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Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Showing posts with label Ben Gurion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Gurion. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
"I Give To You for a Possession" ✡ Ben Gurion's Key to Judaism - ISRAEL365
Friday, April 24, 2015
A Look Back at Israel's Miraculous Rebirth
A Look Back at Israel's Miraculous Rebirth
Thursday, April 23, 2015
JERUSALEM, Israel -- As Israelis celebrate their 67th national birthday, the picnics and parties often pale in comparison to the miracle that led to their independence.
That started at a place now called Independence Hall in the heart of Tel Aviv.
It was just before the Sabbath on May 14, 1948, and just hours before the British Mandate over Palestine was due to expire, when the soon to be prime minister of the new Jewish state, David Ben Gurion, made the dramatic declaration.
It was just before the Sabbath on May 14, 1948, and just hours before the British Mandate over Palestine was due to expire, when the soon to be prime minister of the new Jewish state, David Ben Gurion, made the dramatic declaration.
"We, members of the People's Council, representatives of the Jewish Community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist Movement, are here assembled on the day of the termination of the British Mandate over Eretz-Israel and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel," Ben Gurion announced.
For the first time in nearly 2,000 years, the Jewish people had a nation and a home.
"This is where Israel was born," said Isaac Dror, training manager of Independence Hall museum. "When people come here they are astonished to see this place. Most of the people that visit here, their first reaction is, 'This is it? That's all you have here?'"
"This is where Israel was born," said Isaac Dror, training manager of Independence Hall museum. "When people come here they are astonished to see this place. Most of the people that visit here, their first reaction is, 'This is it? That's all you have here?'"
Ben Gurion and his team looked for an inconspicuous place to declare statehood. At the time, Independence Hall, one of the first buildings in Tel Aviv, was an art gallery.
During a 1978 renovation, the decision was made to take the building back to its original look at the time of the declaration.
"Traveling in Israel will teach you that God has a tendency to perform his best miracles in the most humble places. This place is one of those places," Dror told CBN News about Independence Hall.
According to Dror, the establishment of Israel shook the world and as it became a haven for Jewish people.
"How many people prayed for it every day, when the Jews said next year in Jerusalem and next year in Jerusalem? That's what they meant." he said.
When Israel declared its independence, dancing filled the streets but the celebration was short lived. The very next day, armies of five Arab nations invaded the newborn state.
"When it comes to the story of the War of Independence, we don't have many answers there - It's very hard for us to explain," he said. "Call it a miracle, call it whatever you like, but we are here."
About 130,000 people visit this tiny hall each year to hear about the miracle of Israel, including tourists like this group from Massachusetts.
"It's the beginning of the Jewish state -- a feeling hard to describe -- a satisfaction, a spiritual uplifting," said Mitch Jacobson.
Lynn Duncan was crying. "I didn't expect it to be so moving. My whole life Israel has always been here. So I think in some ways I took it for granted, and now I felt like I was here that day."
"After 2,000 years of wandering and persecution for Jews to have their own state, it really has to be a miracle," Edward Guralnick told CBN News.
In a park across the street from Independence Hall is a monument with a scripture from Jeremiah 31: "Again I will build you and you shall be rebuilt oh virgin of Israel."
Surrounded by skyscrapers and a new generation visiting the hall, it's testament to God's faithfulness to his promise to build and rebuild the Jewish state and its people.
"It's the beginning of the Jewish state -- a feeling hard to describe -- a satisfaction, a spiritual uplifting," said Mitch Jacobson.
Lynn Duncan was crying. "I didn't expect it to be so moving. My whole life Israel has always been here. So I think in some ways I took it for granted, and now I felt like I was here that day."
"After 2,000 years of wandering and persecution for Jews to have their own state, it really has to be a miracle," Edward Guralnick told CBN News.
In a park across the street from Independence Hall is a monument with a scripture from Jeremiah 31: "Again I will build you and you shall be rebuilt oh virgin of Israel."
Surrounded by skyscrapers and a new generation visiting the hall, it's testament to God's faithfulness to his promise to build and rebuild the Jewish state and its people.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
“The Significance of the Rebirth of Israel” - Joel Rosenberg
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Today, many take the existence of the modern nation of Israel for granted. But it is actually a stunning miracle and the fulfillment of ancient Bible prophecies.
