January 12, 2009

The media’s portrayal of Israel’s war on Hamas terror, as well as the worldwide demonstrations taking place today to protest Israel’s right to protect herself, make it clear that the much of the world doesn’t understand the current battle in Gaza. And, in a greater sense, they don’t understand the Jewish need – the Jewish imperative – to defend our homeland.

Since Jews were sent into exile with the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, we have endured many catastrophes. In the countries where we have settled, we have been subject to unfathomable hate and attempted genocide. We have built businesses, established communities, and paid taxes to governments that allowed us to live under their rule, only to later have them turn against us.

The most horrifying example of this occurred during the last century. During the early 1900’s in Europe, Jews were thriving and contributing to society as much as any other culture or people living there. Some Jews immersed themselves in the secular world and held high positions in the government, universities, and hospitals. Others kept their strong faith and traditional orthodox Jewish ways of living, studying the Torah day and night.

And yet, no matter how “European” either group of these Jews felt, they all faced the same fate when Hitler’s brutal Nazi regime came into power in Germany and began to conquer Europe. The same Nazi policemen who found and imprisoned Jews who were hiding from the oppression, who murdered Jewish children in front of their mothers, were the same people that had been their neighbors. After the Holocaust, Jews saw that their efforts to find a place to live peacefully in another country had only resulted in millions of Jewish corpses.

The fact is, for the past 2000 years Jews have been wandering because we have been chased out of nearly every one of our homes after seeing fellow Jews slaughtered because of their faith. “Pogrom” (an organized massacre of Jews) is not just a word in the history books for us, but a word we use to describe to our children how their grandparents or great-grandparents died. We never had a Jewish homeland that would protect us from harm, and because of these painful collective memories from exile, the Jewish people no longer feel confident that we will be safe no matter where we live.

Now, 63 years after the Holocaust ended, I am sitting at my home in Jerusalem surrounded by 6 million fellow Jewish citizens of the land of Israel – the same number of Jews who were murdered during World War II. And yet, I still feel a historical déjà vu.

There is good reason for this. I turn on the news and see Iran calling for Israel’s destruction. I see U.N. ceremonies taking place with maps of “Palestine” hanging in the background, maps on which the state of Israel simply does not exist. I see Hamas terrorists and Muslim clerics praying to Allah to wipe Israel into the sea. I see terrorists firing rockets at civilian populations of southern Israel, tearing apart countless lives.

But I am heartened to know that finally, after seven years of terrorist rockets striking Israeli territory and Israel trying every form of negotiation possible, we are fighting back militarily. We have told both Hamas and the world that we will not allow the historical atrocities to repeat themselves again. We Jews have learned not to take terrorist threats in vain and we have summoned the nation’s courage to address these threats and fight them to the end. We know we will prevail because our true strength lies in the Torah, the book of Psalms, and prayer – and with those weapons there is no losing potential.

So I want to make clear today to all those protesting against Israel today what we are really fighting for. We are fighting for our survival, our people, and our history. We fight in the name of the millions of Jews that were murdered during the past 2,000 years because they didn’t have a government to stand up for their rights or a homeland to protect their ancient faith. What would the people who are picketing against Israel like us to do when we are faced with thousands of rockets being fired at our citizens – sit back and beg for mercy until they destroy us or kick us out of our land?

My friends, history may be repeating itself in many ways, but we also see progression and change for the better. YOU are that positive change. For 2000 years the Jews didn’t have any friends to turn to during our time of need. Now we have millions of Christians in North and South America, Canada, and around the world that love us and back us in our fight for freedom and life. Through both your physical and spiritual support, you have proven yourselves to be genuine and sincere partners with the Jewish people. Through The Fellowship you have given sacrificial financial gifts to provide lifesaving aid to Jewish people in Israel and around the world. Because of your donations we have Jewish Ethiopians, Indians, Iranians, and many more nationalities all living in their Jewish homeland in order to strengthen it – a true fulfillment of biblical prophecy. And now, during this time of war, when the rocket-stricken citizens of southern Israel retreat to their bomb shelters to find safety, they are greeted by a plaque that tells them that the Jewish people will never again be fighting alone: “Donated With Love by Christians in America, The Fellowship”.

Thank you for standing with us, both physically and spiritually, and positively changing the course of history forever.

With great gratitude and prayers for shalom,
Yael