End-Times Archives - Page 4 of 19 - The New Antisemitism

September 2, 2022 By Olivier Melnick 2 Comments

You say “ZIONISM” like it’s a bad word!

For most people, Zionism is either a word they can hardly explain or has become akin to a cuss word, but what is Zionism? In light of the recent 2022 125th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress, it is essential to understand the term and its implications. Depending on our understanding of the term Zionism, our understanding of Israel’s right to exist will vary. We can look at the definition from the Jewish Virtual Library for Zionism as: “The national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. ” Yet, even with a definition, we must go back in history to track the progress made by Jewish people that lead to the birth of Zionism.

In the late 1700s, there was a movement in Europe known as the Haskalah (enlightenment) which ended in the 1880s. Its leaders promoted a movement based on liberalism and freedom of choice in the hope of seeing the beginning of the emancipation of European Jews as well as their equality wherever they lived…It failed! Then in the late 1800s, came the pogroms (government-sponsored riots) against Eastern European Jews. Leo Pinsker, one of the leaders of the haskalah, got very discouraged. In his 1882 book “Auto-Emancipation” he wrote, “Indeed, what a pitiful figure we cut! We are not counted among the nations, neither have we a voice in their councils, even when the affairs concern us. Our fatherland–the other man’s country; our unity-dispersion; our solidarity – the battle against us; our weapon – humility; our defense – flight; our individuality – adaptability; our future – the next day. What a miserable role for a nation which descends from the Maccabees! … Happily, matters stand somewhat differently now. The events of the last few years in enlightened Germany, in Romania, in Hungary, and especially in Russia have effected what the far bloodiest persecutions of the Middle Ages could not. The national consciousness which until then had lain dormant in sterile martyrdom awoke the masses of the Russian and Romanian Jews and took form in an irresistible movement toward Palestine.”

Within 15 years came the Dreyfus Affair of 1894. French Captain Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of treason, stripped of his rank, was imprisoned on Devil’s Island, but eventually vindicated and reinstated. The Jewish journalist from Austria, Theodor Herzl covered the trial in Paris and became rapidly convinced that Dreyfus had been framed and that Jews had no future in Europe. Two years later he published “Der Judenstaadt” (The Jewish State) in which he wrote, “The idea I have developed in this pamphlet is an ancient one: It is the restoration of the Jewish State. . . The decisive factor is our propelling force. And what is that force? The plight of the Jews. . . I am profoundly convinced that I am right, though I doubt whether I shall live to see myself proved so. Those who today inaugurate this movement are unlikely to live to see its glorious culmination. But the very inauguration is enough to inspire in them a high pride and the joy of an inner liberation of their existence.”

In 1897, the First Jewish Congress was convened in Basel, Switzerland. Theodore Herzl expressed something that some have called prophetic. He said, “At Basel, I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, certainly in fifty, everyone will know it.” Fifty years after the First Zionist Congress was November 29, 1947, when the UN General Assembly voted in favor of partitioning Palestine, putting in motion the re-birth of the modern state of Israel that took place on May 14, 1948. In the decade following Herzl’s death, the Zionist influx continued in the Holy Land, and about 100,000 pioneers lived there. Times were hard, workdays were long, and poverty was rampant, but the spirit of hope kept Zionism alive. On the eve of World War One, Zionism had become a reality, a fragile one, but a reality, nonetheless.

Then, in 1917, the Balfour declaration was another milestone in the process of the re-birth of Israel, followed by one of the best-kept secrets in the history of the Jewish people, the San Remo Conference of 1920, when a legal precedent was made and the rights to Palestine were given to the Jewish people. It also gave the rights to the rest of the Middle East to the Arabs. It established an international legal precedent that superseded any later declaration, even the United Nations didn’t have the right to change it in 1947 had they wanted to. Eventually, on May 14, 1948, Israel was reborn as a modern nation. Even with all this, there is a growing faction of people seeing Zionism as colonialism which according to the dictionary is, “domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation: the practice of extending and maintaining a nation’s political and economic control over another people or area.” There are several reasons why Zionism is not colonialism or occupation historically speaking:

• The Land of Palestine is the land of Israel with a different name: It is time for people to accept the fact that the word Palestine was simply a name change forced on Israel by Roman emperor Hadrian to further humiliate them after the failed Bar Kochba revolt of A.D. 135. IT IS NOT STOLEN LAND! The stamps, coins, newspapers, passports and other things that said “Palestine” prior to 1948 all had the initials of the two Hebrew words “Eretz” (land) and “Yisrael” (Israel) stamped on them. Nobody argued about Palestine being another name for the geographical area of Israel until Yasir Arafat came onto the political scene and created displaced people with stolen land. Please people, do your homework!

