Advocating for Israel in the Christian world

Advocating for Israel in the Christian world  -  Resolution passed at the UMJC conference, July 2011

Christians take a variety of positions on modern Israel and its role in biblical prophecy, and on the standing of the Jewish people today, but the following points are intended for the widest possible Christian audience.

• Justice issues
  1. 1. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there are two claimants to justice—Jews and Arabs. To understand the issues you must look past short-sighted reporting to the wider historic and ethical-legal issues behind current events.
     2. Although its precise boundaries remain unsettled, Israel itself was established in accord with international law and was recognized as a Jewish state from its earliest years by the majority of nations in the world.
     3. The government of Israel has recognized the possibility of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan; the Palestinian authority has yet to do the same regarding a Jewish state. This failure may be the single greatest obstacle to peace.
• Historical issues
  1. The land of Israel and Jerusalem in particular are mentioned innumerable times in the Hebrew Scriptures and have been central to
  2. Jewish prayer and yearning since the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in the first and second centuries CE.

• Jews have maintained a continuous presence in the land of Israel, except for brief periods of forced exclusion, since the fall of Jerusalem. Jerusalem has had a Jewish majority since the 1860s.
• The historical sufferings and persecutions of the Jewish people, culminating in the recent Holocaust of World War II, have shown the world that the Jewish people need and deserve their ancient homeland as a safe haven.
• In both 1948 and 1967, after significant victories, Israel expressed its willingness to negotiate a permanent peace with the Arabs, which included the return of captured land, but was rejected. As recently as 2000, the Israeli government made a dramatic offer of peace that was rejected by the Palestinian Authority.

Current issues

1. 1. As a Jewish state Israel maintains the only established and vibrant democracy in the Middle East, and affords full rights to its Arab citizens, who make up 20% of the population of Israel proper.
   2. Israeli Arabs enjoy more rights and opportunities than Arabs in most Islamic states in the region, including direct representation in the Israeli parliament. An Israeli Arab sits on the Israeli Supreme Court today.
   3. Israel has an outstanding record of protecting the rights and holy sites of Christians and Muslims under its rule. In contrast, during the brief period of modern Arab rule of old Jerusalem, Jews were expelled and forbidden access to their holy places, and Jewish holy sites were damaged or destroyed.
   4. Christians may have differing views of biblical prophecy, but all can recognize the deep spiritual and communal value that Israel and Jerusalem represent to the Jewish people. Likewise, Christians may disagree with specific Israeli policies, but none can deny the deeply-rooted claim of the Jewish people to this land.