Editor's note: Below is a video version of this commentary:
"Sir," the TV reporter asked, "why do you think people hate Israel?" I thought, "What a question!" In all the enlightened pundits' ponderings, I had never heard anyone address that issue.
Why do the nations of the world hate Israel?
This is not just a recently observed, or Arabic-inspired, hatred. Anti-Semitism has been rampant worldwide for centuries. Many of us are familiar with the virulent anti-Semitism of the Third Reich, Hitler's Holocaust and the seizing of Jewish assets by international bankers.
Why does Israel generate such a visceral response? There is no structured hatred against any Arabic nations that I am aware of. Some may consider the French rude, but no one disputes their right to exist. The English, often considered snobs, are not marked for annihilation. Even the "ugly Americans," who are hated around the world (according to many apologists for terrorists), are not targeted for genocide.
To my knowledge, no African, European or Asian nation is so marked for destruction. So, why Israel?
Massive armies have marched and powerful intrigues have been introduced against her. In the fifth century BC, Mordecai and Esther appeared on history's stage to save the Jewish nation when "Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes, even the people of Mordecai" (Esther 3.6).
Today, substitute almost any radical Islamic leader for Haman, and discover that the goal is identical: the total destruction of the Jewish state. Israel, a country about the size of Rhode Island with a population about equal to New Jersey, sits in the heart of more than 100 million Muslims, many who have expressed their dedication to the annihilation of this tiny nation.
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In 1948, the day after Israel declared its independence, five powerful invading armies – Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq – simultaneously attacked the embryonic nation. The so-called "Palestinian refugee problem" is the direct result of Arabs voluntarily leaving their homes on the eve of this invasion. The invading armies promised a quick return immediately after "jihad" – "…a war of extermination, a momentous massacre, which would be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the crusades" (Arab League Secretary Azzam Pasha).
Haj Amin Al Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem declared "… a holy war, my Muslim brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"
Since Abraham, there have been practically incessant attempts from almost every quarter to destroy his progeny.
Some years ago, the queen of England asked Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli for proof of the existence of God. "What is there to prove the existence of God, Benjamin?" she asked. His response was simply, "The Jew, Your Majesty." A simple answer on the surface, but profound in its implications.
As miniscule Israel on a map seems to point like a dagger at the heart of radical Islam, the Jew points at the heart of every human being hostile to the concept of God. Man has tried "scientifically" to explain away Creation and has altered history to explain away the Exodus. We can dispute almost every human evidence of God's existence, except one – the Jew.
In spite of every effort toward their deliberate extermination, from Haman to Hitler, Pasha to Hussein, the Jewish nation has survived. Despite the fact that Israel has fought several wars against numerically superior armies committed to her destruction, the tiny nation state remains.
The real war against Israel is not religious, economic or even territorial.
It is spiritual.