MORE & MORE, IT APPEARS THAT ISRAEL IS SURROUNDED BY SHEER BARBARISM!

If the photographs of Syrian " freedom-fighters"  that appeared a couple of days ago in the pages of Two for Texas did not turn your stomachs, dear readers, then nothing probably will.

Having spent 6 years living in the Middle East, I am often asked about the violence which swirls about that region.  My stock answer, of course, is that by the Muslim calendar this is the 15th century.  To bring home my point a little better, I invariably compare Western civilization in the 15th and 16th centuries to what passes for civilization these days in Europe and America.

SHARIA LAW AT ITS FINEST!

Over minor theological points, 15th and 16th century Christians were drawing and quartering  and burning and hanging each other. Proceeding with this historical train of thought, I came to realize one day while strolling the streets of Riyadh that, for all practical purposes, I could just as well have been in Calvin's Geneva.  In short order, it dawned on me that  Islam had yet to pass through anything like a Renaissance, Reformation or Enlightenment.

Part of my epiphany included eventually understanding enough Arabic to be able to apprehend from sermons blasting from speaker systems  attached to mosques that the sermon-givers were calling for Christians and Jews to be driven into the sea and eradicated - all for the good of the Umma. But, to be sure, not only does Muslim enmity extend to infidels, Shias and Sunnis alike revile each other with a deep religious hatred, compounded by cultural differences, which has extended over centuries.

One need only think of the cauldron of darkness and hatred and the various groups and factions caught up in the eruption of violence that is Syria in 2013. To imagine in any way that Western powers will be able to eventually engage in nation-building to set the Arab states of the Levant on a path of democracy and individual freedom is nothing short of lunacy.

And, in considering all of this, one ultimately comes to reflect on the state of Israel, a tiny country surrounded by ongoing hostility and conflict.  That Israelis must constantly be on guard is a given;  but, somehow, Israel is able to not only survive but also to thrive.

From the moment of Israel's birth more than 65 years ago on May 14, 1948, the country has drawn the ire of Arab states, socialist dictators, the old Eastern Bloc and various and sundry Third World regimes. Consequently, resolutions too numerous to count have been passed against the Jewish state through the U.N. Last year, for example, of 26 U.N. resolutions directed against assorted countries, 22 were directed at Israel.  At the same time, and to question the integrity of its proceedings, the U.N. has been strangely silent on the topic of Syrian air raids on Palestinian mosques.

Israel has been attacked 4 times by Arab armies in its history.  And, constantly, Israel must bear the Arab propaganda machine branding Israelis as practitioners of genocide.  And this smearing goes on despite the 1.2  million Arab citizens of Israel, who are eligible to vote, take part in political life and sit in the Knesset. Indicative, too, of the standing of Israeli Arabs is that more than 20% of those enrolled in Haifa University are of Arab ethnicity, hardly a sign of genocide.

Almost immediately after its independence, Israel was attacked by the Arab League, and Jews from Arab countries throughout the Middle East were expelled from their homelands.  Palestinian Arabs were encouraged by the invading Arabs to flee the new country, which resulted in a permanent refugee class still affecting Middle East politics to this very day.   Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees as well as several thousand Arab emigres. On the other hand, the Arab states gave only lip-service to the cause of Arab refugees, preferring instead to use them as pawns in a continuing campaign of deceit against Israel.

Arab and Muslim violence against Jews is nothing new.  In the post-World War I era, when Palestine was a British-controlled mandate, mosque-incited racist riots directed against sabra communities of Jews who had been resident in the area for 100s of years broke out, resulting in wide-spread death and destruction.  For example, in the riots of 1929, 133 Jews and 119 Arabs were killed, most of the Arabs being shot down by British troops attempting to restore order.

Despite sharing a bloody history with the Palestinians, Israel has shown remarkable restraint.  Enduring daily Hamas attacks on its schools, kindergartens and hospitals, Israel waited eight years to take out Hamas rocket sites.  When faced with the necessity of making retaliatory raids on terrorist forces,  Israel has done all that is possible to attack only the concerned terrorists, avoiding concentrations of civilians and even dropping leaflets in Arab civilian communities to warn of impending attacks.

As for her reputed anti-Muslim policies, when Arab states refused to take Muslim refugees from Darfur during the genocidal civil war in the Sudan, they were taken in by Israel, which proceeded to absorb them into her population.  And now, Israel is in the process of making a Muslim friend in Azerbaijan, which like Israel is concerned about Hezbollah and Iranian schemes to expand Shia influence.

Israel is home to almost 200,000 Christians, most of whom are Arabs.  In contrast, there has been an ongoing ethnic cleansing of Christians in adjacent areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.  In 1990, Christians constituted 60% of Bethlehem's population.  Today they represent less than 20%.  Even Bethlehem's venerable Church of the Nativity has not been immune to terrorist attacks.  All told, the Christian population has declined to less than 2% in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, which has made Islam its sanctioned faith.

 Despite Israel's perilous setting, surrounded by extremists, militants and terrorists, the small nation continues to distinguish itself through education and technology, leading the world on a per-capita basis in the publication of scientific publications.  Accordingly, in many quarters, Israel is becoming known as "Silicon Valley East."  All of this draws a definite distinction with Israel's neighbors, most of whom seem set on following a 15th century mindset into a steady descent toward chaos and bloodshed.

In observing the erratic actions of the American president during the last two weeks, I have wondered how those actions are being received in Israel, our dear friend and closest ally in the Middle East. To say  the least, they must be more than a bit unnerving. As one who considers himself an Abrahamic Christian, I cannot help but be concerned; and, in that context, I pray that Israel may continue to survive as a beacon of hope in  the otherwise morally dreary landscape of the Middle East.