ARTICLES

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

Consider this extraordinary fact: Despite the plight of Palestinian Gazans, no Arab or Muslim country has offered to resettle them, even though 52 percent of these war-stricken people want to leave voluntarily, with some hoping to return at a later date. In a recent interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu generated controversy over Egypt’s Rafah Border Crossing, a flashpoint following the Hamas-instigated war of 2023. Egypt is one of several Arab nations refusing to help.

Heated exchanges erupted after the popular Telegram channel Abu Ali Express interviewed Prime Minister Netanyahu on September 5. Netanyahu accused Egypt of “imprisoning against their will residents in Gaza who want to leave a war zone.” His criticism was pointed. For years the Rafah Crossing, the southernmost passage between Gaza and Egypt, was an active route for smuggled goods. Netanyahu said he was willing to allow Gazans to leave through Rafah but explained that they “would then be blocked by Egypt.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reacted with “utmost condemnation,” declaring, “Displacement is not an option and we will not allow it to happen.” He claimed there was “no legal or moral or ethical ground to evict people from their homeland.” Abdelatty then accused Israel of “committing genocide,” a false claim perpetuated by Hamas propaganda and embraced by millions. Meanwhile, for nearly two years, Egypt has known that thousands of semitrucks carrying tons of food were allowed into Gaza, though at times Egypt blocked their passage. Distribution of food aid has been obstructed by both Hamas and the United Nations. Hamas steals food at gunpoint, while UN agencies responsible for distribution often abandon the cargo, leaving it to spoil in the sun.

Hamas operates without conscience, fostering violence and chaos against its own population as well as against Jews and others who oppose its extremist agenda. Palestinians are used as human shields, and Hamas prevents much of the population from receiving international food aid worth billions of dollars. Why such waste? It serves Hamas’s propaganda. They starve Palestinians, then blame Israel. This is one of their most destructive strategies. The reality is that the Israel Defense Forces are the only military in the world that warns civilians before attacks. Yet these warnings give Hamas time to prepare ambushes, costing IDF soldiers more lives. Humanitarian aid intended for civilians is instead stolen by Hamas, which then resells it at enormous profit to the very people it is meant to help.

The warrior King David wrote in Psalm 34:14, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” The regimes that hate Jews do not embrace peace. Israel has pursued peace countless times, yet to no avail. Today Israel fights for peace not only for itself but for the free world.

The 1979 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel still influences regional policy. Yet little criticism is directed at Egypt’s Rafah Crossing, as the media routinely blame Israel instead. Gaza shares borders only with Israel and Egypt. Both countries closed their crossings in 2006 and 2007. Egypt’s fortified wall along the Gaza border is not new, but in February 2024 satellite images revealed that Egypt quietly began strengthening it. A massive 16-foot-high wall, reinforced with steel and concrete and extending 18 feet underground to block tunnels, was built around its eight-square-mile buffer zone. The wall is also equipped with electronic sensors.

Egypt’s refusal to resettle Palestinians stems largely from national security concerns. Hamas, founded in 1987 as an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, has long threatened the region with violence. Egypt, the United States, and the European Union classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Yet when Israel points to the same facts, the mainstream media and the United Nations often ignore or distort the truth about the world’s only Jewish homeland.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has supported Egypt’s refusal, warning that resettling Gazans in Egypt would be “catastrophic” for both parties. Egypt also fears that Gazans would remain permanently. While the UN calls resettlement catastrophic, it continues to promote the two-state solution, which would be catastrophic for Israel. Recent violence illustrates the reality: two Palestinian terrorists from the West Bank murdered six Israelis at a bus stop near Jerusalem. For Israel, the two-state solution is no longer a viable option.

Egypt’s refusal is echoed by Jordan, Turkey, and Qatar. Although Algeria and Kuwait support Hamas politically, they too have offered no resettlement. The United Arab Emirates has shown compassion by building a city for medical treatment and offering temporary sanctuary for injured Gazans, but it firmly rejects permanent resettlement. Why do Arab nations refuse? History provides the answer. Under Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Liberation Organization was expelled from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia for spreading chaos and terror. The same patterns continue today under Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

The reality is clear. Any attempt by Arab nations, or by Israel, to resettle Palestinians invites the risk of instability and disaster.

Our CBN Israel team invites you to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) and to share these truths with family, friends, and churches.

Prayer Points:

• Pray for the IDF as they carry out Operation Gideon’s Chariots II in Gaza City.
• Pray for the families of hostages, whether their loved ones are alive or dead.
• Pray for increased unity between Christians and Jews, and for prayer to lead to action.
• Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet to make wise decisions during Rosh Hashanah, September 22-24.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide. In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.

By Arlene Bridges Samuels

After a recent U.S. State Department decision, much of the world has reacted with outrage, vehemently opposing what is in reality a prudent and long-overdue American policy. The cause of the uproar? The Department of State (DOS) has revoked visas for Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 PA officials, preventing them from attending the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York City, scheduled for September 9 to 23.

The DOS statement affirmed: “It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and PA (Palestinian Authority) accountable for failing to honor their commitments and for undermining prospects for peace.” It further emphasized that only groups that “consistently repudiate terrorism, including the October 7 massacre, and end incitement to terrorism in education” can be regarded as credible partners for peace.

There is historical precedent for such a move. The United States has denied visas to foreign leaders before. In 1988, for instance, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat was denied entry, prompting the UN General Assembly to relocate its session to Switzerland.

So, what lies behind this September decision? Mahmoud Abbas, now 89, was elected Palestinian Authority president in 2009. Since then, he has refused to hold new elections or meet face to face with any Israeli prime minister for peace talks, a stalemate that has lasted 16 years. The pattern of destructive choices traces back eight decades to when the United Nations passed one of its most consequential resolutions: Resolution 181.

