“I will resettle your towns”
8 July 2022
This week, Russia ordered the Jewish Agency for Israel to cease its operations in Russia. The timing suggests this is a retaliation against Israel’s support for Ukraine.
This decision, if implemented, will be a blow for the hundreds of thousands of Jews in Russia and other Russian citizens who qualify for Israeli citizenship under the Israeli Law of Return.
It is reported that many Jews in Russia are fearful of persecution by the Russian state apparatus.
The precarious position of Jews in Russia goes back a long way. For centuries, Jews have constituted a large community in Russia. Often oppressed, and the subject of regular pogroms, for a long period they were only allowed to live in the Pale of Settlement (current day Belarus, Moldova and Lithuania and parts of Ukraine and Poland). Under the Soviet Union, with the exception of the late 1960s-early 1970s, Russian Jews were not allowed to leave Russia. After 1989, almost a million Jews left for Israel and the USA.
The Jewish Agency was established under the Mandate for Palestine (1922). Ever since, the Jewish Agency has been the main organisation responsible for encouraging and enabling Jews worldwide to emigrate to Israel and become established in the land. Many Jews would not be able to return to Israel without the Jewish Agency’s help.
The Mandate for Palestine was created after WWI to enable the reconstitution of the Jewish homeland, This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Mandate for Palestine, which implemented the Balfour Declaration (1917) and the decision taken by the Allied Powers at San Remo (1920) to enable the Jewish people to reconstitute their homeland in Palestine. The Mandate explicitly allowed Jews to immigrate and settle the land of Palestine.
The Mandate for Palestine conferred an international legal imprimatur to the return of the Jewish people and their settlement in the land, and laid the foundation for the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
This means that both the existence of the Jewish State, and the right of Jews to settle in all of Palestine (including what is now known as the West Bank), have strong foundations under international law.
At the end of the day, however, the return of the Jewish people and the re-establishment of their homeland is the Lord’s work. It is He who is bringing his children home, after their banishment from the land for two Millenia. There, He is settling them in Jerusalem and the mountains of Israel - never to be uprooted again. Why? As a testimony to the nations, that they will acknowledge His holiness (see eg. Ezechiel 36).
Perhaps this explains why there is so much opposition to the Jewish State of Israel. The widespread hatred of Israel and the Jewish people cannot be explained rationally. It would seem Satan stirs antisemitic hatred in the hearts of man, in an attempt to frustrate the Lord’s plans.
Israel’s most dangerous enemy is probably the revolutionary Islamist regime in Iran, which has sworn to destroy Israel. This week, Israel has shot down several unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) sent by Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah into Israeli airspace. It is estimated that Hezbollah has amassed over 2000 UAVs, manufactured and supplied by Iran.
Iran is also moving forward with its production of nuclear weapons. U.S. special envoy for Iran Robert Malley said this week that Tehran is just “a matter of weeks” away from having enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.
The Lord has promised He will protect His people. It is essential that we pray for the Jews in Russia, for their safety and protection, and that the Jewish Agency may be able to continue its important work in Russia - and beyond.
Let us also pray that the Lord will defend Israel against the plans of Iran, and its proxies like Hezbollah.
The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today
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