Practical Politics

            When we lived in Jerusalem for six months, I would often walk six or eight blocks from our apartment to the Promenade, a popular park on the South edge of Jerusalem from which I had a perfect view of the Old City, the Kidron Valley, and the new parts of Jerusalem.  What an awe-inspiring place to sit, read my Bible, pray, and intercede for Israel and the Messianic Believers there.  I often hoped that Yeshua would suddenly appear and set foot on the Mount of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley while I was having my quite time. 

            One of the vacant lots I passed as I walked to the Promenade was purported to be reserved for the U.S. Embassy.  It has been seventeen years since both the House and Senate approved the building of an embassy in Jerusalem by the end of 1999.  But a small loophole has allowed every president since then to delay its construction—that loophole is a short sentence in the bill passed by congress allowing the President of the U.S. to delay by executive order for six months the location of the embassy in Jerusalem.  So far, no President has had the back bone to stand up to the Arab countries and do so and so every six months the embassy is kept in Tel Aviv.

            What a travesty.  In no other country, except Israel, would we or any other foreign government, dare to do such a thing.  By not locating our embassy in Jerusalem, the capitol of Israel, we are bowing to the pressure of the Arab bloc.  The Arab countries want Jerusalem designated as the capitol of Palestine, which is not yet even a country.  But for 64 years, since Israel became a State, we, along with the rest of the world, have refused to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capitol of their country.

            The pressure is not just from the Arab countries.  The real lack of fortitude is found in the halls of our own State Department and White House primarily.  There has been a long and ugly anti-Semitism that has tainted the State Department of the United States.  This is seen in various key leaders of that department over the years refusing to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol.  When questioned as to what State the city of Jerusalem sits in, Hilary Clinton replied:  “That has yet to be determined.”

            Until our national leaders get a Biblical understanding of God’s covenant with the Jewish people and its link to the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem, there is not much hope of change.  The Jewish people have looked to Jerusalem as their homeland, their capitol, for over 3000 years.  Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible but not once in the Koran.            

            May God open our eyes and hearts to agree with His plans.