- Hey, guys.
Welcome to CBN News'virtual Holy Land tour,
where you get to see the Bible come alive
from the comfort of your own home.
Well, the Dead Sea is a natural wonder,
a biblical landmark,and a mineral treasure
but this unique body ofwater is getting smaller,
and as Chris Mitchell reports,
some experts fear the DeadSea could be drying up.
Take a look.
- And what are we looking athere from this point of view?
- So the Sea of Galilee isdown, straight down here.
Right in front of you, youhave the mountains of Tiberias.
Right after them, behind them
you have the mountains of Nazareth.
Then as you go to the right, to the north,
you get to the Upper Galilee.
And of course, this is wheremost of the gospels took place
around the Sea of Galilee.
- Amitai Elon owns aholiday village called Natur
at the top of the Sea ofGalilee on the Golan Heights.
Why have you chosen to live here?
- If you wanna live in nature,(birds chirping)
surrounded by beautifulnature and the sound of birds
you can go to the Golan, Galilee,
and you can go to the Negev desert.
- Now, this isn't a farm.
- So it's a farm, it's a space that we use
for a lot of things.
We're sitting right now in a geodesic dome
that is a greenhouse.
Sometimes it will hold anevent, a venue, or a party
or a camping of a big family.
It's kind of magical.
- But as beautiful and peaceful as it is,
the borders of Lebanon and Syria
run along the Golan Heights.
Iran, too, is trying to setup bases on the Syrian side
nearby from which to attack Israel.
How far are you from the Syrian border?
- Very close.
- There's no threat from the other side.
- Except for '67 War and '73 War,
this place has been thesafest in the country.
- Have you grown moreapprehensive since Iran
has gained a bigger footholdnear the Israeli Golan?
- If you look at the bigpicture of the history
of this place, thousands of years,
we had extremely ups andextremely downs but we're here.
- [Scott] Further north,
we visited security expert Kobi Marom,
who was a former Israelimilitary commander
on the Golan Heights and now lives here.
- With the unstable situation in Syria
with Iranian deployment,
it's critical for Israel tobe here in the Golan Heights
and stay here becausewith so many challenges
I can't think about the situation
that we could be on the '67 Line.
- Israel captured(bombs boom)
the Golan Heights in 1967
during the last twodays of the Six-Day War.
The Israeli-Syrian border along the Golan
is about 55 miles long.
Are you under a constant threat here?
- We feel very safe.
The Israeli deterrence is very effective.
The Iranian regime had the project.
They planned to havehere across the border
a hundred thousand Shiitemilitias with the Hezbollah.
They planned to have airforce bases, navy bases,
intelligence centers.
They planned to have anadvanced industry to produce
a precise missiles thatcan be a real threat
for the center of Israel andthe strategic spots of Israel.
So that's why we saw inthe last three, four years
that Israel attack thisIranian deployment and destroy
and we become very successful.
- [Scott] Some 50,000 people,more than half Jewish-Israelis
live on the Golan Heightsbut internationally
it's considered occupied territory.
In March 2019 however, PresidentTrump broke with tradition
and recognized the strategicHeights as part of Israel.
Israel named a community in his honor,
calling it Trump Heights.
- It's a dramatic statement.
It's unbelievable.
It's so important.- Positive.
- Positive, sure.
A significant declarationbecause it came from
the strongest and the mostimportant Israeli allies,
United States.
With a Trump recognitionabout the Golan Heights
there is a big challenge forthe next Israeli government.
I think we have to bring ahundred thousand Israelis
to the Golan Heights in the next 10 years.
- I met Eliyahu Berkowitzin Katsrin, the largest city
on the Golan Heights.
He immigrated to Israel 28years ago from New Jersey
and moved to the Golanabout seven years ago.
Are you at all intimidatedby the events surrounding
Israel and specifically the Golan?
- We're always worried about Israel
but there's a lot to be optimistic about.
I don't know what peoplethink of the Golan.
They built bom shelters herewhen they first settled it
and they've never been used.
- [Scott] Known in the Bible as Bashan,
some 635,000 tourists visitedthe Golan Heights last year,
three quarters of them Christians,
to see its stunning views,historical sights, and wineries.
- We've always been alone
and when I see Christiansinterested in Israel,
that's something totally new.
It gives me incredible optimism.
I'm very happy about it.
I think I'm helping themto be better Christians
and they're certainly helpingme to be a better Jew.
- What way?
- Because I want to stay here in Israel
and they're helping that.
And also I'm not here just for me,
I'm here for the whole world.
The Torah was given at Mount Sinai
and we were supposed to bea light onto the nations.
If you keep it to yourselfthen you're breaking it.
- [Scott] Elon, who's also a tour guide,
summed up Christian commitment to Israel
and the Golan Heights.
- If you came here between 2000 and 2005,
we had kind of intifada happening here.
It was empty except for Christians.
- [Scott] Why do you think that is?
- That is the perspective, that's all.
You're connection to the land,
is this from the Bible or is it from CNN
or from a narrow perspectiveof few years of troubles?
If you're connected by narrowperspective of few years,
you would say it'sdangerous, I won't come.
- Do you believe that Godis watching over Israel?
Do you believe that?- Absolutely.
The fulfillment of theprophecy is every step you take
in the country, it's hard to ignore it.
- [Scott] Scott Ross for CBNon the Golan Heights, Israel.
- Thank you so much forcoming along with us today.
Be sure to tune intomorrow where you'll see
the innovative plan to save the Dead Sea.
