The national of Israel, again, is in the bull’s-eye of those who would kill it, if they could.
That includes Hamas, the terrorist organization whose founding documents call for the elimination of Israel and the Jews, and now is running Gaza. It launched an atrocity-filled war against Israeli civilians on October 7, killing some 1,400.
Reports now show that the terrorists, including kids as young as 10, likely drugged themselves and carried instructions to rape and brutalize victims.
What followed was an eruption of anti-Semitism around the globe, including in the United States where anti-Semites are rioting in opposition to the existence of Israel.
The hate-Israel ideology also, interestingly, has prompted a renewal of interest in Israel’s stunning founding in 1948, its multiple wars against vastly larger and more powerful Muslim attackers, and its survival.
American superstar Pat Boone, whose record sales during his peak period were rivaled only by those of Elvis Presley, is the author who gave Israel what has been called the nation’s “2nd Jewish National Anthem.”
Listen here:
Boone, who for a long time was a regular columnist for WND, wrote:
This land is mine, God gave this land to me,
This great this golden land to me.
And when the morning sun reveals her hills and plains,
I see a land where children can run free.
So take my hand and walk this land with me,
And walk this lovely land with me.
Though I am just a man, when you are by my side,
With the help of God I know I can be strong.
So take my hand and walk this land with me,
And walk this golden land with me.
Though I am just a man, when you are by my side,
With the help of God I know I can be strong.
To make this land our home,
If I must fight, I’ll fight to make this land our own.
Until I die, this land is mine.
Boone wrote the lyrics to the theme by Ernest Gold for Otto Preminger’s 1960 Academy Award-winning epic “Exodus,” starring Paul Newman.
The vocal recording debuted on January 23, 1961, and stayed on the Billboard charts for 6 weeks, peaking at #64.
The song also has been recorded by Billy Eckstine, Hank & Carol Diamond, The Four Lads, The Chordettes, Andy Williams, The Lettermen, Bobby Vinton, Peter & Gordon, The Imperials, and many others.
According to SongFacts, Boone had heard the theme, and told the website the story of the song.
“It was Christmas Eve, and I was just trying to get an idea for a lyric to submit to a professional writer. I wasn’t thinking of writing it myself then. But when I put the needle down on the record, my wife was begging me to stop doing that and help her get the presents under the tree so we could go to bed.
“So, when I heard it again for the 40th time [sings melody], the words came – ‘This land is mine.’ And I thought, ‘Wow, that is the whole message of Exodus.’ And [sings the melody], ‘God gave this land to me.’ It was like the melody was singing to me, itself. I started writing it down on the first piece of paper that I could find, so I wouldn’t forget.”
He explained, “And then, in 25 minutes, I had written the whole lyric – as if I was taking dictation. I turned over the piece of paper, and it was a Christmas card. Now, that Christmas card is on display on the wall of the Righteous Gentile in Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum in Jerusalem, where they asked if they could have whatever I wrote those words on, because they want every Jewish child in Israel to know those words by heart.
“And for a Christian Gentile guy from Nashville to have written those words, which have become virtually the second Jewish national anthem, is the milestone in my life.”
He explained, “It evokes Biblical truth about God calling his people back together after they were dispersed around the world, and they would come and Israel would be born in a day. That’s a prophetic utterance in the Bible, that a nation would be born again in a day – and it was, on May 14, 1948.”
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
This post originally appeared on WND News Center.