Why Israel Matters, Must Be Protected

Israel Matters, Protect Her

First of all for Christians it is important because out of Israel, the child of Covenant Isaac, not the child of flesh and works, Ishmael, we were given the Messiah, Redeemer, Jesus Christ, so Israel is sacred for us and must be stood by through thick and thin.  Secondly, Israel is the only democratic republic in that region, under whom the area has flourished, something it has never done under the arabs, who only teach their people to kill, annihilate and destroy.  Third, Israel has achieved much and that should be recognized, celebrated in the world, in America.  What are they?

• Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
• Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce.
• Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin
• In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of start-up companies in the world except the US
• With more than 3,500+ high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highestconcentration of hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, US
• On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups.
• Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
• Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U.S.
• Outside the United States and Canada , Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.
• As a nation that lives by western principles, women in Israel are government leaders, leading academics, artists and business managers, compared to the restrictions if not outright second class citizenship of women in most other Middle East countries.   
• All religions are totally free to practice in Israel, compared to the restrictions if not outright persecution of religions that are outside of Islam in the rest of the Middle East. 
• Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
• srael has produced 12 Nobel prize winners
• Despite the global economic slowdown, exports by Intel Israel more than doubled to $4.6 billion in 2012 from $2.2 billion in 2011 and now accounts for a tenth of Israel's total industrial exports.
• Did you know that Muslims sign up for Hebrew University on-line courses from all over the world. Around 40,000 students signed up for a 9-week on-line course“Synapses, Neurons and Brains” run by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 
• Fast Company magazine lists the ten most innovative Israeli companies, which includes SodaStream, as the 23rd most innovative company in the world. It employs arabs, gives them jobs.
•  Chinese discovered the start- up nation Israel and started to invest billions of dollars in Israeli technology. Samsung’s only foreign R&D is in Israel.  From agro-tech, medical, chemicals, tourism, solar energy and education to the massive project to turn Eilat into an alternative to the Suez Canal.
•  The Tamar Natural Gas Field recently discovered by US and Israeli based oil exploration companies is Worth $52 Billion to the future Israeli Economy and Provides Green Energy – Ernst and Young estimate.  
  
  
  You can find more accomplishments than the ones I listen here on the website:  http://www.newjewishcongregation.org/israel_facts__contributions_to_world.aspx
  
  
  
  

What of those those who will claim that Israel is an apartheid state, but is it? 

South African MP Rev. Dr. Kenneth Meshoe wrote in the San Francisco Examiner, “As a black South African who lived under apartheid, this system was implemented in South Africa to subjugate people of color and deny them a variety of their rights. In my view, Israel cannot be compared to apartheid in South Africa. Those who make the accusation expose their ignorance of what apartheid really is.” Meshoe made this statement upon visiting San Francisco, where he was shocked to learn of posters posted within the city comparing Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa.  Meshoe has very strong arguments why Tutu and various anti-Israel groups wrongly compare the situation in Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa.

He asserted, “As a black South African under apartheid, I, among other things, could not vote, nor could I freely travel the landscape of South Africa. No person of color could hold high government office. The races were strictly segregated at sports arenas, public restrooms, schools and on public transportation. People of color had inferior hospitals, medical care and education. If a white doctor was willing to take a black patient, he had to examine him or her in a back room or some other hidden place. In my numerous visits to Israel, I did not see any of the above.”

Indeed, Meshoe pointed out that in Israel, racial equality is enshrined in Israeli law. As the Israeli Declaration of Independence proclaims, Israel will “ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irregardless of religion, race, or sex.” If one takes a train or bus in Israel, one will witness Muslims sitting next to Jews; Ethiopian Jews of color sitting next to Jews of European and Middle Eastern origin. On university campuses, in work places, and in restaurants, the same scene can be witnessed. No public bathroom in Israel is segregated by race or religion. Furthermore, there are Arabs serving as university professors, doctors, emergency room heads, soldiers, and even as Knesset members. Arabs in Israel have rights and privileges that ablack living under the apartheid regime in South Africa can only dream of.

Those who demonize Israel are wrong and are destroying a nation that contributes much to the world and society, has since Biblical times.  We must all speak up and make it clear that Israel is a nation, must be recognized as so, the land that God gave them, period.

Shalom and Amen.