Was the Nation of Israel Created by an Act of God?

There exists a surprisingly large number of Christians, including a lot of Mormons, who think that the modern nation of Israel was created by an act of God. I happen to think that it was created by intrigue, something with which God does not involve himself. Even if Israel had been created by an act of God, it is safe to say that God would hide his face in shame at what Israel has become today. The Nation of Israel was conceived in war. It's my opinion that the world would be a much better place today had the nation of Israel never been born.

The Jews have been persecuted like no other people in the history of the world. Hitler didn't start the torturings and killings--he just perfected

Before the creation of modern Israel, Arabs and Jews had lived together in relative peace for many years. Since then, it seems, "peace" is no longer even an entry in the Middle Eastern lexicon.

and systematized them. It's not surprising, then, that many Jews would want to leave the West and find a new homeland. Their ironic mistake, however, was to create a quasi-exclusive nation-state for themselves, where they now look down on and treat their Arab neighbors in a manner similar to the way they once were frowned upon.

Zionism had its critical impetus in the 1890s:

Theodor Herzl, a Jewish journalist living in Austria, advocated reestablishing a Jewish state in Palestine. Early proponents of such a state said Zionism (the reuniting of Jewish people in Palestine) would match “a people without a land with a land without a people.”

Ironically, there had been already people living in Palestine, including many Jews, for many years.

The Balfour Declaration, issued in 1917, was a promise to the Jews

The Jews were more successful than the Arabs in establishing their nation because of ties to weapons dealers across the globe.

that they could have the area of Palestine for their new nation. Unfortunately, in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, the Arabs were promised essentially the same thing at about the same time.

The Jews were more successful than the Arabs in establishing their nation because of ties to weapons dealers across the globe. In preparation for their new nation, various leading Jews assembled a war machine. Golda Meir was dispatched to the United States to bring home the iron bacon. Ehud Avriel set up clandestine arms shipments to the Jews from various places in Europe. Haim Slavine coordinated the smuggling of war-surplus machine tools into Jewish hideouts in Palestine. Yehuda Arazi began the arms procurement process in 1936 by posing as a Nicaraguan ambassador who wished to purchase artillery pieces from Poland. (See the book "O Jerusalem", pages 388-390.)

At exactly 4 PM on May 14, 1948, Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion rose to declare the nation of Israel. He said:

In the land of Israel the Jewish people came into being. In this land was shaped their spiritual, religious, and national character. Exiled from the land of Israel, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of their dispersion. Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back to the land of their fathers and regain their statehood.

Ben-Gurion then spoke of the

self-evident right of the Jewish people to be a nation, as all other nations, in their own sovereign state.

O Jerusalem, p. 382

Immediately thereafter, the new nation went to war. Arab neighbors, threatening violence

Israel was created as a result of political intrigue. The best thing that the United States could do now is to get out of that intrigue.

only if the new Jewish nation sprung up in their midst, attacked. Israel knew full well the stakes, so Israel was fully prepared. The Arab enemy was rebuffed in a matter of days.

The resulting mutual hatred has never subsided. Israel built a nation for itself precisely because Jews saw themselves as a special people. Before the creation of modern Israel, Arabs and Jews had lived together in relative peace for many years. Since then, it seems, "peace" is no longer even an entry in the lexicon of the Middle East.

The idea that Israel was created by God has turned dangerous and deadly. Just a year ago, Rabbi Mordechai Elayihu warned President George Bush that

The Jewish nation is eternal, and forever remembers those that have aided it throughout history, as well as those that have done it harm. Please let your name go down in history as a president who aided the Jewish nation, who worked alongside God and not against him.

In other words, if you don't do what we say, God and Israel will destroy you. Yikes! See what I mean?

Many Latter-day Saints today support the nation of Israel, because they think it had been prophesied. For example, the Book of Mormon says:

But behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance.

And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance.

Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 2 Nephi 10:7-8

Not only do Jews not yet believe in Christ, but the scripture doesn't say anything about a requirement for creating a nation-state in order for them to return to their lands. Many had already--successfully and peacefully--been doing so long before the claim that a nation was necessary. Modern Israel gives the appearance that only Jews are God's people, while God himself thinks that all human beings are his children.

Apparently unlike most Mormons, I tend to agree with deceased LDS Apostle, Bruce R. McConkie, who said:

It is our habit in the Church—a habit born of slovenly study and a limited perspective—to think of the restoration of the gospel as a past event and of the gathering of Israel as one that, though still in process, is in large measure accomplished. ...The greatness of the era of restoration is yet ahead. And as to Israel herself, her destiny is millennial; the glorious day when “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High” (Dan. 7:27) is yet ahead.

The gathering that God would approve of is not exclusive, and it is peaceful. The Doctrine and Covenants teaches that those who fear him will come together out of every nation because they want peace. It speaks of a "people", but not of a political subdivision called a "nation".

And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another.

Doctrine and Covenants 45:69

The Nation of Israel was conceived in war.

Israel was created as a result of political intrigue. The best thing that the United States could do now is to get out of that intrigue. We should stop supplying weaponry to the Israeli Jews, and we should stop supplying weapons to their politically created enemies, the Arabs. Both sides have far more than enough "swords"--in the current form of tanks, planes, and missiles--that could be beaten into the "plowshares" of peace and social prosperity.

In the midst of economic turmoil, a halt to U.S. weapons dealing will be economically disastrous for America in the short term. But I can think of probable Armegeddon-like scenarios that make the life of a caveman look rather lush.