MArch 28, 2006

What's at Stake in the Israeli Elections?

Living in the U.S., one might wonder what significance Tuesday’s Israeli elections may have for Americans. Yet what happens here seems to have a profound bearing on what happens in the U.S. 

What’s at stake in this election is the future of the biblical heartland of Israel called Judea and Samaria. Ehud Olmert and his Kadima Party openly declare they plan to establish the final borders of Israel by 2010. In order to set those borders, they plan to remove Jews from of much of the land the bible promised to the descendents of Abraham. 

They say that if there isn't an agreement with the Palestinians – highly unlikely with Hamas in control of the Palestinian authority – they will unilaterally pull out of the land most often called the “West Bank.” It’s the same kind of pullout enacted by Ariel Sharon last year in Gaza. However, this pullout would affect tens of thousands of Jews, not just eight thousand. 

In this election, the Israeli people of 2006 seem to be facing a question their ancestors faced thousands of years before. I heard about that ancient question just a few days ago. Last week, a CBN/Regent University tour visited the Jewish community of Shiloh. Shiloh served as the capital of Israel for 369 years. It’s where the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle stood and the place where the prophet Samuel served the lord. David Rubin, the former mayor of Shiloh, told the tour that Joshua once asked the tribes of Israel at that very place, “How long before you take possession of the land?” He reminded us that the same question is being asked today: how long before the descendents of Joshua take possession of the land? It seems that no matter how much the Israelis of today want to forsake their biblical heritage; they are still faced with the same question their ancestors faced. 

However, many of today’s descendents don’t want the land, they want quiet. The security barrier between Israelis and Palestinians is a reflection of their desire to separate from the Palestinians and leave the years of suicide and terror attacks behind. Yet for the quiet, they seem willing to abandon their spiritual patrimony. 

It’s an issue Pat Robertson addressed nearly two full years before the Gaza Pullout. He spoke to the 2003 herzliya conference, the most prestigious annual meeting of Israeli leaders. Even then, in light of the possibility of giving up “land for peace” with then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, he warned them: “Please don’t commit national suicide. It is very hard for your friends to support you, if you make a conscious decision to destroy yourselves. I hardly find it necessary to remind this audience of the stated objectives of gasser Arafat, the P.L.O., Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic jihad. Their goal is not peace, but the final destruction of the state of Israel.” He went on to say, “those political leaders who only understand the secular dimension of Israel’s existence and who cavalierly dismiss the spiritual dimension will find that they receive the mess of pottage of Esau rather than the inheritance of Jacob.”

Throughout the breadth of the land of Israel Tuesday, Israelis will be choosing their next leaders. Echoing within those voting booths will be the same question asked by Joshua: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? (Joshua 18:3)

 

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