“Combating Misinformation About Israel” – Rabbi Steve Weiler (03/13/2026)

0:00So, earlier I had said that I would like to speak about Israel and I do, and I'm not going to be ashamed of my stance because I think it's a very biblical stance, however, there is something more important than what I believe about Israel. And that is, if you followed the past five, six weeks of teaching on identity and our purpose, and our purpose is the one new man, is to draw people in together into unity and to love them, love our neighbor as herself, and certainly at the very least, as it talks about Galatians, give preference to those who are believers. And so we are here to spread the love of Messiah. And everything else, kind of secondary.

1:01So because some people, when they hear this message, I think, oh my, he's Jewish, of course he'll say this, I want you to understand my heart before we begin. And we'll do that through a video which Becca sent me today. And so you have the blessing being sung. You know, the blessing we've done it sometimes here, it was written by Kerry Job. And so it's a wonderful song. It's done by an Iranian woman, okay, and some of it will be in Fashi, and then it's done also by a Jewish believer, and some of it will be in Hebrew, and very little at the end will be in English. But the idea here is when those two can be won in Yeshua, then that breaks down the walls

2:10that people have put up. So let's start this. So we get a sense of of oneness, and we look at this subject not as we're smarter, we're better, we're more intelligent, or we know from the Lord more, but just understand that first is this, and then we'll try and look at everything else. And so it's done by an Iranian woman, okay, and then we'll do that through a video which

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10:51But as I said, I will get this out if you're interested. Psalm 241, the earth is Adonai's. Okay, let's try and interpret that. Who owns all the earth? Okay, Adonai, God. Okay, so are there any questions? Does anybody disagree with that based on the scripture? Okay, so then we're gonna call it fact, right? And all that fills it. So not does he only own the earth, that's fear that we call earth, but everything in it, everything he owns that too. And those dwelling on it. So realistically, he owns you and me as well. And Leviticus 25, 23 says, moreover, the land is not to be sold permanently because the land is mine.

11:54And God is speaking here. So is anybody unclear about who owns Israel? I mean, I'm just from scripture, from scripture. Okay, Israel is God's to give to whomever He wants. Because when you own something, you're allowed to give it to whomever. Okay, Israel is the only nation really created by God. A close second would be the United States, but we're not in that category. Because we're not in scripture for the most part that I can see. But what we can see is Israel is all through scripture and we're clear that this nation was created by God for people that God chose. And so we see this in Genesis 15, eight and Genesis 17, two to eight.

12:55God did not give the land to Ishmael, Father of the people of Arab descent. We see that in Genesis 17, 19 to 21. But God recorded the boundaries of Israel for the Jewish people, for in his word numbers 34, two through 15, Joshua 11, 16 to 23, you don't want me to keep going. They're at least five or six different places where we see the boundaries or at least part of the boundaries for Israel. And Israel is the center of the universe in God's mind. And we see that in Deuteronomy 32, verse eight through 10, numbers 34, 10 through 15, Joshua 11, 16 through 22, you get the idea. And this is why I was going to make a booklet on it because if you're trying to take notes, give up. So the first thing is the biblical viewpoint

13:56and we're not going to belabor that because I'm hoping that everybody in here takes the simple words that I just said and you don't have to get complicated with people. Just keep it simple, right? And so that's enough and believers should look. If believers don't agree with that, that the land is for Israel, for the Jewish people, just say I have one other question for you. How do you define forever? How do you define forever? So is forever different in the Hebrew scriptures than in the New Covenant? And you ask that question because otherwise, you're going to be talking about crazy stuff when you ask, you try and give them this complicated answer

14:56and all they need is a simple thing to stop the conversation. And that is how do you define forever? How many places in scripture what is the word forever used when talking about giving Israel the land? I don't have an answer to that, but I know it's many. So that's one, that's one, the biblical reason. Number two, the archaeological reason. And I'm not going to go into that except to fact, the fact is that as they have dug up so many archaeological artifacts in the land of Israel, all tied to Israel's history as spoken of in scripture to verify that God's word has been kept all these years and even with Isaiah 53 and others, we see this is an amazing thing.

