The Israeli Tourist Ministry has been asked by the British Advertising Standards Authority to remove a photograph of the caves of Qumran in an tourism advertisement, after the agency pointed out that viewers could be misled into thinking that the visitor attraction was located within the 'green-line'. The Israeli Tourist Ministry has complied with the ASA's ruling, and the offending photograph has been replaced with one of Masada, the mountain top fortress at which the Jewish people made their last stand against the Romans. While Qumran is not located within the 1948 armistice line, which has become the internationally recognized boundary for the state of Israel, the site was part of Israel's heritage and is of significant historical interest to the Jewish people. And as another official in the Israeli government pointed out, advertisements run by the Palestinian Authority show Ben Gurion airport as the major airport of 'Palestine', yet there hasn't been a whisper of complaint from the ASA.

Quote: "Moshe Feiglin, head of the Likud's Jewish Leadership faction, responded with sarcasm to the British stance. "They’re right," he said. "After all, everyone knows that the famous hidden 'Palestinian' scrolls were found in those caves." Feiglin added that "not far away, in Masada, the heroic battle took place between the 'Palestinian' zealots and the Roman Legion. In addition, the Western Wall is of course nothing more than a remnant of the 'Palestinian' Holy Temple that was destroyed 2,000 years ago."

Unfortunately this is just the latest in a long line of anti-Semitic pronouncements now emanating from Britain. Most recently the University and College Union proposed reviving a motion calling for the boycott of Israeli academia, designed to punish Israel for its 'occupation' of the Palestinian territories, even after the move was declared illegal last year. It seems that Britain is drowning in a sea of anti-Semitism, with condemnations of Israel emanating from our mainstream churches, our trade unions and our universities. What is it about the Jewish people and the state of Israel that seems to attract such scathing criticism from the nations? Why is the United Nations Human Rights Council preoccupied with condemning Israel, while human rights abusers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran are given a clean slate? The answer is their unique relationship with the God of Israel. The Bible states that following their rejection of the Messiah, the Jewish people would be driven out of their land. They would suffer terrible persecution, and would wander from place to place, finding no rest for the sole of their feet. And history shows that in every place where the Jewish people have settled, they have been driven out.

Deuteronomy 28:64-65
And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, [even] wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:

But the Jewish people have been brought back to the land of Israel. Not because they were greater than any other nation, for the Bible says they are a stiffnecked and hard hearted people (Exodus 32:9). But the Lord was jealous for His holy name which they had profaned among the nations, and in His mercy and love He brought them back to the land He gave to their fathers.

Ezekiel 39:25
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

It took the Holocaust to bring them back to their land, and it will take the time of Jacob's trouble to bring them back to their God (Jeremiah 30:7). But praise God that through the blindness of Israel, salvation has come to the Gentiles (Romans 11:25). Praise God that we can know the Living and True God, the Mighty God of Jacob, through faith in Jesus Christ. God has not cast off His people (Psalm 94:14, Romans 11:2). He will deliver them in a coming day, and as we see hatred of Israel increasing, we can rejoice that the day of deliverance is at hand. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).

Genesis 49:22-24
Joseph [is] a fruitful bough, [even] a fruitful bough by a well; [whose] branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot [at him], and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty [God] of Jacob; (from thence [is] the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

Source Arutz 7, Jerusalem Post