Pakistani Opinion: Israel Will Rebuild the Temple.

Jews, why aren't you obsessed with the Holy Temple like the Arabs?  The Third Beis Hamikdosh is popping up in news all over the Arab world. The article below is just one example. Even more recently, Arabs burned an effigy of the Third Temple in protest. (Hamas Burns Temple Model in Anniversary Rally http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188635#.VI5m_cZ6iz, 12/14/2014). Jews worldwide are vaguely oblivious to the prospect of a Third Temple, but the Arabs are keenly aware that this is where history seems to be leading. However, according to Torah law, it is not the Jewish people on their own who build the Beis Hamikdosh, but the job of the King Moshiach, who will redeem Israel from her enemies and who will build the Third and final Temple on its site in Jerusalem.

Note: the writer of the opinion piece quoted below has distorted the words of Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel. He did not "call for a Third Temple to be built" (on the site of the Mosque). According to the Middle East Monitor, "Ariel added that the construction of a third Jewish temple at the site is the primary demand of the Torah "as it is at the forefront of Jewish salvation." (International Business Times, 11/14/2014)

Model of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem

Suggested by B. Epstein

Israel National News, Dec. 12, 2014

Pakistani Opinion: Israel is the Next Superpower

A surprising op-ed in a large Pakistani paper sees Israel benefiting big-time from current chaos, rebuilding Temple.

The Temple Mount (file photo - Israel National News)

Pakistan's The Nation newspaper, which describes itself as being the market leader in the Punjab and Islamabad areas, has published an op-ed that predicts Israel will become the world's next superpower.

Aisha Noor, a “researcher and designer,” begins her piece by asserting straightforwardly that Israel “has decided to demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque and build the Jewish Temple in its place.”

As evidence supporting this, she notes among other things that Israeli Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel recently said that it was time to begin building homes for Jews without restrictions, and that he said in a radio interview that “building the Jewish Temple is the paramount demand of the Torah, as it is at the forefront of Jewish salvation.”

“He called for a third Temple to be built on the site, which is today home to the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and is considered Judaism’s holiest site and Islam’s third holiest” explained Noor. “The very words to focus on are ‘the time to build…has come.’”

Koranic prediction

Noor cites Muslim scholars, such as Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi and Imam Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini, who believe that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of Israel, is in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

She quotes Prof. Khaleel Mohammed, Islamic Law scholar of the San Diego State University, as translating Surah 5, Verse 21 of the Koran, thus: “Moses said: O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers.” Mohammed here understands “written” to mean this is the final word from God on the subject, Noor adds.

Israel's strategic position has been enhanced by the overthrow of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, a political change that has further isolated the Hamas-led Palestinian Arabs in Gaza, Noor expounded. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the Shi'ite movement of Hezbollah has come under increasing military and political pressure after sending combatants to Syria to support the Assad regime in Syria.

Israel is benefiting from the Sunni-Shi'ite divisions ripping apart the Islamic world, claims Noor, and cites an anlysis that states: “The twin crises in Syria and Egypt have marked the emergence of a new superpower coalition in the Middle East, the odd couple alliance of Israel and Saudi Arabia, with Jordan serving as an intermediary and the Persian Gulf oil sheikdoms playing a supporting role.”

Noor goes on to describe powerful “Jewish lobbies” that control different countries, and quotes author Arthur Herman, who wrote in a Fox News piece on January 31, 2013, that the Arab Spring has made Israel stronger than before.

“The Arab Spring has spawned a chaos and instability in every country it has touched that’s going to grind on for years to come,” Herman had opined. “A new report warns that Egypt is on the verge of collapse; Israel’s old adversary Syria, already is. Both are also very likely headed towards economic ruin – as has already happened to Israel’s other foe, Hamas in Gaza, and could hit Iran next."

“All these factors,” Noor sums up, “contribute to the belief that Israel would be the next superpower.”

Fantasy or fact?

While Noor's op-ed may be tinged with shades of fantasy and anti-Semitic myth, recent research in India also shows that Israel is among the top ten most powerful nations in the world.

According to the 2012 National Power Index (NPI), released by the Foundation for National Security Research (FNSR), a New Delhi-based think tank, Israel achieved a 32.19 NPI ranking, placing it tenth on the list of the world's most powerful countries.

