âIsrael is an occupier!â âIsrael is an apartheid country!â âIsrael is a colonizer!â âThe Zionist regime stole land from the Palestinians!â Over the last few decades, weâve heard it all. The world has incessantly painted a very negative picture of Israel, imposing a reputation on the only Jewish state in the world that many people have now come to hate. Itâs not based on facts, but it continues to be spread. As a result, amid a full-blown war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip to respond to the most extensive twenty-first-century pogrom since the Holocaust, Israel is still seen as the perpetrator.
How could Hamas accuse Israel of occupation when there are no Jews in the Gaza Strip? Hamas governs the Strip and has since 2005, after Israel unilaterally disengaged from the area. After the legislative elections of 2006, Hamas became the ruling party and has been ever since, with no new election in 17 years. The Gaza Strip is 100% Palestinian-ruled and not under âoccupationâ.
Incidentally, the whole land of Eretz Yisrael is Jewish land and has been for about 4,000 years. For those who care to learn history and learn from it, a timeline of the history of the Land of Israel can be beneficial. Here are just a few of the many markers on this critical timeline. Palestine is never mentioned in any of these Bible passages or anywhere in the Bible, for that matter.
Jewish presence in the land has been uninterrupted for about 4,000 years:
1900 BC: God chose Abraham as the Father of the Jewish people (Genesis 12:1-3, 15).
1900 BC: Abrahamâs son, Isaac, is given the land as an inheritance and takes the lead over Israel (Genesis 26:2-4).
1850 BC: Isaacâs son Jacob is given the land as an inheritance and rules over Israel (Genesis 28:12-13;Â 35:12)…
