Showing posts with label Christian Zionism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Zionism. Show all posts

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Why Christian Zionism Is Vanishing in the American Church - D.T. LANCASTER CHARISMA NEWS


Anti-Semitism
Many of today's Evangelicals have joined world opinion against Israel. (Flickr )

Why Christian Zionism Is Vanishing in the American Church

Evangelical Christians in the United States have loved and supported the State of Israel because they believe the Bible, take its prophecies literally, and see the modern State of Israel as a first flowering of God's prophetic promises to the Jewish people.
They have shown their love for Israel by placing political pressure on U.S. foreign policy and by standing up for Israel in the court of world opinion. Evangelical Christians have marched under the slogan, "We stand with Israel." It's a well-known phenomenon called Christian Zionism.
The Christian Zionist movement is the matrix from which much of modern Messianic Judaism emerged, including First Fruits of Zion.
All that is changing.
As the Millennial generation takes positions of leadership in the evangelical churches of America, we may see Christian Zionism and support for Israel vanish. It is a process that is already underway.
Today's 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds think of themselves as well-informed about Israel's role in the Middle East and its struggle with the Palestinian people. They are likely to feel strong empathy with the oppressed Palestinian people, and they unanimously join the rest of the world in condemning the State of Israel.
In reality, today's Millennials are only marginally informed on the issues. They know only the side of the story fed to them by a biased media and anti-Israel activists. Most of them know nothing of the real history of the conflict, the Nazi influence over Palestinian Arabs that sparked the conflict, the repeated attempts of the Arab world to annihilate Israel and the Jewish people, or the more recent history of Israel's attempts to establish peace with an unwilling Palestinian leadership.
Today's 20- and 30-year-olds have no memory of how Yasser Arafat threw Israel's concessions from Oslo back in the face of the international community while secretly funding and supporting an ongoing campaign of terror and evil. Today's generation of youth places the blame for Middle East unrest squarely on Israel. They are seemingly unaware of or unconcerned about how the Palestinian people and the larger Arab world maintain a constant propaganda campaign of agitation to terrorism, murderous incitement and hateful anti-Jewish rhetoric, which will insure peace in the Middle East only through the annihilation of the Jewish people (God forbid).
As a result, today's young evangelical Christians are far more likely to march under the slogan, "End the Occupation," than the slogan, "We stand with Israel." They are following in the footsteps of mainstream denominations such as the Presbyterian Church in the USA, which sponsors boycotts on Israeli products and has published statements condemning the State of Israel for their occupation of Palestine.
The drift away from Christian Zionism finds inspiration from voices like Wheaton College Professor Gary Burge, author of Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told about Israel and the Palestinians. Burge's teachings attempt to undermine the basis for evangelical political support of Israel. He challenges the theology of an ongoing covenantal status of the Jewish people.
According to his perspective, Israel forfeited that status, and with that forfeiture, they forfeit claim to the land of Israel. In the view of anti-Zionists, Israel is unworthy of Christian support because it is home to Jews who have rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Anti-Zionist evangelicals contend that support for Israel thwarts efforts to share the Christian faith with Muslims in the Middle East. (In other words, Christianity would be more attractive to Islam if we could present it to them as anti-Jewish and anti-Israel.)
Evangelicals who sympathize with the Palestinian cause emphasize the Christian obligation to show concern for human rights violations, but they fail to call upon Christians to stand up against the human rights violations that characterize the policies of governing bodies within Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel's enemies in the Arab world. Instead, from the point of view of the anti-Christian Zionists, it would appear that Israel is the world's chief offender in crimes against humanity.
An article in The Times of Israel titled "Evangelical Anti-Zionism Gaining Traction" calls attention to the concerted effort of anti-Israel activists to turn American evangelicals against Israel. The anti-Israel message finds warm welcome with today's Millennial Christians who have already bought into the notion that blanket condemnation of the State of Israel is a moral obligation incumbent upon every thinking, ethical human being.
The new evangelical struggle with Israel is not a new struggle. It is the same old struggle. For most of two thousand years, the Christian church has been on the wrong side of the fight against anti-Semitism and the wrong side of God's relationship with the Jewish people. Perhaps Christian Zionism was just a brief anomaly sustained by a generation old enough to remember World War II, to have witnessed the miracle of the birth of the State of Israel, and to have seen the revealed miracles of God's intervention that sustained the young state. 
Daniel Thomas Lancaster is a writer, teacher, and the Director of Education for the Messianic ministry First Fruits of Zion (), an international organization with offices in Israel, Canada, and the USA, bringing Messianic Jewish teaching to Christians and Jews. He is the author of several books about the Jewish roots of Christianity, the Jewishness of the New Testament, and he is the author of the Torah Club Bible study program. He also serves as the teaching pastor at Beth Immanuel, a Messianic Jewish synagogue in Hudson, Wisconsin.
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Monday, August 1, 2016

