Friday, July 03, 2015

4th of July-- A Biblical Focus From Israeli Prime Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has an interesting U.S. 4th of July narrative, more religious than the Independence Day speeches usually heard in American venues. Speaking (full text) on Tuesday at U.S. Independence Day celebrations at US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro's residence, Netanyahu said in part:
The Founding Fathers of America were inspired by the Bible, and specifically by the Book of the Exodus, by the dream of building freedom in a new Promised Land. And as you stand in the Chamber of the American Congress, you see right across you the image of one man - Moses, with a quote from the Bible.
And since the establishment of the United States, that's two and a half centuries, the vision of justice and the vision of peace espoused by the Prophets of Israel served as a guiding light for Americans from Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King to many others seeking to form a more perfect union.