click here to jump to start of article
Join Our Newsletter

Get latest articles and videos with Jewish inspiration and insights​

13 Facts about Israel & the Middle East

13 Facts about Israel & the Middle East

Keeping these facts in mind will help prevent people from falling for Arab propaganda.


Anti-Semitism is alive and well, it’s just cloaked in its new garb: anti-Zionism or anti-Israeli occupation. Keeping these facts in mind will help prevent people from falling for Arab propaganda.

1. The Jews have a connection to the land of Israel for more than 3000 years, with continuous Jewish presence in the land of Israel in the majority of this time.

2. Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people for thousands of years. And recently, since 1850 the Jews were the ethnic majority of the city, except from 1948 till 1967 when the Jordanians destroyed the Jewish quarter, killed many Jews and expelled the rest. So how can the Jews be accused for occupying your own kitchens and back yards?

3. There was never an independent Arab State in the land of Israel.

4. 80% of the promised Jewish Homeland, as it was delineated in the Balfour declaration and ratified by the League of Nations, was given illegally, by the British Mandate, to the Hashemite Family from Saudi Arabia, to establish a totally New Kingdom of Trans Jordan. Practically, this was the first imposed “two state solution” in the Middle East.

5. In 1929, Arabs massacred 67 Jews in Hebron and expelled the rest, many years before the establishment of the modern state of Israel and before any disputed or occupied land became an issue.

6. In 1947, a new “two state solution,” which was proposed by the UN on the remaining 20% of the promised land, was accepted by the Jews, but was rejected by the neighboring Arab countries. Once Israel was established in 1948 the Arabs started a war to destroy Israel.

7. In 1967 the Arabs initiated another war to destroy the state of Israel, only to be defeated again.

8. On Yom Kippur of 1973 there was another failed attempt to destroy Israel, by force, by Egypt and Syria.

9. Despite the hostilities, generous offers to create a new Arab Palestinian State next to Israel were presented by several Israeli prime ministers, only to be rejected by the Arab leadership who continued their vicious anti-Israeli aggression.

10. They tried to destroy Israel by using indiscriminate terror attacks against innocent civilians.

11. They tried to destroy Israel using a rain of rockets on innocent civilians.

12. The Palestinian Authority is still allowing their children to be taught in school vicious hate and encouraging martyrdom.

13. As their attempts to destroy Israel by force fail, they are pushing a major international effort to delegitimize Israel, using the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) movement as their model.

What can we do? Stay informed and share your knowledge with as many people as you can. Together, we will make the world a better place for all of us and for future generations.

Give Tzedakah! Help create inspiring
articles, videos and blogs featuring timeless Jewish wisdom.

Visitor Comments: 21

(5) Carl, March 6, 2014 4:19 PM


Excellent synopsis. Sent bit to Obama and Kerry.

(4) Eliyahu, March 4, 2014 12:39 PM

1030 BC - 2014 AD undivided land

After the fall of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, political rule was held by the following powers:
1030–930 BC United Kingdom of Israel and Judah
928-586 BC: Kingdom of Judah
928-722 BC: Northern Kingdom of Israel
586–539 BC: Neo-Babylonian Empire
539–332 BC: Achaemenid Empire (Yehud Medinata)
332–305 BC: Alexandrian Empire
305–198 BC: Ptolemaic Kingdom
198–141 BC: Seleucid Empire
141–37 BC: Initially independent Hasmonean Kingdom established by the Maccabees
63 BC: Siege of Jerusalem by Pompey, beginning of Roman dominance
37 BC– 4 BC: Herodian Kingdom of the Roman Empire
4 BC - 6 AD: Tetrarchy (Judea) of the Roman Empire
6-132: Judea (Roman province)
132-135 Independent Bar Kokhba state
135-390: Roman province reconquered and renamed Syria Palaestina
260-273: Controlled by splinter Palmyrene Empire
390-638: Byzantine Palaestina Prima
602-625: Sassanid Jewish Commonwealth
638–1099: Arab Caliphates and subject rulers
1099–1187: Crusader states, most notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem
1187–1260: Dominated by the Ayyubids of Egypt and Damascus
1260–1516: Dominated by the Mamluks of Egypt
1453: Byzantine Empire
1516–1917: Ottoman Empire

Era of Self Governance
1918–1948: British mandate of Palestine under, first, League of Nations, then, successor United Nations; the Emirate of Trans-Jordan was separated from the rest of Palestine in 1922, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan became independent upon the expiration of the League of Nations Mandate in 1946.

