ISRAEL PICTURES

Israel—where the number of murders each year in the entire country is less than the number of murders in Nashville, Tennessee. Israel—where children are raised to be respectful and obedient.Israel—where citizens respect their flag and are willing to die for it.

The Israeli flag, featuring the Star of David, flies over Haifa, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Dome of the Rock, located on the original site of Solomon’s Temple in old Jerusalem, is holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. (Many believe this was the place where Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice.)

The pictures that follow are of the Dead Sea, the lowest point of land on earth at 1,300 below sea level.

Dead Sea water is very dense because of dissolved salt/minerals. Note the ease with which this ‘floater’ is reading her newspaper. Do you know why the water is some of the saltiest on earth?

The parchment you see below is part of the very ancient ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ found in a cave (picture below) above the Dead Sea in 1947 by a boy. The scrolls were stored in the urn pictured below the scrolls. Archaeologists tell us that these writings date back more than 300 years before Jesus’ birth.

The scrolls are mostly written in Hebrew, the native language of Jews who lived in Canaan (now Israel). Some of these scrolls are the oldest known copies of Old Testament Scripture in existence. Some of the scrolls are not scripture but contain valuable information about the culture of the ancient Hebrews.

The scrolls are housed today in the Israel Museum. (Would modern paper last for 2300 years?)

One of the opening statements says that Israelis respect their flag and are willing to die for their country if necessary. It has been necessary on a number of occasions in modern Israel’s short history.

Israel is surrounded by Arabic peoples who practice Islam. To Muslims, Israelis are ‘infidels’ who took land from Palestinians, leaving them without a permanent home. Friction between the Muslims and Jews have erupted many times into open hostility. Because Israel is so small and surrounded by Muslims, national defense is a top priority. Every Israeli citizen is expected to serve time in their military.

The PALESTINIAN LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO) spearheads Palestinian efforts to take back some of the land currently belonging to Israel—specifically the WEST BANK and the GAZA STRIP. (See the map above.)

PLO leaders have occasionally sanctioned the use of terrorism against Israel including firing rockets into civilian portions of Israel. When they have had enough, Israel will retaliate. The violence is followed by a period of peaceful coexistence. Then the hostilities boil over again in a seemingly never ending cycle. Over the years many from both sides have been killed because of this ongoing dispute.

Several U.S. Presidents as well as leaders from other countries have attempted to broker a lasting peace agreement, but so far all efforts to secure peace have failed. Read the short ‘blurb’ titled ‘THE PLO DILEMMA’ on page 45, right column.

This picture below says it all about the need for Israeli citizens to be in a constant state of readiness to defend themselves and their country.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel (1996 – 1999, 2009 – present time)