Question
How can we explain & justify Israel to our gentile friends, & what is the solution to peace with the Arabs in the Middle East? Answer:
Answer
The Tanach, chazal, history and logic show that it's unwise and immoral to give in to a violent person, nation or religion, but rather, defend one's self when attacked, and whenever possible, pre-empt and prevent the attack before it's staged (הבא להרגך השכם להרגו", Sanhedrin 72a). It's beneficial to the victim, to society and adds the Rambam, also to the evil person himself (Moreh Nevuchim 3, 35)! Evil people don't have many friends, happy marriages, or good relationships with their children, or at all. In addition, decisions should be based upon truth and justice, who has the rights to the Land of Israel? Most of the world accepts the Tanach which explicitly promises Israel to the Nation of Israel. So says the Quoran itself (7, 137: "הענקנו בירושה לעם שחשב עצמו כחלש את הארץ אשר ברכנו אותה, את מזרחה ואת מערבה, באופן שאלוהים מילא בצורה מושלמת את דברו הטוב על בני ישראל, עקב האריכם רוחם".") Historically and politically, whether one decides who owns the land by who was here first (the Jews were in Israel 2,000 years before Islam even began!), or if you decide by the current modern situation, either way, the rights to Israel belongs to the Jews. What logic is there to davka only look at that temporary middle period when the Jews were forcibly exiled from our land before 1948?! Since Yehoshua 3300 years ago, there were always Jews in Israel, and even though there were also some Arabs over the last 1400 years, they never had a state here, and were living, like the Jews, just as individuals and tribes, as opposed to Israel who had a 1st, a 2nd and now the 3rd Commonwealth and independent state.
Regarding a solution, the original and best plan, for both Arabs and Jews, was that of Montefiore, Baron Rothschild and the Jewish National Fund (JNF), to buy the land, "acre after acre, dunam by dunam", and that way we fulfill the covenant of God with Avraham, Yitzchak & Yaacov, to inherit the Land of Israel in a peaceful way, where both sides benefit. What ruined the plan was when the Arabs in the early 1920's issued a "death penalty" on any Arab selling land to Jews. This racist and immoral vigilante "penalty" stands to this very day, so that even though most Arabs would be more than happy to be instant millionaires (the price is exorbitant because the Israelis really want to buy it at any price), move to a quieter country and solve the Middle East problems, they can't allow themselves to do so, because of those Islamic fanatics, who would kill their own brothers. There are thousands of acres left empty because they are too close to Jewish lands and pose a security risk for that aforementioned terror towards Jews, but the unfortunate Arabs can't sell us the land, for fear of their own brothers' fanaticism.
Just as Islamic terror is a world-wide problem even in the Arab countries, so it is in Israel as well, and only a Jew-hater would stubbornly differentiate and here, they blame the democratic peace-loving victim, rather than the fanatic Muslim aggressors. The maps have changed several times over the last 75 years, because the Arabs tried several times to belligerently push Israel into the sea, and our only "sin" is that we successfully defend ourselves with the abundant help of the God of Israel. I think that anyone objective, who believes in freedom and democracy and opposes terrorism and racism, realizes, especially after the Hamas attack, who is the problematic party in the Middle East and is the obstacle to peace, as opposed to who is the victim, and what is the mutually beneficial solution. BTW, if your friend doesn't understand this, don't waste any more time on him for you don't stand "an ice-cube's chance in hell" of changing his anti-Semitic leaning, unless he's Jewish, where eventually there's a good chance that logic may register even if he's been brain-washed by the non-objective anti-Semitic press. With Love of Israel, Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

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