• Israel is not committing ethnic cleansing: Ethnic cleansing or genocide is intentional organized mass murder to eradicate a people group. The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust qualify as ethnic cleansing. In 1947 there were about 1.2 MM Arabs in British Mandate Palestine. Today, there are more than 6 MM Arabs in the whole land, including about 2 MM in Israel alone. There are more Arabs in Israel today than before 1947. This is the opposite of ethnic cleansing. On the other hand, there are still fewer Jewish people in 2022 than there were prior to the Holocaust.

• Israel is not an apartheid state: Apartheid was South Africa’s way of keeping blacks and whites separated, and as such, it forbade blacks to eat in white restaurants or cafes, attend white schools or universities, be treated in white hospitals, live in white neighborhoods and serve in the white government. Israeli Arabs are full citizens who do not experience any of the restrictions that were known to South Africa. The only difference is with citizens of Gaza and the West Bank, but THEY do not want to be Israeli citizens.

There are also several reasons why Zionism is not colonialism or occupation biblically speaking:
• The land ultimately belongs to God: “The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. (LEVITICUS 25:23)

• God gave the land to the Jewish people with very specific boundaries not to be abused: “You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, and command the people, saying, “You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.” (Deuteronomy 2:3-5; 16-19).

• God Covenanted with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the land: “Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:18-21; 26:2-4; 28:13)

• God told Israel to conquer the land: “Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. “Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 9:3-5)

Under Zionism, Arabs who live in Israel are treated equally and with respect, so to be a Zionist doesn’t require being anti-Palestinian, or anti-Arab to be more precise since the Palestinian people are all Arabs dressed in a false “Palestinian” cloak of oppressed victims. Israel welcomes Arabs in all sectors of society, from public servants to doctors to Knesset members. Why won’t Palestinians do likewise? Zionism is not a dirty word; it is the essence of Jewish resilience in light of centuries of persecution. As for me, I would rather be on God’s side and since God was the first Zionist, so will I be, so pick your side and accept the consequences!

July 28, 2022 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Satan’s Creativity: Antisemites Come in Different Shapes, Sizes and Colors! – Part 2

A few weeks ago, I started a list of all the different types of antisemites. I want to continue that list in part two of this article. Remember that antisemitism cannot be fully understood without the spiritual component that allowed it to persist through the centuries. It is a creation of Satan to eradicate Israel and all Jewish people. Satan is as creative as he is hateful. He has managed to summon Jew hatred from so many people around the world and over the ages.

It really helps to identify all the different types of antisemites that one can run into. Some of them might be harder to identify because of how devious Satan is at disguising the hatred and making it look like social justice. In a day and age when social justice is so attractive, many people will jump on the antisemitism bandwagon, thinking they are doing a great deed.

So, who are these various antisemites? Let us continue our list with a few more in no particular order, keeping in mind that some of the various characteristics might intersect and some people can display several of them all at once. Additionally, the list will keep growing because of Satan’s creative hatred and continued subcontracting of it to many people.

The Boycott antisemite: The Boycott of Israel and Israeli goods and personalities was revived in 2005 by Mahmoud Abbas and Omar Barghouti who repurposed the South African apartheid definition to fit the Palestinian narrative. Fighting real apartheid with a boycott made sense and the concept of a boycott isn’t bad in and of itself, but the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement is built on an entirely false premise.

People around the globe have bought into BDS and are promoting it blindly without checking the facts. The boycott antisemite will almost always claim that he/she is anti-Israel or anti-Zionist but not antisemitic. This is another case of trying to hide Jew-hatred under a thin veneer of social justice.

The Neo-Nazi antisemite: The Nazi regime left a scar that will never disappear. So much so, that after WWII, most people believed that the new Jewish motto “NEVER AGAIN” really meant something. To this day, it is very unpopular to join the ranks of any Neo-Nazi group. They only exist on the fringe and do not constitute a very serious threat. This being said, they can still be found in several countries of Europe. They espouse a new brand of Hitlerian ideology and adhere to all the antisemitic tropes and blood libels in the book.