What Do Trump, Brexit and Christian Zionism Have in Common? - Brian Hennessy ISRAEL TODAY

What Do Trump, Brexit and Christian Zionism Have in Common?

Monday, August 01, 2016 |  
Brian Hennessy  ISRAEL TODAY
Throughout history we have seen how a nation oppressed by an autocratic government, whether foreign or its own, must eventually revolt or submit to humiliating slavery. We saw it in the American Revolution in 1776, and certainly in Israel’s Exodus from Egypt under Moses.It is in this context I believe we should view today’s Trump / Brexit / Christian Zionism (CZ) movements.  
As I see it, all three are powerful reactions to the same left-wing elitist bureaucracy that’s been  trying to impose its multi-cultural, no-borders, one-world vision on the nations.  This utopian vision is essentially the one immortalized by John Lennon in his iconic song, “Imagine.” So intoxicating was the vision that the elite imagined it could accommodate the ruthless reality of fundamentalist Islam, expecting it to quietly take its seat at the table. When Jihadists began murdering and raping everyone in sight they tried to ignore it, telling everyone, including themselves, that Islam was a religion of peace.  
They got away with it for awhile, especially in Israel where they were able to justify the Muslim Palestinian mayhem as a legitimate grievance against Jewish colonialism. Only those Evangelicals who knew the truth rose up to stand with Israel and denounced the world’s hypocrisy, giving birth to today’s Christian Zionist movement. Yet in spite of their outcry, world leaders continued to ignore Israel’s plight. Even 9/11 failed to throw enough cold water on them.
It wasn’t until it began happening in the cities of Europe, and again in America, that the West started to wake up and realize Islam would never willing submit to anyone else’s vision. It had its own vision of bringing the world into submission to Allah under Sharia Law! The elitist dream had become a nightmare. The result was a right-wing blowback in the form of Donald Trump, and the Brexit vote in England. 
Yet, there’s a fundamental difference between Trump/Brexit and CZ, God’s counter movement to what He is doing among the nations. (Yes, Virginia, nothing happens in this world apart from God’s will.) While Trump/Brexit is clear evidence the people no longer subscribe to John Lennon’s utopia and want out, CZ is not a political movement. But simply support for Israel against the nightmare.
Historically, CZ had its beginnings in groups like the French Huguenots and Puritans who saw the Biblical prophecies of a restored Jewish homeland when there was no natural hope it could happen. And they loudly proclaimed it in spite of strong opposition from the established church, which still embraced Replacement Theology. When God was true to His word and brought Israel into being in 1948, CZ then became a stalwart ally of the Jewish nation.
But I believe the role of CZ is changing once again. In the process of standing with Israel, many awakened to the Hebraic roots of our faith and we saw that we too were included in the promises to Israel through Messiah Yeshua. “For as many as are the promises of God, in Messiah they are yes” (2 Cor. 1:20).
What’s more, this awakening brought with it another eye-opening realization - that for centuries we Christians also have been dominated by an oppressive elitist autocracy that we need to be free of. Namely, the Hellenized institutional religious system that imprisoned us when the Church merged with pagan Rome under Constantine. We learned that’s when our Hebraic roots were stripped from us.  Not only did we lose the biblical context of Yeshua’s Jewish identity, but also all understanding that we could share in the kingdom promises to Israel. In their place we were presented with a Christian Christ, fed religious placebos and led away captive into centuries of ecclesiastical tyranny.
We soon lost all sense of our true identity. We are not, and never were, “Christians.” A religion is not a peoplehood. We have always been the grafted-in seed of Abraham. “For if you belong to Messiah, you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).
So where are all these movements headed? Who knows where Trump will take America if he wins, which I expect. Or if the rest of Europe will follow Britain and exit the EU in time to roll back the Muslim invasion. Also a possibility.
But there are two things we can be certain of. First, only the Zionist movement will result in the people coming into true freedom. Not only Jews and Israel, but all the followers of Yeshua who see and understand they are included in God’s restoration of Israel and get on board in time. 
And two, no matter how the Western nations reconfigure themselves to restore law and order, perhaps in a new Pax Romana, they will eventually coalesce around one world leader who will try and destroy Israel and the knowledge of Yahweh, who alone is God. 
The earth is now being shaken. Can the heavens be far behind?
Brian Hennessy is author of Valley of the Steeples
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Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Scriptures teach the restoration of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

