Up here in Canada, I'm a pretty popular Muslim, even though I've been defending Israel's right to live safely and securely in God's Holy Land for as long as I've been a Muslim. More important than that though -- by far -- is the fact that no Muslim has ever been able to gainsay me even when I've addressed thousands of them at one time, because the Qur'an says (In Al-Maeda 5:20-21)
Remember Moses said to his people; "O my People! Call in remembrance the favor of Allah unto you, when he produced prophets among you, made you great, and gave you what he had not given to any other among the peoples. O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown to your own ruin."
because the word translated as "assigned" --KatabAllahu-- really means ordained or entrusted.
Because of that, one of the first things Muslims did when we took over the Holy Land in our very beginning was force the Christians to let the Jews back in, and whatever else you say about us, Muslims take our religion seriously. So despite politics, despite recent world history, and despite incurring the anger of much of the Muslim world, according to the Qur'an, governing God's Holy Land is your destiny.
But Israel, I'm afraid you're doing it wrong.
I know you sometimes like to think otherwise, but He didn't give you the land unconditionally. In fact, the conditions have clear from the beginning, literally, because the book they're recorded in in the Torah is titled Bereshit, which means "In The Beginning". (I hope you don't mind a little "in" joke, just to let you know I study the Torah in Hebrew: I think that's important.)
The thing is, even in English God's conditions are clear. He says (in Bereshit 18: 17-19)
Yahweh said, "Will I hide from Abraham what I do, since Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him."
But here's the thing.
Everything Hashem promised to Abraham is contingent on the actions of his children and his household after him. Read through it carefully and you'll see. He says "to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him."
So for everything He's said about Abraham to come to pass, you have to step up and do the right thing first. And the "right thing" is clearly linked to the well-being of the Palestinians, because of Deuteronomy 29: 10-11:
All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God -- your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Leviticus 19:33-34:
When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 24:22:
"You are to have the same law for the alien and the native born. I am the Lord your God."
and Ezekiel 47:21-23:
"You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance," declares the Sovereign Lord.
Right now, the world is full of Christians and Muslims who'd like nothing more than to see God's promises come to pass. But honestly? I'm afraid more and more of us are giving up, and starting to wonder if you're really ever going to be the Israel God intends.
Please make no mistake: most of the support that you -- Israel -- are receiving from the U.S. and Canada and the rest of the so-called "Christian" world, much of the support that you could be receiving from the rest of the so-called "Muslim" world and ALL of the support you have been promised from God-Most-High is predicated on your becoming the Israel God meant you to be.
- When you prevent Palestinians from fishing in their own waters, and destroy their boats when they try: are you the Israel God intends?
- When you build your security perimeters on Palestinian land, and prevent Palestinian farmers from growing crops on 35 percent of their small remaining share of our world's arable land -- by shooting them when they try: are you the Israel God intends?
- When you prevent Palestinians from traveling, to study, to see our world's wonders, to visit family, to visit their own spouses: are you the Israel God intends?
- When your internal check-points force pregnant women to deliver babies on the road-side, and cause medically ill Palestinians to die without care: are you the Israel God intends?
- When your armies destroy Palestinian homes, hospitals, schools, Mosques, farms and fruit-trees in order to maintain "no-go" zones: are you the Israel God intends?
- When you restrict Palestinians to half the electricity, and a quarter of the water that an Israeli receives: are you the Israel God intends?
- When you hold onto all the land you claimed from active warfare since 1967, a crime according to International Law -- the same International Law that made you a State in the first place: are you the Israel God intends?
- When you maintain a belligerent 47-year long occupation, at the cost of tens of thousands of innocent lives lost and millions of lives lived under oppression: are you the Israel God intends?