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Philip's posts with tag: anti-israel
Most American Christians – regardless of their denomination and background – say they feel a "moral and biblical obligation" to support the State of Israel, according to a new survey conducted by a D.C.-based evangelical organization. Enlarge this Image  (Photo: Epicenter08.com) More than 2,000 evangelical Christians from around the world attend the "Epicenter" Conference on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at the Christian Friends of Israel Headquarters in Jerusalem. Though figures released this week by the Joshua Fund differed among Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals and non-Evangelicals, the new figures confirmed that American Christians as a whole believed that a “biblical obligation” exists behind their support for the State of Israel. According to the survey, evangelical Christians were the most supportive of Israeli causes; nearly 90 percent said they felt a “moral and biblical obligation” to back Israel, and 62 percent said that Israel alone should posses control of Jerusalem. Evangelical Christians also had the largest number of respondents who said they opposed a Palestinian state, believing it would give rise to terrorism. Non-evangelical Protestants and Catholics were also revealed to be very pro-Israel, though their support was slightly lower. Eighty-four percent of Protestants and 76 percent of Catholics said they felt a “biblical obligation” to support Israel, the survey results revealed. A majority of Protestants also said they agreed that Jerusalem should remain Israel’s undisputed capitol, while a lower but still high number of Catholics agreed. Compared to Evangelicals, a plurality of non-Evangelical Protestants said they were not opposed to an independent Palestine, believing that it would be a moderate state, with half of Catholics agreeing. Among all American Christians, however, support for Israel was high across the board, and a full two-thirds said they believed that a nuclear armed Iran would be a threat to the security of the State of Israel. The Joshua Fund released the new results to coincide with the “Epicenter 08” conference in Jerusalem, a major gathering between Christian and Jewish leaders that was held on Thursday.
Link: http://www.justjournalism.com/Arab-run media group to combat anti-Israel bias
Run by long-time Egyptian-born British journalist, Just Journalism will aim to keep British media accountable when reporting on Israel. They believe that core journalistic principles are regularly being compromised, and that reporting is often far from impartial, accurate or balanced. Just Journalism’s mission is to heighten awareness of the fundamental journalistic principles underlying the media’s responsibility to the public in this area.
Compares charter calling for murder of Jews to Declaration of Independence  By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook | JERUSALEM – Sen. Barack Obama's Chicago church reprinted a manifesto by Hamas that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group's official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America's Declaration of Independence. The Hamas piece was published on the "Pastor's Page" of the Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reserved for Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose anti-American, anti-Israel remarks landed Obama in hot water, prompting the presidential candidate to deliver a major race speech earlier this week. Hamas, responsible for scores of shootings, suicide bombings and rocket launchings against civilian population centers, is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department. The revelation follows a recent WND article quoting Israeli security officials who expressed "concern" about Robert Malley, an adviser to Obama who has advocated negotiations with Hamas and providing international assistance to the terrorist group. In his July 22, 2007, church newsletter, Wright reprinted an article by Mousa Abu Marzook, identified in the publication as a "deputy of the political bureau of Hamas." A photo image of the piece was captured and posted today by the business blog BizzyBlog, which first brought attention to it. The Hamas article was first published by the Los Angeles Times, garnering the newspaper much criticism. According to senior Israeli security officials, Marzook, who resides in Syria alongside Hamas chieftain Khaled Meshaal, is considered the "brains" behind Hamas, designing much of the terror group's policies and ideology. Israel possesses what it says is a large volume of specific evidence that Marzook has been directly involved in calling for or planning scores of Hamas terrorist offensives, including deadly suicide bombings. He was also accused of attempting to set up a Hamas network in the U.S. Marzook's original piece was titled, "Hamas' stand" but was re-titled "A Fresh View of the Palestinian Struggle" by Obama's church newsletter. The newsletter also referred to Hamas as the "Islamic Resistance Movement," and added in its introduction that Marzook was addressing Hamas' goals for "all of Palestine." In the manifesto, Marzook refers to Hamas' "resistance" – the group's perpetuation of anti-Israel terrorism targeting civilians – as "legal resistance," which, he argues, is "explicitly supported by the Fourth Geneva Convention." The Convention, which refers to the rights of people living under occupation, does not support suicide bombings or rocket attacks against civilian population centers, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America noted. Marzook refers to Hamas' official charter as "an essentially revolutionary document" and compares the violent creed to the Declaration of Independence, which, Marzook states, "simply did not countenance any such status for the 700,000 African slaves at that time." Hamas' charter calls for the murder of Jews. Among its platforms is a statement that the "[resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the rock and the tree will say: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him!'" In