Ronn Torossian
Ronn TorossianCourtesy

No one disputes that Jesus (Yeshua) was Jewish. His mom was Jewish, all of his friends, colleagues – all of them were Jewish. He went on pilgrimage to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. And, he was born in in the town of Bethlehem in Judea. Hence- Yeshua – perhaps the most significant and influential person in history ever --- was a settler.

How can millions worldwide accept the story of Yeshua, claim that a Jewish family raised this Jewish boy in this city – yet claim the Jews do not have history and the right to this land? There is nary a Christian alive who disputes that he was born in Bethlehem in Judea – the same city where King David had been born a thousand years earlier. And if that is the case, how can anyone in say that there is any "occupied" territory in Israel?

All of a sudden, some form of revisionist history is more important than the Christian ethos? Sounds more like modern-day Anti-Semitism.

The Jewish people – from way before the time of Jesus - have a Biblical, legal and moral link and connection to these areas which are part of the State of Israel, pre and post the 1967 War. All of the Land of Israel is rich with stories from the Bible – and Judea and Samaria belong to Israel as much as Tel Aviv does.

There is no factual basis to claim that there is occupied territory in Israel. As Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it clearly, “The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel has lasted for more than 3,500 years. Judea and Samaria, the places where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David and Solomon, and Isaiah and Jeremiah lived are not alien to us. This is the land of our forefathers.”

The Jewish right to the entire Land of Israel is eternal. The Jewish link to all of the Land of Israel pre-dates even Jesus (and, of course, Mohammed - but that is another article.).

Ronn Torossian is a New York City based public relations executive.