 








Watch the complete series here: Israel's Land

Evangelical Christians have traditionally been strong supporters of Israel and the Jewish people. Their support can no longer be taken for granted. There is now a strong movement to undermine evangelical support for Israel - and it is gaining momentum.
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Script with footnotes available here: 
evangelicalzionism.com

Source: E4Z.org

Monday, January 18, 2016

ISRAEL TODAY - COMMENTARY: Is 'Christian Zionism' Becoming a Dirty Word? | Brian Hennessy

COMMENTARY: Is 'Christian Zionism' Becoming a Dirty Word?

Monday, January 18, 2016 |  Brian Hennessy  ISRAEL TODAY
Approaching the Jewish people under a Christian banner, even when connected to “Zionism,” has always been a liability. The memory of forced conversions and unbridled Christian anti-Semitism is too ingrained to be quickly set aside. So even though Christian support for Israel has been quite forthcoming over the last 40 years, it wasn’t until recently that many Israelis began to accept our support as genuine. And to reciprocate with a generous measure of trust.
However, the problem I’m alluding to concerning the term ‘Christian Zionism’ is not coming from Jews, but the Church. It seems there is a growing hostility within the Traditional Church towards those members whom they feel love Israel too much!  A church in my own hometown of Pennsylvania recently spilt over support for Israel. 
The hostility is being spearheaded, of course, by pastors and denominations still in the grip of Replacement Theology. But they are being increasingly joined by other Christians who aren’t anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist, but who just don’t get it. Not having awakened yet to the Hebraic roots of their faith they can’t understand why Zionist Christians love Israel so much. They feel we’re putting our love for Israel above our love for the Church. 
 If things continue, Christian Zionists could one day be unwelcome within the Christian tent. 
Inflaming this problem, of course, is the false narrative being pushed by both religious and secular anti-Semites who keep insisting the so-called Palestinian/Israeli conflict is the reason Muslims hate the West. And Israel, they say, is responsible for both the cause and continuation of the problem. If Israel would just give back the land they took from the Palestinians, then peace would come to the Middle East and joy to the rest of the world. That this is a complete nonsense is besides the point. The lie has been repeated so many times, in so many ways, it has become the reality.
Complicating things even further is a new ecumenical movement on the rise within Christendom. It involves a final push to patch up all the major theological differences that has fractured Christianity into thousands of sects. Their goal is to fulfill Jesus prayer to the Father about his followers, “that they might all be one’ (John 17:21). Many influential evangelicals are now paving the way for reunification, believing all roads must lead to Rome. The scriptural protests that inspired the Protestant Reformation are being minimized, while our points of agreement maximized. Even the giant schism that divided the Church into east and west is quietly being sewn back together.
If this reunification takes place, as it probably will, Christianity would once again become that intolerant ecclesiastical power we’ve been apologizing to the Jews for since the Holocaust. And Christians who love Israel could become as much of a pariah in their home churches as Israel presently is to their governments. 
If that happens, I believe Christian Zionists will be forced to make a hard decision about where their loyalty lies. Will we stand with Israel, or with the religion that long ago severed us from the Hebraic roots of our faith, and persecuted the family of Messiah Yeshua? 
When push comes to shove, it will help to recall the name ‘Christian’ is not something we owe a great deal of loyalty to. It was just a name imposed upon us by our enemies that we eventually adopted. And it was not a nice name at that. According to the scholars, it was meant to be one of scorn and derision. The term only appears in the Bible three times (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16). Paul never used it to address believers. The name the early church referred to themselves by most often was as members of “The Way.”  
In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion “Christian” may be the name Isaiah was referring to when he uttered this judgment against the persecutors of God’s people: “You will leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones. And the Lord God will slay you. But My servants will be called by another name” (Isa. 65:15).