15:57This is part of the miracle of God, how He saved the ancient words to be the words that we read today and it's as relevant today as it was yesterday or a thousand years ago or 3,000. And so we see that the Jewish people have had a presence in Israel for over 3,000 years. So from an archaeological point of view, unless you feel that the Philistines or the other kites andites and all those different people in all through scripture who have taken a part of Israel, where are they now? And the answer is they're gone. They're extinct. So who's left the Jewish people? I mean, so let's not complicate this.

16:59Okay, so now we go to three and now we'll complicate it. So the first one, as I said with scripture, the second one was archaeological, the third one, is Israel has the right to exist based on international law. Now why would I worry about international law? Because we see in scripture that we are to respect the governments, that God places in the governments who He wants. And so there's a certain respect that we have to have for the order that is placed on this earth, even though we totally disagree with so much in governments. But that doesn't matter. Because God said not only that we are to respect government but we are to share the word with government. We are to look at the difference in President Trump between four, eight years ago and now.

18:03The difference is he understands a little bit about scripture. The difference is he is not afraid to talk about prayer, not afraid to talk about God. Is he where maybe you and I would like him to be spiritually? Probably not. On the other hand, is he way better than he was in the beginning of his first term? Oh, no comparison. So understand that we are all on a journey. And so let's be happy for how God is using President Trump. Now, as long as I've been a believer and have studied about Israel, I've always talked about the reason for Israel from the international law point of view is kosher in Israel is because of the Balfour Declaration. But if I was to be intellectually honest, that's not true.

19:05Even though I've said it for years and most of the other people I know have said it for years, it's still not true. Let me tell you why. The Balfour Declaration was a declaration from Great Britain in November 2, 1917 and in expressed British foreign policy. His majesty's government view with favor the establishment and Palestine of the national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this objective. Their best objectives were not really that great. And that's why it's not international law. However, let us research a little more in depth and with a little more understanding and not being so, I've got to be right, it's got to be the Balfour.

20:05No, let's dig in a little further. In 1922, the British mandate was approved by the League of Nations. Ooh, okay, well at that time, that was kind of international law. And at San Romino in Italy, Israel was given the legal right based on international law to become a sovereign nation under the oversight of Great Britain. I didn't know where San Remo was. Let alone the fact that it was in Italy, let alone that they had any kind of gathering there. But that's where Israel developed their international law status. And then it was adopted by the Paris Peace Conference.

21:07And then it was fully implemented by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922. And then later in 1922, it was approved by the 52 member League of Nations. So we see that it was not the Balfour, which was a good start, the Balfour Declaration. It was the heart of the fellow by the name of Balfour, who this is named after. But it wasn't legal until the nations adopted it. But the nations did adopt it. And so we see in addition a third instrument, legally entrenched Palestine as a Jewish state, because that's what it was called then, Palestine. At the 1920, and by the way, there were no Palestinians then, just to let you know. But anyway, there were lots of people

22:08who were living in Palestine, but they were not calling themselves Palestinians. Okay. But in 1924, the Anglo-American Convention on Palestine specifically said, the US thereby expressly recognized in treaty the right of the Jewish people in conjunction with the obligation of the British government to reconstitute their national home in all of mandated Palestine and the land of Israel. Finally, if that's not enough, in 1949, the United Nations General Assembly had a resolution and that resolution made Israel a country. Just like it had for Iraq and for all these other countries.

23:13Okay. So understand that Israel is Israel because the world said it was Israel. So if you disagree with the Bible and you disagree with, you know, the, what's the word I'm looking for? The digging, the, thank you. Yes. Then go to the international world and see that even people like Russia voted for Israel to be a country and it established Israel. So why is this important? It's important because many people you know that you talk to will not look at scripture as authority.

24:16And it's nice to have the world agree with God. So it's a good thing. Don't think of it as a negative. Think of it as a good thing. Okay. So we've, we're done that subject. Okay. Next question or a topic. Is Israel an apartheid state? Has anybody heard that one? Yes. Too many times. Okay. Cornell Legal Information Institute said apartheid refers to the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one race racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Got it? So that's what apartheid means.

