Jews’ Right to Israel Comes from Bible, not Google, Says Israeli Minister

March 31, 2017

by: Ilse Posselt

Friday, 31 March 2017 | According to Israel’s Communications Minister Tzachi Hanegbi the strongest evidence testifying to the Jewish people’s claim to the Promised Land comes from a single source: the Bible.

Speaking at a gathering of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria (Yesha Council) in Washington this week, Hanegbi told his audience, “Defense is important and security is important, but the most important thing is the moral claim of Israel and we are committed to living in our regional land, land that was given to us not by Google or Wikipedia but by the Bible—King David, King Saul, King Solomon, Abraham.”

The event, entitled “Celebrate 50 Years of Rejuvenation in Judea and Samaria,” was hosted by the Yesha Council to mark half a century since the 1967 Six Day War. The defensive war in which Israel faced the combined onslaught of three Arab armies—Jordan, Syria and Egypt—resulted in the reunification of Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem, as well as the return of the Jewish people to their historic homeland, Judea and Samaria. According to Breaking Israel News, the gathering formed part of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference, the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement.

Four ministers from the Jewish state, two consul generals, a number of leaders from Judea and Samaria as well as roughly 350 AIPAC participants participated in the event, Breaking Israel News reported.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely also addressed the audience and spoke of Israel’s right to defend itself, as it did during the Six Day War. “It was a just war,” she said. “it is a just defense.” More importantly, Hotovely continued, “it was based on a just claim. A just claim of the Jewish people on [the biblical areas of] Beit El, Shechem, Jerusalem and Hebron.”

Addressing the accusation that Judea and Samaria are “occupied territories,” Hotovely held, “If those places are not Jewish, who can tell me that [the modern cities of] Herzliya, Rehovot, Rishon Lezion and Tel Aviv are Jewish? I always say that the occupation is a myth,” she continued, “because we never occupied other people’s land. This is Jewish land [Judea and Samaria.] This should forever be a Jewish land under Israeli law.”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War which started on the morning of June 5, 1967. Two days later on June 7, 1967, a reserve brigade of Israeli paratroopers broke through the Old City walls at the Lion’s Gate. After 30 hours of fighting, the City of Gold had been reunified. Israel commemorates its historical, significant and biblical feast dates according to the biblical calendar and marks Jerusalem Day on the 28th day of the month of Iyar. Using the Gregorian calendar, the date this year falls on 24 May 2017.

Posted on March 31, 2017

Source: (Bridges for Peace, 31 March 2017)

Photo Credit: Itzike - איציק אדרי/ Wikipedia

Photo License: Wikimedia