Brian Hennessy is the author of Valley of the Steeples, available at:ketchpublishing/BrianHennessyBooks.htm
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LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE Editor's Note (Steve Martin):


Friday, August 14, 2015

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) American "Manifest Destiny" Heads to the Holy Land in 1847

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)


Posted: 13 Aug 2015


Lt. William Francis Lynch, U.S. Navy
 (Wikipedia Commons) 
William Francis Lynch (1801-1865) was a naval officer who served in both the U.S. Navy and the Confederate Navy.  In the 1840s he proposed to the United States Government to undertake a voyage to the Holy Land to explore and map the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.

Lynch conducted his mission with a crew of 16 sailors in 1847 and published his findings in his bookNarrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea.Lynch did not include a photographer in his entourage, but a crewman did provide illustrations for his book.

Lynch's motives appeared to be part patriotic, religious, and scientific.  He wrote, "We [Americans] owe something to the scientific and Christian world, and while extending the blessing of civil liberty in the south and west [otherwise known as "Manifest Destiny"], may well afford to foster science and strengthen the bulwarks of Christianity in the east."

Lynch was also a strong adherent of "restorationism" (a precursor to Christian Zionism) -- a belief that the Jewish people must return to the Holy Land to fulfill their biblical prophecy of the "Second Coming." The belief drove many Americans, including American presidents, to advocate for the establishment of a Jewish homeland.


Map of Lynch's journey from the Sea of Galilee
 to the Dead Sea, 1847. (World Digital Library)
Along the route, Lynch described raging rapids in the Jordan River, difficult terrain, strange flora and fauna, warring Arab tribes, and suffering Christian and Jewish communities.

Lynch's 170-year-old description of the Jews of Tiberias is remarkable: 

Safed and Tiberias, Jerusalem and Hebron, are the four holy cities of the Jews in Palestine. Tiberias is held in peculiar veneration by the Jews, for here they believe that Jacob resided, and it is situated on the shores of the lake whence they hope that the Messiah will arise. 
 
Winding down the rugged road, we descended to the city, seated on the margin of the lake. Tiberias (Tubariyeh) is a walled town of some magnitude, but in ruins, from the earthquake which, in 1837, destroyed so many of its inhabitants.
We had letters to the chief rabbi of the Jews, who came to meet us, and escorted us through labyrinthine streets to the house of Heim Wiseman, a brother Israelite. It is an hotel sui generis, as well in the mode of entertaining as in the subsequent settlement with its guests. In a book which was shown to us we read the following gentle insinuation:— “I beg the gentlemen arriving at my house that, at their departure, they will have the goodness to give me, in my hands, what they please. Tibaria, APRIL 7, 1845.” The above is an exact copy of the notice referred to, in English. It is likewise written in bad Italian and worse Spanish.
A trifling circumstance will show in what thraldom the Jews are held. Our landlord, Heim Wiseman, had been kind enough to show me the way to the governor’s. On our entrance, he meekly sat down on the floor, some distance from the divan. After the sherbet was handed round to all, including many Arabs, it was tendered to him. It was a rigid fast-day with his tribe, the eve of the feast of the azymes [Passover], and he declined it. It was again tendered, and again declined, when the attendant made some exclamation, which reached the ears of the governor, who thereupon turned abruptly round, and sharply called out, “Drink it.” The poor Jew, agitated and trembling, carried it to his lips, where he held it for a moment, when, perceiving the attention of the governor to be diverted, he put down the untasted goblet.


