Come along to Jerusalem Day, an event being held in London and organised by Christian Friends of Israel and the Zionist Federation. The event also features a special guest

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I am a Zionist, a proud Muslim Zionist, and I love Israel, but this was not always the case. In fact, for many years I was quite the extreme opposite. I experienced the high levels of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity taking place on British university campuses, because I was the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel activist.

Growing up in the Muslim community in the UK I was exposed to materials and opinions at best condemning Israel, painting Jews as usurpers and murderers, and at worse calling for the wholesale destruction of the "Zionist Entity" and all Jews. In short, there was no accommodating a Jewish State in the Middle East.

To grow up around this constant barrage of hatred directed at Israel has a massive effect on an individual’s own opinions. More disturbingly, many of these people weren’t radical or extreme, but when it was about Israel the most vicious of rhetoric poured out, coupled with the casual anti-Semitism that seemed too prevalent, when the phrase "stop being a Jew" used as an insult.

My father, however, was much more brazen in his hatred, boasting of how Adolf Hitler was a hero, his only failing being that he didn't kill enough Jews.

By the time I had reached 18 I was completely indoctrinated to the fold of radical Islamism. My hate for Israel and for the Jews was fuelled by images of death and destruction, set to the backdrop of Arabic melodies about Jihad and speeches of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah or Osama Bin Laden.

These views were reinforced when I attended Nakba Day rallies, where speakers predicted Israel's demise as Hezbollah flags were waved proudly in the centre of London.

The Case for Israel

Was there a case for Israel? In my mind, of course not, there was no shadow of doubt. Even the most moderate clerics I came across refused to condemn terrorism against Israel as unjustified; the Jews must obviously deserve it, I believed.

So what changed? How could I go from all this hatred to the great love for and affinity with Israel and the Jewish people? I found myself in the Israel and Palestine section of a local bookstore and picked up a copy of Alan Dershowitz’s The Case for Israel. Given my worldview, the Jews and Americans controlled the media, so after brief look at the back, I scoffed thinking "vile Zionist propaganda."

I did, however, decide to buy it, content that I would shortly be deconstructing this propaganda piece, showing that Israel had no case and claiming my findings as a personal victory for the Palestinian cause.

As I read Dershowitz’s arguments and deconstruction of many lies I saw as unquestionable truths, I searched despairingly for counter arguments, but found more hollow rhetoric that I’d believed for many years. I felt a real crisis of conscience, and thus began a period of unbiased research. Up until that point I had not been exposed to anything remotely positive about Israel.

Now, I didn't know what to believe. I'd blindly followed others for so long, yet here I was questioning whether I had been wrong. I reached a point where I felt I had no other choice but to see Israel for myself; only that way I’d really know the truth. At the risk of sounding cliché, it was a life-changing visit.

No Apartheid State 

I did not encounter an apartheid racist state, but rather, quite the opposite. I was confronted by synagogues, mosques and churches, by Jews and Arabs living together, by minorities playing huge parts in all areas of Israeli life, from the military to the judiciary. It was shocking and eye-opening. This wasn't the evil Zionist Israel that I had been told about.

After much soul searching, I knew what I had once believed was wrong. I had been confronted with the truth and had to accept it. But I had a bigger question to confront, what now? I’d for years campaigned against Israel, but now I knew the truth. Israel is not just a Jewish issue ― it’s about freedom, human rights and all the values that the West cherishes.

The choice was obvious: I had to stand with Israel, with this tiny nation, free, democratic, making huge strides in medicine, research and development, yet the victim of the same lies and hatred that nearly consumed me.

Doing this is not easy and that’s something that has become very obvious. I have faced hostility from my own community and even some within the Jewish community in the UK, but that’s the reality of standing up for Israel in Europe today. It is not easy, and that’s what makes it so necessary.

When it comes to Israel, the truth is not being heard, the ranks of those filled with blind hatred continue to swell, yet many have not been exposed to the reality, away from the empty rhetoric and politically charged slogans they are so fond of.

We can change this situation but we need to be strong and united. Israel is not just a Jewish issue ― it’s about freedom, human rights and democracy, all the values that Western nations cherish. It’s also about trying to be a light among nations.

Israel’s international humanitarian aid work speaks for itself, but if we don’t get the message out there, no one will. We don’t have to be head-bowed apologists leading with :Israel’s not perfect…" ― we should never be afraid to say: I am a Zionist and I’m proud. I stand with Israel. Now I ask, will you do that?

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A new $11 million memorial will be built on Mt. Herzl to honor Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, receiving approval from the Knesset just ahead of Israel's birthday celebrations. The State of Israel will celebrate its 64th birthday on Thursday, April 26, and there are plenty of people around the world who are still willing to need and feed the much-coveted Holy Land.

Sirens sounded on Tuesday evening as Israel's Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers began at sundown. The sirens will wail again Wednesday morning on one of Israel's most serious days. The day has great meaning for the Israelis, many of whom have friends or family who have died. Wednesday evening, however, the mourning will turn into joy as celebrations begin for Israel's Independence Day. The 5th of Iyyar marks the 64th anniversary of State of Israel and another year of Israel's successful survival in a hostile world.

