responder to assist nations facing calamity – such as Haiti when they had their earthquake to name a recent example.  Our nation has flourished as a capitalist nation in the past, and this plus our original willingness to honor God are two main reasons why we became a superpower on the world scene.  The prosperity and freedom that we experience are two of the very things that cause us to be hated by others in the global community.

Hamas has made it clear through Washington style spin that they have no intention of accepting much less recognizing Israel as a state or nation.  According to the Jerusalem Post, when senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar was questioned about the two groups sharing the land, Zahar replied, “The question is whether Israel is ready to accept the Palestinian state. Is Israel ready to accept the right of the Palestinian people to come back to their homeland?”

He went on to refer to such a question as an “imaginary” one that, “will not be answered.”

ChristianPastor Michael Youssef, who is probably best known for his international radio program Leading the Way was born and raised in Egypt. In an article that he wrote which appeared at One News Now, he claims that during his boyhood, Egypt was very tolerant of other religions. His most recent visit to his boyhood home, however, revealed to him that, “the peace and security of Egypt have been shaken. Radical, fundamentalist Islam is grabbing for power in Egypt. The radicalization of Egypt was vividly illustrated for me during my most recent visit to the Mediterranean resort city of Alexandria. There, men and women still go to the beach as they did when I was a boy — but now they do so in full Islamic garb.”

He went on to note that, “For decades, anti-Western, anti-Israel, anti-Christian militancy has been on the rise across the Muslim world. Radical Islam is being inculcated in young Arab minds through Wahhabi madrasas. We are seeing the fruit of radical Islamic education in Egypt in the growing persecution of religious minorities.”

This is not limited to Egypt.  Back in October, A World Net Daily article on Thursday reported that, “International Christian Concern Islam watcher Jonathan Racho says that the increasingly large Western European Muslim community is growing in militancy as well as in numbers.

Racho stated that, “If you go to places like the U. K. and France, some cities in Sweden and Holland, you can already see some cities where Muslims are very significant because of their numbers.”

“In the U. K. there are some places where there are so many Muslims [that] non-Muslims can’t go there. They are called ‘no-go’ areas for non-Muslims. Because of this, human rights violations are happening. We have reported attacks on Christians in a neighborhood in the U. K. Evangelists were stopped by the police for preaching the Gospel. The Muslim policeman stopped them and said they couldn’t preach in that area,” he said.

Racho added that, “There’s been some scary situations. I’m not trying to be alarmist, but I’m just stating the facts. The situation is really bad for Christians in some areas where Muslims are now in the majority in Europe.”

When Ahmadinejad denied the Holocaust in a room full of UN delegates back in September of 2009, Netanyahu first defended the reality of that horrific time in history with copies of 1942 Nazi meeting minutes, concentration camp constructions plans, and Nazi death plans for the Jews in hand.  He went on to passionately proclaim the rhetorical questions, “Are these protocols lies?  Are the successive German governments that have kept these documents for posterity all liars?”

Then in a rather stern warning that bears remembering, he said to the General Assembly, “Perhaps some of you think this man [Ahmadinejad] and his odious regime only threaten the Jews.  Well if you think that, you are wrong, dead wrong.  What starts as attacks on Jews always ends up engulfing others…This regime embodies the extremes of Islamic fundamentalism.”

May God be merciful to the U.S. in that both citizens and leaders may quickly learn, as Netanyahu so wisely put it, “if someone threatens to annihilate us, we must not ignore his threats.”  Because if both citizens and leaders don’t understand that, we’ll never understand the third lesson Netanyahu brought out, which could very well lead to our demise as a nation: “We cannot leave it to others to decide our fate. Relations with the world’s countries are very important to us, but if we do not defend ourselves, no one will stand beside us.”