Author: David Mark

David Mark is the founder and editor of Israel Rising. Besides Israel Rising, he heads up outreach for Ateret Cohanim in Jerusalem's Old City and acts as the Managing Director for Pulse of Israel. On the side he teaches classes that blend minimalism, mindfulness, and ecology with the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.
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President of Togo in Israel to Improve Ties

President of Togo Faure Gnassingbe met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem as more and more African countries are opening up to Israel.  Togo may be one of the poorest countries in West Africa, but it offers Israel a lot of potential in it’s positioning on the Gold Coast next to Ghana.

Very little people know of Israel’s success story in Ghana through companies like STL who are heavily involved in building Ghana’s infrastructure.  With Israel’s potential partnership brewing just east of Ghana, Israel is set to do in West Africa, what it did in the East.

Togo is essentially an open slate, ripe for a country like Israel to step in and help propel it forward. With Ghana and Togo, and Benin itching to hop on the wagon, Israel is quickly building up a buffer zone in order to protect sub-Sahara Africa from Jihadists.

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REDEMPTION WATCH: Amar’e Stoudemire, Black Hebrews, and the Messiah

Amar’e Stoudemire is coming home. After travelling back and forth to Israel since 2010, he has experienced what many African-Americans have noted as a sort of realization that somewhere in their past a Jewish ancestor is rooted. Stoudemire confirmed that his Jewish roots reach back through his mother’s side, linking him to the Jewish people. To many observers this sort of awakening is surprising, but it has been going on for quite a while.

In the early days of the Black Hebrew movement, there was a decidedly racial line drawn.  In fact, an idea was posited that it was in fact the Africans themselves that were the Jews and not those of European descent. The myth of the Khazars superceded more traditional understandings as well as factually sound that European Jews came to Europe both as traders in the times of the Romans and were brought there as slaves.

This line has begun to fade as a new crop of younger African-Americans find interest in Hebrew customs and beliefs. This Hebrew awakening is beginning to ripple across the African-American world. Influential leaders like Rabbi Capers Funnye are publicly advocating for Black Jews to become fully integrated members of the broader Jewish world, dropping the racial division. In the past traditional Jewry shunned such overtures, but something is occurring now for the first time throughout world Jewry: tacit acceptance.

The affinity that many Black Americans have for Judaism is not without historical merit.  Most Africans that were taken as slaves to the Americas came from the West coast of Africa.  A majority of these slaves were Igbo.  Igbos have a clear connection to the broader nation of Israel to the point that many rabbis in Israel have begun to come out in support of real outreach to Igbos in Nigeria.  In fact, Igboland already hosts 47 synagogues and a 10,000 person strong and growing population of observant Africans.

In Isaiah 11:11 it says the following:

Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea.

Cush is mentioned as one of the locations of the Israelites. Cush in biblical parlance does not only mean South Sudan and Northern Ethiopia, but essentially anything south and soutwest of these locations.  The Igbo and many of the tribes like the Guin tribe express parallel customs like circumcision, kosher observance, and in many communities a wedding canopy. Josephus, the Jewish historian at the time of the revolt against Rome writes clearly that the Jews were not only taken to Europe, but fled into Africa as well.  Of course in Europe Jews found their way to the Jewish communities of France and Italy and blended in as well taking in Roman converts.  But in Africa they were seemingly “lost” to the rest of the Jewish world.

The Jewish exile has often been connected to European and Middle Eastern Jewry, mainly because West Africa and Africa as a whole was so decimated by European and Arab colonialism. Many of these communities that thrived in these sub-Sahara areas lost their cohesive expression.

Now, with this tremendous awakening underway, a piece of of the redemption is unfolding in front of us.  Jews from all over the world are meant to return. Amar’e Stoudemire’s return to his roots is not only his personal journey, but in light of clear documentation, his journey is part of the redemptive process of the people of Israel.

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Kurdistan, Biafra Denied Olympic Representation while non-state “Palestine” Gets Team

With eyes focused on the Rio Olympics, the hypocrisy of who gets to participate as a country or even a territory cannot be ignored. When real nations like Kurdistan, Biafra, and even the Lakota are not present because of political concerns, while non-state former terrorists known nowadays as “Palestine” get a team there is a sort of Alice in Wonderland moment at hand.