May 1948 – June 1967: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, for parts of the Old City of Jerusalem and the larger part of the area; State of Israel for remaining parts of Jerusalem and for a smaller strip of land in the west

June 1967 to present: State of Israel
State of Israel including Jerusalem, gaza strips & Judea and Samaria area

Anonymous, March 5, 2014 10:49 AM

Philistines (Canaanites) vs Palestine (Arab)?

Basically based on the historical account modern Gaza Strips (Gaza) or ''People of Philistines disappeared distinct & the modern Philistines Pagan or Philistin Pagan today is does not exist'' (do not confuse with Palestine Arab)

The first government of this land was belong to jewish people and ruled by King David Empire and so on. If we look on the historical record and political record we may see that there is no such thing is Israeli-occupied territories.

Here is the fact:
King David Empire covers few part of Modern Egypt, part of Modern Syria and part of Modern Jordan and half of Modern Lebanon. Means the the jewish people has DE FACTO to reestablish State of Israel after the ancient kingdom of Judah/Israel conquered by the political power as stated above regardless the ancient borders. The Arab or other country claim that the Israel was stolen from the Palestinian ... the international community also claim that the state of Israel has violated many international laws, including United Nations is DE JURE.

Let's look at the Historical & Political record shall we?

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Roman Emperor Hadrian cursed the Jewish People and decreed that Judea should be henceforth called "Palestine" after the Philistines, an ancient enemy of Israel that had disappeared from the world's stage more than 600 BCE years earlier. It was his final twist of the knife and legacy after wars, massacres, persecutions, and exiles that had largely extinguished the Jewish presence from Judea.

Anonymous, March 5, 2014 10:57 AM

The Invention of Palestine by ''Pagan Roman Emperor Hadrian'' as a Psychological Weapon for Conquering Eretz Yisrael'. As explained in the film, many Israelis and lovers of Zion have accepted this misnaming and misidentification. Hadrian's ancient curse now threatens Israel's very existence. Israel's success and endurance and the world's hope for peace in the 21st century, demands that the deceit and danger of a Palestinian state must be exposed and avoided. It is our fervent hope that Hadrian's Curse will expose the historical truth.

The Secret All the Arabs Know
At the Annapolis Conference, George Bush spoke about his vision regarding the virtues of two nations for two peoples. One of those peoples has a clear identity –– the Jewish People. Yet it would be interesting to know the identity of that second people: Already in 1977, one of the central spokesman of that "second people", a member of P.L.O. leadership, Zahir Muhsein, the leader of the al-Sa'iqa Organization, revealed the truth in an interview to the Dutch newspaper Trouw: "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism for tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. "Only a means for continuing our struggle against the State of Israel," in Muhsein's words.

Anonymous, March 5, 2014 11:06 AM

Part 3

A fraud so successful that even George Bush can be found seeking a state for that fraud!

Do you think Zahir Muhsein is alone? This transparent fraud about the so-called existence of Palestine is revealed to us by all the Arabs' leaders:

In 1974, the late Syrian President, Hafez al-Assad, declared: "It would be fitting for us to mention to the responsible Israeli authorities that we view Palestine not just as an inseparable part of the Arab nation, but as a part of Southern Syria." In 1987, he reiterated himself at a conference in Amman, "A country named 'Palestine' has never existed." Jordanian King Hussein responded, "The appearance of the national Palestinian persona serves as a response to Israel's claim that Palestine is Jewish."

Yet the prize goes to Arafat who in 1970, with candid simplicity, told the reporter Arianna Palazzi: "The question of borders doesn't interest us... From the Arab standpoint, we mustn't talk about borders. Palestine is nothing but a drop in an enormous ocean. Our nation is the Arabic nation that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and beyond it..... The P.L.O. is fighting Israel in the name of Pan-Arabism.

All the same, there is nothing like the testimony of the founder of the P.L.O. himself, Ahmed Shukari. Already in 1956 he proclaimed from the podium of the U.N., as the Arab League's ambassador there, that "such a creature as Palestine does not exist at all.

See All Comments

Submit Your Comment:

  • Display my name?


  • * required field 2000
Submit Comment