25:16Or we can say apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa and Southwest Africa, now Nambia, from 1948 to the early 90s because there were 148 laws that they passed defining the white and the mixed and the colored. So that's apartheid. In Israel, first of all, everybody is equal. So if you are a Muslim, an Arab Muslim, and you happen to be part of Israel there in Arab Israeli, which there are a number of, you can run for office just like any other citizen of the country. And so there are, I believe, let's see, 15,

26:19I think currently 15 Arab Israelis in the Knesset. The Knesset is equal to our Congress. So we see right off that there are even mayors who are Arab and Muslim. There are, I mean, you can just go down the list. There is freedom in Israel. And so it can't be apartheid, it just can't be because everybody has the same opportunity, whether it's education, healthcare, the law, it's all the same. Now, are some of the Palestinians separated from Israelis, not all, but some, the answer is yes. One would be a security reason. They hate Israel, and so we got to keep them on the other side of the fence.

27:20And the other is mutual preference. There are a number of people of Arab descent who want to live with other Arabs. And so they've created their own separation. And they're also in the military. Oh, they have their own military. That's right, that group has their own military. By the way, if you think that sounds far off, have you read about the town in Texas that is trying to build a Sharia complex law of laws? I mean, for only people who believe in Sharia law, the governor by the way outlawed that. So I don't know what they're doing with their land because they bought it, but the governor abed outlawed it. So isn't Israel a colonizer?

28:23You know what a colonizer is? They grab land to control it, basically. A country that colonializes takes resources and rules over nations other than their own. So Israel doesn't do that. The only country they have is the land of Israel and have not tried to take lands that are not theirs. Whether you're religious and believe the Bible or is starkly oriented and trust in archeological evidence or looking for their legal rights through international law, the land of Israel has always belonged to the Jewish people. Now, you might say, but at one point they controlled Gaza. They controlled Gaza. Yeah, they did because in wartime they took it over and it wasn't the war they started. It was the war that they had to fight for their existence.

29:25So they took over land and we'll talk about that in a minute. So hold on to that question if that's a question. So why does Israel still occupy many of the Palestinians? So in 1967 while under attack, Israel won the entire Sinai desert, which obviously was Egypt's. And the Gaza strip also which was under Egyptian control. The Golan Heights from Syria and Jordan's West Bank. Now the Jews call that Judea and Samaria. And that was the way they called it since biblical days. So Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt in 1979. Now, when you think of a desert, you think of nothing living there, right?

30:25And that's the way the Sinai desert pretty much was. But when Israel got it, they put an air force space there. They put farms there, they put all sorts of things there. They built it and gave it all back to Egypt, all of it. And the people from Israel had to leave the Sinai. Same thing happened with Gaza. In 2005, Israel said, okay, you guys want peace. You want to have your own strip of land. You don't want us in your hair. We're going to move 9,000 settlers from their homes, Israeli settlers. We're going to, some of them had to be dragged from their home, literally.

31:26And we had also to troops there too, the Israeli troops were there. And everybody had to leave the Gaza. And since then, what did Gaza do for Israel? Send rockets into Israel. For years and years and years, hundreds of rockets every day, every year, sorry, every year. There was the Oslo accord in the 90s. And there was supposed to be peace after that. Israel started with, started withdrawing from the six West Bank cities under the Oslo Accords only to suffer Palestinian terrorism between 2000 and 2003. In 2005, now look, I'm not going into why there was terrorism. If you ask the terrorists why they are a terrorist,

32:29they will give you a reason. They'll say, Israel stole our land. Okay, so be prepared for that and say, well, who owned land before you guys? Israel. So let's see, you stole it from them. And now you're upset that they stole it back from you. I mean, you've got to have a little fun with this because if not, you're going to drive each other crazy if you have a hard head that you're speaking to. So you have to let them see that there's a little light here and that we can, we can jab a little and smile, but understand who has had the ownership to Israel 3,000 years ago. Were you guys there before then? What were you called? Because I don't see you in the history books. Okay, why is Israel in Gaza and why do they commit genocide there?