The Coward antisemite: For the better part of 2022, various antisemitic flyers have been found in multiple US states in residential neighborhoods. The flyers accuse the Jewish people of various ills such as controlling the world, the banks, Hollywood and even the Coronavirus. Even though the flyers seem to all be connected to the same internet site known as Goyimtv.tv, there is a certain amount of cowardice in the way they are placed on private residential properties at night.

The Leftist antisemite: In recent years, antisemitism has been heavily promoted by the left. While it is important to recognize that antisemitism currently comes from the left, the right and just about all other political and ideological factions out there, the left is particularly active in denigrating Israel. What is so ludicrous is that the liberal left–for which many Jews vote to this day–is promoting an anti-Israel agenda and a pro-Palestinian narrative.

Even Radical Islam and the liberal left agree on the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, when ideologically they agree on nothing else, being on two opposite side of the spectrum. Yet, we all know the adage “The enemy of my enemy is my friend!”

The Social Media antisemite: The advent of the Internet changed the way we communicate and consume information and data forever. There is nothing that cannot be shared almost instantly and globally. This too is an aspect of our civilization that is neutral in and of itself but again, fallen into the wrong hands; the Internet is can become a vile and even lethal weapon.

Beyond the Internet is the web of social media networks. These networks have been overwhelmingly used by Jew-haters. Sadly, when many people get penalized for speaking the truth and being perceived as divisive and racist, antisemites the world around seem to have an open platform with almost no censorship.

The Jewish antisemite: While “Jewish Antisemitism” should be an oxymoron, it does exist. It exists on an individual level with liberal Jews who boldly promote Holocaust denial and Israeli colonization and occupation of Palestine. There are also Jewish Religious groups like Neturei Karta meaning “Guardians of the City” who have opposed Zionism since the late 1890s. They even had a conference in Iran. Groups such as The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, while being fringe groups, still play a role in the denigration of Israel and the Jewish people. Their voice helps to embolden the more aggressive antisemites of the world.

The Isolated antisemite: Probably the most puzzling antisemite of them all is the isolated antisemite. It is the person who hates Jews openly and yet has never met one in their life. All the other racists base their dislikes of a particular people group or ethnic community on experience and interaction–not that it would ever justify such feelings. For the isolated antisemite, indoctrination against the Jews based on more than 2,000 years of libels and lies is all they need. How one can say they hate someone without having ever met them shows the irrationality of antisemitism.

So, what do all these types of people have in common in spite of their various approaches to the subject of antisemitism?

They are all ignoring facts to come to their conclusions.
• They are promoting lies knowingly.
• They do not accept correction easily if at all.
• They are willing to join arms with enemies for the sake of their common agenda.
• They are believing the most irrational stories.

From a biblical perspective, it is rather obvious that they have chosen their side. They take the side of the enemy of God, Satan, who hates what God loves and loves what God hates. I am not implying that antisemites are all demon-possessed (although some might be), but I am saying that they are allowing Satan to influence them. He is the only being crafty enough to make the irrational look and sound rational. He knows that Israel is the key player in the Second Coming of the Messiah, which also spells his final demise, so he has done everything to stop that or at least postpone it.

“Antisemitism is the irrational and satanic hatred of the Jewish people and Israel characterized by thoughts, words or deeds against them.” There is no room for Christians or people of goodwill in that definition. Period!

July 21, 2022 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

Could The 1942 “Vel d’Hiv” Round-up of Jews Happen Again?

Eighty years ago, a massive round-up of Jews took place in the Greater Paris area. It became known as “La rafle du Vel d’Hiv” or the “Vel d’Hiv Round-up.” The Vel d’Hiv or “Velodrome d’hiver” was a winter stadium built for bicycle races near the Eiffel Tower. It was a highly frequented place for sports fans and could hold a large crowd. In 1942, the stadium became the site of World War II’s most extensive round-up of Jews from France. The French police worked very closely with the Nazi regime, and in two days, July 16 and 17, over 13,000 Jews were taken to the stadium, including 4,000 children. They were packed in and kept in minimally sanitary conditions. Soon after, the French police sent the people to one of three internment camps in France in Pithiviers, Beaune-La-Rolande and Drancy. The next step occurred in late July and early August when most prisoners were sent to Auschwitz. Of the 4,000 children, only six came back, and only 811 adults returned after the war. My maternal grandfather was put on a train out of Paris to Auschwitz on July 19, 1942, only two days after the infamous round-up. All seems to indicate that he was part of the round-up.

