The miracle took place 75 years ago, on a sliver of dusty and desolate land, just beginning to show the regreenment created by its Zionist pioneers. The miracle was the birth, against all odds, of the State of Israel. It was a difficult delivery.
The Palestinians, and many other Arabs, have been trying ever since to undo that State, calling into question its very right to exist. Aided by a worldwide army of Israel-haters, the Palestinians managed to have the U.N. declare that this year, for the first time, “Nakba Day” would be observed by that world body. And so it was, with Mahmoud Abbas, President-For-Life of the Palestinian Authority, standing at the podium for a whole hour, spewing nonsense and lies about what the Arabs describe as the “Nakba” or “catastrophe.” The “Nakba” was their failure to defeat the accursed Jews and destroy their state. It was not merely the defeat of the Arab armies that constituted the “Nakba,” but also what the Arabs claim was the “expulsion” of 750,000 Arabs (the actual figure was 650,000) from “Palestine” by the Jews. The Arabs claim that beginning at the end of November in 1947, the Jews of what would become on May 14, 1948 the newly-declared state of Israel began to expel the Arabs living “between the river and the sea.”
The facts are very different. After the UN Partition Resolution of November 29, 1947 – accepted by the Zionists, rejected by the Arabs — the Arab states prepared for their coming war of aggression by warning the Arabs in Mandatory Palestine (and after May 14, 1948, in Israel) to leave the area for their own safety. The Palestinian Arabs were encouraged to leave not only by numerous Arab broadcasts, but also by the Arab Higher Committee, Their message was simple: there would be terrible fighting between the Arabs and the Jews. The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, famously warned in 1947 that if war broke out, it would lead to “a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacre and the Crusades.” With such a bloodletting being predicted, It made sense for the Arabs in Palestine to get out of the way.
The Arabs inside Palestine were repeatedly told by Arabs outside that they would only be leaving for a short period of time, and should seek temporary refuge in other Arab countries. Then, quite soon, they would be able to return to their homes when the victorious Arab armies had expelled or killed all the Jews. Many, though not all, Jews, tried to convince the Arabs to remain. Shabtai Levy, the Mayor of Haifa, was one of those who entreated the local Arabs to stay in the city. The Israeli labor federation, Histadrut, also issued pleas for the Arabs to remain in Israel. In both cases, their pleas were to no avail.
Against all odds, the 650,000 Jews of Israel held out against Arab armies from countries with a combined population of 30 million. And they did so, too, despite the international arms embargo which was far more damaging to the Jews than to the Arabs, who had well-equipped regular armies. In Jordan, throughout the conflict, Great Britain continued to supply the British-officered Arab Legion, led by Lt.-General John Bagot Glubb (“Glubb Pasha”) with weapons, while the Jews, so many of whom had recently arrived from DP camps in Europe, by the beginning of 1948 still had only small arms, including some machine guns, but nothing more. Fortunately, early in 1948, despite the arms embargo, Israel managed to buy from Czechoslovakia 400 tons of mortars and other heavy machinery, aerial bombs, rifles, ammunition, machine guns, flamethrowers, explosives, tanks, and combat vehicles. And later in the same year, the Czechs sold Israel twenty-four Czech-built Avia S-199 fighters, a lesser version of the German Messerschmitt. In the fall the Czechs sold 61 Spitfires to Israel. It was those planes – the Avia S-199 fighters and the Spitfires — that led David Ben Gurion, in 1968, to say they “had saved the people of Israel.” It was a very near thing.
That’s what the Arabs describe as the “Nakba.” They lost. That’s what happens in wars. Others, with a better knowledge of how things stood with the desperate, poorly armed, vastly outnumbered Jews of Israel on May 15, 1948, when five Arab armies invaded, and the Jews were left with no option but to fight, alone, for the survival of the state and for their very lives, will prefer a different name for it: the “Miracle.”
Tatanka says
Respect
Eva says
I’ve always despised the british government for what they did to us during the run-up to and during WWII, they couldn’t have helped hitler more if they’d been trying.
I guess once he was dead, they hung their disgusting hopes of exterminating us on the arabs.
Thank G-d for the bravery and resolve of the new Israeli’s to defend our homeland, and Czechoslovakia for being prepared to sell the weapons that were so desperately necessary to save Israel.
Westman says
Nakba – when Islam’s superiority complex of masculine power met the reality of science and progressive intellect.
Islam delineates the human mind to holding contradictions, simultaneously. Could it be that such a mind, infused with inshullah, is unlikely to make competent decisions and calculations while using non-Muslim designed modern high-tech warfare devices?
Bexarkat says
Why do only a few remember the Farhud?
I AM THE INFIDEL YOUR IMAM WARNED YOU ABOUT says
My young cousins fought in that war. My oldest cousin Joseph Barook lost his life when his plane was shot down over the Sinai Peninsula. Today, I still have family and friends in the IDF placing their lives on the line every day.
I don’t care if it’s Nakba day or Shit day………. Israel is here to stay forever. Israel is G-D’s country
OLD GUY says
Israel YES! Islam NO! There is no comparison of who are the better people in that choice. As a Christian I’ll stand with Israel everyday.
Rotem N says
What the hell is “Palestine”?