| Why would a blond, "non-Jewish" American want | | | | I truly feel my return to Zion completes a historic |
| to emmigrate to Israel? What's the connection? | | | | circle in my family's history.Having been to Israel |
| Especially when so few Jews in the United States | | | | so many times, and written innumerable letters to |
| are willing to make the move. What force would | | | | The Blade (Toledo, Ohio's newspaper), and various |
| drive someone to travel to Israel 11 times, serve | | | | articles in support of a Jewish state, I never |
| in 8 kibbutzim and even stay there during the | | | | imagined that one day I would be deported from |
| Persian Gulf War, complete with gas mask, with | | | | it!As reported on the front page of the Jerusalem |
| his room designated as cheder atoom - "sealed | | | | Post (Jan. 8, 1996), the GSS (Israel's Secret |
| room" - that other volunteers had to run to | | | | Service) sought my deportation on the |
| whenever the eerie sirens sounded that another | | | | trumped-up charges of my alleged involvement in |
| Scud Missile was headed for the Promised Land? | | | | a plot to blow up the Al-Aksa mosque. This |
| Why would such an individual risk arrest, | | | | travesty of justice occurred during the |
| defamation and deportation to participate in legal | | | | "witch-hunt" that followed the assassination of |
| demonstrations in Jerusalem?The first time I | | | | Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The Israeli left was |
| visited Israel was with the Worldwide Church of | | | | exploiting the death of Yitzhak Rabin to squash |
| God in 1980 to celebrate Sukkot - the biblical | | | | their legal opposition. Such Stalinist tactics were |
| Feast of Tabernacles. (Some Christians | | | | condemned by former Russian refuseniks and |
| understand that Israel's harvest festival | | | | "Prisoners of Zion." Thankfully, the regime of |
| foreshadows the peace and prosperity that | | | | Shimon Peres was toppled with the election of |
| everyone will soon enjoy under the Messiah's | | | | Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. Bibi (as |
| golden rule). But that whirlwind experience only | | | | Netanyahu's affectionally called) had also been |
| whet my appetite.I wanted to return for a closer | | | | branded as an "enemy of peace" for opposing |
| look at Israel than through a tour bus window. | | | | wholesale surrender to PLO demands. He |
| That's how I decided to return as a kibbutz | | | | promised the Israelis "peace with security."As a |
| volunteer in the fall of 1982. A kibbutz is a | | | | Christian member of the Temple Mount Faithful, |
| collective farm, although increasingly it includes | | | | I'd been privileged to participate in their legal |
| other industries as well. I initially served at Ramat | | | | demonstrations during my 10-month stay in |
| Yohanan near Haifa, in full view of Mt. Carmel, | | | | Jerusalem awaiting citizenship. Israeli television |
| famous for the fiery prophet Elijah's close | | | | often showed me with my Jewish friends carrying |
| encounter with pagan Israelites.You could say I | | | | Israeli flags throughout the Old City. I've also had |
| have a God-given love for the Jews and the | | | | letters published in the Jerusalem Post, the |
| nation of Israel (Isaiah 62:6-7). That sacred bond | | | | Traveller and other publications about the burning |
| has been strengthened over the years by the | | | | issue of the Temple Mount.Presently that most |
| fact that I've been blessed to have lived all over | | | | holy site is under a militant Muslim occupation that |
| Israel, getting to know its land and people quite | | | | forcibly forbids Christians or Jews from praying or |
| well. Apart from 5 months at Ramat Yohanan, | | | | reading the Bible there. This despite the fact that |
| I've also stayed at Sdot Yam on the | | | | both Solomon and Herod's Temple stood there, |
| Mediterranean, next to Caesarea, the site of my | | | | and Jesus and His disciples taught and prayed |
| first ulpan (intensive Hebrew course), and where | | | | there. Israel has a law against such violent religious |
| Israel's heroine, Hannah Senesh, was from; | | | | discrimination, but apparently they're afraid or |
| Regavim, near Zichron Yaakov, where I continued | | | | unwilling to enforce it. Such shameful |
| my Hebrew lessons amid its rolling green hills; | | | | appeasement rewards the aggressors and |
| Reshafim, near Bet She'an, with Mt. Gilboa | | | | punishes the innocent! The Temple Mount Faithful |
| practically in our backyard, and Jordan's mountains | | | | boldly calls for an end to this injustice.Within |
