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Evangelicals who have prayed for a reunified Jerusalem and for the U.S. embassy to return to Israel's eternal capital may soon have reason to celebrate. (Reuters photo)
Stronger Pro-Israel Language Recommended for GOP Platform
Prior to the 2012 Republican National Platform, the GOP has traditionally called for a united Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, and that the U.S. government move its permanent embassy there.
During the last platform debate, Republican operatives removed the language, which is significant not only to evangelicals, but to most mainstream Americans who support Israel. Pastor Mario Bramnick, who also serves as president of the Hispanic Israel Leadership Coalition, says he's confident new, stronger pro-Israel language is about to be reinserted into the GOP platform for 2016.
"We have been working with the senior advisers on Israel with the Trump campaign," he said. "We're working to not only rectify the language, but to insert stronger language, to call for a united Jerusalem and to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to the unified Jerusalem."
Bramnick said Trump's key Israel advisers—Jason Greenblatt, a real estate attorney with the Trump Organization, and David Freeman, president of American Friends of Bet El Communities in Israel—are both Orthodox Jews. Being strong supporters of Israel themselves, he said they have been "very reassuring."
"They're absolutely with us," he added. "The vote is set for [Monday] afternoon or [Tuesday] morning, depending on the calendar. We're very encouraged the language will appear in the platform, and the Republican nominee will be strong on those issues."
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American actress and comedienne Roseanne Barr was in Israel last week to deliver a keynote address to a Jerusalem conference dealing with the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) phenomenon.
Barr said that she had become a pro-Israel advocate after being “shaken” by what she called the naked bigotry of so many liberals who claim to only be criticizing Israel, but who are in fact anti-Semitic.
“Everything I’d ever believed about the left was severely shaken, and the scales began to fall from my eyes in many ways,” said Barr. “It was shocking to realize that what I considered criticism of Israel many, many times gave way to the garden variety anti-Semitism that I’d heard all of my life.”
Barr said she was privy to a lot of such talk because for a long time fellow Hollywood elite were unaware of her own Jewish background.
She eventually came to the realization that “many of those I considered comrades were naked bigots who had absolutely no interest in peace between Israel and Palestinians Arabs at all as I did.”
And the same is true of the “social activist” movement known as BDS.
“BDS [members] do not want peace, nor do they want peace negotiations,” insisted Barr.
Like the classic anti-Semites of old, the actress accused BDS activists of seeking to “isolate and disenfranchise Jews until it will all be Jew-free.”
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Conservatives and Evangelicals, please listen!Please!
Here is what we have learned about Mr. Trump in recent days.
He is neutral on Israel. “Let me be sort of a neutral guy …. I don’t want to say whose fault it is,” declared Trump as Palestinian children are stabbing and shooting Israelis everyday and Palestinian leaders do nothing to stop them. Rubio, Cruz and Carson are extremely pro-Israel. He would approach the Israeli/Palestinian conflict like a negotiator, forgetting that one side promotes inhumane terrorist actions and the other is the only true democracy in the Middle East. Since he does not read the Bible and doesn’t have a favorite verse, he is not aware of what God said to Abraham and presumably to his offspring, “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you.” (Gen. 12:3)
He is not committed to his immigration plan. More than any other subject, it was his bold comments on dealing with illegal immigration that jump started his campaign last summer. He was recorded off-the-record saying he doesn’t plan to fully implement it. Yes, it was scummy of the NY Times to admit this (as it was off the record) but it is still true! We will see if he releases the recording or not. My money is on ‘not’.
He thinks Planned Parenthood is just dandy. “Look, Planned Parenthood has done very good work for many, many — for millions of women,” said Donald last night. Once an organization starts killing live babies (after botched abortions) in order to harvest his/her body parts to sell them for profit, they need to be shut down, no matter what ‘good’ they presumably do.
Both David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and disgusting white supremacist and Louis Farakan, a Jew-hating Islamic leader, love Trump. Duke loves him for promoting the interests of white, European Americans. And Farakan loves him because he won’t take money from the Jews. I know he can’t help it if racists support him, but I have to be concerned that they like him.