The NPI is a quantification of a nation's power, meaning its ability to influence global events. The ranking is based on a composite of indexes of statistical analysis in terms of economy, military, diplomacy, technology and population. Each factor has a certain weight, and the composite index includes a detailed analysis of individual components.

The research appraises Israel as a country of 8 million, with a GDP of $272.7 billion and 176,500 active military personnel.

Israel stands out in military capability where it is ranked 6th in the world, and technological capability where it ranks 4th. Its capabilities ranked 25 in economy, 17 in population and 19 in foreign affairs.

The index study notes that Israel has the strongest military in the Middle East, and is among the world's leaders in technology and science. It also notes that Israel ranks 15 on the UN development index, illustrating the high quality of life in the Jewish state.

Pakistani Opinion: Israel is the Next Superpower - Middle East - News - Arutz Sheva

Christian Priest in Israel Defends Law Saying Israel is a Jewish State.

A law before the Knesset seeks to define Israel as the Jewish state. While some might think this is belaboring the obvious, this law is important. Israel is the land Divinely designated for the Jewish people. The more this is said, the more the truth is revealed, the more the era of Redemption is realized. Also, it’s a sign of the Redemption when those among the nations speak up for Israel. Father Gabriel Nadaf's Facebook page is headlined: "I Stand With Israel. And you?" Amazingly, Father Nadaf's understanding of the destiny of the Holy Land runs deep. Israel is a land that ultimately will be governed by the G-dly wisdom of the Torah. American-style democracy is not its future.

Father Gavriel Nadaf

...the claim...that Israel is “ a state of all it’s citizens,” was lovely at first sight, “but covers a severe injury to the Jewishness of the state.”

“Even the Basic Laws...where it says that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, have been interpreted to give a clear superiority to the democratic dimension above the Jewish dimension.” 

Suggested by habayitah.blogspot.co.il

Christian priest speaks out strongly in favor of Jewish state law

THE JERUSALEM POST

By JEREMY SHARON 

11/24/2014 20:13

Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth who advocates IDF service for Christian Arabs, spoke out on Sunday in defense of the controversial Jewish-state bill. 

Writing on the Friends of Father Gabriel Nadaf Facebook page, which has 5,735 followers, Nadaf wrote that although the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 had been milestones in the actualization of the Jewish right to its homeland, that principle had become blurred and confused in the years since.

He said that it is ironic that, although the State of Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state, democratic principles are well-founded in law, whereas Jewish principles are not.

The priest also said that the claim by “a small minority, with great influence via the Supreme Court, the media, and leftist academia” that Israel is “ a state of all it’s citizens,” was lovely at first sight, “but covers a severe injury to the Jewishness of the state.”

“Even the Basic Laws – which the Supreme Court has turned into a constitution, contrary to all internationally recognized practice – where it says that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state, have been interpreted to give a clear superiority to the democratic dimension above the Jewish dimension,” he said.

Nadaf highlighted what he said is the importance of defining Israel as a Jewish state in light of the refusal of the Palestinian leadership to so.

“There is a reason why they won’t recognize [Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people]. They prefer it to be a state of all its citizens, without a national perspective, which would allow them to claim their own national rights in the land forever, including the concept of the ‘right of return.’ “In light of this, it is important to clarify in law to the citizens of the state, who maybe have forgotten this, to our neighbors, and to the entire world, that it is not worthwhile for them to err. The Jews have returned home and established their national state. They are no longer temporary residents in the Land of Israel,” Nadaf wrote.

He noted that all minority citizens living in the State of Israel “enjoy freedom and equality in all aspects, and that for Israel to define itself as Jewish would not pose any obstacle for members of minority groups to live in peace in the country.

The Abraham Fund, a coexistence organization that lobbies for Arab equality, expressed concern over the proposed law, however, and said government support for the bill, currently in two proposed forms, is damaging relations between the state and the Arab minority.

“The law implicitly suggests the effective abandonment by the state of the vision of a Jewish and democratic state: a state that is the national home of the Jewish people and is also the full and complete home of its Arab citizens,” the organization said in a statement to the press.

“Changes in Israel’s character must be made on the basis of a broad political consensus, comprising all parts of Israeli society – the Arab minority included. Such changes cannot be based on a political will to exclude and marginalize minorities. The further advancement of this and similar legislative initiatives is liable to cause a profound rift between the state and the Arab minority. We fail to understand the need for this legislation, nor the added value the state would gain from its advancement in the current reality.”

Christian priest speaks out strongly in favor of Jewish state law