Confronting BDS: Israeli Christians and the State of Illinois

By Tzippe Barrow

CBN News Internet Producer - Jerusalem

Friday, July 24, 2015

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- The biblical accounts of the angel Gabriel portray him as a messenger imparting God's plans, first to the prophet Daniel and later to the priest Zechariah and his long-awaited offspring, John the Baptist.

Like his biblical namesake, Father Gabriel Nadaf, an Arabic-speaking Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth, the town where Jesus spent his childhood, has made it his life's work to help Christians better understand his homeland, the Jewish state of Israel.

The Christian Empowerment Council in Israel published a new guideline this week to help Christians respond to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

Entitled "Test the Spirits: A Christian Guide to the Anti-Israel Boycott Movement," the 12-page pamphlet, can be downloaded as a PDF file from CEC's website.

Father Nadaf serves as the organization's spiritual leader.

"As the spiritual leader of the Christian Empowerment Council here in Israel, it is my responsibility to encourage Christians around the world to think about Israel in biblical and moral ways," Father Nadaf writes in the introduction. He encourages Christians to consider their personal views toward Israel, asking that God guide them "in great wisdom."

According to its website, CEC has made headlines internationally "for its pioneering work integrating Israel's Christian community into the wider Israeli society and supporting and guiding young Christians in the IDF  [Israel Defense Forces] ."

In 2013, Father Nadaf's 17-year-old son was brutally beaten by a 21-year-old affiliated with the anti-Israel Hadash Party near his home in Nazareth. At the time, his father said their goal was "to intimidate me and my family."

In an interview earlier this year, Father Nadaf told CBN's Scott Ross, "Despite all the threats and incitement against me, I will not turn back from my way." 
 
In addition to its work in Israel, CEC also monitors Christian denominations abroad, such as the Episcopalian, Mennonite andUnited Church of Christ that have adopted BDS. 

"There is much confusion in the global church about Israel, and God is not the author of confusion," Father Nadaf writes in the introduction.

"Rather, God wants us to seek after his heart, to get wisdom and to get understanding. God does not want his church to be ignorant about such an important topic as Israel; yet, there are many in the church today sowing confusion, spreading hatred of the Jewish state," he writes.

Meanwhile in America Thursday, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner made history signing an anti-BDS law, the first state to pass such legislation.

In the press release, the governor said "We need to stand up to anti-Semitism whenever and wherever we see it."

"This historic legislation is an important first step in the fight against boycotts of Israel, and I hope other states move quickly to follow our lead," Gov. Rauner said.

Israel Recognizes 'Arameans' as Nationality

CBNNews.com

Thursday, September 18, 2014

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- In what many are applauding as an "historic decision," Israeli Interior Ministry Gideon Sa'ar approved the designation of Aramean Christians as a nationality in Israel.

Sa'ar said Arameans fulfill the criteria of a nationality, including historical heritage, religion, language and culture. He instructed Population Authority head Amnon Ben-Ami and his staff to register Arameans applying for their Israeli ID cards by their nationality.

IDF Maj. (res.) Shadi Halul called it an "historic decision and an historic change for the relations between Christians and Jews in the State of Israel," the Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported.

Halul said the decision is "proof that Israel protects its citizens and the identity of its minorities, unlike all the Arab nations around us."

Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth, also praised Sa'ar's decision, calling it "brave."

Nadaf said it paves the way for Israeli Christians from all Eastern Orthodox churches to be designated as Aramean on their identity cards.

Father Nadaf has been encouraging Israeli Christians to serve in the IDF for years, supporting the Israeli Christians Recruitment Forum, founded by Maj. Ihab Shlayan.

"[Israeli] Christians won't be held hostage, won't be ruled any longer by those who would force their ethnicity, religion, way of life on them,"Israel Hayom's Dror Eydar quoted Shlayan. 

"We won't be protected wards and hide behind the groups who control the street. We want to live in Israel and a historic wrong was righted. Congratulations to the Aramenas and here's to a fruitful life together in the Holy Land," he said.

Christians to EU: Israel is Our Safe Haven - ISRAEL TODAY

Christians to EU: Israel is Our Safe Haven

Monday, March 24, 2014 |  Ryan Jones  ISRAEL TODAY

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Some 150 Israeli Arabic-speaking Christians on Sunday demonstrated outside the European Union mission in Tel Aviv, demanding that the international community stop nitpicking against Israel and start combatting the severe persecution of Christians everywhere else in the Middle East.

“Nations, organizations and international missions are quick to raise an accusing finger against Israel at every opportunity,” said Father Gabriel Nadaf, spiritual father of the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, which organized the rally.

Those same nations and organizations “don’t life a finger against the ethnic cleansing of Christians in the Middle East,” the priest continued.

Father Nadaf went on to explain that from Syria to Egypt to Iraq to the Palestinian Authority, Christians on a daily basis suffer intimidation, harassment, desecration, coercion, torture, rape, physical abuse and murder. “According to the statistics, a Christian is murdered every five minutes [in the Middle East], and the Western world is silent about this,” he lamented.