Indeed, few Americans know how close the U.S. government came to refusing to support the establishment of the State of Israel in May of 1948. Few realize that most of President Truman’s advisors were dead set against the Jewish state, despite the horrors of the Holocaust, and that even many American Jews didn’t support the re-creation of Israel.But God had His purposes. He had His plan. And He made sure His plan came to pass, and remarkably, the U.S. played an interesting role in those prophetic developments.
It is a fascinating story, and one I shared in some detail in my non-fiction book in 2012, Implosion. Here are some excerpts you might find interesting on this Israeli Independence Day:
“The Significance of the Rebirth of Israel”
Over the past six decades, the United States has been Israel’s best friend and chief ally. That warm and strategic relationship began with President Harry Truman’s official and highly public decision to be the first world leader to recognize and support the newly declared State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Yet few Americans realize the tectonic struggle that took place at the highest levels of the U.S. government and almost prevented Truman from making or implementing that decision.
Until recently, despite decades of studying Jewish history, traveling to Israel, and working with various Israeli leaders, I had no idea just how close the Jewish state came to being denied early and critical recognition by the American government. Not long ago, however, an Israeli friend recommended that I read Counsel to the President, a book that takes readers inside the Oval Office and describes the political infighting against Israel in vivid detail. What I found absolutely fascinated me.
The book is the memoir of Clark Clifford, a highly respected Democrat who served as senior advisor for and special counsel to President Truman. Later, Clifford served as chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board for President John F. Kennedy, as secretary of defense under President Lyndon Johnson, and as an informal but highly trusted advisor to President Jimmy Carter before retiring from government and later passing away in 1998 at the age of 91. Clifford’s memoir explains his up-close-and-personal role in some of the most dramatic moments of American history in the post–World War II years, from advising Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, to helping Johnson seek an exit strategy from the Vietnam War, to counseling Carter during the darkest days of his presidency, to playing poker with Winston Churchill on a train bound for Fulton, Missouri, where Churchill was set to deliver his “Iron Curtain” speech.
Yet Clifford didn’t begin his 709-page tome with a description of any of these events. His first chapter, titled “Showdown in the Oval Office,” begins like this:
May 12, 1948—Of all the meetings I ever had with presidents, this one remains the most vivid. Not only did it pit me against a legendary war hero whom President Truman revered, but it did so over an issue of fundamental and enduring national security importance—Israel and the Mideast.
Clifford noted that Truman regarded then–secretary of state (and decorated Army general) George C. Marshall as “the greatest living American,” yet Truman and Marshall were on “a collision course” over Israel that “threatened to split and wreck the administration.” Simply put, “Marshall firmly opposed American recognition of the new Jewish state,” opposition that was “shared by almost every member of the brilliant and now-legendary group of men, later referred to as ‘the Wise Men,’ who were then in the process of creating a postwar foreign policy that would endure for more than forty years.” President Truman, in contrast, was a strong supporter of Israel, in large part because of his belief in the Bible….
Interestingly, Clifford noted that Ben-Gurion and his advisors had not yet decided on a name for the Jewish state. “The name ‘Israel’ was as yet unknown,” Clifford wrote, “and most of us assumed the new nation would be called ‘Judaea.’”…..
Also interesting is the fact that Truman’s support of the creation of the Jewish state was opposed by many American Jews, a fact unknown or forgotten by many friends of Israel.
“A significant number of Jewish Americans opposed Zionism,” Clifford wrote in his memoir. “Some feared that the effort to create a Jewish state was so controversial that the plan would fail. In 1942 a number of prominent Reform rabbis had founded the American Council for Judaism to oppose the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It grew into an organization of over fourteen thousand members, which collaborated closely with State Department officials.” Clifford also noted that Arthur H. Sulzberger, the Jewish publisher of the New York Times, and Eugene Meyer, the Jewish publisher of the Washington Post, “opposed Zionism” as well.