He is a lying machine. Two days after disavowing David Duke, Trump, on a Sunday News show, pretended like he didn’t know who Duke was (Even though he left the Reform Party in 2000 because of Duke’s association to it). Then he blamed his stumble on a faulty earpiece, that seemed to work perfectly during the interview as he heard clearly and answered every question. He lies all the time about what he has said in the past. He claims he never said Senator McCain was not a war hero, and yet, I heard him say it loud and clear. He denies, comes up with a plausible reply and then moves on quickly before he can be challenged on his faulty explanation.
At the end of the day, we have no idea what Trump will do as president because he has been all over the place on every issue. He is smart, and he pivoted to right to tap into the anger of voters who were tired of seven years of hope, change and disaster. But this is not a principled man—by his own admission.
As a businessman, he made it clear that he would take whatever position or support whatever politician necessary to advance his business objectives.
“Before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them. They are there for me.”
Friends, how can you assume that this is not what he is doing now? His goal is to be president, and he will say whatever he needs to say in order to get elected. That is who he has been all his life.
He cheated on his first wife with his second wife. He divorced her and married his third wife. He has children with all three women. The issue is not whether or not we all make mistakes or have faults—we do—the issue is a life long pattern of lying, cheating and abusive behavior in order to get what he wants. The only question is will his next victim be you?
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. (Courtesy of Christians United for 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 howshould 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 tellsJNS.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."
A number of openly pro-Israel Republican candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring of the upcoming US presidential election. But they are largely unknown in the Jewish state. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is well known and widely admired, so her announcement elicited a much stronger Israeli response.
Most reflecting the mainstream media response was Israel’s Yediot Ahronot newspaper, which ran a cover story on Hillary, complete with a two-page photographic look at her life and rise to power. Similarly congratulatory articles appeared on the Walla! news portal, the website of Channel 2 News, and other outlets.
“When Hillary Clinton decided to run [for president], she took yet another step toward” realizing the feminist agenda, gushed Israeli lawmaker Merav Michaeli (Labor) in an op-ed published by the left-leaningHa’aretz.
Michaeli urged readers to hold fast to the “hope that no one will arise to stop Hillary Clinton… [who] is not just any female candidate, but the first woman to bring global attention to the notion that ‘women’s rights are human rights.’”
At the same time, the right-wing nature of the Israeli public was apparent in the comments to many of these articles, with most respondents fearful that Clinton would be even worse for Israel than President Barack Obama.
The ultra-Orthodox news portal Behadrey Haredim noted that Clinton’s campaign management had already leaked that she intends to embrace, rather than distance herself from Obama and his policies. If that extends to Obama’s policies vis-a-vis Israel, Iran and the rest of the Middle East, Clinton might soon earn a new, more negative reputation in this region.
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“I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.” (Psalm 41:11)
For the first time in eight years, Republican lawmakers control both houses of Congress in a major blow to the Obama administration. (Photo: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
As Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday in the midterm elections, many supporters of Israel wondered what the outcome of the elections would mean for the Jewish state.
The results are in and it looks like Israel has gained a major foothold when it comes to bolstering support for Israel among American lawmakers.
For the first time in eight years, Republicans are in control of the US Congress. Republicans won control of the US Senate and increased their majority in the House of Representatives.
Republicans picked up seven seats in the Senate, giving them 52 out of a total 100 seats. In the House, several high-profile races ended in Republican victory, including Florida and Wisconsin. The usually Democratic-leaning states of Maryland, Illinois and Massachusetts turned from blue to red.
The results are a major blow to the Democrats, especially US President Barack Obama. Obama now faces an uphill battle during the remaining two years of his presidency with a Congress that is now controlled by a party that firmly and vocally opposes his policies.
The American people have spoken and they are not happy.
Elie Pieprz, the Director of External Affairs for the Yesha Council and a former DC lobbyist, explained to Breaking Israel News that the election results were a bit surprising and created a “much bigger wave than expected” among Republican support.
“The election results are consequential for Israel, especially since Netanyahu is trying to bypass the White House,” Pieprz said.