 

Illustration of Tiberias in Lynch's book. (Wikisource)
The Jews here are divested of that spirit of trade which is everywhere else their peculiar characteristic. Their sole occupation, we were told, is to pray and to read the Talmud. That book, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt says, declares that creation will return to primitive chaos if prayers are not addressed to the God of Israel at least twice a week in the four holy cities. Hence the Jews all over the world are liberal in their contributions.
Returned the visit of the Rabbis. They have two synagogues, the Sephardim and Askeniazim, but live harmoniously together. There are many Polish Jews, with light complexions, among them. They describe themselves as very poor, and maintained by the charitable contributions of Jews abroad, mostly in Europe. More meek, subdued, and unpretending men than these Rabbis I have never seen. The chief one illustrated the tyranny of the Turks by a recent circumstance. In consequence of the drought of the preceding year there had been a failure of the crops, and the Sultan, whose disposition is humane, ordered a large quantity of grain to be distributed among the fellahin for seed. The latter were accordingly called in; — to him whose portion was twenty okes (1 oke = approx. 2 3/4 lbs.) was given ten, and to him whose portion was ten, five okes were given, — after each had signed a paper acknowledging the receipt of the greater quantity. How admirably the scriptures portray the manners and customs of the east! Here is the verification of the parable of the unjust steward. It is true, that in this instance the decree was issued by the Turks — a comparatively modern people, — but it was carried into effect by the descendants of the ancient Gentile races of the country.
In the evening we visited several of the synagogues. It was impressive yet melancholy to witness the fervid zeal of the worshippers. In gabardines, with broad and narrow phylacteries, some of them embroidered, the men were reading or rather chanting, or rather screaming and shouting, the lamentations of Jeremias — all the time swaying their bodies to and fro with a regular and monotonous movement. There was an earnest expression of countenance that could not have been feigned. The tones of the men were loud and almost querulous with complaint; while the women, who stood apart, were more hushed in their sorrow, and lowly wailed, moving the heart by their sincerity. In each synagogue was an octagon recess, where the Pentateuch and other sacred works were kept. Whatever they may be in worldly matters, the Jews are no hypocrites in the article of faith.
The females marry very early. There was one in the house, then eleven and a half years of age, who, we were assured, had been married eighteen months. Mr. Wiseman pointed out another, a mere child in appearance, ten years of age, who had been two years married. It seems incredible. The unmarried wear the hair exposed, but the married women studiously conceal it. To make up for it, the heads of the latter were profusely ornamented with coins and gems and any quantity of another’s hair, the prohibition only extending to their own. Their dress is a bodice, a short, narrow-skirted gown, and pantalettes gathered at the ankles. Unlike the Turkish and the Arab women, they sometimes wear stockings. The bodice is open in front, and the breasts are held, but not restrained, by loose open pockets of thin white gauze.
There are about three hundred families, or one thousand Jews, in this town. The Sanhedrin consists of seventy rabbis, of whom thirty are natives and forty Franks, mostly from Poland, with a few from Spain. The rabbis stated that controversial matters of discipline among Jews, all over the world, are referred to this Sanhedrin.
The Lynch caravan taking their boats to the Sea of Galilee
After visiting a town with a Christian community, Lynch wrote about Christians, Jews and Turks:
Christians of Kerak...there were from 900 to 1000 Christians here, comprising three-fourths of the population. They could muster a little over 200 fighting men; but are kept in subjection by the Muslim Arabs, living mostly in tents, without the town. He stated that they are, in every manner, imposed upon. If a Muslim comes to the town, instead of going to the house of another Muslim, he quarters himself upon a Christian, and appropriates the best of every thing; that Christian families have been two days at a time without food — all that they had being consumed by their self-invited guests. If a Muslim sheikh buys a horse for so many sheep, he makes the Christians contribute until the number be made up. Their property, he said, is seized without there being any one to whom to appeal; and remonstrance, on their part, only makes it worse.
 It needs but the destruction of that power which, for so many centuries, has rested like an incubus upon the eastern world, [emphasis added] to ensure the restoration of the Jews to Palestine. The increase of toleration; the assimilation of creeds; the unanimity with which all works of charity are undertaken, prove, to the observing mind, that, ere long, with every other vestige of bigotry, the prejudices against this unhappy race will be obliterated by a noble and a God-like sympathy....the time will come. All things are onward; and, in God’s providence, all things are good. How eventful, yet how fearful, is the history of this people! The Almighty, moved by their lamentations, determined, not only to relieve them from Egyptian bondage, but to make them the chosen depositary of his law. 

