A map pops up now and then on the internet that speaks volumes about the Middle East.
It shows Israel amid its Arab neighbors, who number 22 countries with a combined population of nearly half a billion people on more than 5 million square miles of land.
This doesn't even include another 27 Muslim-majority nations like Pakistan and Indonesia, or even India, which has more than 170 million Muslims.
Islam, the world's fastest growing religion, comprises more than 1.7 billion people.
By contrast, Israel has 7.2 million people (less than the population of New York City) on about 8,000 square miles. It is 263 miles from north to south, 71 miles at its widest, and only 6.2 miles at its narrowest and is about the size of New Jersey.
If the countries around it were pictured as the body and head of a gigantic man, Israel would constitute a fingernail.
And yet much of the world is insisting that it is diminutive Israel that has to give up "land for peace."
Surveys show that Evangelical Christians are, aside from American Jews, the most consistent and enthusiastic supporters of the Jewish state. If you take the Bible seriously, you can't help but understand the profound importance of Israel.
Likewise, it isn't militant Jews who are waging jihad around the world on Christians, Hindus and anyone else who won't bow to Mecca.
The militants have a slogan: "First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people."
College students militating for Hamas and the Palestinians over the Gaza war might want to ask why no one in the enormous Arab/Muslim world wants to welcome the Palestinians.
Or why Hamas fighters deliberately use the Palestinian people as human shields, putting their bases under, in, or near schools and hospitals.
Hamas, which was established in 1987 as an offshoot of the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood, means "strength" or "zeal" in Arabic. In Hebrew, it means "violence."
The pro-Palestinian side argues facetiously that while Arabs have occupied what is now modern-day Israel for 3,000 years, Jews are interlopers who were not really in the picture until recently.
This flies in the face of archeological evidence such as a 13th-century B.C. slab in Egypt that mentions Israel, and a 9th-century Canaanite slab citing King David, and the accounts of Josephus, the Roman/Jewish historian.
Jews lived in the land of Canaan for 2,600 years before Muhammad founded Islam around A.D. 600, and 2,100 years before the term "Palestine," came into use. It was coined by Roman Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 135 from the term "Philistines," the Jews' ancient enemy.
The Bible itself clearly says that God set aside Israel for the Jewish people.
Genesis 15:18, which Moses wrote about 3,500 years ago, states, "On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram [Abraham] and said, 'To your descendants, I give this land, from the Wadi [of Egypt] to the great river, the Euphrates.'"
Time again, God allowed Israel's enemies to smite them for adopting the barbaric practices of their pagan neighbors, such as child sacrifice, sexual immorality and idol worship. When they repented as a nation, He restored them.
An otherwise inexplicable miracle occurred in 1948, when Israel was re-established after nearly 2,000 years. To many, it is proof that Jerusalem is at the center of God's unfolding plan for humanity.
Since its re-establishment 76 years ago, Israel has had a special relationship with the United States.
Israel now hosts over 2,500 U.S. companies employing some 72,000 Israelis, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The tiny nation has the highest concentration of engineers and the most scientists and technicians per capita than any other country. It produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation.
The U.S.-Israeli economic and commercial relationship includes "IT, bio-tech, life sciences, health care solutions, energy, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, defense industries, cyber-security, and aviation, to name just a few sectors," according to the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
America's armed forces benefit greatly from Israel's innovative economy, with many critical components invented there.
Christians appreciate Israel's economic contributions, but they revere the Jewish people and the land of Israel more precisely because through them, God introduced His Son, the Messiah of the world – Jesus Christ.
Conversely, perverse ideologies such as Marxism and Nazism seek to destroy Judeo-Christian morality. That's why Adolf Hitler specifically targeted the Jews for annihilation, and Karl Marx declared atheism the wave of the future and Christianity the main enemy.
In America today, the radical Left has made common cause with the anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas movement. Both want to wipe out Jews along with America's constitutional republic.
America was founded largely by Christians who believed it was their God-given duty to create a system in which liberty flourished, especially the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and private property rights.
Israel is the only functioning democratic republic in the Middle East, but that's not why it is important.
It is the fountainhead of civilization, the birthplace of Jesus, and the apple of God's eye.
This column was first published at the Washington Times.
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