his piece, Marzook says Hamas only targets Israel and denies that Hamas' war is meant to be waged against the U.S., even though Hamas officials have threatened America, and Hamas' charter calls for Muslims to "pursue the cause of the Movement (Hamas), all over the globe." Trinity Church did not respond to a phone message requesting comment. Obama's campaign also did not reply to phone and e-mail requests today for comment. Obama aide wants talks with terrorists WND reported in January that Malley, an Obama foreign policy adviser, has penned numerous opinion articles, many of them co-written with a former adviser to the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, petitioning for dialogue with Hamas and blasting Israel for policies he says harm the Palestinian cause. Malley also previously penned a well-circulated New York Review of Books piece largely blaming Israel for the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at Camp David in 2000 when Arafat turned down a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and eastern sections of Jerusalem and instead returned to the Middle East to launch an intifada, or terrorist campaign, against the Jewish state. Malley's contentions have been strongly refuted by key participants at Camp David, including President Clinton, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and primary U.S. envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross, all of whom squarely blamed Arafat's refusal to make peace for the talks' failure. In February 2006, after Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament and amid a U.S. and Israeli attempt to isolate the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority, Malley wrote an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun advocating international aid to the terror group's newly formed government. "The Islamists (Hamas) ran on a campaign of effective government and promised to improve Palestinians' lives; they cannot do that if the international community turns its back," wrote Malley in a piece entitled, "Making the Best of Hamas' Victory." Malley contended the election of Hamas expressed Palestinian "anger at years of humiliation and loss of self-respect because of Israeli settlement expansion, Arafat's imprisonment, Israel's incursions, Western lecturing and, most recently and tellingly, the threat of an aid cutoff in the event of an Islamist success." Malley said the U.S. should not "discourage third-party unofficial contacts with [Hamas] in an attempt to moderate it." In an op-ed in the Washington Post in January coauthored by Arafat adviser Hussein Agha, Malley – using what could be perceived as anti-Israel language – urged Israel's negotiating partner, Abbas, to reunite with Hamas. "A renewed national compact and the return of Hamas to the political fold would upset Israel's strategy of perpetuating Palestinian geographic and political division," wrote Malley. He further petitioned Israel to hold talks with Hamas. "An arrangement between Israel and Hamas could advance both sides' interests," Malley wrote. In numerous other op-eds, Malley advocated a policy of engagement with Hamas. To interview Aaron Klein, contact M. Sliwa Public Relations by e-mail, or call 973-272-2861 or 212-202-4453.
by Hillel Fendel
March 16, '08 (IsraelNN.com) Several nationalist organizations are calling upon the public to join them as they march on the home of the terrorist who massacred eight Merkaz HaRav students and destroy it. The police, already on high alert because of terrorist warnings, are planning to deploy large forces to stop the march. The march is set to begin at 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon from the Banks Junction on Hevron Rd. in the south Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiyot. It is being sponsored by Beit El-based Komemiyut (Standing Tall), Women in Green, Lev Yehudi (Jewish Heart), and the bereaved families. Red, black and white posters that can be seen all around Jerusalem blare, "The Arab enemy is inside Jerusalem! The mourning period is over. It's time to destroy the terrorist's house and wipe out the evil from our midst." Zionsake: Israeli Arab girls: The expression on their faces
seems to say, "Don't photograph us, we don't belong here!" "Government Has Done Nothing"
Moshe Musa Cohen, a Komemiyut organizer, told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine about the initiative: "It's been over a week, and our government has not yet provided a real response to the slaughter in Merkaz HaRav. The same government that destroyed thousands of homes in Gush Katif can't destroy the home of just one terrorist? The still-standing home of the terrorist is a symbol of the government's weakness and failure to act. They want quiet while they carry out their mistaken diplomatic policies, and are generally unwilling to take action, and that's why the house is still standing." "They keep talking about completing the partition fence," Cohen said, "yet this terrorist came from within the fence! He is a full-fledged resident of Israel." Most Arabs of eastern Jerusalem are residents with near-total citizenship rights, except for the right to vote in national elections. In 1980, when Israel annexed the entire city of Jerusalem, the Arab residents were given the right to full citizenship, just like the other Arabs of Israel, if they would learn Hebrew and pledge allegiance to the country; most of them refused. The Message: Internal Enemy Must be Fought
"When a country is afraid to deal with its enemies in its own capital," Cohen said, "that is a sign of bankruptcy... For us, it is hard to sit quietly; we want to express our protest and destroy the house." Cohen does not expect to fulfill his second objective of destroying the house: "The same police whose men stayed outside Merkaz HaRav while the terrorist massacred the students, will be out in force to make sure that we don't get close to the house. But at least we will get our message across: We have an Arab enemy in Israel, and we must protect ourselves and fight against him."
