Biblical Israel is not the State of Israel

12 JULY 2025

Dear Editor,

       As the 12th Pacific Mini Games wind down, I wish to congratulate all our athletes and more importantly, the entire nation of Palau. We made history, hosting the Mini Games for the second time in twenty years, and while there will always be room for improvement, everyone deserves credit for the job well-done in hosting the Olympics of the Pacific.

      However, I do credit the official remarks from the Opening Ceremony acknowledging a grim reality: while we celebrated sport, youth, culture, and diplomacy, wars and genocide are taking place around the world. Some would say that we are “blessed,” though some may struggle and even wonder in prayer, “why are we blessed while others seem cursed?”

       I do not have an answer for that, though I have a belief that if we are indeed “blessed,” we Palauans cannot afford to be complicit, so we should “bless” others since we are blessed.

      I know that while there are many things to write, Palauans are starting to ask questions and think critically about our complicit of Israel’s genocide and apartheid in historic Palestine. I applaud them, but know that one comment one of my recent letters, calling the genocide in Gaza, “moldelngir ar Muslims” disturbed me to the levels of miseducation people have on Palestine

      My first instinct was to ask, is it truly on a Muslim only issue to worry about murdering children? What version of Christianity are we claiming to have ?

      In that case, there will be a crisis of faith if Christians are commanded to not care for their neighbours. I did stop and reflect, coming to realise that public education may be lacking. So for the rest of my letter, I wish to state what should be basic: Biblical Israel and the modern State of Israel are not the same thing.

      The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation,  and I will bless you; I will make your name great,  and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3). Some translations will replace “the great nation” with “Israel” which had disastrous consequences that we can see.

      As much as it might hurt some people to read what I will write, the Bible is a work of literature, and it reads as such. When God blessed Abram with a “great nation” he was talking about a separate place in a separate time period.

       One of the greatest feats of story-telling in today’s time is to convince you that the State of Israel is the exact same thing as Biblical Israel from thousands of years ago.

      I invite you to read The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi  but the summary is that the modern state of Israel only existed in 1948, after a war expelled its indigenous populations. I find it a literary stretch for Christians to truly believe that God promised and “blessed” fighter planes, drones, sniper rifles, and automatic weapons to Abram and “curse” us for seeking justice.

      In case it is not yet clear for a reader, Biblical Israel is not the same as the State of Israel. An Israelite  is a member of an ancient society that we read from once a week in church services. An “Israeli” is a citizen of the modern nation-state of Israel of 1948.

       I know that many are tempted to debunk this article by posting more verses about how “Israel” is a timeless entity. Whether you believe in the “rapture” or other form of the second coming, it influences you to vote to send billions of dollars of military aid for a military to murder women and children? What form of Christianity commands barbarity and unquestioning loyalty to evil?

      “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:5). I further warn you that those who pray and shout “ISRAEL” may be knowingly or unknowingly praying for genocide, war, famine, and cruelty.

      As many Palauans will question how their leaders are voting to side with Israel and therefore be complicit in the genocide, I believe that people of good faith have a duty. Even if this was the case, do we really wish to worship a nation that kills children? Is it the moral thing to do?

      I know that this letter alone will raise more questions than answers, but ending a genocide through political action and pressure and humanitarian law will be a whole of country effort. I invite you to question our leaders on why they stain our names by voting against ceasefire.

      For those who pray, I encourage you to defend your faith, sharing that “Thou shall not kill” should be the default. No amount of propaganda, opinion pieces, or sermons should rile you up to bomb hospitals, shoot hungry children, or arrest the elderly and call it “God’s will.”

       If we in Palau are truly “blessed,” then what right do we have to “curse” the 50,000 dead Palestinians, the scores of crying orphans, the hungry, the sick, and the dying? Or does Matthew 25:40 mean nothing anymore?

“Whatssoever you do to the least of my people, that you do on to me.”

Sincerely,

Palauan for Palestine

End to Genocide