Support for Israel extends beyond Jewish world, ECI says
Pence: It is impossible not to see hands from heaven in 1947 partition vote.
By BENJAMIN GLATTUS Vice President Mike Pence waves to the crowd at a UN event in New York marking 70 years since the Partition Plan was approved(photo credit: SHAHAR AZRAN)
Christians played an important part in the formulation of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, and they continue to help the Jewish state grow today, a pro-Israel group said.The European Coalition for Israel was part of a consortium of Jewish organizations that hosted the 70th anniversary of UN General Assembly Resolution 181 at the Queens Museum in New York on Tuesday night.“Our presence here today as the only non-Jewish organization in the hosting committee is important in that it shows that support for the State of Israel extends beyond the Jewish world,” Tomas Sandell, founding director of ECI, said. “UN General Assembly Resolution 181 is a historical achievement that we can be truly proud of.”While the Jewish people did not receive all that had been promised to them by the international community in 1920 it re-affirmed the right to self-determination of the Jewish people in their historical homeland.“The singular message from this commemoration is that the Jewish people said yes to peace and co-existence already in 1947 and have continued to do so for the last 70 years,” he said. “It is now high time that also the enemies of the Jewish state recognize that Israel is here to stay and come back to the negotiating table.”US Vice President Mike Pence said that the real credit for the creation of the state doesn’t go to the UN but to the Jewish people themselves.“The United Nations did not create the Jewish state, they simply reaffirmed the natural and irrevocable rights of the Jewish people to their own state in their historical homeland,” US Vice President Mike Pence pointed out at the event. “Israel did not need a resolution to call for its existence, because its right to exist is self-evident and timeless.”Having said that, however, he also said it was clear how the hand of God also played a part.“While Israel was built by human hands, it is impossible not to also see the hands from heaven,” Pence said.World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder reminded the audience that Jews had been living in Judea for eight centuries before they were dispersed from the land by the Romans in 135 AD.“We know who we are and we know where we came from. This is why we are called Jews. These historical facts cannot be changed by any new UNESCO resolutions or others who try to deny our history,” he said.Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, thanked the 33 nations that voted for UN General Assembly Resolution 181 in 1947 but went on to say that today Israel has diplomatic relations with over 160 nations.“Today there are peace treaties with former enemies such as Egypt and Jordan and growing relations with many other Arab countries, especially in the Gulf region.”Danon also quoted from the Bible in explaining how the miracle of 1947 was possible.The vote was “the longest three minutes in Jewish history,” he said, but the results were a fulfillment of biblical prophecy that speaks of a time when the Jews would return to Israel.
