There is no Israel without Jews - No Jews without Israel

There is no Israel without Jews.

No Jews without Israel.

There is an abundance of misinformation about Israel and its roots in our educational system, Jewish organizations, synagogues, news outlets and media. There are influential representatives in the government spewing lies about the Jewish homeland. This causes a gross distortion and perception of the truth with regard to Israel, the Jewish people, and its Judean history. And who is pushing back with accurate historical information? No one.

Taking Back the Narrative (TBTN) is a Zionist education company that aims to get the facts about Israel widely shared – this includes its right as the Jewish homeland, and the firm historical connection, without interruption in the past 4,000 years, the Judean race has to Israel. TBTN does not have a specific political agenda, other than supporting truth, which should not have a side in the political theater.

The indisputable facts speak for themselves. TBTN aims to educate and inform educators, Jewish leadership, media professionals, the general public, and government officials. TBTN’s sole mission is to correct mistruths and fill the gap about the Middle East as it relates to Israel and the Jewish people, in a fact-based light. Israel is a living, breathing part of the Jewish ecosystem; there is no Israel without Jews, no Jews without Israel.

Taking Back the Narrative Advisory Committee Members:

Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie * Avi Abelow * Ariel Grunberg * Aaron Hadida

Timeline of Events in Jewish History

4,000+ years ago

Jews emerge from Semitic tribes

Jews emerge from Semitic tribes in Judea & Samaria; become a distinct race and create final version of monotheism; Bronze age time period. It takes nearly 2,000 years for Jews to fully practice monotheism, not until the Babylonian exile. For the first 1,000 years, Jews live in villages all over Judea & Samaria under Chieftains or 'Judges.'

1207 BC

Merneptah Stele

Already names the terms 'Jews' and 'Israel' and lists # of Jews taken from Israel as military spoils against the Egyptians; only some Jews were taken as slaves to Egypt, not all Jews.

1050 BC - 930 BC

United Monarchy

Kings Saul, David, and Solomon

922 BC

Israel splits into two Kingdoms

Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and Kingdom of Judah (Judea)

722 BC

Assyrian Exile

Jews from Kingdom of Israel dispersed across Assyrian Empire. The Kingdom of Judah allied with the Assyrians. Those Jews not exiled, became part of the Kingdom of Judah.

586 BC

Babylonian Exile

Top echelon (10%) of Jews in Judea moved to Babylonia and were slaves from 586 BC - 539 BC (Persian King Cyrus the Great freed all slaves including Jews and invited them back to Israel, but most ended up staying).

167 - 164 BC

Maccabean Revolts against Hellenized Jews

Jewish Civil Wars and battles against the Seleucid Empire.

66 AD - 73 AD

First Jewish-Roman War

70 AD

Destruction of Second Temple

Mass Exile; though Jews do remain in Israel (numerous members of the Jewish Priestly class fled and hid in Northern Israel; many remained for thousands of years).

Extended family of Kohanim (priests) fled to Peki'in in the Galilee where they settled into life as farmers. Jews remained in Peki’in until 1938. Today, it is a Druze village.

Rabbi ben Zakkai, with permission of the Romans, establishes a Rabbinical school in Yavneh in Judea, moving Jewish spiritual life outside the Old City of Jerusalem.

116 - 118 AD

Kitos War

War of mostly Diaspora Jews against the Roman Empire, specifically in Judea, Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and Mesopotamia; known as the Second Jewish-Roman War.

132 AD - 136 AD

Bar Kokhba Revolt

Final stand against the Romans before final exile; even after final exile, 700,000 Jews remained; many Jews moved north to Golan, Galilee areas.

200-300 AD

Jews forced to become Roman citizens

602-628 AD

Jewish revolt against the Byzantine Empire

Palestine was a Byzantine Province from 390 - 636 AD. The revolt, which broke out during the Byzantine-Sasanian War, was led by Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias.

Jewish soldiers from Tiberias, Nazareth, and other Galilee settlements joined forces with these Persian invaders to capture Jerusalem in 614 AD.

20,000 Jewish soldiers joined the revolt; the Jewish population estimated at the time to be about 300,000 - 400,000.

638 AD

Muslim conquest of Palestine begins

At this time Gaza had become the most important Jewish community in Judea.

1100 AD

Battle of Haifa

Majority of Haifa’s population at this time was Jewish and together with some Muslims fought against the Crusaders; Mostly Jewish warriors fended off the Crusaders for a month.

Crusader transportation routes open - 300 Rabbis from France and England arrived in a group, some settling in Acre (Akko), others in Jerusalem. Judean population in Israel was nearly decimated from Crusader rule (many were killed, others forcibly converted), but eventually Crusaders realized they needed Jews to survive in the land.

