By Stan Goodenough
Jan 10, 2008
He might not be a professing believer, but Israel's official opposition leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu certainly sounded like one when he met with visiting US President George W. Bush in Jerusalem Thursday morning.
"Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people and will remain under Israeli sovereignty for eternity" declared the Likud Party Chairman and leading contender to be Israel's next prime minister.
Bible-believing Christians and Jews hold that Jerusalem - first the earthly one and then the heavenly one - will be eternally under Jewish sovereignty, with the Messiah, Son of David and Lion of the Tribe of Judah ultimately ruling the world from the Israeli capital.
Netanyahu, who was initially not going to be accorded the courtesy of a one-on-one with the American, had reportedly requested a brief audience with him in the King David Hotel.
Bush confirmed this when he shook hands with "Bibi" - as Netanyahu is popularly known - at the Ben Gurion Airport reception line upon his arrival Wednesday.
"Are we on for tomorrow morning? We'll get some coffee," the president said. Their coffee break went 45 minutes over the allotted time.
During their meeting Netanyahu presented Bush with an ancient coin inscribed in Hebrew and was struck in the first century AD/CE. The coin had been discovered in Jerusalem, proving the Jewish people's millennia-old ties with the city.
The Islamic/Arab world now wants to take Jerusalem away from the Jews, turning parts containing Israel's holiest sites into the capital of "Palestine" - the state "alongside" Israel Bush is here to help create. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Quran - the Islamic "bible."
While Bush claims to be a practising Christian, Netanyahu shows no outward signs of being religious. The Israeli is known, however, to respect people of faith, and has often acknowledged the contributions made by Christian Zionists towards the re-establishment of and support for the Jewish state.