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1620-2020: the 400th Anniversary of the US-Israel Alliance

The Early Pilgrims

The roots of the unique ties between the United States and Israel precede the 1776 US Declaration of Independence and the 1948 founding of Israel.   They eclipse the political beltway of Washington, DC, transcend the pertinent role of the Jewish community, are deeper than the intimate diplomatic discourse between the two countries, and exceed the mutually-beneficial bilateral defense and commercial cooperation.

The seeds of US civic culture and the unique US-Israel kinship were planted in 1620 by the 102 “Mayflower” passengers, who landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.

These passengers were inspired by the Old Testament, referring to their departure from England as the “Modern Day Exodus;” the sailing across the Atlantic Ocean as the “Modern Day Parting of the Sea;” and the New World as the “Modern Day Promised Land” and the “New Israel.”  They considered themselves the “Modern Day Chosen People.”

Hence, the litany of Biblically-named towns, cities, mountains, deserts, national parks and forests throughout the United States.  For example, in the US there are 18 Jerusalems, 32 Salems (the original Biblical name of Jerusalem), 83 Shilohs (where the first tabernacle stood), etc.

In 2020, these roots are reflected by the statues and engravings of Moses and some 200 Ten Commandments monuments, which are featured in the US House of Representatives, the US Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the Justice Department and throughout the US.

Familiarity with Hebrew was quite common among the Early Pilgrims’ intelligentsia and the better-educated clergy. Thus, the ten initial universities offered Hebrew courses, and valedictory addresses at Harvard, Yale and other institutions of higher learning were offered in Hebrew.

Yale University’s 7th President, Ezra Stiles (1778-1795), spoke, read and taught Hebrew in addition to astronomy, chemistry and philosophy.  He urged graduate students to be able to recite Psalms in Hebrew, “because that is what St. Peter will expect of you at the Pearly Gates.”

The official seals of Yale University (“Light and Truth”), Columbia University (“Jehovah” and “Divine Light”) and Dartmouth College (“God Almighty( feature Biblical terms in Hebrew.

The Founding Fathers

The legacy of Moses and the Exodus had a profound impact on the Early Pilgrims, the 1776 American Revolution, the shaping of The Federalist Papers, US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances.

In fact, the inscription on the Liberty Bell is from Leviticus, Chapter 25, Verse 10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the Land, unto all the Inhabitants thereof.” The inscription is the essence of the Biblical Jubilee, which was considered by the Founding Fathers as the role model of liberty.

Furthermore, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which was the moral and intellectual touchstone of the American Revolution, was influenced by the Old Testament: “For the will of the Almighty as declared by Gideon, and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by kings… (pp. 10-13).”

James Madison, the 4th President and the “Father of the Constitution” stated: “We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity… to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God….”

The Abolitionist Movement

Moses and the Exodus played a key role in the formation of the Abolitionist anti-slavery movement, and in the determination of President Lincoln to abolish slavery. Thus, Harriet Tubman, who initiated the Underground Railroad, which freed Black slaves, was called Mama Moses.

The anti-slavery anthem of Black slaves was composed with lyrics from Exodus, Chapter 8 Verse 1: “Go Down Moses, way down in Egypt land, tell old Pharaoh to let my people go.”  The Jewish liberation from Egyptian bondage inspired Martin Luther King, Jr., the key leader of the Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968).

US identification with Jewish Statehood

The 2nd US President, John Adams, supported the idea of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel: “I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation.”

On March 5, 1891, six years before the convening of the 1897 First Zionist Congress, over 400 US leaders, including the Chief Justice, House and Senate leaders and chairmen of Congressional committees, governors and mayors, signed the Blackstone Memorial, which called for the reestablishment of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel.

On June 30, 1922 Congress passed a Joint Resolution, which was signed by President Warren Harding: “…. Favoring the establishment, in Palestine, of a national home for the Jewish people….

The 400 year old roots and the US Supreme Court

Theodore White wrote in The Making of the President, 1964: “It was as if Kennedy, a younger Moses, had led an elder Joshua [Lyndon Johnson] to the height of Mount Nebo, and there shown him the Promised Land which he himself would never enter.”

On December 24, 1968, the three astronauts of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, conducted a direct broadcast to earth, reciting the first ten verses of the Creation from the Book of Genesis.

The depth and potency of the 400 year old roots were expressed on June 28, 2005, by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who ruled that the Ten Commandment monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol was constitutional: “Since 1935, Moses has stood, holding two tablets… in the [Supreme Court’s] south frieze…. Moses was a lawgiver and a religious leader, and the Ten Commandments have undeniable historical meaning….”