12th & 13th Century

Ayubbid Dynasty

Ruler Saladin allows Jews in Jerusalem, Jews prosper under Saladin I

1260 AD

Mamluk Rule Begins

Defeated by Ottomans in 1517

1267

The Ramban

A community of Spanish Jews was established in 1267 and built around the synagogue, which still carries his name (Ramban Synagogue) in the Old City today.

1492

The Spanish Inquisition

Forced Spanish Jewry (Sephardim) to disperse, many returning to their Jewish ancestral homeland

1492

Majority in Israel are Sephardic Jews for centuries to come

Ladino becomes lingua franca in Palestine

Early 15th century

Ashkenazi Presence

The Ashkenaz (German) community establishes itself in Jerusalem

1517

Start of Ottoman Rule

Jews mainly reside in Jerusalem, Nablus (Shechem), Hebron, Gaza, Tzfat and the villages of Galilee (Northern part of Israel). The Jewish community was composed of descendants of Jews who had always lived in the Land, as well as immigrants from North Africa and Europe.

1560

Tzfat as a Center for Scholarship

Becomes the epicenter for Kabbalah scholarship; Jewish population in Tzfat reaches 10,000

1560

Gracia Nasi Funds Sephardic Immigration to Tiberias

A former Marrano Jew, Gracia Nasi, together with her nephew sought to re-establish a self-sufficient Jewish community on the site of the ancient city of Tiberias, as a refuge for conversos fleeing from Spain and Portugal.

Joseph Nasi obtained a privilege from the Ottoman Sultan granting him the ruins of Tiberias with seven surrounding villages. Doña Gracia was said to have contributed large sums toward this project, and by 1566, despite local Arab opposition, a thriving community existed.

Late 16th century

First Kurdish Aliyah

1660

Druze violence against Jews in Safed & Tiberias

1700

Judah the Pious

He established an Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem, and built the synagogue which became known as the Hurva.

1740

Rabbi Abulafia

At the request of the Ottoman Empire re-establishes Tiberias

1742- 1777

Hasidic Aliya

1800

Influx of Immigration

Students of the Vilna Gaon once again establish Tzfat as a mystical center for learning. Jerusalem and Hebron also see an influx of immigration during this time.

1838

Druze pogrom against Jews

The Jewish community was perceived as supportive of Egyptian rulers, contributing to the violence.

1860

Jews In Jerusalem Expand Outside of Old City

Mishkenot Sha’ananim, established outside the Old City of Jerusalem; purchased by philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore

1864

Jerusalem has a Jewish majority

1869

Ottoman citizenship law of 1869

Ottoman citizenship granted to Jews in Palestine

1878 - 1882

First major Ashkenaz Jewish Aliyah

Jews largely fleeing from widespread pogroms within the Russian Empire, established the new towns of: Petach Tikvah, Rishon Litzion, Rosh Pina, Zichron Yakov

1882

Yemenite Jews make their first Aliyah

1909

Tel Aviv is established

1920

San Remo 1920 Accords in Italy

As part of the League of Nations, uphold that all of Palestine (including Gaza, Judea & Samaria, and all today's 'Jordan') is part of the Jewish homeland.

The British are placed in charge of the Mandate (legal promise) to aid Jews in re-establishing sovereignty in their homeland, and thus political rights are only granted to Jews, not to Arabs, who at that time, had no desire for any inch of Palestine. Arabs are granted rights in Arab nations.

1922

Israel Loses 78% of Its Land

In 1922, Churchill, as then Colonial Secretary, steals 78% of the Jewish homeland and gifts it to the Arabian Hashemite family. He renames it 'Transjordan.' The legal Mandate turns into a British occupation. The same year sees the issuance of the first antisemitic White Paper, which grossly reduced Jewish immigration back to the Judean homeland.

Mid 1920's

Fourth Aliyah

During this time, mostly Polish-Jewish business owners aided in the economic growth of Palestine’s economy (especially of factories in urban areas). As a result, Arab immigration increased due to Jewish-led economic growth

1929

Arab Riots

Resulted in the death of Jews at the hands of Arabs; 67 Jews murdered in Hebron. All Arab riots and massacres were British-occupier fomented.

1935 -1939

British Occupiers Severely Restrict Immigration

Polish, German, Austrian Jews attempted to flee from the onslaught of Nazism; while some were families, many children came alone aided by the Youth Aliyah movement.