33:36Right? They're being accused of genocide. So the six they wore, as I mentioned, from June 5th to June 10th and 67 was fought. And primarily against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. And as a result, it, as I said, Israel captured the West Bank, the Jordan, Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. So the first Palestinian uprising came in Gaza in 1987 and it began more than five years of protest and violence. And during this time, the Islamic militant group Hamas began. That's when they began. And in 2000, the second Palestinian uprising began and in 2005, Prime Minister Sharon led the withdrawal, which I talked about already. And in October 7th, 2023,

34:42as you can see, because we've been alive the two years ago, Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, many children burned in ovens. I mean, it was awful. Took approximately 250 people hostage, which have either all come back physically alive or some the bodies have been returned. So everybody is accounted for. And that's what Israel does because Israel is concerned about not only life, but concerned about the families who want closure. And it allows people to bury their own. Because this is what's important. Life and how you live it is important to Israel. Do they know Yeshua is the Messiah? Most of them do not. But that doesn't mean they still have their own sense of righteousness, which we can really appreciate. Now, genocide means trying to wipe out a nation. I mean, get rid of it. So it's kind of funny

35:50that Israel is being accused of genocide. When I think there's a phrase, what is it from the river to the sea? That doesn't come from Israel. I don't believe. I think that comes from a lot of students in the United States who learned it from having radical friends who have been attending the university for a number of years and have begun to change the culture in the United States. But let me get back to genocide. What that is from the river to the sea is a call for genocide against Israel. They, Gaza believes in a one-state solution. Israel out. That's their one-state solution. There's no bargaining to that. There's no, just like you see here with the Iranians. And by

36:55the way talking about social media, I don't know what you watch on TV. But if you're watching things like CNN and ABC and NBC, they're showing you various things that have been blown up by the Iranians of United States ships and different things, it's all AI. It's AI. It's AI. It's not true. But it looks true as true can be. I'm just saying. So the world, depending on where their news agency is and especially the Iranians who get specific news from the government believe that they've done all these things. Anyway, so much for social media. So genocide is trying to remove

38:01the people from the land, all the people. As an example, Hitler was trying to create a genocide against the Jewish people. He wanted them all removed, all dead, right? Again, when you're talking to somebody who feels strongly about these things, say, let me ask you something. Do you have a family? Let's say they say yes. So what would you do if you're a neighbor who owned three shotguns, six small guns, a lot of knives, and has some friends in the neighborhood? And they say to you, we want to kill you. What would you do?

39:03Well, running is one thing definitely. Or the other thing is you call the police and you say, hey, these guys are threatening me or you end up in a war. So that's what's happened to Israel. And that's in a sense what's happening also in the United States because they're not only saying death to Israel, they're saying death to the United States. The weird thing is a number of people who are saying death to you in the United States live in the United States. So I think genocide is not reasonable to think of, especially since the whole idea of certain Muslim people is to globalize the world through Intifada, which means they take over the world.

40:05So if somebody tells you that's their purpose, I would suggest you believe them. But that's not what Israel's purpose is that. What we saw in the video, that's Israel's purpose to live in peace with their neighbors. That's it. Okay, I think I have one more. This is an interesting one. Aren't there Jews who hate Israel and reject Israel, reject Zionism? The answer is yes, there are. That's the answer, but it's not the whole answer. Because probably they represent maybe 5% of Judaism, maybe not even that much. They are a group of people called Nutre Carta or Guardians

41:07of the City. And this is a very religious Jewish group. And they're all over the world, but they're in the United States as well. And it was founded in 1938, this group. And it is certainly active in Israel. It's also active in the Western world. So the people who are against Israel, some of them actually live in Israel, like the people here live in the United States. I mean, there you go. The organizations members are in opposition to Israel's existence, which in turn is rooted in its members core religious belief that the Jewish exile is to be maintained until the coming of the Messiah. So their understanding of scripture is that we should not be in Israel until Messiah returns.

42:08So I think you could almost see a little of some understanding of that in scripture. I mean, you have to dig hard, but I don't think it has really a leg to stand on, but you don't say, oh, that's ridiculous. That's stupid, because they're going to take you to verses, and you will have to deal with that. You probably won't meet any of those people, but you still should know it, and you shouldn't think that all Jewish people are pro-Israel. There's another group of people who are Jewish and not pro-Israel, and they are the exact opposite of this group. This group is very religious. That group is very liberal, and their religion is their ideology of liberalism, and the ideology of liberalism is against Israel, which is why you see so many,

43:14not trying to get political on you, Democrats who are extremely liberal, be against Israel, because that's part of the theology of liberalism. So somehow, the very, very liberal people, who are not only in the United States, but all over the world, have married their political feelings with their religious feelings, and it's not what they believe in that is important, it's what they don't believe, and what they don't believe is that you should be pro-Israel. Is that clear? Everybody understand? Okay, so let me close with a couple verses. Genesis 13-15, for all the land that you're looking at, I will give to you and to your seed.

