Israel is Ours

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Reader: From a purely religious perspective, what proof exists that Israel truly belongs to the children of Israel, son of Isaac, - and not the children of Ishmael?

Mesora: Judaism has a 100% proof of our ownership of Israel. Using the Bible as our proof, let us examine the passages:

Genesis, 12:5-7, "...and Abraham came to the land of Canaan. And Abraham traveled in the land until the place of Shechem, until the plains of Moreh, and the Canaanites were yet in the land. And God appeared to Abraham and said, 'to your seed I give this land', and he built there an altar to God who appeared to him."

Genesis, 17:19-21, "And God said, 'but Sarah your wife will give birth to you a son, and you will call him Isaac, and I will sustain My treaty with him - an everlasting treaty - to his seed after him. And to Ishmael I have heard you, behold I bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him very much, twelve princes will he bear, and he will be given to be a great nation. But my treaty I will establish with Isaac, who Sarah will bear at this time next year."

Genesis, 25:5-6, "And Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. And to the children of Abraham's concubines, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away from Isaac his son during his life eastward to the land of the east."

God clearly states in Genesis 17:21 that His treaty to give the land of Canaan is exclusively with Isaac and not with Ishmael. Even more, Genesis, 25:5-6 teaches that Abraham gave all he owned to Isaac.

This generation is not the first to be accused of forcibly occupying Israel. An account dating back to approximately 350 BCE is recorded between the Ishmaelites and the children of Abraham's concubine Ketura, against the Jews, and before Alexander the Great. This historical account is located in the Talmud Sanhedrin, page 91a and reads:

"On one occasion, the Ishmaelites and the children of Ketura came to debate Israel in front of Alexander the Great saying, 'Israel belongs to both the Ishmaelites and the Jews, as it is written 'these are the children of Ishmael the son of Abraham, and it is also written, 'these are the children of Isaac the son of Abraham.' (The Ishmaelites intended to fully equate both children, Ishmael and Isaac). Upon hearing the accusation, a Jew, named Ben-Pesisa approached the Rabbis and said, 'allow me to debate the Ishmaelites. If they win, they will say they beat a nobody (thereby enabling a greater Jew to argue further), but if I win, they will say the Law of Moses defeated them'. The Rabbis gave Ben-Pesisa permission to debate the Ishmaelites.

Ben-Pesisa came before Alexander the Great and the Ishmaelites and said, 'from where do you derive your proof?' The Ishmaelites said, 'from the Torah.'Ben-Pesisa said, 'I too will derive proof from nowhere but the Torah. He said, 'the Torah teaches, 'And Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. And to the children of Abraham's concubines, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away from Isaac his son during his life eastward to the land of the east.'

Ben-Pesisa concluded, 'If a father gives gifts to one of his sons in his lifetime, and then sends that son away from the other son, has the recipient of the gifts left to himself any claim?"

There is no further debate on this topic. Sound reason reveals the Ishmaelites - and anyone for that matter - have no claim against the children of Isaac, today's Jews. The land of Israel is 100% the possession of Israel. We might add that the Biblical borders define what the children of Israel own legitimately.