Last week Jerusalem witnessed the convergence of 80 Christian leaders from 20 countries and five continents. They came to Israel to express their solidarity with the Jewish state and its Jewish people. The occasion was the fourth bi-annual leadership forum of Christians for Israel; a non-denominational Christian organization that was established in the Netherlands in the 1970s and has grown in numbers to the hundreds of thousands. Issuing “A call to repentance, a word of hope,” their statement declared that God has not terminated his everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, and that the Church has definitely not replaced Israel as God’s covenant people. “The return of the Jewish people to the land is a wonderful sign of hope – it proves that God is faithful to His word, and that He is preparing all things for the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.”
By way of contrast, “progressive” Christians influenced by “Liberation Theology” and tainted by a Marxist worldview have mobilized on behalf of the Palestinians (not Syrian Muslim children being murdered by Muslims or Coptic Christians being persecuted in Egypt) and against “Zionist” Israel, a code-word for Jews.
If one wishes to understand “progressive” Christianity’s vile anti-Semitism, consider this; of all the evil in the world including the ongoing human butchery of civilians in Syria, the persecution of Christians in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and the Palestinian territories, slavery in Arab Muslim Sudan and Saudi Arabia, religious intolerance in Pakistan, and gross human rights violations in China, Russia, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, what do the Quakers, the Church of England Christian Aid, the Church of Scotland-Methodist Church, and an assortment of mainline Protestant churches chose to boycott? Products produced in the Jewish “settlements” of Judea and Samaria.
To add insult to injury, mainline Protestant church leaders and theologians released a statement last June titled “A Call to Action: A U.S. Response to Kairos Palestine.” This biased, one-sided document stated:
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We begin with a confession of sin to Palestinians in the State of Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, the diaspora and in refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. As U.S. Christians, we bear responsibility for failing to say “Enough!” when our nation’s ally, the State of Israel, violates international law. Our government has financed Israel’s unjust policies and has shielded its government from criticism by the international community. At the outset of the current U.S. administration, our government led Palestinians to believe that, at last we would pursue a political solution based on justice. But the “peace process” has continued to be no more than a means for the ongoing colonization of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the imprisonment of Gaza and the continuation of the structures of oppression.
For starters, one should question what international law Israel has violated with regards to the Palestinians. UNSC Resolution 242 of 1967 calls for peace in exchange for territories (albeit not all territories captured by Israel in 1967. Gush Etzion was Jewish territory conquered by Jordan in the 1948 War of Independence as was the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter). Lord Caradon, Britain’s Ambassador to the UN and a key drafter of Resolution 242 said, “It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967. That is why we [the members of the UNSC] didn’t demand that the Israelis return to them and I think we were right not to.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN (1978-1984) and International law professor, Yehuda Blum, asserted in a June 11, 1979 speech in Washington, D.C.:
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A corollary of the inalienable right of the Jewish people to its Land is the right to live in any part of Eretz Yisrael, including Judea and Samaria which are an integral part of Eretz Yisrael. Jews are not foreigners anywhere in the Land of Israel. Anyone who asserts that it is illegal for a Jew to live in Judea and Samaria just because he is a Jew is in fact advocating a concept that is disturbingly reminiscent of the “Judenrein” policies of Nazi Germany banning Jews from certain spheres of life for no other reason than that they were Jews. The Jewish villages in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district are there as of right and are there to stay.
Blum observed that
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The right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel was also recognized in the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, which stressed the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and… the grounds for reconstituting – I repeat – reconstituting “their national home in that country.” The Mandatory Power was also entrusted with the duty to encourage close settlement by Jews on the land, including state lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.
The Call to Action by the mainline Protestant churches does not mention Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza or the Hamas terror campaign against Israel, nor Hamas’s Islamic intolerance and its rejection of peace with Israel or recognition of its right to exist as a Jewish State.
Adam Gregerman, writing for Religious Dispatches, pointed out:
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In their advocacy for the Palestinian cause, however, the Kairos USA authors have rolled back the clock. In its critique of Israeli policies, the statement troublingly undermines these positive Christian views and takes a zero-sum attitude toward the conflict. Out of a desire to support the Palestinians, they jeopardize these remarkable interreligious gains by issuing one-sided indictments and by failing to honor Jewish religious and historical perspectives.
The authors of Kairos USA dismiss G-d’s covenant with the Jewish people and His promise of the land to the Jews, saying that there is no “theology of entitlement” for what they consider modern Israel. Yet, they evaluate the State of Israel and its policies according to religious criteria.
The Kairos USA authors maintain that the situation in Israel and Palestine “is not a struggle among religions.” They must not have read the Hamas Charter or the Palestinian Covenant because both consider the State of Israel “Islamic Wakf” or Islamic endowment land, where only Muslims can reign.
The willful failure of progressive Christians to see the Muslim world and the Palestinian leadership as motivated by a triumphalist Islamic ethos, which is intolerant towards the religious and political rights of Christians and Jews (dhimmis, or subjected people as seen by conquering Islam), and parenthetically ignores Palestinian terrorism and unwillingness to recognize or make peace with the Jewish State, reveals their deep seated prejudice, if not their latent anti-Semitism.
