Is the price-tag of Israeli investment too high for Ghana?? Ras Mubarak
 
 By his article published by Myjoyonline on 4th March 2019, honorable Ras Mubarak asked the rhetorical question above.
 
I want to begin my piece by asking the Honorable MP two questions.  What does Ghana gain by being friends with the Palestinians who are led by terrorist organizations such as Hamas?  What does the Honorable MP gain by lambasting a sovereign nation like Israel incessantly instead of focusing on the Kumbungu Constituency which needs his attention and care?
 
Economically and politically, Ghana gains nothing if the nation supports the so-called Palestinian cause.  Why do you think the United States has pulled out their financial support to the Palestinians?  The Palestinians use the American hard earned dollars not to improve their economy and the lives of their people.  They use it to build bunkers and tunnels into Israel to bomb Israeli civilians.  The Palestinian agenda is built on hate and no desire for friendship with Israel.
 
Indeed Ghana’s independence is a shining example as the Honourable MP wrote in his article. We came out of colonization just as Israel had been established by a United Nation’s mandate.  Like us, we emerged as new states with our own destinies.  However, whereas in the case of Ghana, no enemies rose up to fight and threaten our survival, Israel had no such luck.  In 1948, the whole Arab world united and fought Israel in a bid to annihilate the Jewish people.  The nation was not even a year old. It had very little land. Israelis were satisfied with it but not the Arabs with whole vast lands of the Middle East 500 times more than the size of Israel.Like Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, the Arabs sought to obliterate the existence of the Jewish people from human memory.  The Arabs failed like Hitler and his collaborators before them. To put it bluntly, the Arabs went to war over one paltry cedi when they had 500 cedis at their disposal. This could only be described as greed and wickedness to a fellow son of Abraham who was returning to his ancestral homeland.
 
Then Israel waged the 1967 war against the Arabs (pre-emptive strike) when they learned the Arabs were on the verge waging another war against the tiny stare. Israel won the war once again which made Israeli territory larger. 

What do the Arabs and the Palestinians want now?  Israel should withdraw to the pre 1967 boarders before the war.  These were the same borders Israel had and the Arabs sought to annihilate them.  How would Israel now believe the Arabs are sincere?  If the Arabs would be appeased by Israel’s retreat to the pre 1967 boarders, the war would not have been waged by the Arabs in 1948. If the Jews had lost that war, the Arabs would have taken over Israeli land and would by no means give it back.  After all, what was the purpose of the war then? To send the Jews back into the sea. 
 
A little history lesson here will help everyone. On 29th November 1947, the UN partitioned Palestine into two states after studies found two distinct people (Jews and Arabs) lived there.  Whilst the Jews accepted it wholeheartedly the Arabs rejected it.
 
In 1948, five Arab countries attacked the fledgling Jewish state of Israel.  Many Palestinians joined the Arabic armies and could not return to their homes, when the Arabs lost the war, hence the Palestinian refugee crisis.

Examples abound of countries which lost land or gained same because of war. When Germany lost World War 1, it lost its African colonies to France and UK, notably Tanzania to the UK. The Ottoman Empire collapsed amongst others. When Germany lost world War 2, it lost the terroritories it had amassed in Europe. Because of the loss of that war the US has a military base in Germany whether the Germans like it or not.

According to the National Museum of American History, America went to war to gain territory from Mexico and expand the nation's boundary from Texas to California. Very simple!! 

We can use our own country Ghana as an example. The Ashantis gained territories through conquests and lost some territories when the British conquered them. Other tribes gained or lost lands because of wars.

Whereas in Ghana, we have Palestinians and Arabs who are Ghanaians, Palestinians who fled the war and are currently living in other Arab Nations can never be made citizens of those countries and are treated as refugees forever. The worse part that defies common sense and logic is that no descendants born in those other Arab countries can ever attain citizenship in those Arabic nations. What then is the Arab mindset?? Keep the Palestinians in perpetual refugee status until the Jews are anihilated and the Palestinians return home. Is this reasoning rooted in kindness even to the Palestinians?? 

 
However in pursuit of peace, the UN created UN Resolution 242 in which Israel would pull out of captured Arab lands once an Arab country stopped acting aggressively towards Israel and recognized Israel’s right to exist. Since then Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and majority of the West Bank to the Palestinians.
 
Israel has shown continuous magnanimity towards the Palestinians.  In 2005, then Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon executed a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip- causing many Israelis to lose their homes and businesses.  All things being equal, such show of magnanimity would yield reciprocal response from the Palestinians.

However, the violence against Israel increased dramatically rather.

The terrorist bombing in Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester in 22nd May 2017, coincided with President Trump’s visit to Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister told the US President that whilst everyone including the Palestinian Authority was condemning the terrorist act perpetrated against children in Manchester, if the terrorist had been a Palestinian who killed Israeli children, Palestinian Authority would make the terrorist a national hero and pay his family every month for life. This is the paradox of the whole situation. 