"There is a fifth column inside the State of Israel," Cohen said, "and that is the Israeli-Arabs. We don't see a solution to this problem." Matar: Boycott Arab Transport Company
Nadia Matar of Women in Green said, "The family of this terrorist is a wealthy one; it runs the Tiyulei HaPninah transportation company in Jerusalem, and we should boycott it." Matar further said, "Today's protest is an important one. It begins a new campaign regarding the future of our country, and it is good that this issue is being raised... The government has not razed the house because it is afraid of the Arab MKs' reaction - just like it is afraid to attack Gaza and stop the Kassams. The government thus does not represent Jewish interests."
Israeli-Arabs Happy With Attack
Not only have the Arab Knesset Members not condemned or spoken out against the murder of the eight yeshiva students, other Israeli-Arab elements have actually implied praise of it. The main headline in the Islamic Movement’s Al-Mithaak weekly the day after the attack read, “The First Response to the Massacre in Gaza!!!”
The body of the story said: “In a first response to [Israel's] acts of slaughter [in Gaza], Palestinians carried out an operation yesterday in which eight Israelis were killed and ten wounded.” The story refrained from using the term “terror attack,” “murder” or “terrorist.” This week’s edition of the Al-Mithaak weekly reported on Wednesday's IDF liquidation of four senior terrorists in Bethlehem as follows: “After the Massacre in Gaza: The occupation turns to perpetrating massacres in the West Bank as undercover agents carry out massacre in heart of Bethlehem.” Chabad Response: Israel is the Only Place
Rabbi Menachem Brod of the Young Chabad movement wrote in this week's Sichat HaShavua:
"If there is something more horrific than the terrible massacre of the yeshiva students hunched over their Torah texts, it is the quick return to the daily routine and the indications that the government is not planning to do a thing to respond appropriately to this crime. Nearly 52 years ago, we saw similar photos when terrorists infiltrated Kfar Chabad and shot and killed five students and a teacher as they were praying Maariv [the evening prayer]. This event was one of the factors that caused the Government of Israel to begin the Kadesh Operation [Suez Canal War of 1956]. But today, the government merely suffices with an expression of sorrow. "In the past, this type of event was called a pogrom. Jewish communities were aroused to demand that the world not stand silently in the face of Jewish bloodshed. We used to be told that the establishment of the State of Israel was in order to prevent Jewish blood from being spilled wantonly - but now it turns out that the Jewish State is the only place in the world where yeshiva students can be massacred, and within a few days everything is back to normal, as if this is something we must learn to live with."
| 22 Adar 5768, 2/28/2008 by Steven Plaut 
The Tenessee Republicans have published here a report on the anti-Semites who support Obama. It includes: 'On Sunday, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan on Sunday likened Obama to a new messiah, calling him “the hope of the entire world.” That’s the same Louis Farrakhan who has a history of making openly anti-Semitic statements, calling Judaism a “gutter religion,” and suggesting that crack cocaine might have been a CIA plot to enslave blacks. Farrakhan, addressing 20,000 people at the annual Savior’s Day celebration in Chicago, praised the Democrat presidential candidate, calling Obama “The hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.” He also compared Obama to the founder of Islam, remarking that both had a white mother and black father, according to the Associated Press. “A black man with a white mother became a savior to us,” Farrakhan said. “A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall.”' In addition, 'alongside Obama was current University of Illinois-Chicago professor William C. Ayers, who was a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.' |
Fri, Feb 22, 2008  by Justin Cohen
Monopoly was the unlikely subject of controversy this week after a reference to Israel was removed from an online poll to select the places that will be featured in the international version of the game. Last week, the Jewish News reported that fans of the popular pastime were being invited to vote for up to 10 cities from a list of 68 – including Jerusalem - that they would like to see included on the new MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game board. The vote has attracted million of votes, with Jerusalem currently fourth on the leaderboard and with every chance of making the cut.
