Farah trusting God for protection

CAVE JUNCTION, Oregon -- As an Arab American, Joe Farah, a born-again Believer since 1977, has found that expressing anti-Palestinian views can result in death threats.
In fact, the articulate newspaperman, founder-editor and CEO of WorldNetDaily.com, the Net's fastest-growing independent news site, has received more than 10 serious threats that have been investigated by the FBI.
The reason for the threats came as a result of his October 11, 2000 column on the Net that was later republished in The Jerusalem Post.
"My wife (Elizabeth) and I thought it was the end of our family," said Farah.
Elizabeth Farah is also an executive with World Net Daily (WND).
"We took the threats seriously, but they have not deterred us in our mission to get the truth out. I turned the threats over to the FBI," he explained. "All 10 of the death threats I received came in October and November of 2000. I have not received any recently."
Farah went on to say, "I have been involved in covering many dangerous stories as a reporter and editor over the years and have always trusted in God to protect me and my family. My wife feels as strongly as I do on this."
In the controversial column, Farah vehemently disagreed with numerous news sources that claimed Palestinians just wanted a homeland and Muslims only wanted control over Jerusalem area sites they considered holy.
" There are no legitimate Muslim claims on Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the land of Israel. I've spelled this out in "Myths of the Middle East" and the follow-up column, "More Myths of the Middle East," he explained.
In the matter of "Islam's holy sites," Farah contends there are none in Jerusalem, including the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, since the Koran never mentions Jerusalem and there is no historical evidence that Mohammad ever visited Jerusalem.
Farah, an Arab Christian journalist, who ran the respected Sacramento Union and was news operation chief for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, stated that Palestine has never existed as an autonomous entity, as the area has been ruled by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and even the British after the First World War. Although Israel captured Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, Farah wrote, they didn't capture these territories from Yasser Arafat, but from Jordan's King Hussein.
"I spent a good deal of time in Israel and Arab countries soul-searching and doing my job as a journalist. This is when it all came home to me. Another seminal work that persuaded me was Joan Peters' history of the conflict, 'From Time Immemorial," said Farah.
Farah, who has been a writing associate of both Hal Lindsey and Pat Robertson and has traveled with noted Christian broadcaster George Otis in southern Lebanon, explained that his views concerning Israel have been consistent in his writings during the past 25 years.
When he became a born-again Believer in 1977, it led him to the Middle East -- "an important time for me spiritually during 1980 and 1981," he said.
"My Lord and Savior came to Earth as a Jew. Put another way, I worship a Jewish carpenter. Therefore, the Jews have a special place in my heart as a Christian, and I believe they should have that place in the hearts of all Believers," he said.
In dismissing certain aspects of the revisionist history spouted by the world's media, Farah pointed out that there's no language known as Palestinian; no distinct Palestinian culture, and "there has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians."
Farah added that "Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent investion), Syrians, Lebanese, etc."