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Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial Day Thoughts for USA and Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Memorial Day 2014 Washington DC

                                                                       
                      Benny Gantz Paying Tribute to Fallen in Israel's Yom Kippur War of 1973

"Imagine taking a walk from New York City to Chicago. That’s about an 800-mile trek, and it would take about two weeks of non-stop walking to complete it – a lot longer if you stopped to rest.

Now, imagine that all throughout your walk there were a continuous line of people standing shoulder to shoulder, one after another through the streets of New York City, into the back roads of New Jersey, over each rolling hill in Pennsylvania – people as far as the eye can see. It continues through Ohio and Indiana into Illinois. Finally, you arrive in Chicago after having walked past 1,321,612 people.

That’s a LOT of people. It also happens to be the same number of people who have died in combat while serving this country.

It’s sobering to think of all those faces. Each face has a story – a soldier whose life was cut down in its prime and likely left behind a spouse or a child or both. Most (625,000) died during the bloody, gruesome close quarter combat of the Civil War. Another 405,399 died in World War II, and 116,516 died in World War I. There have been many different wars, and they’ve stretched across many different eras, but one thing has remained constant: The amazing courage and willingness of the American soldier to lay down his or her own life for the cause of liberty. "(1)

This means that from 1776 when the USA was created till now, we have lost over a million sons in battle to protect the rights of citizens of our country; rights that other countries still have not attained. We had to sacrifice the lives of  our 1,321,612 to die in battle protecting us over the past 238 years.    Today we are a country of 317 million people in a world of 7.1 billion.

Though Israel was re-created on May 14, 1948, it has an established history of more than 35 centuries long  with origins  in the Biblical period of the 17th to the 6th century BCE.   We know they started again with a population of 650,000  66 years ago in 1948.  By the 1972 census they had 3,164,000 and today have nearly 8.2 million.  Israel's population is made up of 6.135 million Jews and 1.694 million Arabs which is  75% Jews and 20.7% Arabs to be exact.  It was established as the Jewish Homeland but is a pluralist society.  This means that different cultures and social traditions coexist.  For example, in 1972 Jews numbered 2,636,660 and were 85.2%; Moslems were 343,900 and made up 11.1%; Christians numbered 77,300 and were 2.4%; and Druzes & others were 37,300 and made up 1.3% of the population.  Like the USA, it has a population from all corners of the globe.

The 10 Lost Tribes are already being found and are returning to Israel.  Others are returning from countries that have a high amount of anti-Semitism that has also taken lives, so they are moving to Israel after suffering from much persecution for being Jews such as what has been happening in France.

Out of its 66 years of present day existence, Israel has had 7 major wars.  9,745 soldiers have been killed in engagements and terrorist attacks up to 1997.

Before Israel was declared a state the Jews lost lives defending the Jewish Homeland declared in the League of Nations in July 24, 1922.  The Balfour Declaration was signed on November 2, 1917.

Resource:  http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2013/12/31/us-population-2014-317-million-and-71-billion-in-the-world
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/On-its-66th-birthday-Israels-population-nears-82-million-351045
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_casualties_of_war
Facts About Israel 1973; Division of Information Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
http://www.danielpipes.org/4990/arab-israeli-fatalities-rank-49th
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/73_War.html
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/conflict/mandate_for_palestine/mandate_for_palestine.htm
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx
Resource:  (1) Glenn Beck from his program

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