Nevertheless, Truman had spoken favorably of the creation of a Jewish national homeland since not. long after taking office. In 1947, for example, Truman had publicly made it the policy of the United States government to back passage of the United Nations Partition Plan, creating the legal framework for the rebirth of the State of Israel as well as an adjoining state for the Palestinian Arabs. To succeed, the Partition Plan needed a two-thirds majority vote of the U.N. General Assembly. With just days to go before that historic vote on November 29, 1947, however, supporters of the plan were still three votes short. Some have suggested that President Truman personally called leaders of other nations to encourage them to support the American position. Others say he didn’t but that staff in his administration did; the record is not clear. Either way, most historians—including David McCullough, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his extraordinary biography Truman—acknowledge that Truman wanted the plan to pass and played a role behind the scenes.
In the end, Truman got his way. The Partition Plan dramatically passed at the last moment, thirty-three to thirteen, with ten abstentions….
Given Truman’s backing of the Partition Plan, it would seem in retrospect that his decision to formally support the new state of Israel was a fait accompli. But the political crisis inside the White House and State Department was real and festering for the next two days. Tensions mounted, and time was running out. Reporters were asking what the president would do on the issue, and the advisors closest to the president had no clue. President Truman kept his cards close to his vest. Clifford later wrote that he thought “the chances for salvaging the situation were very small—but not quite zero.”
By May 14, neither the secretary of state nor the secretary of defense nor any of the Cabinet or senior advisors knew which side the president would come down on. Then, a few hours before Ben-Gurion’s scheduled announcement, an aide to Secretary of State George Marshall called Clifford at the White House to say that Marshall still did not support the creation of Israel but would not oppose the president publicly if he declared in favor. This was a significant breakthrough. With less than an hour to go, the State Department aide called back to suggest again that Secretary Marshall hoped the president would delay making any decision for more internal discussions, presumably over the next few days.
“Only thirty minutes . . . before the announcement would be made in Tel Aviv,” Clifford recalled, “the American segment of the drama was now coming to a climax.” Clifford told the aide he would check with President Truman and get back to the secretary. He waited three minutes, then called the aide back, saying delay was out of the question. Finally, atsix o’clock, the president formally announced his final decision to Clifford. The United States would recognize and support the State of Israel. Truman handed his statement to Clifford, who immediately took it to the president’s press secretary, Charlie Ross. At 6:11 p.m., Ross read the statement to the press, and thus to the world:
Statement by the president. This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine. . . . The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.
History had been made. Bible prophecy had just been fulfilled. After a long and painful labor, the State of Israel had miraculously been born in a day. “Who has heard such a thing?” the prophet Isaiah wrote more than seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth. “Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children” (Isaiah 66:8, NIV).
What’s more, the first world leader officially to recognize Israel’s legitimacy was a Christian who had been raised reading the Bible and believed it was true. Most of his senior advisors had vehemently opposed the creation of Israel. Much of the American Jewish community opposed it too. The Arab world would soon turn against the United States and move increasingly into the orbit of the Soviet Union. Yet Truman backed Israel anyway because he believed it was the right thing to do, the biblical thing to do.
“The fundamental basis of this nation’s ideals was given to Moses on Mount Sinai,” Truman once told an audience. “The fundamental basis of the Bill of Rights of our Constitution comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus, St. Matthew, Isaiah, and St. Paul. The Sermon on the Mount gives us a way of life, and maybe someday men will understand it as the real way of life. The basis of all great moral codes is ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’ Treat others as you would like to be treated.”
That is not to say that Truman made all his decisions based on Scripture. Truman was an intensely private man when it came to spiritual and religious matters, and he did not often discuss what he believed about the Bible and how he connected those beliefs to public policy. The 1940s were a different age. Presidents rarely discussed such matters with the public. Truman even felt reticent about discussing his beliefs with Billy Graham, as Graham described in his autobiography. However, it is not conjecture to say that Bible prophecy was a critical element in Truman’s decision-making process.
Clifford confirmed it in his memoir. “[Truman] was a student and believer in the Bible since his youth. From his reading of the Old Testament he felt the Jews derived a legitimate historical right to Palestine, and he sometimes cited such biblical lines as Deuteronomy 1:8, ‘Behold, I have given up the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord hath sworn unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’”
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- Learn more about the true stories of four remarkable heroes that really did escape the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in the spring of 1994 to tell the world the truth about the genocide of the Jewish people by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi tyranny.
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