Outside of the terrible collaboration between the Vichy government and the Nazi regime, the Vel d’Hiv round-up left a scar on France that has been haunting people, although not much has been said or done to date to maintain the memory of the event. The building was burned to the ground in a fire in 1959. Soon after, a small plaque was attached to a wall near where it stood. It was not until 2008 that another more detailed plaque was placed to remember the victims, thank those who might have helped some of them at such a difficult and dangerous time and encourage people passing by to remember the past. The plaque says:” On July 16 and 17 1942, 13152 Jews were arrested in Paris and its suburbs and then deported and assassinated in Auschwitz. In the Winter Stadium that once stood here, 4115 children, 2916 women and 1129 men were packed in inhuman conditions by the Vichy government police obeying orders from the Nazi occupiers. Let us be grateful to those who tried to help the victims. As you are passing by, please remember!” The discrepancy in the final numbers of victims is due to the fact that a final count brought the revised number of victims to over 13,000. The Vichy Government had promised 22,000 Jews out of France to the Nazi regime and came short at the round-up, but by the war’s end, 88,000 French Jews had perished.

Eighty years later, could such a thing happen again anywhere in the world? In his book, Every Day Remembrance Day: A Chronicle of Jewish Martyrdom, the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal listed six major causes that could lead to another Jewish catastrophe. A close look and analysis might surprise you as to how close we are.

1. Hatred (prejudice, racism, xenophobia or antisemitism).
There has not been a time in our recent history when hatred was so strong. We live at a time of extreme polarization between the political left and right, between conservatives and liberals, and between blacks and whites. Somehow, just as it was during the Maccabean period when the Seleucids fought the Ptolemies, and the Jews got caught in the proverbial crossfire, modern-day Jewish people end up in the crossfire between the polarized factions. Fair and polite dialogue including disagreements doesn’t seem possible anymore in 2022. Add to this the fact that we are in what appears to be the 59th minute of the 11th hour on the end-times timetable.

2. A dictatorship or totalitarian regime.
Throughout its history, the world has seen a number of dictators like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein to name just a few. The dictionary defines a dictator as, “a person exercising absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession.” The idea is that one person or a few elite members of a group control the masses. It could be argued that the World Economic Forum (WEF) operates with dictatorial tendencies. Biblically speaking, we know that there is a new world order coming that will include the antichrist (1 John 2:18-22; Revelation 13) as the ultimate global dictator. Even in the United States, as we are seeing the rapid erosion of free speech, freedom of religion and Judeo/Christian ethics, we could see a totalitarian regime on the horizon if things don’t pivot back to a more balanced political landscape.

3. A bureaucracy.
When we speak of bureaucracy, people often think of large offices with a myriad of paper-pushers and a hierarchical system of filing, retrieving and processing. There is truth to that at the core of the definition, but what is meant here is more about those who carry out the order of the regime, often almost blindly and “for the greater good”, whatever that means! We have witnessed some of that recently when the world came to a stop and the masses were funneled into doing the same thing, like sheep, hoping for the best results.

4. Technology.
Technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 50 years. Personally, I have always considered myself somewhat of a technology aficionado. I love all the different things we get to perform better and faster, not to mention the new things we have at our fingertips that several decades ago would have been considered pure sci-fi. Technology will continue to be developed and grow exponentially. The problem is not with the technology, but rather on how it is used and by whom. We have seen too often when technology falls into the wrong hands, disaster follows. Take for instance the use of the Hollerith tabulating machines (IBM) by Nazis in the camps to catalog and process Jews faster towards total elimination. This was most definitely a case of great new technology landing in the wrong hands.

5. A crisis that becomes an opportunity to blame people.
The world we live in is never going to be without crisis, simply because it is an imperfect world. It has been that way since the fall of man in Genesis 3. Crises can be economic, political, natural or medical to name just a few categories. Gas shortages, food shortages, extreme weather, immigration, diseases, inflation, recession and political uncertainty are all crises that we have seen recently. Globally, we can even look at all these and see how they have converged to a point where our planet appears to have become so fragile. Many of these crises are great opportunities to blame people and further control them.

