What I Saw in Israel

Townhall.com ^ | March 18, 2013 | Star Parker

[Kaslin]

As President Obama prepares for his first trip to Israel, I hope when he gets there he sees what I saw.

Several weeks ago I returned from my first trip to Israel. I went with a delegation headed by Governor Mike Huckabee, who visits Israel at least once every year.

What did I see?

I saw kids, no more than 18 years old, walking down the street, waiting at bus stops, wearing Army green khakis, and carrying machine guns on their backs. One young girl was as black skinned as me.

Kids doing their compulsory army service as part of Israel’s citizen army. Three years for boys, two years for girls. No university deferment. First high school, then army, then university.

I also saw Masada. The fortress at the top of a mountain rising high above the Judean Desert, where, almost 2000 years ago, a contingent of Jewish zealots, having fled Jerusalem after the fall of the second Temple, took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman troops closing in on them.

New recruits into Israel’s army, the Israel Defense Forces, climb the long winding path to the mountaintop fortress at Masada and vow to not let Masada fall again.

I also saw Israel’s Holocaust Museum, Yad VaShem – the name taken from a verse in Isaiah, “….I will give in mine house and my walls a place and a name…an everlasting name which shall not be cut off…” that documents the horrors out of which the State of Israel emerged.

I walked through the halls of deep mourning and saw the displays, the photos, the books and papers, documenting the unimaginable.

The unimaginable and intentional slaughter of 6 million Jews, a third of the world’s Jewish population, done less then three quarters of a century ago and perpetrated by a German nation which was home to some of the foremost scientists, writers, and philosophers of modern times.

A crime of dimensions beyond human conception, perpetrated by a madman whom at the time some in the Western world thought they could do business with. Now today a madman in Iran, who some in the Western world think they can do business with, denies these events even occurred.

My thoughts turned with agony back to my own home in America where the lives of 55 million unborn children have been taken since 1973.

I saw the prime minister of Israel take 40 minutes out of his busy day, in the midst of trying to form a new government in this boisterous democracy, to welcome our small group into his office in the parliament building and take our questions. He even took one from me, which he answered at length and with care.

I saw a once barren land – a land once described by Mark Twain as “a desolate country…. a silent and mournful expanse” - now fruitful and ripe. Everything the Israelis have touched seems to have come alive and then some.

You see the result of the relationship of a land that uniquely goes with a people and the people that uniquely goes with that land, and you think of the Song of Songs: “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine: he browses among the lilies.”

I saw the great hope of my scriptures come alive right before my eyes, and I was left exuberant and confident that the God of truth and justice is still speaking today.

In the words of the Psalmist: “When the Lord brings about the return to Zion we will have been like dreamers…. Then they will say among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them, The Lord has done great things for us. We will then rejoice.”

Yes, I pray that when the president of the United States lands in Israel, for his first time, that he sees what I saw.

[Truth29]

What will Obama see when he visits Israel: unfinished business.

[Diogenesis]

Israel is a free country which supports capitalism,
innovation and truth.
These are four things which the current
Tyrant-without-Documentation hates and works to destroy
with the full abdication of Congress.

[ryan71]

He may see it but he won’t SEE it (accept it).

[GBA]

After reading history and after reading ahead in the Bible, I really hope the Jews in Israel finally have a clear picture of what's going on, what's expected and why. Same for everyone else.

This thing we call "life" may feel like being caught inside a massive psych experiment/role playing video game, but it's definitely not a game. More like a test. Pass or fail.

[Hoodat]

I would encourage anyone and everyone to visit Israel and see for yourselves what it’s actually like there. You will quickly discover that the American press has been lying to you for the last three decades.

[knarf]

All eyes are open, but what they see can be vastly divergent from each other.

Indeed ... some are open and are blind.

[Servant of the Cross]

I saw a once barren land – a land once described by Mark Twain as “a desolate country…. a silent and mournful expanse” - now fruitful and ripe. Everything the Israelis have touched seems to have come alive and then some.

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” ... Ezekiel 47: 12

[stuartcr]

Wow, it’s like you were in a completely different country!

[COBOL2Java]

Yes, I pray that when the president of the United States lands in Israel, for his first time, that he sees what I saw.

---

Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear:
- Jeremiah 5:21

[JimRed]

If Obama gets within a hundred feet of a young Israeli carrying one of those scary-looking assault weapons, he’ll crap his drawers!

[rktman]

I wish I could afford the trip. I’ve heard many good things about the country and how it has become so self sustaining to a large extent. I whole heartedly support Israel. I have a lot of respect for our “big brother”, as someone said in response to Star’s article. Sadly hussein won’t get it because he’d rather side with the plo/hammas/hezbollah and raise money for a yassar(that’s my baby)arrafat peace memorial. WHAT? (Maybe they can hold a rachel corie pancake breakfast to raise money)

[Kaslin]

Bump

[KeyLargo]

I have a co-worker that is Jewish and a big-time Obama supporter. She has been in Israel for a month now, with her relatives anxiously waiting to see her President.

[Kaslin]

You can be sure that he will not listen to Benjamin Netanyahu or anyone else but will instead demand that they listen to him

[tommix2]

Star Parker has come along way since she was a teenager, and now she writes a masterpiece such as this. G-d Bless her.
Thank you, Star

[Joe Boucher]

Obammy is going to Israel for a few photo opps and to crap on the Israelis and promote a homeland for the palestinian scourge in what is now part of Israel.
Oh well, American Jews could care less, why should I???

[Gertie]

How much less could they care Joe? It's “Couldn't care less”, at least have the courtesy to spout off with a little substance, not just to hear yourself sound stupid. Now kill the messenger, that's about your speed.

[Joe Boucher]

Hey Gertie,
Forgive me if I’m missing something but didn’t American Jews support this antiIsrael American president overwhelmingly for re-election knowing that he was a huge moosie supporter?
Sort of like cutting their noses off to spite their faces?
But Hey there Gert you go girl, fool

[SgtHooper]

I agree with you Joe. I wish someone could please explain this conundrum to me—why the US Jews vote overwhelmingly for El Stupido in the WH, he drops a load on them routinely in the public forum, and yet they continue to support him. Not sure I can accept the zombie effect on US Jews, but maybe it affects them as well.