Are Arab Christians Aramaens?

ערב חג הסוכות תשע״ה

Israeli Christians' New Nationality: Aramaean, not Arab
Many of Israel's 160,0000 Christians, hitherto registered as Arabs, eligible to re-register as Aramaeans; their leaders are ecstatic.

Ido Ben Porat, September 17, 2014

Interior Minister Gideon Saar has instructed the Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA) to allow the registration of a new nationality – Aramaean – in the identity cards of Christian citizens who were registered as Arabs until now.

In a letter to PIBA Director Amnon Ben-Ami, Saar wrote that he has “received three opinions according to which the existence of the Aramaean nationality is clear and obvious, as required by the Supreme Court's ruling.”

"The conditions required by the ruling for proving the existence of the nationality are present – including historical heritage, religion, culture, descent and language," he determined. (cont.)

(Tip: Jews News)

Well, of course, Aramaens exist as a people! After all, we Jews are partially descending from them. Rivqah and her nieces, Leah and Rahel, all came from the same Aramaen family.

And not only that, as Aramaen attempted to annihilate us, and is seen as worse than Pharoah, as we learn in the Passover Hagadah.

צא ולמד, מה ביקש לבן הארמי לעשות ליעקוב אבינו--שפרעה הרשע, לא גזר אלא על הזכרים; ולבן ביקש לעקור את הכול, שנאמר "ארמי אובד אבי, ויירד מצריימה, ויגר שם" (דברים כו,ה). מלמד שלא ירד להשתקע אלא לגור שם, שנאמר "ויאמרו אל פרעה, לגור בארץ באנו, כי אין מרעה לצאן אשר לעבדיך, כי כבד הרעב בארץ כנען; ועתה יישבו נא עבדיך, בארץ גושן" (בראשית מז,ד).

Go and learn, that which Laban the Aramaen sought to do to our forefather Ya'aqov--the evil Pharoah did not even command except for the males; but Laban sought to uproot everyone, as it is said, "My father was a wandering Aramaen, and he down to Egypt, and sorjourned there" (Deut. 26:5). This teaches that he did not go down to be invested, rather to dwell there temporarily, as is it said, "And he said to Pharoah, we came to sorjourn in the land, for there isn't any shepherding for the flock for your servants, for the drought is heavy in the land of Cana'an; and now please let us dwell in the land of Goshen." (Gen. 47:4)

But, how on earth are we supposed to believe that the Arab Christians are Aramaens??

Previously, I have been critical of Arab affairs expert, Dr. Mordechai Keidar. But, that was because I believed he was taking a wrong turn away from the Torah, when considering any solutions for the Arab/Yishma'elite problem which Israel faces day by day, hour by hour.

Here, too, Keidar provides an excellent academic analysis, regarding the historical and anthropological issues. This is why I bother posting a link to his Op-Ed here with a snippet.

Arutz 7 Op-Ed: Is There Really an Aramean Nation?
Are the Israeli Christians part of the ancient Aramean people rather than Arabs?

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, September 27, 2014

Dr. Mordechai Keidar

One of the last things Israel's Interior Minister Gideon Saar did before resigning from the Knesset was to recognize the Israeli Christians as members of the Aramean nation. The decision caused a media uproar, especially in the Arab sector, with most critics saying that there is no Aramaic nation and that the real reason for this step was an attempt to cause a split in the Arab population of Israel so as to "divide and conquer" and gain control of the Arab sector.

This calls for an investigation and an investigation into the veracity of an Aramean nation's existence must be conducted on two planes: the historic-lingual-religious one and the civilian one. (cont.)

However, once Keidar fails to relate to the only authority which matters, and I am not talking about the State of Israel's Interior Ministry either. Labels, new and old, are irrelevant here.

No one, not even most rabbis, dares to ask what the Torah says regarding the issue of which non-Jews are allowed to reside in Eretz Yisra'el, even temporarily. Forget the issue whether we have the power to change the status quo or not. No one dares to ask!