Islamic - Israeli Myth Busters

Setting the record straight

There is a strong perception in the West that Israel is a big, bullying aggressor and that the 'Palestinian People' are the poor and persecuted minority at the hands of the Israeli 'superpower'. 

The facts of the historical situation get lost in the wash of our news-hungry 24-7 media, however, which leaves us with a continually distorted perspective about Israel and its relationship with its Arab neighbours. 

Here are just a few of the many facts that may help to put a new light on some of these issues, and readjust some of the perspectives fuelled by our media. 

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1. Israel first became a nation in 1312BC, almost two thousand years before the rise of Islam
2. Since 1272 BC the Jews had dominion over the land for over 1,000 years as well as a continuous presence for the past 3,300 years
3. King David made the city of Jerusalem his capital, and paid a handsome sum for the land (a binding contract recorded in 2 Samuel 24:24 and 1 Chronicles 21:22-24) - Mohammed never even went to Jerusalem.
4. For 3,000 years, Jerusalem has been known to be the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity.
5. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Old Testament, but never in the Koran.
6. Jews pray facing Jerusalem wherever in the world they may be. Muslims pray facing Mecca, with their backs to Jerusalem.
7. In 1854, according to a report in the New York Tribune, Jews constituted two-thirds of the population of the holy city.
8. 1882 census of the Ottoman Empire recorded that there were only 141,000 Muslims, both Arab and non-Arab in Israel.
9. 1906 Karl Baedeker estimated that the total population of Jerusalem was 60,000, of whom 7,000 were Muslims, 13,000 were Christians, and 40,000 were Jews.
10. After Zionist Jews came, drained the swamps, and made the deserts blossom Arabs followed them. They came for jobs, for prosperity, and for freedom. Arabs arrived in large numbers.
11. Prior to WW2, Mojli Amin, a member of the Arab Defence Committee for Palestine, proposed that:
12. "All the Arabs of Palestine will leave and be settled amongst the neighboring Arab countries. In exchange for this, all the Jews living in Arab countries will leave and come and live in Palestine."
13. Saudi Arabia was established in 1913, Lebanon in 1920, Iraq in 1932, Syria in 1941, Jordan in 1946 and Kuwait in 1961.
14. Over 80% of the original British Mandate land was given to the Arabs without any form of population transfer.
15. In 1947, the Jewish state settled on 18% of the original British Mandate land. This was accepted gratefully. The Arabs rejected it and seven Arab states immediately declared war against Israel.
16. In 1948, the Arabs were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Most of them left in fear of being killed by their own Arab brothers as traitors.
17. From 1948 to 1967 Arabs made no attempt to create a Palestinian state.
18. Only in 1967, after Israel captured Judea, Samaria, and Gaza did Arabs identify themselves as part of a ‘Palestinian’ people
19. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, Arab-Palestinians are the only refugee group in the world that have never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands.
20. Arab refugees intentionally were not absorbed or integrated by the rich Arab oil states that control 99.9% of the Middle East land mass.
21. There is only one Jewish state, but there are 57 Muslim countries, including 22 Arab ones.
22. The Palestinian Authority's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, as does that of Hamas.
23. Vespasian named the land "Palestine" on coins after the suppression of the Jews in 70AD. The name was an insult to the Jews and was adopted by Christian authors. The Arabic "Filastin" was much more restricted in meaning, denoting only Judea and Samaria.

In conclusion, it is also worth remembering that almost all of the Muslim Middle Eastern countries were pro-Axis in WW2.

• Iraq openly welcomed German technicians, military hardware and advisers when she unsuccessfully rebeled against the British in 1941.
• Both the Egyptian Sadat and Nassar belonged to pro-fascist pro-Nazi officer organisations. The British did not allow regular Egyptian Army and Airforce units to fight against Rommel's DAK (Deutsche Afrika Korps) because of the fear of defection.
• And whilst on the subject of defection the Muslim Grand Mufti of Jerusalem one of THE most senior Moslem clerics defected to the Nazis. His propaganda value was enormous to Hitler as he called for a Fatwah against the British; he personally played a big part in mobilising Moslems in the Balkans to fight against the pro-Allies partisans. He even took a senior rank in Himmler's SS and gave his blessing to the formation of two Muslim Waffen SS divisions!!!

The allies owed no alliegence to the Arabs in 1948, rather just the opposite.