But while every other city is listed alongside the country in which it is situated, the discovery this that ‘Israel’ was no longer listed alongside ‘Jerusalem’ brought expressions of disappointment from community leaders. Israel had been mentioned until recent days.
Zionist Federation President Eric Moonman told TJ: “It’s a great pity that politics has come into a happy-go-lucky board game which I personally received as a barmitzvah present and spent the next two or three years playing on a Sunday afternoon.” Expressing hope that there would be a re-think, he added: “If every other reference on the leaderboard carries the city and the country then the very nature of the omission is bizarre.”
Board of Deputies Chief Executive Jon Benjamin said: “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, but this isn’t about Jerusalem’s status as a capital city. It is a simple statement of fact that Jerusalem is in Israel, whatever discussions may take place in the future about parts of the city. Of course Jerusalem should be described as part of Israel.”
A statement from Parker Brothers, the makers of Monopoly, said the company “has embarked upon an exercise to find the world’s most popular cities as voted for by the public. It was never our intention to print any countries on the final boards and any online tags were merely used as a geographic reference to help with city selection. This is clearly stated in the terms and conditions of our campaign.
"We would never want to enter into any political debate. We apologise for any upset this has caused our Monopoly fans and hope that they continue to support their favourite cities, all of which are deserving of a place on our final board.”
Last night, a spokesman told TJ that all the country tag lines would be removed. “We still hope people will vote for Jerusalem to give it the recognition it deserves.”
Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.
 February 21, '08 (IsraelNN.com) Complaints by Arabs that Jerusalem is not part of Israel prompted Monopoly manufacturer Hasbro to remove the designation of the country. An online poll from Hasbro, offering people the opportunity to choose which cities in the world will be on the new version of the game, has put Jerusalem in fourth place. All of the cities were listed with their countries' names until Arabs complained about Israel. A Hasbro official explained that the company had no intention of including the names of the countries in the final version and used them for the time being only as "points of reference." However, Israel was the only designated country to be removed from the "points of reference" list until the issue came to the attention of Hasbro executives. Company spokesman Wayne Charness said the decision to remove Israel, and not other countries, was made by a mid-level employee following a wave of complaints from Arabs. Pro-Israel groups have encouraged people to vote for Jerusalem in order to help Jews around the world relate to Israel, but others have objected that the capital should not be treated as a property that can be bought or sold. Other people have begun to vote for Sderot as one of the cities to be put on the board.
January 16, '08
 MK Sarsur to Abbas: How Can You Shake Olmert’s Hand?
(IsraelNN.com) MK Ibrahim Sarsur (Ra’am Ta’al), the head of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, sent a letter to Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday sharply criticizing Abbas’s willingness to meet with Israeli and United States leaders. “I do not understand how one shakes the hands of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his wife, and the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as our people in Gaza are being slaughtered,” Sarsur wrote.
Sarsur spoke on Tuesday at a conference in Baka el-Jarbiya and discussed the situation in Gaza. The “Israeli aggression” seen in Gaza was not new, he said, “but gained a new dimension following the visit from the head of the international axis of evil, George Bush.” Bush gave Israel a “green light” to operate in Gaza and to build in Judea and Samaria, Sarsur said.
[Zionsake: That is for you Israeli democracy that allows hostile enemies of Israel to be Members of Knesset - MPs. It's of course, part of the drive towards multiculturalism vs. being a Jewish State.]