The same leftist organizations that are so intent on demonizing Israel and relishing in the inclusion of one of the biggest cheerleaders of anti-Jewish incitement in the world fall silent when it comes to the lack of recognition for the truly repressed nations.

Kurdistan is not only an autonomous zone in northern Iraq, but is the largest group of people never to have a defined homeland. With 14.5 million Kurds in Turkey, 6 million in Iran, another 6 million in Iraq, and 2 million in Syria, the Kurds are busy dying fighting ISIS and getting the shaft by the international community. While the Olympics may just be a sporting event, symbolism matters.

The real reason why Kurdistan has never had an Olympic team and will probably be denied one for the forseeable future is Turkey. Erdogan’s nemesis or bogy man is the Kurdish independence movement. Erdogan has used it at opportune times to deflect opponents and consolidate power. With Turkey’s population standing at 76 million, Kurds make up nearly 20% of the total.  This means any weakening towards recognizing a free Kurdistan could potentially rip Turkey apart.

Biafra, a nation in southeast Nigeria was forced by the British colonial masters to merge with Lagos Colony, and Hausaland in 1914 in order to create what is no known as Nigeria.  However, the British put a caveat in the decree that merged the three areas together. The charter would only last 100 years. Since 2014 Biafra has had a legal right to pull away from Nigeria.

One of the biggest reasons why Biafra has not seceded from Nigeria is it still remembers the Biafran war for independence in 1967-1970 that failed miserably and ended with between 3 to 6 million dead Biafrans. Not only that, but Britain is vehemently against an independent Biafra, because it would lose much if its control over Nigeria’s oil, which resides in Biafra as well as the Niger River delta where most of the oil is brought through.

The Lakota and other first world people have never been on the radar for going to the Olympics. Accepting them as an autonomous region would be a blow to America’s artificial narrative of protector of freedom and human rights. Afterall, the United States government has been trying to settle the Lakota’s outstanding claim to their land since the Treaty-of-Fort Laramie in 1868 and the government’s own violation of the treaty in 1877 (through the seizure of the Black Hills). So real is their case, the USA has repeatedly tried to offer a financial package, but the Lakota have turned it down demanding only the return of their land.

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With these very real cases of national claims being denied, it is beyond strange that the world still sees it just to focus on a group of people who for the most part were coerced into migrating to the Land of Israel just over a century and half ago and have no defining mutual characteristic among them other than the rampant desire to kill Jews. Palestine was synonymous with Israel until the late arch terrorist appropriated the name in 1964. Until then Arabs of the Levant were Arabs.

In order for the Olympics to shake the corporatist wrappings they have become seen as representing, allowing representation to real national entities instead of false one, would be a great place to start the games’ rehabilitation.

 

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Terror in the Heart of London

When Brexit passed, the backers of the movement warned of the consequences of staying within the EU.  One of the arguments was the liberal immigration and migrant policies of Brussels. The British took the voting booth behind an anti-immigrant sentiment and voted to leave the EU.

With terror striking the streets of London last night in the guise of a stabbing onslaught carried out by a young Norwegian-Somali, the proof that leaving the EU at this time couldn’t have been more.  As the blood i cleaned up from the streets and the murdered is laid to rest and the wounded healed, a crack in the fundamental British disconnect from what happens on the mainland is growing.

What will Britain do next? If the answer is more police or stricter enforcement of potential immigrants, then ultimately London is only papering over the symptom instead of tackling the deeper issue.

There is something mildly bizaare about a Muslim mayor of London appealing for calm. London mayor Khan said: “I urge all Londoners to remain calm and vigilant. Please report anything suspicious to the police‎. We all have a vital role to play as eyes and ears for our police and security services and in helping to ensure London is protected.”

Already 10 years ago, London gained the nickname Londinistan. This nickname has not only stuck, but it has become synonymous with the city.  In order for Britan tackle the potential threat it now sees o its streets, it must reverse the Islamification of British culture. It must remove Londinistan and replace it with London. The British government must make it clear that Brexit is happening and no new immigration from areas that are frought with chaos and terrorism will happen until after a British only immigration policy post Brexit is developed.

There is still time for the British to save themselves and keep wat occurred last night to an outlier, but time is of the essence and so far British politicians are too kean on employing only a superficual fix.