Again, there was a bizarre Israel-hating proclamation showing a picture of a billboard depicting a sad child in the "Visual Voice," May 26, with a letter by Zuhair Al-Atwi ("Billboard focuses on a vital issue").
Throughout Europe, the killing of Jewish children, women and men was habitual. The universal-minded Jews said enough is enough and returned to their ancient homeland. Contrary to deceitful propaganda, similar to what we see in this billboard, the land of Israel was pretty much empty.
If you read the writings by the eminent Dutch scholar Adrian Reland, who toured the land of Israel at the end of the 17th century, the land was empty with the exception of small Jewish and Christian populations in Jerusalem, Acco, Tzfat, Jaffa and Tiberius, and some nomadic Bedouins.
As the Jews returned, the economy picked up and droves of Arabs from Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt started moving in to participate in this revival. These Arabs brought with them the extreme ideology and volatility from the neighboring countries.
Many of them support Hamas, which calls for the extermination of the Jews. Most of the rest support the more moderate Fatah, which still calls for the destruction of Israel in steps.
The U.S. loan to Israel is to prevent another Holocaust in the face of explicit threats.
In return, the U.S. gets a committed ally, outstanding technology in military systems, cyberspace and electronics.
If there are 800,000 Muslim Arabs living peacefully in the Israeli Galilee, why can't 300,000 Jews live peacefully in their counties of origin — Judea and Samaria?
Hiram Cohen
Colonie