Thousands of Jews are turned away by British occupiers, sent back to be murdered; many others who are not turned away are placed in detention camps all over Israel and even on the island of Cyprus. Atlit detention camp in Israel was the most notorious and operated from 1938 - 1945. Even Iraqi Jews fleeing the Farhud were detained there.

1936 - 1939

Arab Riots Continue

Murder and devastation of Jews continues at the hands of Arabs, prompting underground Jewish resistance.

1937

Peel Commission

British attempt to further partition an already truncated Jewish portion of Palestine

1939

Second British White Paper

Severely limited Jewish immigration even more and restricted more land purchases by Jews, favoring Arab occupiers who never had land deeds prior.

1941

Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

Collaborates with Hitler, proposes ‘Final Solution’

1945

British Antisemitism Peaks

Jewish survivors of the Holocaust are forbidden to enter Palestine; many were detained in harsh conditions.

1947

UN Partition of Palestine

Also known as UN Resolution 181, it was nothing more than a British antisemitic coup against Israel. At this time, Jews were already left with ONLY 22% of the land promised by the British in 1920. Of that, this partition offered Jews a meager portion of what was left of the remaining 22%. Arabs reject; Jews accept, though it was not popular with most Jews.

1948

Israel Liberated by Jews from British Occupation

After 20 years of fighting the British occupiers, Jews achieved what no other colonized people have achieved the world over - decolonization by driving out the British. Arab armies launch massive attacks immediately after Israel declares independence.

1948 - 1960's

Mass expulsion of Mizrahi Jews

Mizrahi Jews from across the Arab world, where Jews lived since 586 BC, before Arabs colonized outside of Arabia, are forcibly expelled and bankrupt in response largely to Israeli independence.

1950

Jordanian Occupation (1948 - 1967)

(Though officially declared in 1950 ). Jordan, an Arab occupier state in Israel, illegally occupied all of Judea & Samaria, including the eastern portion of Jerusalem, where the Old City is.

All Jews were ethnically cleansed from the area and Arab occupiers were settled in. Faith-based sites were forbidden to visit and 58 synagogues were destroyed in the Jewish Quarter along with many Jewish tombs on the Mt. of Olives.

There were no mosques anywhere in Judea & Samaria except Al-Aqsa. and so King Hussein I ordered a building spree of mosques in the region to pretend there was a history of Muslims there.

1967

Six Day War

Israel beats back all the Arab armies backed by the USSR; reclaims the eastern portion of Jerusalem, all of Judea & Samaria, the Golan, and Gaza. Annexes the Sinai from the Egyptians.

USSR launches the anti-Semitic Operation SIG campaign to lie that Arab occupiers are 'Palestinians' when only Jews in Israel from 136 AD - 1948 were called Palestinians. Campaign also lies that Jews are not indigenous to Israel.

1970

Gush Katif built

Israel re-establishes its long presence in Gaza and builds Gush Katif, an area of 21 Jewish communities; Israel conquered Gaza from the Philistines, a Greek-Cretan seafaring group, in both 145 BC and 100 BC. Gaza even became an important center for Jews for centuries until the British occupation.

1979

Persian Jewish immigration

As a result, from the overthrow of the Shah in Iran, Israel sees an influx of Persian Jewish immigration. Jews had lived in Persia since the Babylonian exile; some even arrived in Persia during the Assyrian Exile.

For close to a thousand years, until the invasion of Islam from Arabia, Jews lived without antisemitism when Persians were Zoroastrians. The anti-Semitic Iranian Revolution replaced the Shah and ushered in a terrorist Islamic regime.

Gaza Explained
&
The Oct. 7th Jewish Genocide

Why Zionism

Jewish Diversity

Israel Fast Facts to Share

Minorities Represented in Israel

Correct Israel-Related Terms

Books

From Mizrahi Jewish spies deployed to Lebanon and Syria, prior to the liberation of Israel, to the brave history of Israel’s now world-renowned weapons industry, the TBTN approved book list offers something for everyone.

Meet a young nurse, Raquela, based on a real woman, whose life’s stories interweave as Israel transitions from a land occupied by the British to full independence — and all the joy and tribulations associated with that time period.

These titles are a sample of books that helped shape our in-depth perspective of the Jewish homeland. Please check back periodically, as our list will continue to expand.

Articles

Videos

Taking Back the Narrative has compiled an array of media links to further illustrate the factual truth about the Jewish homeland.

You will find informative videos which will enhance your understanding about the map of Israel, the term Judea and Samaria, and even how other countries were formed in the Middle East, impacting Israel.

We look forward to continuously updating this compilation. If a video appears on our list, you can be sure it has the TBTN seal of approval!