6. A scapegoat people such as a minority to demonize.
Now if the world could pinpoint a people group, point the finger at them and have them carry the responsibility, that would be the perfect storm. But wait, the world HAS found its scapegoat, and not just recently, but for the last several millennia. We, the Jews, are constantly held responsible for the ills of the world. We have been accused of the black plague, using the blood of Christians to make Matzoh, killing Jesus, controlling Hollywood, controlling the world, inventing diseases and inventing their cures to make money. When it comes to faulting the Jews, much of the world has never let a crisis go to waste.

So, when I look at the events of the Vel d’Hiv that took place eighty years ago; and when I see how over two days, 13,000 Jews were collected in the greater Paris area and packed in a single location with the help of French police bureaucracy under the Nazi totalitarian regime without much fight from the Jews and with almost no help from the French populace, I have no doubt that everything is currently in place for another catastrophe to take place. This time it will include the Jews–it always has in the past–but people need to wake up because more of us are at risk today. There is a slew of ready-made “immigration camps” all over the USA and the world. They are ideal for a repeat of the Vel d’Hiv scenario. Please, do not believe that humanity has learned from the mistakes of the past. Yet, as individuals, we always have an opportunity to make a difference and fight tyranny.

People of goodwill, Christians and Jews are now becoming prime targets. The reason why I need to bring your attention to the Jewish people is that for a very long time now, we have been the canaries in the coal mine of civilization. What happens to us is often a precursor of what can or will happen to you. When you see the world going after us, don’t look the other way or you might miss those who are coming after you next!

July 18, 2022 By Olivier Melnick 6 Comments

Satan’s Creativity: Antisemites Come in Different Shapes, Sizes and Colors! – Part 1

As early as the first Jews were described in the Bible, antisemitism was a thing. And thousands of years later, it continues to be a thing. What could possibly fuel so much hatred against the same people group for such a long time? It is fair and accurate to say that Jewish history has been and continues to be punctuated by acts of antisemitism. Most scholars who write and teach on antisemitism through the ages are somewhat puzzled at its pernicious persistence. I believe that it is due to the fact that they do not take into account the spiritual aspect of the oldest hatred. The moment God expressed interest in the Jewish people and shared His plan for Israel and her people, His archenemy, Satan, started to work towards eliminating the chosen people.

Antisemitism cannot be fully understood without the spiritual component that allowed it to persist through the centuries. It is a creation of Satan to eradicate Israel and all Jewish people. He tried to kill the “Seed of the Woman” (Messiah) in Genesis 3:15, and then corrupt the lineage of the Jewish Messiah in Genesis 6:1-5. He turned the Amalekites against the Jews in the wilderness in Deuteronomy 25:17-19. We cannot forget his attempt at completely annihilating the Jews through Haman in the book of Esther.

Yet, Satan didn’t stop there. He continued to turn the world against the Jews, and when Yeshua of Nazareth–the Jewish Messiah–gave His life on that cross for all of us two millennia ago, it didn’t take long for people to accuse the Jews of deicide (the killing of God). Incidentally, it took the Roman Catholic Church and Pope Paul VI, over 1900 years to officially declare in 1965 in Nostra Aetate, that the Jews were no longer guilty of killing Christ. This hasn’t really stopped some modern Catholics from hating Jews to this day.

Satan is as creative as he is hateful. He has managed to summon Jew hatred from so many people around the world and over the ages. It really helps to identify all the different types of antisemites that one can run into. Some of them might be harder to identify because of how devious Satan is at disguising the hatred and making it look like social justice. In a day and age when social justice is so attractive, many people will jump on the antisemitism bandwagon, thinking that they are doing a great deed. So, who are these various antisemites? Let us list a few in no particular order, keeping in mind that some of these various characteristics might intersect and some people can display several of them all at once. Additionally, the list will keep growing because of Satan’s creative hatred and continued subcontracting of it to many people. I will let you discover where some of these people fit within that list.

The Historical antisemite: Deep in the soil of Europe grows the kind of hatred based on the multiple libels and tropes that have cursed Jewish communities from post-biblical days, through the Middle Ages and the Reformation. This is the antisemite who believes that Jews use Christian blood to make matzah for Passover and that Jews poisoned the wells of Europe to cause the great plague that killed over 50 million people in Europe from 1346 to 1353. This is a brand of antisemitism that is in the DNA of many Europeans.

The Muslim antisemite: Islam (early 7th Century) is much younger than Judaism and Christianity. For the last 13 centuries, Islam has developed into one of the three top world religions. For reasons beyond the scope of this article, parts of Islam have become radicalized, and an intense polarization now exists between our Judeo/Christian community and Islam. Jews have become a prime target of Islam and are often targeted as archenemies worthy of death. The Arab/Israeli conflict of the last century certainly doesn’t help the issue. Children are often indoctrinated against Jews and Israel at a very young age.

