Why Israel is Important

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Genesis 12:3

I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

NKJV

Since Israel became a nation again in 1948 it seems they are constantly in the news.  Israel has become a dividing line for nations with some choosing to bless her and others choosing to curse her.  The relationship of the United States with Israel has been friendly but often strained.  However, even when the relationship is strained, the United States historically has not hesitated to offer its support.  Perhaps it is because Christians and Jews living in the United States take Genesis 12:3 seriously and want the nation to be among those blessing Israel. 

The current administration, however, does not seem to take this scripture seriously and believes Israel must give back land that is rightfully theirs in order to restore peace to the land.  (1)  Obviously, they have not studied history or read their Bible for the Land of Israel has hardly experienced peace since God gave the land to Abraham.  I find it arrogant for people in this administration to believe they can somehow wave the magic wand of diplomacy and end a battle that has been going on for thousands of years. 

Why is Israel so important anyway?  I mean I have been to Israel and it is a relative small nation.  Unlike its neighbors, it does not have any petroleum at least not that is known by other petroleum producing nations.  (2)  Its only source of fresh water is the Sea of Galilee, which is fed from runoff from the north that originates in countries that are enemies of Israel.  In fact, the major cause of the Six Day War was a water dispute.  (3)  Israel does have a thriving agricultural industry (4) which will become important during the times of famine predicted in the Last Days. 

However, Israel is important for the following reasons:

1)      Spiritually – The above scripture in Genesis 12:3 promises a blessing on individuals and nations that choose to bless Israel.  It also says that all the families of the earth shall be blessed.  This is a prophetic scripture referencing the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, would come to the world through the lineage of Abraham and bring the blessing of salvation to the world (Matthew 1:1-17). 

2)      Politically – Enemies surround Israel.  Granted nations like Jordan have peace agreements with Israel and right now honor those agreements, but many other nations would like to see Israel pushed into the Mediterranean.  This is especially true of the Palestinians, a nation within a nation that Israel actually allows to live within its own borders.  The Palestinians thank Israel for their generosity by shooting rockets into Israel causing the Israelis to live in fear close to the nearest bomb shelter instead of going about their normal lives.  This is why Israel has to put sanctions on the Palestinians.  If the Palestinians were to live peacefully in Israel as other Muslims do, they could live outside Gaza and the West Bank.  However, every time there is a ceasefire in the region, the Palestinians use it to regroup and begin another series of attacks.  The driver of our bus when my family and I were touring Israel in 2008 lived close to Gaza and several times during the eight days we were in Israel, he would receive calls from his wife letting him know they were okay.  One day we sat down for coffee together and he showed me pictures of his family.  He has a beautiful family that does not deserve having to live under the threat of the next rocket attack.  Since Israel is a democracy, why don’t the Palestinians use the political system in Israel to elect more people to office that are sympathetic to their cause but this goes against the belief of radical Muslims that their mission is the complete destruction of infidels, especially Jewish infidels.

3)      Militarily – Since our nation has decided to cow tow to the interests of environmentalists, we leave our rich oil reserves in the ground and depend on foreign oil, much of which comes from Islamic nations that are enemies of Israel and the United States.  It is therefore important for our nation to have an ally in the region that can help keep the oil flowing freely.  However, if the Obama administration continues to alienate our relationship with Israel, we run the risk of some major conflict breaking out in the region that will disrupt the flow of oil causing petroleum prices to rise sharply.  We know this to be true for just the mention of some terrorist group taking control of a refinery causes oil prices to rise.  (5) (6)

As we can see, Israel is important spiritually, politically, and militarily.  Economically we cannot afford a spike in oil prices due to a failure of our nation to support our powerful ally in the region, Israel.  It is inhumane for us to ignore the daily missile attacks on innocent civilians in Israel just because our cowardly leaders fear angering some Islamic group that will continue to hate us anyway.  After all, the U.S. is the big Satan in their eyes. 

God has blessed our nation throughout its history primarily because in our founding documents we declared our belief in God given inalienable rights and the nation’s duty to protect them.  Unfortunately, our nation has been in a moral decline for many years and now risks losing the special blessing promised by God in Genesis 12:3.  In these dangerous and uncertain times, we must return to the godly principles of our founding and bless Israel by helping them for we need all the blessings from God that we can get. 

Israel is an important part of our nation’s Middle Eastern foreign policy and I urge everyone to support leaders that support Israel, and vote out those that do not in the upcoming election.   

1. Cohen, Tom. Obama calls for Israel's return to pre-1967 borders. www.cnn.com. [Online] CNN Politics, May 19, 2011. [Cited: July 15, 2014.] http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/19/obama.israel.palestinians/.

2. Mitchell, Chris. A New Holy Oil? Searching for Petroleum in Israel. www.cbn.com. [Online] CBN News, May 24, 2010. [Cited: July 15, 2014.] http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/May/Company-Searches-for-Oil-in-Israel/.

3. Orion Magazene. Holy Water. www.orionmagazene.org. [Online] Orion Magazene, November/December 2011. [Cited: July 15, 2014.] http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6473/.

4. Agrotour. ISRAEL'S AGRICULTURE AT A GLANCE. www.agro-tour.com.il. [Online] Agro Tour, July 15, 2014. [Cited: July 15, 2014.] http://www.agro-tour.co.il/israel_agriculture.html.

5. Mufson, Steven. Iraq’s biggest oil refinery is on fire. How important is that? www.washingtonpost.com. [Online] The Washington Post, June 18, 2014. [Cited: July 15, 2014.] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/06/18/iraqs-biggest-oil-refinery-is-on-fire-how-important-is-that/.

6. CBC News. Airfares, gas prices on way up as oil hits 9-month high. www.cbc.ca. [Online] CBC News, June 20, 2014. [Cited: July 15, 2014.] http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/airfares-gas-prices-on-way-up-as-oil-hits-9-month-high-1.2682377.