These 400 year old roots have nourished an exceptional bottom-up international relations phenomenon, whereby elected US officials implement the worldview of most constituents, enhancing the ideological, cultural, commercial, technological and military bond between the United States and its most reliable, systematic, effective and ideological ally, Israel.

 

 

 

 

 




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US-sponsored anti-Israel UN Security Council statement – acumen

*The US’ co-sponsorship of an anti-Israel UN Security Council Statement reflects the return of the State Department’s worldview to the center stage of US foreign policy-making. This was the first time, in six years, that the US enabled the UN Security Council to act against Israel.

*This is not merely a worldview, which is highly critical of Israel, as has been the case since 1948, when Foggy Bottom led the charge against the re-establishment of the Jewish State.

This worldview has systematically undermined US interests, by subordinating the unilateral, independent US national security policy (on Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian issue, etc.) to a multilateral common denominator with the anti-US and anti-Israel UN and international organizations, as well as the vacillating and terrorists-appeasing Europe.

*It has sacrificed Middle East reality on the altar of wishful-thinking, assuming that the establishment of a Palestinian state would fulfill Palestinian aspirations, advance the cause of peace, reduce terrorism and regional instability; thus, enhancing US interests.

*However, the reality of the Middle East and Jordan and the rogue Palestinian track record lend credence to the assumption that a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the pro-US Hashemite regime east of the River, yielding traumatic ripple effects, regionally and globally:

^Replace the relatively-moderate Hashemite regime with either a rogue Palestinian regime, a Muslim Brotherhood regime, or other rogue regimes;
^Transform Jordan into a chaotic state, similar to Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, which would be leveraged by Iran’s Ayatollahs to intensify their encirclement of the pro-US Saudi regime;
^Convert Jordan into a major arena of regional and global Islamic terrorism;
^Trigger a domino scenario into the Arabian Peninsula, which could topple all pro-US, oil-producing Arab regimes;
^Imperil the supply of Persian Gulf oil, which would be held hostage by anti-US entities, catapulting the price at the pump;
^Jeopardize major naval routes of global trade between Asia and Europe through the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal;
^Intensify epicenters of regional and global terrorism and drug trafficking;
^Generate a robust tailwind to US’ adversaries (Russia and China) and enemies (Iran’s Ayatollahs, the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS) and a powerful headwind to US economic and national security interests.

*The State Department assumes that Palestinian terrorism – just like Islamic terrorism – is driven by despair, ignoring the fact that Palestinian terrorism has been driven (for the last 100 years) by the vision to erase the “infidel” Jewish entity from “the abode of Islam,” as stated by the charters of Fatah (1959) and the PLO (1964), 8 and 3 years before the Jewish State reunited Jerusalem and reasserted itself in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).

*Aspiring for a Palestinian state, and viewing Israel’s control of Judea and Samaria as an obstacle to peace, ignores the Arab view of the Palestinians as a role model of intra-Arab subversion, terrorism, corruption and treachery. Moreover, the State Department has held the view that the Palestinian issue is the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a central to Arab interests, which has been refuted by the Abraham Accords. The latter ignored the State Department, sidestepped the Palestinian issue and therefore came to fruition.

*The State Department overlooks the centrality of the Palestinian Authority’s hate education, which has become the most effective production-line of terrorists, and the most authentic reflection of the Palestinian Authority’s worldview and vision.

*The State Department has also taken lightly the Palestinian Authority’s mosque incitement, public glorification of terrorists and monthly allowances to families of terrorists, which have documented its rogue and terroristic nature (walk), notwithstanding its peaceful diplomatic rhetoric (talk).

*The State Department’s eagerness to welcome the Palestinian issue in a “red carpet” manner – contrary to the “shabby doormat” extended to Palestinians by Arabs – and its determination to promote the establishment of a Palestinian state, along with its embrace of Iran’s Ayatollahs and the Muslim Brotherhood, have been interpreted by rogue regimes and organizations as weakness.

Experience suggests that weakness invites the wolves, including wolves which aim to bring “The Great Satan” to submission throughout the world as well as the US mainland.

Support Appreciated

 




Videos

The post-1967 turning point of US-Israel cooperation

Israeli benefits to the US taxpayer exceed US foreign aid to Israel

Iran - A Clear And Present Danger To The USA

Exposing the myth of the Arab demographic time bomb