There are several ways to make something disappear from the public eye. It can be removed in one swoop move or it can be progressively reduced to oblivion without anyone noticing, let alone doing anything to stop it. Some call it “the salami effect”. You slice away a very thin piece of the issue at a time so that it is barely noticeable, and eventually, the salami is all gone. It looks like Israel has been cursed with this mode of operation by her foes for several decades.
Natan Sharansky developed the 3D test to determine if antisemitism is at play in any way, shape or form. He came up with the three filters to pass everything through: Delegitimization, Demonization and Double Standards. These three criteria can be used individually. But people can also compound them and use double standards to delegitimize Israel’s existence, which makes it even easier to demonize Israel and the Jewish people.
The delegitimization of Israel has been going on for a while now. The attempt at erasing Israel’s biblical, historical, geographical and archeological heritages has been somewhat successful, even though it is not founded on facts. But, let’s face it, people are less and less checking for truth, and facts don’t matter as much as they used to. So, when the United Nations or UNESCO declare that a Middle East site is not Jewish but Palestinian, few people verify the accuracy of the statement.
The latest such decision was made recently about ancient ruins near Jericho in Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank.) The old city of Jericho (one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world) was recognized as a World Heritage Site in Palestine, as reported by the Washington Post. The decision was made at a meeting of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO. This organization was created to promote the educational, scientific and/or cultural aspects of world sites, aiming at their preservation for generations to enjoy. Lately, it would appear that UNESCO has become more political than educational.
Not too long ago, the Temple Mount was also declared a historical Palestinian site. It was in 2016 when UNESCO adopted a resolution referring to the Temple Mount as “the al-Aqsa Mosque,” and or “Haram-al Sharif,” only mentioning “Temple Mount” in parenthesis and promoting a site stripped of its very deep Jewish roots.
All these attempts at dejudaizing Israel can be extremely damaging and are only fueled by historical revisionism, encouraging more people to delegitimize Israel. When it comes to Israel’s legitimacy in the Holy Land, before people jump to conclusions, here are a few questions that they should ask themselves:
• Can Palestine be defined biblically, historically, geographically or archaeologically with certainty?
• What are the Palestinian language, foods, and customs?
• Why did the Palestinian flag change from a Blue and white rectangle with a yellow star of David to a flag resembling the Jordanian flag?
• Why do Palestinian stamps, ID cards, Passports, coins and bills prior to 1948 all have the two letters yod and aleph (short for Eretz Yisrael, meaning “Land of Israel”) near the word “Palestine”?
• Where does the word Palestine originate from?
• Where is Palestine mentioned in the Bible?
These are legitimate questions that people of goodwill ought to ask about Palestine and then decide for themselves. I could answer all these questions, but it is better for people to do their own research and not feel like there might be a bias in the answers I would give.
For decades now, Israel’s legitimacy has been shaved off a thin slice at a time. Originally, these moves used to raise some eyebrows, but they don’t anymore. Israel continues to be more and more delegitimized by her foes, but there is an easy solution. People must educate themselves about factual truth and debunk the lies.
No other country in the world has suffered and continues to suffer like Israel. The reason is a biblical one. Israel is where Jerusalem is and where the end-times stage will be set very soon. A lot is at stake in the area. It was once said that if Israel is akin to the End-Times clock, Jerusalem is the hour hand and the Temple is the minute hand, and boy, is that clock near the midnight mark!
Satan is operating on borrowed time and he is eagerly waiting to set his antichrist on the scene to go full force against Israel. Both Israelis and Arabs are being deceived by Satan and used against each other. They, like we all do, need Yeshua (Jesus) to come into their lives and settle their eternal destiny. The cure for the cancer of the delegitimization of Israel is education, but more importantly, the cure for the world spiritual cancer is the death and resurrection of Yeshua for all mankind, including Jews and Arabs.