“The Democrats are trying to differentiate themselves from Obama, who has been radioactive to Israel and the Democratic Party as a whole,” Pieprz said, referring to the rising tensions between the Obama administration and Netanyahu.
In light of the results, Pieprz explained that Obama can either gracefully bow to the needs of the American people or work with Congress, or he can do the opposite. Democrats now have the task of redefining themselves outside of the Obama narrative.
“Many Democrats have seen the mistakes of the Obama administration. In the 2016 presidential election, we will see many Democrat and Republican candidates who will want to restart the relationship with Israel,” he said.
“Many Democrats will say they have a different approach to Israel than Obama. The toxicity of communication between the two administrations is something the Democrats don’t want to replicate again.”
While Obama has hit some pretty intense lows when it comes to foreign policy, Pieprz said that when it comes to Israel, the president has been very “successful in pressuring and pushing Israel.” However, with Congress in the hands of the Republicans, the threats imposed on Israel by the Obama administration will be that much tougher to see through.
“When it comes to Israel, the Senate has more responsibility and authority in regards to foreign affairs,” Pieprz explained. “Now we have a number of Republican senators who are fairly strong in foreign policy and very pro-Israel.”
One such senator is Tom Cotton (R-AK), a Gulf War veteran who is “very strong in international affairs.”
In the House, Representatives such as Lee Zelden (R-NY), the only Jewish Republican in Congress who “campaigned with a strong religious perspective on Israel; Carlos Cordello (R-FL), “a very solid advocate on behalf of Israel”; Alex Mooney (R-WV), who has been to Israel a number of times, worked in Christian political movements and is a “strong asset in the House”; and Mia Love (R-UT), the first African-American female Republican who uses her Mormon religious beliefs to “govern her positions and Israel is certainly one of them,” will be fresh faces and vocal allies of the Jewish State.
“To have these kinds of personalities in Congress is very consequential for Israel,” Pieprz stated.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/23852/obummer-pro-israel-republicans-take-congress/#BlccycHv7uJt5tEI.99
Small government, free markets, and traditional values.
They say that difficult times bring out the best in people. That appears to be true among some of the Hollywood elite during this most recent period of bloody conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and the radical Islamic terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Now comes news from ynetnews of a generous gift from reality television producer and star Simon Cowell. Cowell, a pop culture figure best known for mocking contestants of questionable talent on television programs of questionable value likeAmerican Idol and Britain’s Got Talent, reportedly gave over $150,000 to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces at a fundraiser.
The left, of course, is going ballistic in its usual classy way. Cowell’s Twitter account has been flooded with anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian comments, as if what Cowell does with his money is anyone’s business but his.
Comments claiming that Cowell now has “blood on his hands” for supporting Israel, or that he gave the impressive sum “to the IDF to impress his Jewish girlfriend” are typical of the tweets he has received.
Cowell himself is Christian, although one of his grandparents was Jewish, according to the report. This is apparently enough for one terrorist supporter to accuse Cowell of following his “masters in Tel Aviv.”
Cowell joins the ranks of a surprising number of Hollywood celebrities–including Scarlett Johansson, Jay Leno, and even Robert De Niro–in expressing support for Israel in the face of leftist criticism.
Perhaps Cowell should create a new program on which he brings his trademark scalding commentary to bear on the ridiculously biased coverage of the Gaza conflict–and, for that matter, basically any other important issue making headlines today.
We’d tune in for that.
Please share this article on Facebook and Twitter if you support Simon Cowell’s generous donation to the Israeli people and his right to give to whatever causes and organizations he chooses.
When you have a conversation with someone about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians it seems as though you have to draw a hard line in the sand: You either stand on Israel’s side or you stand with the Palestinians. As I’ve spent the past 10 years studying the history of the modern State of Israel I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a Christian who is pro-Israel and not anti-Palestinian.
