In one of our recent We Hold These Truths Speaks Out podcasts, “Zio-Christians Legitimize Israel’s Land Theft” we discussed who really has the property rights to the land now called the nation-state of Israel.
This seemingly simple question has generated more debate and bloodshed than could possibly have ever been imagined.
There is a Biblical basis for honoring property rights. Here are some Biblical reasons why the current land ownership in Israel is unscriptural and illegal in its nature:
Abraham bought a field, transferring ownership to himself to bury Sarah (Gen.23:13)
The Israelites received the land of Canaan because of God’s judgement on the Canaanites (Gen. 15:6)
Thou shall not steal (Ex. 20:15)
Moving property boundary lines forbidden (Deut. 27:17)
Ahab and Jezabel judged for stealing Nabal’s vineyard (1Kings 21:19)
The ten northern tribes lost their land permanently because of their disobedience to God (2Kings 17:7-23)
The tribes of Judah and Benjamin never had any land rights to land of the exiled northern tribes (Today’s modern cities of Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, and others)
Jesus tells the parable of a man finding a treasure and legally buying that land to obtain the treasure (Mt. 13:44)
Peter affirms the right of property ownership when he tells Annanias and Sapphira they had the right to do with their property as they saw fit. (Acts 5:4)
There is NO New Testament justification for stealing someones’ private property.
There are NO New Testament scriptures for supporting a Jewish state.
The Old Testament land acquisition by the Israelites was God using them to bring His judgement on a wicked and debauched people.
There are NO scriptures promising a return of unrepentant Israelite exiles to any land.
The 1917 Balfour Declaration stated: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
Great Britain had no right to give away the lands of Palestine with the Declaration sent to Lord Rothschild anymore than you could give away land down the street to a friend of yours. There are legal ways to transfer property ownership, some were even used by the Zionists originally to acquire land in Palestine, but that process was too slow for the Zionists.
The actions of the Stern gang, the Irgun, Haganah, and even the United Nations partition, all violated the property rights of the indigenous Palestinians. That confiscation is still going on today especially through the Jewish settlements.
Does the state of Israel have a right to exist? – NO
Does the state of Israel exist? – Yes
In a perfect world, the non-indigenous Jews would give back the stolen Palestinian lands to the people who held title before the Nakba, and either purchase the land legally or leave Palestine; and that is not even discussing the criminal actions of the thefts.
We all know that is not going to happen! The “Right of Return” of the displaced Palestinians is not even in serious discussion since that would drastically upset the demographics of the area.
At We Hold These Truths our mission is to educate Christians to the dangers of Christian Zionism, its unbiblical roots, and just how un-Christian it truly is.
How can any believer in Christ support, endorse, and encourage: property confiscation by force, genocide of the Palestinians, endless wars to support Israel, and the trillions of dollars and millions of lives that have been lost in that struggle, and say that all this action is pleasing to God?
There will always be evil in this world until Jesus returns, but we must not be complicit with it.
Craig Hanson
Jer. 22:13 – ‘Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness’…
For more information see – The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict by Jews for Justice in the Middle East: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html