| WHAT HYPOCRISY! |
| | 14 January 2008 
Their epic is based on being liberated by God from slavery in Egypt and in modern times from the raw and cruel anti-Semitism and unbelievable degradation by the Nazis in Europe. It is therefore evil to accuse the Jewish people - now back in their own promised homeland - of apartheid and racism, as Israel's enemies maliciously try repeatedly to do. Our great Rabbi once said: "With the measure you measure you will be measured and with the judgment you judge you will be judged." The hypocrisy of the Muslim Arabs and their cohorts in leveling these false charges against the people of Israel is horrendous. If there is one nation (or 'umah' as the Islamic nation is called), which to this day considers itself superior to all other religions and people, it is the nation of ISLAM. In the countries comprising this umah, women are enslaved as the property of their husbands and, in some of them, even slavery is practiced and allowed. When this is documented by courageous politicians, filmmakers or journalists, they can end up brutally killed, as was the Dutch filmmaker Van Gogh who sought to expose the plight of many Muslim women. He was simply murdered, stabbed with Koran verses on his chest in front of his house. Neither Christians nor Jews can freely worship in Saudi Arabia; they cannot bring their Bibles or prayer books with them when they enter that country. While Muslims may freely build their mosques all over the world, Christians cannot build their churches in this land where Islam was born. Christians cannot visit Mecca or Medina, whereas Muslims can and do visit St Paul's Cathedral in London, St Peter's church in Rome and other Christian and Jewish places. This master race - the Muslims - believe they can wage jihad and terror, and impose boycotts, whenever and wherever it suits them: When the Pope makes a remark about the inherent violent character of ISLAM, or when Danish journalists publish cartoons about Mohammed, Muslims erupt in violence the world over, proving this very point. They are the Umah, the Master Race, ready and prepared to force the whole world into submission, literally by hook or by crook - by persuasion first and, if necessary, by violence, jihad and terror. And now they tell the world that it is little Israel which is the racist, dangerous apartheid state, and their shallow-minded Western friends parrot this with them! Israel, which was born out of racism and slavery; Israel, where black, brown, yellow and white are equally accepted and can live together in equality; Israel, which gives citizenship to its often disloyal Arabs, allowing them to speak and demonstrate in favor for Israel's sworn enemies, and despite this giving them permission to organize themselves in political parties that are often hostile to Israel, so obtaining seats in Israel's Parliament and even Cabinet? Who has heard of such magnanimity among the nations? And so, the Umah of ISLAM goes on conquering in the name of ISLAM, first and foremost the hated and despised Israel, and then eventually the whole world, where those who refuse to become Muslims, can live as dhimmies under the masters of ISLAM! Recently a White House correspondent explained that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice basically sees the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as comparable to the historic struggle of Blacks against the dominion of Whites. Should Barak Obama be made president of the United States, he may in essence bring this same misunderstanding from the State Department to the White House, given the close connection that already exists between his mentor and the pastor of his Trinity Church of Christ, and louis Farrakhan. It is therefore essential that the above mentioned facts are understood and widely publicized. Added to this are the amazingly true words which Simon Deng writes in The Jewish Advocate: Disappearance of Bishop Tutu
By Simon Deng
Friday November 16, 2007 Late last month, I went to hear Bishop Desmond Tutu speak at Boston's Old South Church at a conference on "Israel Apartheid." Tutu is a well respected man of God. He brought reconciliation between blacks and whites in South Africa. That he would lead a conference that damns the Jewish state is very disturbing to me.
The State of Israel is not an apartheid state. I know because I write this from Jerusalem where I have seen Arab mothers peacefully strolling with their families even though I also drove on Israeli roads protected by walls and fences from Arab bullets and stones. I know Arabs go to Israeli schools, and get the best medical care in the world. I know they vote and have elected representatives to the Israeli Parliament. I see street signs in Arabic, an official language here. None of this was true for blacks under Apartheid in Tutu's South Africa.
I also know countries that do deserve the apartheid label: My country, Sudan, is on the top of the list, but so are Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. What has happened to my people in Sudan is a thousand times worse than Apartheid in South Africa. And no matter how the Palestinians suffer, they suffer nothing compared to my people. Nothing. And most of the suffering is the fault of their leaders. Bishop Tutu, I see black Jews walking down the street here in Jerusalem. Black like us, free and proud.
Tutu said Israeli checkpoints are a nightmare. But checkpoints are there because Palestinians are sent into Israel to blow up and kill innocent women and children. Tutu wants checkpoints removed. Do you not have doors in your home, Bishop? Does that make your house an apartheid house? If someone, Heaven forbid, tried to enter with a bomb, we would want you to have security people "humiliating" your guests with searches, and we would not call you racist for doing so. We all go through checkpoints at every airport. Are the airlines being racist? No.
Yes, the Palestinians are inconvenienced at checkpoints. But why, Bishop Tutu, do you care more about that inconvenience than about Jewish lives?
Bishop, when you used to dance for Mandela's freedom, we Africans all over Africa joined in. Our support was key in your freedom. But when children in Burundi and Kinshasa, all the way to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and in particular in Sudan, cried and called for rescue, you heard but chose to be silent.
