Only one country has been a reliable ally in a large part of the world: Israel. Legislators have the opportunity to support House Concurrent Resolution 66, extolling the special relationship between Israelis and Texans.
If you haven’t read George Gulider’s excellent work “The Israel Test,” it sets forth a compelling argument that support of Israel is support of liberty and self-governance over tyranny. In a large portion of the world, Israel alone shares and stands for rule of law, private property and consent of the governed.
One might argue that surrounding nations have rule of law as well, but it is quite a different law. We share our legal heritage with Israel because English Common Law derived from legal concepts set forth in the Bible.
Moses, the great lawgiver, is the root source for self-governance. The Ten Commandments sets forth two primary principles: 1) God is the ultimate authority for law, not the whims of man, and 2) what God mainly cares about is that we respect and care for others, most specifically that we not abuse others’ property or well being.
The founder of Christianity, Jesus (Himself a Jewish Rabbi) fulfilled the Law, and emphasized that our real aspiration should be to obey the spirit of the law, to go beyond the minimum requirement of not injuring others or their property. Jesus asks us to seek the best for others, a far higher standard. And not of compulsion, but from choice. The Bible calls this love.
Having the privilege of having traveled to Israel four times now, I have experienced first hand the courageous struggle these freedom loving people undergo daily. We were told by a guide that school children in surrounding nations open the school day not with a pledge of allegiance, but with a chant “Death to Israel, death to America.”
The hostility is palpable. And the contrast of freedom and self-governance versus oppression is visibly obvious.
As Texans, we like to believe we are unmatched in our love and stand for liberty. And we are leading the way in standing against the assault on liberty and self-governance stemming from our own Federal government. But sadly the country that should be our greatest ally is under the same kind of assault from the same people but in their case their surrounding enemies seek their destruction.
While Texas cannot conduct foreign policy, we can express solidarity with Israel’s stand for freedom and self-governance. We can let them know they are not alone.
Members of the legislature should be encouraged to support and pass HCR66. By adding an official voice of support to Israel, Texas lawmakers would renew our support for liberty and the heritage of self-governance.