In a speech to AIPAC on 6th March 2018, the Israeli Prime Minister made the following speech:

“Raise your hands high if you agree with me that [Palestinian] President [Mahmoud] Abbas should stop paying terrorists to murder Jews. You know how much he pays? He pays about $350 million a year to terrorists and their families. Each year. That’s about a little less than 10 percent of the total Palestinian budget. That’s an incredible number, he pays Hakim Awad, the terrorist who murdered this beautiful family of Ehud and Ruth Fogel and their three children and a 3-month-old baby girl, he pays Hakim Awad this murderer. Over the lifetime of this killer he will be receiving $2 million. I have a message for President Abbas. Stop paying terrorists! Because what message does this send to Palestinian children? It says murder Jews and get rich!” This is the cause Hon Ras Mubarak supports.

I return to the Honourable MP’s question again. Is the price-tag of Israeli investment too high for Ghana? 

Interestingly, The Honourable MP failed to show in his lengthy article what that price tag is. The good thing is, there is none. So he could not manufacture it. 

Please permit me to answer you with another question: what does Ghana gain by being friends with Israel??

Myjoyonline reported on 9th September, 2018 that 51 Agric Students jetted off to ISRAEL for training. 

Speaking at the send-off ceremony for the apprentices, H. E. Shani Cooper, Israeli Ambassador-Designate to Ghana explained that, “the state of Israel sees this project as a great opportunity for a perfect cooperation since Ghana and Israel are equal in the equation of beneficiaries. Israel is in need of good and trained people to work in agriculture and at the same time gather knowledge and rich experience...........Though you represent yourself, your community and your country, you also carry the burden of the next groups of students that would like to be part of this project in the future,” she added.

Again on 6th September, 2018, myjoyonline reported as follows:

Over 25 commanders from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) 64 Regiment Special Unit have successfully gone through a three-day special Counter-Terrorism Training by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).

This was a special collaboration between IDF and Ghana Armed Forces.

On 13th December, 2018, myjoyonline again reported as follows:
Israel trains over 2000 Ghanaian professionals in MASHAV courses; since its establishment in 1958, Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, MASHAV, has contributed in training over 2000 Ghanaian professionals in the fields of education, agriculture, health, and women empowerment.
Also, between 2017 and 2018 alone, more than 70 Ghanaian professions have received training in various MASHAV courses in Israel and Ghana. 

The existence of Israel is very beneficial to the Christian community of Ghana. Every year thousands of Ghanaians travel to Israel for spiritual experience and upliftment just as the Muslims go to Saudi Arabia. Our own President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo went to ISRAEL to pray. If Jerusalem should fall into the hands of Hamas a terrorist organization far worse than ISIS, we all know what they will do to those non-Muslim religious sites. 

When the Melcom building collapsed in 2012, guess which country assisted Ghana in saving 6 additional precious lives buried under debris?? Honourable MP in case you have forgotten, it was our good friends called Israelis. A good friend stands with you in disastrous times. Such a friend offers assistance to cope with the disaster.

According to the MP, Israeli assistance to Africa is sacrilegious because Israel insists on economic corporation based on support for Israel at the UN. Why do you find it difficult to understand this??
 
Well, the Israeli Prime Minister unlike the Honorable Member has laid bare the purpose of Israeli help. To wit, Israel is ready to help you but we also need your help at the UN. This is called international diplomacy.  It is not done for nothing.  If the Honorable Member does not understand this, then he has no business being a politician.
 
Every country has selfish interests which are pursued relentlessly without apologies to any critics.  At least, already, Ghanaian students are learning in Israel.  Why wouldn’t Israel cut assistance to Senegal, if the country Israel is assisting sponsors its (Israel) condemnation at the UN Security Council??  From the thrust of your argument, I hope you never become a Foreign Minister. You will sell our country on a silver platter to aid your “Palestinian causes.” Netanyahu was right to cancel aid to Angola and Senegal since both countries showed they hated Israel,period. To quote the Honorable MP “let’s be clear, Israel’s investment and aid to African states including Ghana is not good will”
 
Please honorable MP, are you that naïve? Please tell us, which country in the world is helping Ghana and Africa based on your so-called “goodwill”.  Is it the US, UK? Qatar? UAE? Please all those countries have selfish intentions and interests.
 
And your exaggeration of the whole situation, “Do we really went a new colonial master”?  He asked. Even the US or the European Union with their economic power cannot be our colonial masters anymore.  How much more Israel?
 
I can go on but let me come to the crust of the matter.  Anyone who wants Israel wiped off the map of the Middle East is living in a fool’s paradise. Israel is here to stay. Israel’s existence is central to the religious faiths of Jews and Christians.
 
Hatred for Israel is hatred for the Jewish people-majority of it’s population. It is a living state that has a right to self-determination.  It is a thriving democracy where Jews, Muslims and Christians are equal citizens and exercise the right to vote. It is a land of equal opportunity where two Palestinians sit as justices of the supreme court. It is a nation where its parliament is well represented by Palestinians. Honourable MP you have the right to hate them for no one can change how a man feels except himself. However, state the facts as they are. The Palestinian victimhood is a lie perpetrated by the likes of you. If they are victims, it is self-inflicted.

In the end, long after you and I have left the scene the state of Israel will continue to exist and thrive. The Jews have outlived empires and tyrants who sought their destruction. Their enemies have all disappeared but they exist today in a state called Israel.