Today, black children are enslaved in Sudan, the last place in the continent of Africa where humans are owned by other humans. I was part of the movement to stop slavery in Mauritania, which just now abolished the practice. But you were not with us, Bishop Tutu.
So where is Desmond Tutu when my people call out for freedom? Slaughter and genocide and slavery are lashing Africans right now. Where are you for Sudan, Bishop Tutu? You are busy attacking the Jewish state. Why? Simon Deng, a native of the Shiluk Kingdom in southern Sudan, is an escaped jihad slave and a leading human rights activist. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US AT (617)428-0012 Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director International Christian Zionist Center iczc@iczc.org.il | israelmybeloved.com |
December 20, '07 ( IsraelNN.com) Roman Catholic Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah gave a pre-Christmas address on Wednesday in which he rejected Israel  as a Jewish state. Speaking in English and Arabic, Sabbah told reporters that Israel must abandon its Jewish character in favor of a “normal state for Christians, Muslims, and Jews.” “If there’s a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against,” Sabbah said. Sabbah, a Palestinian Authority Arab, did not mention the PA’s definition of its areas as Arab and Muslim. He blamed Israel for the conflict with the PA and PA-based terrorist groups, saying, “If Israel decides for peace, there will be peace.” Zionsake Comment:
Meanwhile the Muslim PA has systematically reduced the Christian majority in Betlechem to an absolute minority, but Sabbah doesn't complain about it.
| After 37 years of boasting of "inalienable solidarity" with the people of Israel, the Netherlands' second largest church plans to reexamine its stance this fall. A group of notables from the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN) warned last week that the organization, which has over two million members, is in danger of being "hijacked" by pro-Palestinian activists. |  | | |
The warning - coauthored by Dr. Jan van der Graaf, who served for 35 years as PCN's general secretary, and three other prominent church figures - was an open letter against changing the reference to Israel. It was addressed to Minister Henri Veldhuis, a General Synod member who said the clause made the church adopt a biased view that ignored Israeli actions against Palestinians.
At a speech last month in Utrecht for Friends of Sabeel (a Jerusalem-based Palestinian organization), Veldhuis said the church should commit to a bond with Israel "as people of the Torah" instead of the "Jewish people as an ethnic group." Veldhuis also complained that currently, "the church has a stronger bond with a non-believing Alaskan Jewish person than a Palestinian Christian."
The open letter accused Veldhuis of a slanted and hypocritical approach. "We were astonished by your address before a Palestinian liberation organization that pretends to be promoting reconciliation," it read. "You accused Israel but ignored Hamas's Jew-hating ideology. You overlooked the alarming anti-Semitic upsurge in Arab countries."
Veldhuis responded that the signatories "were regrettably and falsely" trying to portray Sabeel and himself as radical left-wing activists. In a conversation with Haaretz, Veldhuis said: "It is important to preserve the lessons of the Holocaust and never forget the Jewish roots of church and bible and to fight anti-Semitism, but we have to take a more realistic position on the Jewish people as an ethnic group and on the State of Israel. The PCN's theology is now idealizing both."
He added that he believes the coauthors - Van der Graaf, Dr. Theo van Campen, Dr. Wulfert de Greef and Dr. Henk van der Meulen - are circling the wagons because of "mounting criticism of Israel's policies."
Van der Graaf said that those who advocate changing the church's charter are "only a highly motivated minority" within PCN, and he believes the clause will ultimately remain unchanged.
The PCN, which was formed in 2004 as a merger of the country's three largest protestant churches, is scheduled to discuss revising its stance on Israel in November. | |
| Start: | Oct 7, '07 08:00a | | Location: | International |
Zionsake: If the prayers are going to be for peace purely based on the command to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, nothing is going to be achieved. Prayer needs to be guided by the Spirit. That which is needed to bring peace... that can only be achieved by a total humiliation of the Jihadist forces of Islam in an all-out war. That was how king David would have established peace.
(IsraelNN.com) A7 Radio's "The Tovia Singer Show"
Former PLO member Walid Shoebat, author of a stunning new book “Why We Want to Kill You,” gives the listeners an inside view of how CNN’s chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, blatantly distorted facts in her recent series “God Warriors.” | Israel National Radio | | Your Newsstand in the Holy Lan | | Tovia Singer Aug 23 | |
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