| in lovely view out front; Adamit, on Lebanon's | | | | Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, I've called |
| border, high up on a mountain, from where on | | | | for the Israeli government to exercise its Jewish |
| clear days you can see all the way to Haifa's Mt. | | | | responsibility to build the Temple. I wrote that |
| Carmel; Shoval, a rose in the Negev desert, just | | | | book in the United States before any of this |
| north of Be'er Sheva; Dan, way up in the | | | | trouble. The book clearly explains that I'm not |
| northernmost part of Israel, in between Syria and | | | | calling for any individual to remove the mosques, |
| Lebanon, next to the majestic snow-covered Mt. | | | | but rather expecting the GOVERNMENT to fulfill |
| Hermon, where I was living when "Operation | | | | its historic obligations. I mentioned this to the |
| Desert Storm" blew in; and Ha'On, with its | | | | police during my six and an half hours |
| campground and ostrich farm on the eastern | | | | interrogation. Later I was imprisoned in Jerusalem's |
| shores of the Sea of Galilee, across from | | | | for three weeks until my heartbreaking |
| Tiberias; and last but not least, my beloved | | | | deportation.As my attorney in Israel, Naftali |
| Jerusalem, next to my favorite spot on earth: the | | | | Warzberger, has written, my future is linked with |
| Temple Mount.But why would I leave the beautiful | | | | that of the Jews and Israel. That's why I'm |
| farms and magnificent greenery of Ohio for a | | | | confident justice will prevail. Congresswoman |
| Middle Eastern country? (My ancestors sailed to | | | | Marcy Kaptur (D. Ohio) has persistently presented |
| America from England, including John and Priscilla | | | | this case of religious discrimination and political |
| Alden on the Mayflower). Why would I legally | | | | persecution before our State Department. |
| change my name from David A. Hoover to David | | | | Senator Mike DeWine (R. Ohio) has inquired on my |
| Ben-Ariel? (Hebrew for: David, son of God's Lion - | | | | behalf to return to Zion and was informed that |
| a nickname for Jerusalem/Isaiah 29:1). Yes, | | | | the Ministry of the Interior "has made the decision |
| why?1) Because I am a Christian-Zionist who | | | | not to grant the visa and does not offer any |
| believes the rebirth of Israel is nothing short of a | | | | information behind their decision." They've since |
| miracle, and that all Bible-believers must support | | | | written Senator DeWine that I will not be "eligible |
| this fulfillment of prophecy or deny their faith.And | | | | for a visa until 2005!"Is it a crime to have an |
| 2) because I strongly believe what many are now | | | | abiding love for Israel? To believe what's written |
| discovering: the Israelite identity of the peoples of | | | | in the Law and the Prophets concerning the |
| Northwestern Europe. This awareness of our | | | | Temple and our responsibility to construct it? To |
| Hebrew roots and biblical responsibilities hastens | | | | mourn that it hasn't been done yet? As the |
| the process of redemption. Herbert W. Armstrong | | | | Jerusalem Talmud states: "every generation in |
| was one of the greatest to restore this truth to | | | | which the Temple has not been built is as if the |
| millions through The United States and Britain in | | | | Temple were destroyed in it...." Isn't Israel's state |
| Prophecy, but I'm friends with Yair Davidiy in | | | | emblem a gold menorah in between two gold |
| Israel, founder of Brit Am Israel and author of | | | | olive branches?Must I remain in exile, banished |
| The Tribes and Ephraim, who represents a | | | | from the Land I love, because my hope, prayer, |
| growing number of Jews who are again accepting | | | | and dream is for Israel to fulfill what that symbol |
| the revelation of their brother, Joseph - head of | | | | represents: the Temple and Israel's destiny to |
| the northern ten-tribes of the Kingdom of Israel | | | | become a Light to all nations?David Ben-Ariel, a |
| (distinct from the southern Kingdom of Judah). | | | | Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond |
| Due to my Anglo-Saxon heritage, as well as | | | | Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall, shares a special |
| descent from the British and Scottish Royal | | | | focus on the Middle East, reflected in hard-hitting |
| Families, I'm considered of the tribes of Joseph | | | | articles that help others improve their |
| and Judah. (There are twelve tribes of Israel). For | | | | understanding of that troubled region. Check out |
| people like me, Israel is also our ancient Homeland. | | | | Beyond Babylon. |