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Israel - New Museum Traces History of Christian Zionists

New Museum Traces History of Christian Zionists in Israel

Courtesy Friends of Zion Museum
JERUSALEM, Israel -- Relatively few people realize the major role Christians played in the formation of the modern State of Israel. The new Friends of Israel Museum in the heart of Jerusalem reveals this hidden history.

A dramatic introduction starts the tour: stunning aerials of Israel as a map traces the land given by God to the 12 tribes, all set to originally scored music.

The museum uses state-of-the-art technology, such as oversized touch panels, that allow visitors to learn more about the history of Christian Zionism.

Features like video mapping enhance some of the most compelling and often unknown stories of Christian Zionists' contribution to the development of the modern nation-state.

Take a virtual online tour at the Friends of Israel Museum.

History of Christian Zionism

In a 2012 speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of Christian Zionists' essential role in the nation's history.

"I don't believe that the Jewish state and modern Zionism would have been possible without Christian Zionism," Netanyahu said. "I think that the many Christian supporters of the rebirth of the Jewish state and the ingathering of the Jewish people in the 19th century made possible the rise of Jewish Zionism."

American Mike Evans built the museum to help spread the word of Christian Zionism's place in Israel's history. He wanted "a home for Christians to celebrate their heroes and their history."

"I found no place in Israel where Bible believing Christians can go to. And they have heroes and they have history," Evans told CBN News.

The museum was founded on years of research and the information in a two-volume set called The History of Christian Zionism, authored by Evans.

"There are so many of them," Evans explained. "If you just take George Bush, 1844, this guy was a Hebrew professor and he wrote a book that sold a million copies on the restoration of Israel. And yes, his two relatives were U.S. presidents."

Fulfilling Promises

There are many others.

Orde Wingate formed the first Jewish fighting unit in nearly 2,000 years, the beginning of the modern Israeli army we see today.

Corrie Ten Boom's father and sister were killed by the Nazis and she suffered in a concentration camp because her family hid Dutch Jews during the Holocaust.

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg faced death to save Jews.

One museum display explained, "In the dead of winter, Wallenberg joined thousands of Jewish prisoners on their death marches to Auschwitz, trying to save anyone he could."

Evans wondered, what fortified these Christian men and women to face death?

"I realized, number one, it was their Bible. They had an intimate relationship with the living Lord and they loved the Word of God," he said. "And they were willing to live for it. And with the Word of God came promises to the Jewish people."

Those scriptural promises, from Ezekiel to Isaiah to Abraham, are woven through the museum's exhibits.

Another display revealed, "According to the ancient writings, one day God appeared to Abram and spoke words that would give birth to the nation of Israel."

