Yep, Israel is the Neighborhood Bully:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/bob-dylans-son-in-law-records-hamas-war-sequel-to-dylans-neighborhood-bully/
Surrounded by such peace loving folks like Hamas and Hezbollah and the Assad regime and ISIS and the Iranian mullahs. All the peace loving peoples of the world are obsessed with ... Israel. How dare they defend themselves.
Incredibly, there's even a book (Esther) in the Old Testament about what's happening today: "In every generation, our enemies rise up to destroy us."
Another interesting thing is the material on Ishmael in the book of Genesis. Material that's there but is generally ignored by both Jews and Christians. Ishmael isn't a central character but he appears several times .... conceived through lack of faith in God's promise to Abram, cast out at the instigation of Sarah and saved by an angel who conveys a divine promise re Ishmael, though a strange one ("a wild ass of a man ... his hand shall be against every man"). Sounds relevant today.
* Gen 16: 10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her: 'I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her: 'Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son; and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because the LORD hath heard thy affliction
12 And he shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren.'
Gen 17: 18 And Abraham said unto God: 'Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!'
19 And God said: 'Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 21: 8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[ b] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
......
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
....
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.
Gen 25: 8 And Abraham expired, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.
9 And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
......
12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore unto Abraham.
13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the first-born of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa;
15 Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedem
16 these are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments; twelve princes according to their nations.
Then, in addition to Ishmael and his descendants, Genesis says Arab took a second wife and had 6 more children with her:
Gen 25: 1 And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah.
2 And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
3 And Jokshan begot Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.
4 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.
6 But unto the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
Those names are all tribal or place names in Arabia. Clearly the Arab peoples are being identified as descendants of Abraham and recipients of a soft of a blessing.
The funny thing about this Ishmael material from Genesis is ... what is it even doing there in four chapters of Genesis? We're given to understand Genesis is just some Israelite tales invented sometime between 2500 and 3000 years ago. But why is there any material at all there about Arabs? Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, the Hittites, the Phoenicians .. these were the important people in the region. At the time, Arabs were insignificant desert dwellers with little contact with the land of Israel. So why invent tales about kinship with and left-handed blessings for a far off, then unimportant people?
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