Tuesday evening began the sober day in Israel as its people remembered the 22,993 men and women who have died for Israel since 1860. That was the year Jews began to leave the safety of Jerusalem to build new Jewish neighborhoods. At 8:00pm Tuesdat night, a one-minute siren sounded in communities all across Israel. Vehicles stopped, and Israelis rose to their feet to remember their fallen countrymen. Again the sirens will sound on Wednesday morning at 11:00am. Again everybody will stop what they were doing and stand in honor of the fallen for two minutes. Military ceremonies around the country will begin immediately after the sirens have quieted, and other ceremonies will be held to honor the Victims of Terror as well as foreign volunteers from around the world who came to fight on Israel's behalf during the War of Independence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a ceremony in Yad Lebanim in Jerusalem Tuesday evening, along with Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Supreme Court President Asher Grunis, Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. Netanyahu wrote to the families of Israel as he does every year, saying, "As a son to a bereaved family, Memorial Day has special significance for me. This day isn't just a national memorial day, it is also a private memorial day for me and the members of my family." The Prime Minister's brother Yonatan Netanyahu was killed during the famous Operation Entebbe raid on July 4, 1976, in which 102 Air France hostages were saved after PFLP terrorists hijacked the plane to Entebbe, Uganda.

At sundown Wednesday, Remembrance Day will end and Israel's Independence Day festivities will begin. The late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the first Chief Rabbi of the IDF and the man who set the date for Remembrance Day, explained the transition between the two days in this way:

"We view the warriors who fall in battle as those who sprout forth life. The life of a nation grew out of this blood... This day must be more than mourning: We must remember, we must grieve, but it must (also) be a day of majesty and vision."

Stage shows and concerts will kick off in the evening, and the celebration will continue throughout Thursday. The army will hold air and sea displays, and a ceremony for outstanding soldiers will be held. The International Bible Quiz will take place in Jerusalem.

"Who would have thought that after having had to fight seven wars, endure two Intifadas and bear-up against ongoing terrorist attack that the Jewish state would remain democratic and free despite little peace with its neighbors and no resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?" writes Los Angeles Rabbi John Rosove.

Israel has had a rough 64 years, from its War of Independence in 1948, to battles for its existence in 1967 and 1973, and through the constant threat of terror acts within its borders. Israel's security forces are some of the best trained in the world. At one time, every one of Israel's near neighbors was its enemy. It faced hostile armies on all borders. Now, Israel is at peace with Jordan and maintains a relatively stable non-war with Syria as well as the new government in Egypt for the time being. It has serious enemies in the international community and among terror groups within its territories, but it also has some very strong friends. Even then, with God's help, Israel can take care of itself.

Israel's population has grown in the past 64 years. There are 7,881,000 Israelis on this year's Independence Day, up from just 806,000 when the nation was established. About 73.5 percent of Israelis are Jews and 20.6 are Arabs. About 161,000 babies were born in Israel during the last year, and more than 19,000 immigrants have come to live in country, while another 8,000 moved away.

Israel is the land of the Bible, and Jerusalem is the City of David, the city in which the Messiah will take His throne. As Israel celebrates another year of its existence, it also brings us one year closer to that day when the Son of David will begin his earthly rule, and the wolf will lay down in peace with the lamb. There will be plenty of false cries of "peace" before that day, followed by great turmoil. Still, that day will come, and the Messiah will reign, praise the Lord.

Happy Birthday, Israel.

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Israel on Thursday was the scene of solemn silence and piercing cries as every man, woman and child remembered the Holocaust, the most devious and the most successful attempt in history to destroy the Jewish people.

No matter how many times one hears it, the emotions stirred by the nation-wide siren blast at 10 AM on the morning of Holocaust Victims and Heroes Remembrance Day never diminish. It is humbling, and heartbreaking, to realize that at that exact moment, six million fellow Israelis are all standing together in tear-inducing silence in honor of six million European Jews whose lives were mercilessly snuffed out.

In Auschwitz, Poland a group of hundreds of Israelis and Diaspora Jews, including 50 Israeli soldiers, marched through the preserved remains of the largest of the Nazi death camps, as a squad of Israeli F15s roared overhead, a symbol that despite the best efforts of history's most notorious villains, the people of Israel not only live, but are stronger than ever.

Back in Israel, the nation's leaders presided over memorial ceremonies, insisting that such an atrocity would never again befall the Jewish people so long as there was a Jewish state to defend them.

But in the back of everyone's minds is the growing concern that in less than a generation from now, the Holocaust will be redefined by Israel's antagonists, if not forgotten completely.

Already today, foes like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas and British author David Irving deny that the Holocaust ever happened, or try to paint it as a Jewish conspiracy. It is difficult for these revisionists to gain much mindshare at present as there are still Holocaust survivors living among us. But what happens when the last of those poor souls to personally experience the Nazis' "Final Solution" is laid to rest?

When there are no more Holocaust survivors left, and one of the blackest chapters in human history is no longer a living memory, will any nation besides Israel continue to remember it for what it was? Will any nation besides Israel continue to believe that the spirit behind that horrific act of genocide remains active in the world today?

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click on the leaflet to download it.

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