An Incredible Experience

For museum visitors, the experience is incredible.

"It's an experience like no other. It's interactive. You learn a lot of things that you probably never even learned," one visitor told CBN News.

"I think this was one of the most impressive things I've seen in Israel since in the time that I've been here," another said.

Many said the museum taught them so much they'd never known before and now they want to spread the word.

"I'm going to tell everyone I can think of, the people in my synagogue, to come here to see how this beautiful land of Israel was not [built] just by the Jews, but by the Christians and the wonderful people who risked their lives to make us a homeland," one American visitor said.

For Evans, the museum lets the Jewish people know that though surrounded by enemies, they are not alone.

"They see Auschwitz and what they went through. And they see the alienation in the world today, and they come through it [the museum] and they say, we're not alone," he said. "There are Christians who really love us. And it's just amazing to see that. It gives me hope, I'm not alone. That's enough."

Monday, June 1, 2015

How Should Pro-Israel Voices Tackle the War of Ideas on College Campuses?



Pastor Dumisani Washington, Christians United for Israel's (CUFI) diversity outreach coordinator. Washington spoke at an April 30 event at Columbia University (not the speech pictured here) concerning the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his support for Israel.
Pastor Dumisani Washington, Christians United for Israel's (CUFI) diversity outreach coordinator. Washington spoke at an April 30 event at Columbia University (not the speech pictured here) concerning the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his support for Israel. (Courtesy of Christians United for Israel)
Standing With Israel