The College antisemite: For a couple of decades now, antisemitism has been present on college and university campuses. Unfortunately, due to extreme beliefs taught on campuses across the United States, Jews are targeted as enemies. “Campus Intifada” and “Hate Fests” are held on numerous campuses where most of the speakers are solely antisemitic. Gullible students who don’t communicate with others outside those circles end up believing Israel and the Jewish People are the “great Satan”! When Jewish and pro-Israel or pro-Zionist students try and organize themselves, they almost always get disrupted and shouted out of having a voice.|

The Joking antisemite: Everybody loves a good joke, right? Well, we should be careful not to make ethnic jokes, and most people do pay attention to that warning. Yet, there seems to be a disconnect when it comes to jokes involving Jewish people. People regularly joke about Jewish people being stingy, liking money and good deals, thinking it is funny when it really is very offensive. Most Jewish people will shrug their shoulders and appear to be brushing it off, but it is hurtful. The Joking antisemite thinks he/she is funny, but they are not.

The Christian antisemite: How can one be a Christian and hate the Jewish people? Wasn’t Jesus a Jew? Of course, He was! Unfortunately, starting within one century after the closing of the biblical canon, many Church Fathers started to develop an allegorical approach to the Bible that led them and their disciples to believe that the Christians had replaced the Jews in God’s plan, promises and covenants. This is known today as Replacement Theology and is absolutely not biblical. The Christian antisemite thinks he/she is keeping with the Bible’s instruction by replacing the Jews, but they are actually making God a liar and a covenant breaker. Additionally, another group of Christians teaches that Jewish people do not need Jesus or the Gospel to be saved because they are already accepted by God by virtue of being Jewish. This is known as Dual Covenant theology and is also not biblical. Actually, to love Jewish people, but refrain from sharing the gospel with them, is a form of soft antisemitism.

The Political antisemite: The political arena is not exempt from the poison of antisemitism. Various states have elected representatives who claim not to be antisemitic, but only anti-Zionists. These representatives have infiltrated Congress and are fighting hard to give Israel and the Jewish people a bad rep. They claim that Israel is an occupier, colonizer and human rights violator while completely ignoring terrorist attacks against Israel and the Jewish people. The political antisemites lobby against Israel and slowly recruit more of their acolytes who will grow their ranks and help pass more resolutions against Israel.

The United Nations antisemite: When it comes to resolutions, we cannot ignore the many antisemites filling the ranks at the UN. Fourteen resolutions were passed against Israel (population 9.5 MM) in 2021, while five were passed against the rest of the world (population 7.9B), which shows the vast imbalance. Israel represents only .012% of the world population. There was three times more resolution against a country the size of New Jersey than against the whole world. This happened during the 76th session of the UN General Assembly for 2021-2022. UN antisemitism comes from various countries, many of them from the Middle East, but not exclusively. Israel’s demonization at the UN makes one wonder what they are really “United” about?

The Theological antisemite: At a recent Christian conference that is known for supporting Israel, I walked into a hallway and overheard a man conversing with a fellow Jewish believer in Yeshua. I was shocked when the man dogmatically claimed that “the Jews killed Christ!” I had to stop and ask him what he meant after I told him that both of his interlocutors were Jewish. His response was even worse. He told me, “I was only speaking theologically!” How can one spew that kind of nonsensical hatred and claim that it was just a theological statement? You cannot cover antisemitism with a veneer of theology. I asked the man if Hitler killed six million theologically as well. He had no comments.

A few more types of antisemites need to be listed and exposed, but for now, we need to pause and reflect on the first eight of our list. You probably know someone who fits the bill or even more than one type within the same person. People can be corrected once we know that they need correction. We have to do our part firmly and in love. In part II, I will list nine more types and we will look at what they all have in common and how we can start to redirect their biased and xenophobic mentalities toward the truth about Israel and the Jewish people.

July 5, 2022 By Olivier Melnick 5 Comments

Is PC-USA Burning the Judeo-Christian Bridge Further?

