| JERUSALEM: ISRAEL'S CAPITAL SINCE ANCIENT TIMES by Mike D. Evans, April 15, 2004 |
| "... I have chosen Jerusalem that My Name might be there; and have chosen David to be over My People Israel" (II Chronicles 6:6). For centuries the Jewish People wandered -- exiled from their homeland, exiled from their beloved Jerusalem ... city of David ... city of G-D! Listen! You can hear the weeping and wailing of the children of Israel down through the centuries as they dreamed of returning to the Promised Land. A salty river of tears flows through the ages as G-D's People prayed for deliverance, and cried out, "Next year in Jerusalem." From the frozen wastelands of Siberia ... from the hot sands of the Ethiopian desert, they cried out. Jews were marked for destruction in Treblinka ... Bergen-Belsen ... and in the ovens of Auschwitz ... yet, their cries echoed down the corridors of heaven, "Next year, Jerusalem." America turned her back on that cry during World War II. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the last President that could have taken action that might have prevented the deaths of so many Jews during the Holocaust, yet even into the middle of the war when over three million had already been executed he was still eerily silent on the matter. It appears that the man considered America's greatest Democratic President was also part of our darkest hour as a nation. In December of 1939, Roosevelt appointed Breckenridge Long to the position of determining who would and would not receive American entry permits from Nazi Germany. Long's philosophy was simple: Keep them all out, they are all troublemakers. When once questioned about what should happen with the Jews trying to escape Hitler, he replied by strafing the room using his hands as an imaginary machine gun. Evidence suggests that Roosevelt and the State Department knew something definite about Hitler's "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem" sometime in 1942. With the United States already in the war, it seems likely that either the U.S. would have done something to find a safe haven for the Jews or else at least have used the information about German atrocities against the Jews as a rallying cry for the war. Neither happened! And still the desolate cry rang out from inside the Nazi death camps, "Next Year, Jerusalem." Jews in Muslim countries were hanged in public squares in an attempt to stop that cry. Still it rang out, "Next year, Jerusalem." Through the centuries, Jerusalem has been besieged by nations, trampled underfoot and leveled to the ground five times, and still the cry rings out, "Next year, Jerusalem." According to the U.S. State Department it has been foreign policy since 1948 not to recognize any part of Jerusalem as "Israel" unless the entire Arab world does so first. This includes the part of west Jerusalem that has been in Israel since 1948, and that will remain under Israeli control under any Arab-Israeli agreement. The 104th Congress passed public law 104/45, the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995. This document officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Public Law 104/45 also allocates $25 million to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Why does the United States government not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital when, in fact, it has been the capital of Israel for 3,300 years -- since the days of King David? Why has this been postponed by a presidential waiver every six months since it was passed in Congress? The premise is that implementing the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, and recognizing one of the oldest capitals in the world, would cause a national security threat in the U.S. The real reason is plain and simple: Arab bigots do not want the U.S. to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In doing so, it would constitute recognizing Israel's right to exist. The U.S. State Department policy regarding Israel was influenced by the late George C. Marshall, the Secretary of State under Harry S. Truman. It is well documented that Marshall was strongly, even rabidly, against Truman recognizing the Jewish State. During a policy meeting regarding the recognition of Israel, Marshall went so far as to tell the President: "If you follow [Clark] Clifford's [Truman's Secretary of Defense] advice and if I were to vote in the election, I would vote against you." Those were strong words from a Secretary of State to a sitting President. Clifford said in his memoirs, "Officials in the State Department had done everything in their power to prevent thwart, or delay the President's Palestine policy in 1947 and 1948 ..." The bias in the State Department is paramount in the recently released human rights report. Only a short portion of the document is dedicated to the attacks against Israel by terror groups. The balance of the document explicitly details Israel's "failures" in the area of human rights. No mention is made that many of the supposed infringements on human rights are essential to protect Israeli citizens from the onslaught of suicide bombers. One American couple whose son was born in Israel has filed suit because the U.S. State Department will not allow them to register the baby's place of birth as "Jerusalem, Israel". In any other instance, the place of birth is determined by "shown on the application" -- or in accordance with the applicant's wishes. Apparently, only in Jerusalem does the U.S. State Department refuse to accede to the applicant's wishes. It is time for another Harry S. Truman to stand up for the State of Israel, and for the city of Jerusalem. Each time the national security waiver is signed, we ar saying to terrorists and bigots, "You win." America needs the blessings of G-D more than favor with Arab bigots. No longer should America allow terrorists to threaten our nation into choosing political expediency over moral clarity. If Rudolph Giuliani had the courage to say, "No, thank you," to an Arab sheik that wanted to create linkage between 9/11 and Israel, President Bush needs to have moral clarity to do the same. America is in a state of moral decay. It is time for our President to let the godfather of world terrorism, the architect of the Munich massacre, the financier of murderous suicide bombings know that the party is over. It is time to allow the Jerusalem Embassy Act to become law, and move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem! Jerusalem Prayer Team P.O. Box 910 Duless, TX 76039 1-800-825-3872 http://www.jerusalemprayerteam.org |