Recent ordeals for Jews on college campuses include being probed on their religious identity in student government hearings, seeing swastikas sprayed on their fraternity houses, and the presence of a student-initiated course accused of anti-Semitism.
Pro-Israel voices are fighting back, but who is winning this war of ideas? An episode at Columbia University, a historic hotbed of anti-Zionism, illustrates the complex dynamics at play. 
Last month, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), America's largest pro-Israel organization with more than 2 million members, planned a lecture at Columbia concerning the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his support for Israel. CUFI says that the school administration meddled with the event in a way that unfairly singled out the pro-Israel group. The university imposed an "unprecedented level of bureaucratic scrutiny in an effort to intimidate," says David Walker, CUFI's national campus coordinator.
Walker tells JNS.org that the university moved the lecture to a much smaller venue at the last minute, demanded to know the names of all off-campus individuals expected to attend, and denied the general public entry—all of which he calls evidence of "bureaucratic bullying." Some organizations partnering with CUFI on the event proceeded to withdraw their support in the aftermath of the administration's actions.
Despite the obstacles, CUFI's diversity outreach coordinator, Pastor Dumisani Washington, was permitted to speak at Columbia during the April 30 event. He began by refuting a statement issued by the Columbia Black Students Organization (BSO) in which the group condemned Aryeh, a pro-Israel student organization at Columbia, for using "the image and words" of Martin Luther King to promote Zionist views and co-opting "the black liberation struggle for the purposes of genocide and oppression."
"When I see black students saying these things I know there is a great deal of confusion," Washington says. His lecture offered a history of the civil rights movement in the U.S., demonstrating how King and his closest followers were always aligned with Israel, both spiritually and politically. By citing the shared experience of slavery as epochs uniting Jews and blacks, recalling songs about Moses, and highlighting excerpts from New Testament and Old Testament psalms that figure prominently in King's speeches,
Washington defended Christian Zionism and King's legacy as a pro-Israel voice.  
In his presentation, Washington also included a short video that illustrates BSO's "confusion." The video recalls the 1975 United Nations General Assembly resolution that declared Zionism as racism. Noting the maxim "follow the money," the video connects the dots of a complicated political strategy devised by the former Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War, the USSR sought to manipulate and intimidate poorer member states (mostly African) into passing anti-Israel resolutions. The real target of this strategy was not Israel, but rather America, the Soviets' chief rival. Since the U.S. and Israel are close allies, the Soviets reasoned, any discrediting of Israel's reputation as a humane democracy reflected negatively on the U.S., creating ideological conflicts of interest.
With CUFI's event going on planned, the pro-Israel side at Columbia University managed to have its voice and narrative heard—at least for that day. Columbia, as it turns out, sits atop a recently published list of 10 American college campuses where anti-Semitism is most rampant. The list was compiled by JewHatredOnCampus.org, an initiative launched earlier this year whose mission is to engage directly with students at institutions of higher learning where pro-Palestinian student groups are using school funding to launch aggressive anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda campaigns. The new website publishes a regular newsletter and provides a portal for reporting anti-Semitic incidents.
"Fifty-four percent of Jewish students on college campuses feel they've witnessed anti-Semitism," says well-known conservative writer David Horowitz, the founder of JewHatredOnCampus.org. "The problem is that Jews aren't fighting back."
But how should they fight back? A 2010 incident involving Horowitz sheds light on the activist's strategy of choice. In a post-lecture Q&A session hosted by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Horowitz asked a UCSD Muslim student, Jumanah Imad Albahri, to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah as genocidal terrorist organizations. Albarhi's answer shocked the audience, and the video of their heated exchange quickly went viral. 
In the video, Albarhi asks Horowitz "to explain the purported connection" between UCSD's Muslim Student Association chapter and "jihadist terrorist networks." Horowitz doesn't answer directly. Instead, he counters by pressing Albarhi to refute the documented statement by the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, expressing his desire for Jews to gather in Israel so that "it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." Albarhi appears rattled. She worries that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will label her a terrorist if she sides with Hezbollah, but denies that pro-Palestinian organizations are aligned with doctrines of hate. 
"For it or against it?" Horowitz persists, demanding an answer regarding Albarhi's opinion on Hezbollah's rhetoric. Finally, Albarhi leans toward the microphone and says decisively, "For it." (Though Albarhi later denied supporting Nasrallah's comments.)
Indeed, similar YouTube clips and social media debates reveal the intensity of student opinions regarding Israel, as well as the animosity directed at Jewish students and professors. Horowitz believes that one common Israeli public relations strategy—the spotlighting of "all the wonderful things Israel has accomplished, from medical inventions and agricultural advances to being tolerant of gays"—falls short as a proper defense of the Jewish state's policies. From his perspective, history is what provides a legitimate justification for Israel to exist under its present borders. He cites the original Palestinian Liberation Organization slogan declaring a fundamental intention to "push [the Jews] into the sea" as clear-cut evidence that Israel does not have a partner for peace. 
"You have to call it what it is," Horowitz tells JNS.org. "You cannot make peace with people who want to kill you. These are literally Nazis ... planning another Holocaust openly." 
Against the backdrop of that sense of urgency, Horowitz advocates a robust and unapologetic public relations campaign on the part of pro-Israel advocates as the only way to repair the damage done to Israel's image by its enemies. The press release that launched his JewHatredOnCampus.org initiative lists anti-Jewish acts such as "Israeli Apartheid Week" (the annual anti-Israel showcase on campuses around the world), the interruption of university activities by staging mock "checkpoints" on campus, the hosting of speakers on campus that call for the destruction of the Jewish state, and harassment and violence against Jewish and pro-Israel students.
Horowitz's efforts to counter anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric has sparked many contentious debates at the more than 400 college campus visits he says he has made. CUFI speakers are similarly accustomed to meeting fiery opposition. On the same day as the recent Columbia event, CUFI Outreach Coordinator Kasim Hafeez—a British Muslim of Pakistani origin and a jihadist-turned-Zionist—had Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) activists walk out on a speech he gave at the University of Toledo.
Horowitz concedes that the current debate over Israel on campus is a shallow shouting match to which he contributes his own propaganda. He expresses his desire for an "informed scholarly debate," but says of pro-Palestinian advocates, "I don't believe there is an honest way for them to argue their cause... [when their] side wants to annihilate the other."
For the original article, visit jns.org.
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