When we look at the relations between Jews and Christians in the last 2,000 years it is not very difficult to see that the bridge between the two has been progressively burned. Whenever a yard of it was rebuilt, two yards were further destroyed. When Jewish people are approached by Christians, the Christians are almost always unaware of the baggage they bring into the conversation. My people’s history has been punctuated by acts of hatred, xenophobia and demonization, too often by people who claimed Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The Christian baggage is filled with events such as the Crusades, the Blood Libel, the Inquisition, the Pogroms, Martin Luther and the Holocaust. It should not surprise believers in Yeshua (Jesus), that Jewish people are very reluctant to consider Him as the Messiah. Why would we want to believe in, follow the teaching of and serve the one whom Christians claim as Christ (Messiah) when so much harm was done to us in His name?

I am encouraged when I see Christians who love Israel and the Jewish people. It warms my heart to see how they are trying so hard to rebuild the bridge. I personally know quite a few pastors and Christian leaders who have tremendous love and burden for the Jewish people, and yet, today, they constitute a minority. The bridge is in dire need of solid rebuilding, so anything that weakens it weakens our chances to reach the Jewish people with the saving message of the Gospel of Yeshua.

Several denominations within Christendom have shown their true colors regarding Israel in the last few decades, but none as abrasively and as boldly as the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA.) My intentions are never to commit character assassination out of frustration or anger, but I still feel the need to expose their anti-Semitism for the benefit of other Christians and Jews. Keep in mind that the corporate decision of an entire denomination never includes all its members, so let us refrain from painting with broad strokes.

During their 225th General Assembly, the PC-USA passed Resolution INT-02 (28-3) stating that PC-USA must “Recognize that Israel’s laws, policies, and practices regarding the Palestinian people fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid. Apartheid is legally defined as inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them This occurs in Israel/Palestine through:

• Establishing two sets of laws, one for Israelis and one for Palestinians, which give preferential treatment to Israeli Jews and oppressive treatment to Palestinians.
• Expropriating Palestinian land and water for Jewish-only settlements.
• Denying the right to freedom of residence to Palestinians.
• Dividing the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the Palestinians.
• Denying Palestinians the right to a nationality.
• Urge members, congregations, presbyteries, and national staff units, including the Office of Interfaith Relations, to seek appropriate ways to bring an end to Israeli apartheid.
• Direct the Stated Clerk to communicate this action to all other PC(USA) councils.”

So, here we go again with the accusation of apartheid as a foundation for acting against Israel and boycotting the Jewish State. The Committee declared that they were hoping that recognition of the problem would lead to peaceful reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. No mention of terrorism was made. Only mentions of “occupation”, “apartheid” and ” the punishment of innocent Palestinians.”

PC-USA also recognized May 15 as the official date of the Nakba (catastrophe) for the Palestinians. It was picked as the day after Israel’s Independence date of May 14, 1948. This makes the strong statement that PC-USA recognizes that May 14, 1948, as the start of the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, without recognizing the biblical right of Israel to her ancestral homeland and ignoring the international weight of the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920 San Remo Conference and without mentioning the November 1947 United Nations vote to partition British mandate Palestine.

Many Christians have left the PC-USA denomination over the last few decades and many of their churches have closed. The denomination seems like it is struggling to survive, but it still hangs on to its anti-Semitic approach to Israel, all the while claiming that they have nothing against Jewish people.

Unfortunately, even if their moves are political and not theological–something I sincerely doubt–the damage is done and the encouragement for anti-Semites becomes stronger.
We live at a time when anti-Semitism is rising exponentially all over the world. There is no doubt in my mind that Jewish people are in great need of a friendly and loving Christian Church. Paul’s statement in Romans 11:11, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.” becomes a sober reminder of the Church’s failure in making the Jewish people jealous of their personal relationship with the Jewish Messiah. The last 2,000 years have made my people angry and eager to distance themselves from anything “Christian”. When PC-USA digs in its heels as a denomination and continues to delegitimize and demonize Israel, it is Christian anti-Semitism.

If PC-USA wants to throw Israel under the bus, let them; but somebody, please tell the denomination that their choice is not just anti-Semitic, it is also anti-biblical. As a result, the mistakes of a few who are under the banner of Christendom are affecting the many Christians who think otherwise. I would beg my Jewish people to consider the fact that the Christians who read the Bible and understand it properly absolutely cannot reject, ignore or replace Israel. Anything of the sort is a slap in the face of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is this thing called “accountability”, and when it comes to taking God seriously, PC-USA is not exempt.

For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.”
And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.”
It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(Hebrews 10:30-31)

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