Although adopted in a secular context, Resolution 181 aligned with Israel’s biblical promises. On November 29, 1947, the UN voted to partition British-ruled Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab.

The Arab world immediately rejected the proposal, refusing to accept any arrangement that recognized a Jewish state. On May 14, 1948, as Israel declared independence, Arab nations launched a war against the fledgling and ill-equipped state. Against all odds, Israel prevailed.

The Jewish people, in contrast, accepted the imperfect yet promising partition plan. Through decades of labor and determination, they transformed deserts into fertile lands, pioneered life-saving innovations, and built a thriving nation. Today, at 77 years old, Israel stands as a free, prosperous, and innovative state.

Meanwhile, decades of Palestinian refusal have layered conflict upon conflict, an unbroken legacy of rejectionism.

This year, the United Nations’ General Assembly convenes under the theme: “Better Together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.” The stated aim: “To address complex global challenges, build consensus, and forge partnerships for a more equitable and sustainable future.”

Yet the UN’s track record tells a different story. Its disproportionate criticism of Israel, coupled with endless slanderous resolutions, has undermined true progress. Instead of directing more energy toward the world’s worst human rights abusers, the UN has persistently targeted one of its most democratic and innovative member states.

UN Watch, a non-profit watchdog that holds the UN accountable to its founding principles, provides a sobering perspective. Reviewing the UN Human Rights Council’s record from 2006 through 2024, UN Watch notes that the body passed 108 resolutions against Israel, compared to 45 against Syria, 15 against Iran, 10 against Russia, and only 4 against Venezuela. The imbalance is staggering. Very simply, the UN does not hold dictatorships to the same standard it imposes on Israel.

The popularization of the term “Palestinians” can be traced largely to Yasser Arafat, the Egyptian-born founder of the PLO and the architect of modern terrorism. He mentored Mahmoud Abbas, embedding in him the same strategy of weaponizing victimhood.

Arafat promoted the identity of a “Palestinian people” beginning in the late 1960s, using it as a tool to delegitimize Israel. Western leaders, too often naïve, elevated him, and later Abbas, as supposed freedom fighters. But Arafat’s true goal was always the destruction of Israel. Today, Abbas and other Palestinian leaders continue policies that perpetuate refugee status, incite hatred, and even promote genocide.

The State Department’s decision becomes clearer when considering the PA’s destructive policies. The PLO and PA have consistently undermined peace while glorifying violence. Three examples illustrate this:

1. “Pay-for-Slay” Rewards for Murder – When a Palestinian kills an Israeli or even an American, the Abbas regime rewards the terrorist’s family with generous stipends, sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2016, U.S. veteran Taylor Force was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist while visiting Tel Aviv with his Vanderbilt MBA study group. This prompted bipartisan passage of the Taylor Force Act in 2018, which sought to cut U.S. aid to the PA until it ended such payouts. Yet corruption prevails. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies reported that after Abbas supposedly reduced these payments in February 2025, Israel released 316 terrorists during a ceasefire, while Hamas released 33 hostages. The terrorists walked free as millionaires, receiving a staggering 142 million dollars in PA funds.
2. Elevating Terrorists as Role Models – The PA and PLO routinely glorify terrorists as “martyrs.” Streets, schools, and public squares bear their names. In Ramallah, “Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Square” honors the woman who led the murder of 37 Israelis, including 12 children. In 2015, Nablus unveiled a monument shaped like Israel to honor Naif Abu Sharakh, a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
3. Indoctrinating Children Through Education – The Palestinian education system is steeped in incitement. Palestinian Media Watch has documented countless examples. On National Reading Day, for instance, schoolgirls read Hanadi in the Restaurant of Horror, a book glorifying a female suicide bomber who murdered 21 Israelis in Haifa. Despite international outcry, these materials remain entrenched in PA schools.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman captured the moment well on X: “Only the United States under President Trump has come to Israel’s aid during this 7-front war. The UN has aided and abetted Hamas, as has the International Red Cross. Western Europe and Canada have abandoned Israel. Only a few true friends remain.”

The battle is not merely political, it is spiritual. As Deuteronomy 14:2 declares: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.” God chose Israel not for its merit but as a vessel of His redemptive plan, culminating in the arrival of our Jewish Savior. This truth binds faithful Christians and Jews as those who are truly “Better Together.”

We invite you to join our CBN Israel team in prayer, and in sharing truth to counter the lies spread against Israel at the United Nations.

Prayer Points:

• Pray with thanks to God for His unchanging promises to Israel and to us.
• Pray for U.S. Secretary of State Rubio as he leads with wisdom and resolve.
• Pray for continued success for UN Watch in holding the UN accountable.
• Pray for UN delegates to make just and wise decisions regarding Israel.
• Pray for deeper unity between Jews and Christians to stand firm together.

Arlene Bridges Samuels is the weekly feature columnist for CBN Israel since 2020. Working on the staff of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as their SE Regional Outreach Director for nine years, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA engaged her as the Leadership Outreach Director part-time for their project American Christian Leaders for Israel. Arlene is an author at The Blogs-Times of Israel, is published at AllIsrael.com and The Jerusalem Connection, and has traveled to Israel since 1990. By invitation, she attends Israel’s Government Press Office Christian Media Summits as part of Christian media worldwide. In 2024, Arlene and her husband Paul co-authored Mental Health Meltdown: Illuminating the Voices of Bipolar and Other Mental Illnesses. www.TheMentalHealthMeltdown.com.