44:18Thank you, forever. Everybody say? Good. Just want to make sure we're all on the same page here. Genesis 17-8, I will give to you and to your seed after you the land where you are an outsider, the whole land of Canaan, as in everlasting, say everlasting? Possession. How long is everlasting? As long as time lasts, that's everlasting. And I will be their God. So what do you do with those verses? And there are so many more like that, I just picked out two. Psalm 83-2-6, this is a wild verse. You have to read all of Psalm 82, 83, excuse me, Psalm 83, to really get it. But God do not keep silent. Do not hold your peace, O God. Do not be still. For look, your enemies make an

45:19uproar. Those who hate you, lift up their head. They make a shrewd plot against your people, conspiring against your treasured ones. Come, they say, let's wipe them out as a nation. God's no dummy. He knows what's going to happen. Let Israel's name be remembered no more. For with one mind, they plot together against you, do they make a covenant? So God is very clear that he knows this is going to happen. And then we see later on in Psalm 83, my God make them, meaning those people who have come together against you, all like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind. As a fire burns a forest and a flame sets mountains ablaze, so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm. Cover their faces with shame so they may seek your name

46:25out of nine. Now look, this is a Jewish concept and you've got to understand this. It's critically important. I've just read all of these things that they want to see their enemy just demolished, right? And at the end of that phrase and they say, and they're not believers in Yeshua, so they may seek your name. So where is their heart? Their heart is for these who are not Jewish and not with the Lord and who have been cruel and awful to them, they want them to know God. Has it changed any time between then and now? No, because God's the same yesterday, today and ever. Okay, Zephaniah 39, for then I will store to the people pure speech. So this is a prophecy

47:28about returning to Hebrew. And for 2000 years, Hebrew was not spoken. And the only people who really knew Hebrew were the very intellectual ones usually rabbis. And the reason they knew Hebrew was because that's how they prayed with the sudur in Hebrew. And as that evolved, by the way, in the present time, you will find lots of Jewish people still using the Hebrew of the sudur and have no idea what the English means, none whatsoever. But that's just the tradition. Anyway, so Zephaniah 39 says that this language of Hebrew, this pure language is going to be restored. So we see prophetically, and what happened in the 1900s is Hebrew was restored in Israel

48:30and became a language. We see in Isaiah 27, 6, in days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit. Now, Mark Twain said it best in the 1800s when he went through Israel and he said, hey, there's nothing alive here. It's all dead. But when Israel became a nation and the Jews, all of a sudden, you see fruits and vegetables. And the fruits are larger than they are here. And they're just tastier. And there's a whole different thing in the fruits and the vegetables. And here it even says, fill the face of the world with fruit. And that's what Israel is doing. They're exporting fruit to the rest of the world. This is crazy. But that's who God is. He's a miracle working God. And so the wilderness and the dry land will be glad. Isaiah 35, 1, the desert will rejoice and blossom

49:33like a lily. Other translations say like rose. And we see that again, Israel is going to blossom with flowers. And again, they're exporting flowers to different places in the world. We have to not be arrogant. We have to, we might get excited. I get excited. I get emotional. But I have to tone it down because the most important thing is me to show love to the person who disagrees with me. Not to prove him wrong, but to show love. I think it's very clear, almost every service you hear it, the first commandment, love God, second commandment, love your neighbor. The entire law is based on those two commandments, the most important

50:36commandments. If Yeshua says they're the most important commandments, I'm going to go with what He says. Father, we thank You and praise You for this time that we've looked at Your Word, we've looked at Your land, we've looked at Your people, and we've looked at Your desires. And so, Father, I pray in the name of Yeshua that we would truly be good disciples of You and love, love first, and be careful how we talk. Even if we think we're right and somebody else is wrong, help us, Lord, be disciples of Yeshua so that we can fulfill Psalm 133. So we can fulfill Ephesians 2. So we can fulfill John 17. We love You, Lord, in the name of Yeshua.