Q. Jews insist they have divinely bestowed title to the land of Israel. Don’t you think that few passages in their Bible are more frightening to Arabs than Deut 11:24: “Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours …”?
A. We doubt that Arabs are genuinely frightened by this passage, which has never been adopted as a policy by any Israeli government.
However, God will have His way ultimately, and that includes restoring to Israel somewhat more land than they already have. In stark contrast, the Hamas Charter, based on religious claims, calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Even the PLO’s charter has never been amended to remove this threat. One should rather ask whether Jews should be the ones fearful of the very real religious and ideological agenda promoted by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the global Jihad movement – and a hostile world seduced by unfounded Arab claims that fly in the very face of history.