You may think that being pro-Israel and not anti-Palestinian is an oxymoron. How is it possible to not draw a line on this serious issue in the Middle East? Here are some reasons:
Why I’m Not Anti-Palestinian
It’s assumed if you are a friend of Israel you must hate the Palestinians. I am not an enemy of the Palestinians for two reasons. First, I am a human being and even more importantly––a Christian! I sympathize with those Palestinians suffering under corrupt leadership in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. Most Palestinians are manipulated and marginalized, not by Israel (which is how it’s portrayed), but by their leaders, surrounding Arab countries, countries that provide them financial assistance, and the United Nations (UNRWA). They have come to rely on the lies spoken to them day after day from the leadership of the Palestinian people and surrounding Arab countries that one day they will return to their homes in Israel, erasing the Jewish State.
Did you know that there are more than 425,000 Palestinians still living in refugee camps in Lebanon? The Lebanese government denies them citizenship, basic rights, health, and educational services; it’s been this way since 1948. The billions of dollars provided by countries for the benefit of the Palestinians living throughout the Middle East are often siphoned straight to the Palestinian leadership. Recently, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) revealed that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank cannot account for more than $2.5 billion dollars given to them between 2008 - 2012 by the European Union for the betterment of the Palestinian people.
More than 71 percent of Palestinians believe their own government, the Palestinian Authority, is full of corruption and extreme mismanagement. In fact, as the U.S. ramps up peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, many Arab members of the Knesset (Israeli government) are turning their backs on peace after hearing that their home towns would be moved from Israeli control to Palestinian control. More than 70 percent of Israeli Arabs who live in the West Bank oppose their towns being transferred to Palestinian authority.
Recently, the Assad government in Syria has refused to allow the humanitarian aid sent to the Palestinians by other countries. Essentially, Assad is starving the Palestinian refugees to death.
It’s a travesty that many of the Palestinian people who live within the Middle East find themselves stateless, poor, uneducated, and trapped. No human who is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) should have to live in this manner and they deserve better.
When you have a conversation with someone about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians it seems as though you have to draw a hard line in the sand: You either stand on Israel’s side or you stand with the Palestinians. As I’ve spent the past 10 years studying the history of the modern State of Israel I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a Christian who is pro-Israel and not anti-Palestinian.
You may think that being pro-Israel and not anti-Palestinian is an oxymoron. How is it possible to not draw a line on this serious issue in the Middle East? Here are some reasons:
Last week I showed you why I'm NOT anti-Palestinian, if you didn't get a chance to read my previous post you can see it here. In this weeks post I'll show you why I'm pro-Israel.
Why I’m Pro-Israel I am pro-Israel for two reasons. First, because the Scriptures tell us that God made an irrevocable promise to the Jewish people way back in Genesis 12, 15, etc.; an eternal covenant that promises the whole land of Israel, including the West Bank (Judea-Samaria).
I am also pro-Israel on political grounds. According to international law, they have a right to exist within the borders of the disputed territory (West Bank), but I’ll need to discuss that in another post.
While many people are busy blaming Israel for the status of the Palestinian people, they are unaware of the money, time, and energy Israel invests to sustain the Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Syria, and Jordan. When you add up the resources given to the Palestinians by Israel they easily outweigh those of their own people in neighboring countries.
Israel has provided citizenship to Arabs living in Israel proper and citizenship to Palestinians living in East Jerusalem as well as other areas of the West Bank, which affords them freedom of speech, freedom to worship, Israeli health care, Israeli pensions, and a thriving economy in which to do business. Much better than those living in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, or Jordan.
I am pro-Israel because I believe the Israeli government and its citizens have not only the well-being of Israelis in mind, but also the Palestinians. A recent poll shows that more than 60 percent of Israeli citizens wish to see a two-state solution accomplished, allowing the Palestinian people to create a their own sovereign state. Whether or not you agree with a two-state solution, it demonstrates that there is a large group of Israeli citizens that want the best for their Palestinian neighbors.
So can someone be pro-Israel and NOT anti-Palestinian? I think so. Why do we keep drawing a line in the sand when we could hold to our deep biblical and political convictions while still remaining compassionate for those in desperate need. The Lord Jesus never wavered in His convictions (Matthew 5:18) and He reached out in compassion to those on the fringe to show them the love of the Father.