The Christians for Israel message of love and their biblical quest for peace in Jerusalem are uplifting. It constitutes an antithesis to the hostility displayed by the so-called progressive Christians and authors of the Kairos USA towards the Jewish state. This enmity is not accidental. Rather, it is borne out of the progressive Christians’ contempt for Jewish particularism, which is manifested in the State of Israel.
What’s needed is a public US ad campaign, called “The Hypocrisy of the Christian Left” Few mainstream Americans are aware of this. It should seek sponsorship from both Christians and Jews. I’m prepared to make a modest financial contribution to a legitimate organization willing to take this on.
The Christian has more in common with communists than with Christians. They are crypt-communists.
Muslims by the same talk are not entitled to Arab lands.
@ Bernard Ross:
You betcha,good idea.
@ yamit82:
What has been to alert these Evangelicals [note I can now spell Evangelical] of Pollards problems. Specifically Pastor Hagee, Cristians United for Israel,San Antonio, TX.
the christian church leaders and orgnizations who participate in these boycotts should be persona non grata from Israel and any of their properties nationalized. They are blood libelers of the Jews, existential enemies.
The christian left and the religious Jewish left: They’re both left
Although most liberals are atheists, there are also christian leftists, as well as some religious Jewish leftists. Most of the “religious” Jewish leftists are “Reform” Jews, and thus are really atheistic liberals who just call themselves Jews. But a few religious Jewish leftists wear kippot and pray three times a day.
For all these groups, their belief in the dogmas of liberalism outweigh their original religious beliefs. They are all pacifistic, nerdy wimps, and their main goal is to show the world that they are “more christian than jesus, and more non-violent than Gandhi.”
They all believe that if you just keep turning your other cheek enough times, then eventually the other guy will get tired of hitting you, and will be so impressed that he will come around to your views.
To prove how holy and angelic they are, they actively take the side of the innocent victim underdog against the nazi devil bully.
Their latest target is the world’s oldest scapegoat: the Jews and Jewish Israel. Christian liberals are so delusional, that they see no problem in saying, “Although we no longer hold the Jews responsible for killing christ, we now say they are the true nazis: they brought the Holocaust upon themselves, and what they are doing to the palestinians is worse than what the christian nazis did to the european Jews.”
And you think you can reason with those guys?
Freeing Pollard is a Torah obligation and obligation of every Jew:
The Mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyim literally: (Redemption of Captives) is to bring about the release of any Jew held captive by gentiles. It is considered an important commandment in the Jewish Halacha.
The Talmud calls Pidyon Shvuyim a “Mitzvah rabbah”, a great mitzvah, as captivity is viewed as even worse than starvation and death (Bava Batra 8b).
Maimonides writes: “The redeeming of captives takes precedence over supporting the poor or clothing them. There is no greater mitzvah than redeeming captives for the problems of the captive include being hungry, thirsty, unclothed, and they are in danger of their lives too. Ignoring the need to redeem captives goes against these Torah laws: “Do not harden your heart or shut your hand against your needy fellow” (Devarim 15:7); “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed” (Vayikra 19:16). And misses out on the following mitzvot: “You must surely open your hand to him or her” (Devarim15:8); “…Love your neighbor as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18); “Rescue those who are drawn to death” (Proverbs 24:11) and there is no mitzvah greater than the redeeming of captives.” (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim 8:10-11)
“Every moment that one delays in freeing captives, in cases where it is possible to expedite their freedom, is considered to be tantamount to murder.” (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 252:3)
Where are those friendly pro Israel voices from the American Evangelical Community on this Issue so important to we Israeli Jews!!!
Thousands of protesters demonstrate in Jerusalem for Jonathan Pollard’s release
On eve of U.S. President Obama’s arrival, at least 5,000 gather in front of President’s Residence in call for release of convicted American spy.
U.S. Jewish leaders visit Pollard in prison, call for speedy release
Top officials from Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations express concern about convicted Israeli spy’s deteriorating health condition.
Jerusalem Mayor Calls for Jonathan Pollard’s Release
Jerusalem Mayor Barkat: Jonathan Pollard epitomizes “desire of the Jewish people to be a free people in land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
It is high time to start burning their churches. Their brand of Christianity is of the Mel Gibson variety in which Jesus the mamza is a saintly sort instead of the hateful kook he really was and the Jews take the blame for killing him when everyone knows we washed our hands of the filth maven.
The Christian left in America is dying. One need only look at how the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches – powerhouses all when I was young – have suffered preciptious declines in membership – and much of it is attributed to their stand on Israel.
Why is it that the Jews have a difficult time saying that the groups who oppose Israel represent a most cogent reason for supporting it.
Israel as a Jewish state presents the world with an alternative to Marxist dogma and cosmopolitan simplistic presumptions.
Christian supercessionism is manifested not among traditional Christians but amongst Christians who have a hostility to anything traditional – which includes Israel.
For the Christian Left, Israel is the problem precisely because it reminds them of all the boundaries they wish to sweep away to create an egalitarian world. The Jews just happen to be collateral damage.