“Stand With Israel” Event – August 24

A group of local Central Florida folks have recently organized themselves into a Steering Committee to plan a “Stand With Israel” event for Wednesday, August 24.

This event coincides with Glenn Beck's “Restoring Courage” trip to Israel.  For those who don’t have the several thousand to spend on the trip, but who still want to make a stand in support of one of our few great allies, this Central Florida event is designed for you.

There will be hundreds of similar “Stand With Israel” events across our nation.

Here is a Q & A from Glenn Beck’s website:

Q: I won’t be able to go to Restoring Courage in Jerusalem, but I still want to stand with Israel. How can I get involved from home?
A: Please know that all three of our Restoring Courage events will be viewable from around the world. We encourage you to organize viewing parties in your own communities so you can participate with us wherever you are.
Use Freedom Connector or Meetup to help organize local gatherings.

Why are we doing this?  Why support Israel?

Here is the purpose of our local Stand With Israel event as I see it.  Call this a Mission Statement or Purpose Statement if you wish, but here it is:

“Stand With Israel” Statement of Purpose

The purpose of our local Stand With Israel event is to demonstrate grass roots unity and support for Israel, one of our few best allies in the world.  This support is justified and required on several levels:

1) From a Jewish perspective:  Israel is the homeland of all Jews in America.  It is more than Italy is to Italians, Poland to Poles, and Ireland to the Irish.  It represents not just a nation and culture, but also a religion and a 5,000 year old heritage – the promised land - a perpetual gift from G-d.  Israel feels it is standing alone.  The Jewish diaspora must demonstrate that Israel is NOT alone.

2) From a Christian perspective:  Israel is the birth place of Christianity.  Israel is under threat of being over run by forces promising its eradication.  Israel is the Zion of the Bible, symbol of the promises of Christ for his chosen people and those he has adopted through faith.  So goes Zion, so goes the world.

3) From a rational “balance of power” perspective:  Israel is under threat of extermination from surrounding nations collectively 649 times the size of Israel.  Islam is supreme in dozens of nations around the world.  Judaism has one tiny nation.  Yet Muslims wish to eradicate that one tiny state.  It is a miracle it still exits.

Map of Islamic countries (green) and Israel (red).  Add non-Arab but Islamic Turkey and Afghanistan and the size disparity is even greater.
Note that Israel is like a tiny island in a sea of Arab countries.  Courtesy of Israel Science and Technology Homepage

4) From a political perspective:  President Obama has provided support and hope to Islamic nations and removed support and hope from Israel – as he has also done to other traditional solid allies.  Congress and the American people are at odds with the President’s actions.  Congress has demonstrated their support of Israel during President Netanyahu’s visit to Congress last week.  Now the people of this country have an opportunity to demonstrate their support.

5) From a moral and humanitarian perspective:  Israel has been a bastion of stability, freedom, prosperity, and refuge in a sea of tyranny, hate, intolerance, threats, and upheaval.  Israel knows how to govern.  Surrounding nations remain engaged in tribal conflict.  Israel simply wants to defend itself and be left alone.  Surrounding nations have made it crystal clear that they seek the elimination of Israel.

Why “Stand With Israel.”  The reasons are clear.