In messages posted to its Facebook page during the Tel Aviv rally, the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum insisted that “there is no place but Israel that is safe for Christians in the Middle East!”

While the rally was largely ignored by the mainstream Western media, the Israeli press took great interest, and forum spokesman Shadi Khalloul, a veteran of the IDF, was interviewed by various television and print media outlets.

Khalloul has spoken numerous times with Israel Today regarding the Christian awakening within Israel, and the bonds of brotherhood than bind local Christians to the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

Last month, Israel’s Knesset took the first important step toward recognizing local Christians as an independent minority separate from the Arab Muslims. Both Nadaf and Khalloul say this is necessary, since local Christians were here before the Arab Muslim conquest around 600 AD.

A growing number of Israelis, including lawmakers and opinion shapers, are likewise waking up to the strong Christian minority in their midst, a minority that has been long neglected, but which is now beginning to boldly take its place alongside the Jews.

PHOTO: Young, proud Arabic-speaking Israeli Christians demonstrate in Tel Aviv

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Israel Honors Foreign and Local Christians

Thursday, January 30, 2014 |  Ryan Jones - ISRAEL TODAY

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The Israeli Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus and the World Jewish Congress on Wednesday jointly hosted the eight annual Night to Honor Israel's Christian Allies.

After various Israeli politicians and Christian leaders spoke about the shared roots and shared destiny of Christians and the Jewish people, the organizers got to the meat of the evening, the honoring of two Christians who have done much to advance Jewish-Christian relations in recent years.

One of those Christians is a known quantity. Jane Hansen Hoyt has, through her international ministry Aglow, done much not only to support Israel, but also to advance women's rights around the world.

The other honoree is an anomaly. Just over a year-and-a-half ago, a previously unknown Greek Orthodox priest from Nazareth began to publicly call on fellow Arabic-speaking Christians to join the Israeli army and fully integrate with Israel's Jewish society.

Father Gabriel Nadaf has been slandered and threatened much for his troubles, but very rapidly, the anomaly he represents has become a movement.

The nation of Israel today, thanks to the efforts of Father Nadaf and others in this movement, is very much aware of not only the Christian ally that exists out there in the world, but the one that lives right here in the Land of Israel, as well.

Nadaf told the gathering that the budding relationship between local Christians and their Jewish countrymen is "a cause of great pride for me," but noted that much more needs to be done.

"I am here to open the eyes of the community," Nadaf stated. "It is up to us to say ‘enough.’ The Christian community wants to integrate into Israeli society and opposes the stances of its leadership, which is not interested in doing so."

But the Israeli government representatives said there is also much that needs to be done on their end to fully bring local Christians into the fold.

"It is about time that we accept you as partners in everything," Member of Knesset David Rotem told Nadaf. "We [the Jews] are more your brothers than anyone in Jordan, Lebanon or Egypt."

Rotem was alluding to another campaign being led by Nadaf and his associates to have the Israeli government recognize them as a minority separate from the Arab Muslims. Many, Nadaf included, argue that local Christians are not truly Arabs, even if they do speak the language. Christians, they point out, have been in the land since long before the Arab Muslim conquest.

Shai Hermesh, a former Knesset member and current head of the Israeli branch of the World Jewish Congress, further encouraged Nadaf, insisting that "you are with us, but more importantly, we are with you [the Christians]."

Member of Knesset Gila Gamliel, who co-chairs the Christian Allies Caucus with MK Rotem, told Nadaf, "For us, you are an Israeli hero!"

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Israeli Newspaper: Must Protect Christian Arabs With Our Lives

Monday, October 07, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

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Israel’s largest daily circulation newspaper, Israel Hayom, carried in its weekend edition a moving story regarding the growing group of “Arab” Christians from northern Israel who are increasingly identifying with the Jewish state.

The newspaper was covering a conference where Greek Orthodox priest Father Gabriel Nadaf reiterated his position that “Jews and Christians are of the same covenant.”

Father Nadaf also again took issue with the term “Arab Christian,” noting that Christians were present in the land long before the Arab Muslim conquest. “We are not Arabs,” he said. “We are simply Christians who speak Arabic.”

The priest and those siding with him have faced fierce opposition even from within their own communities, and have received many death threats. Nevertheless, as Father Nadaf noted, “we have broken through the fear barrier,” and many more “Arab” Christians will now start taking a stand for Israel.

Also speaking at the conference were retired IDF officer Bashara Shlayan, who recently formed a Christian political party in Nazareth, and Shadi Haloul, who represents the Christian Maronite community in Israel. (Israel Today interviewed Haloul in our latest magazine issue - CLICK HERE to read it.)

These brave Christians have been at this now for a while, and Israel Today has covered their activities on several occasions.

What is encouraging to see is that the mainstream Israeli press is really starting to take notice and spread the word to average Israeli Jews that they have a new ally.

Israel Hayom’s conclusion was that Israelis “must embrace these courageous people. …We must help them, improve their circumstances and integrate them into our society. And, most important of all, we must guard their lives with ours.”

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