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August 17, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 4 Comments

Does World Vision’s Entanglement with Hamas show Naiveté or Malice?

The Evangelical Christian charity known as World Vision was founded in 1950, to become World Vision International (WVI) in 1977 and currently serve 97 countries worldwide. Their humanitarian work has become the hallmark of Christian love and aid over the decades, so much that their yearly revenue nears $3 billion. Their published mission statement says “World Vision is an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.”

In early August 2016, Israel’s internal security service (Shin Bet) accused World Vision Gaza office manager, Mohammed El Halabi of using up to $50 millions of charity funds to pay Hamas fighters, build tunnels and buy weapons. He was arrested in June and detained for fifty days before the accusation was made public. The Shin Bet claims to have more than sufficient proof that will be produced in court. If this accusation turns out to be true and indeed Mr. Halabi did funnel funds from World Vision that had been donated by well intentioned Christians globally, it would take years for World Vision to recover if at all possible.

If the verdict exonerates WVI, the damage will remain, and it raises many questions about WVI methods for fund-raising, accountability and financial integrity. World Vision claims that the total budget allocated to Gaza is about half of what Mr. Halabi has been accused of funneling to Hamas. But does the amount really matter? When the truth is finally out, will it matter if fifty, twenty or even one million where funneled? What will really matter will be the motives of Mr. Halabi and/or World Vision.

Over the years, World Vision has shown some signs of unequivocal bias for the Palestinian narrative as well as some poor accountability choices. This makes the rumor of funds embezzlement by Mr. Halabi harder to dismiss as a set-up or a gross misunderstanding. Consider a few facts about World Vision:

• When the Palestinian movie “With God on Our Side” came out in 2010, It was endorsed on the front cover of the DVD by World Vision, Steven W. Haas (then VP of the organization). His endorsement read “I dare anyone to see this film and remain unchanged.” To World Vision’s credit, the endorsement is no longer there and they have even issued a statement declaring that they no longer support the movie. Yet, the endorsement remained on the front cover for a while, making one wonder what made World Vision decide to stop supporting that project and why it took so long to see that the movie claiming reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians is nothing more than a Palestinian propaganda piece?

• On the World Vision website, all the countries helped by the organization are listed. While Palestine and/or Israel are not listed by names, “Jerusalem/West Bank/Gaza are listed. Jerusalem and Gaza could be considered the best neutral way to describe these two areas without taking sides, but the area called the West Bank (West of Jordan, including East Jerusalem) is another name for Judea and Samaria. Israel calls it Judea and Samaria while those who believe that Israel occupies the territories call it “The West Bank.” To remain neutral, WVI could have called it The West Bank/Judea and Samaria. They made a clear choice in their labelling.

• in 2007, World Vision International, which by all standards is NOT A CHURCH, decided to change its fiscal status to a “Church Status” enabling them to no longer file the IRS form 990s. This form, required by the IRS of all non-profit organizations, forces them to disclose a lot of financial details to the IRS and to their donors. By changing their status to a church, they limit the amount of financial information they have to share. But WVI is not a church in the biblical sense of the word. It is an NGO (non-governmental organization.) It even belongs to the International NGO Charter of Accountability (INGO Charter.) Additionally, in a recent article about WVI decision to allow same-sex marriage to their employees, WVI CEO Richard Stearns clearly stated “I want to be clear that we have not endorsed same-sex marriage, but we have chosen to defer to the authority of local churches on this issue.” So which is it World Vision? Are you a church organization when it comes to fiscal accountability and are you not when it comes to same-sex marriage?

All these elements related to the reputation of WVI give us a picture of a shady organization with less integrity that they would like us to believe they have. WVI operates on a very large budget, mostly from Christian donors with a humanitarian burden. The Hamas allegations might be false. If true, they might be outside of WVI knowledge, yet the mode of operation chosen by the humanitarian organization creates a lot of doubt as to their integrity. World Vision is going to have to come clean and be consistent in the way they manage their finances, or they will lose big. But at the end, the ones truly affected by World Vision less-than-perfect financial integrity are all the people from almost 100 countries served by the NGO, even including some of the Palestinians in a region characterized by abuse, corruption and violence.

July 19, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 3 Comments

France’s Response to Terrorism: Start Teaching Arabic in Middle School!

In the last 19 months, France has been the stage for three major terrorist attacks. The Charlie Hebdo/Kosher Market in January 2015, the Bataclan in November 2015 and now the Bastille Day rampage on July 14, 2016. More than 230 innocent people lost their lives at the hands of bloody murderers who all appear to have Islamic connections and/or ISIS affiliations or sympathies. I mourn for France and with France, remembering the families of all the victims. I also remember French Prime Minister Manuel Valls’ speech days after the three January attacks. It was passionate, firm and gave hope to the French people. It was exactly the sort of leadership that was needed at the time. Then came the November attacks around Paris. France was in shock for the second time and it appeared as if all that had been put in place or at least discussed, amounted to nothing.
France started to lose hope and extreme-right populist party, Front National, became more vocal about their concern for the country. President Hollande and Manuel Valls’ popularity started to plummet. Not much had been done except placing a few police officers here and a another few soldiers there. The French were no longer feeling safe and rightfully so! One of the responses to ISIS massacres on French soil was to bomb some of their strategic facilities, something that I agree needed and continues to need to be done.

France’s response to ISIS outside of French territory has been bold and somewhat successful on the ground in the Middle East. ISIS has been affected, so they decided to change their approach to terror. Same drive: Islamism, same method: bloody terror but different expressions of that terror. We could call it “disposable terror.” Use it once for maximum damage and then dispose of it and prepare for your next attack using another completely unexpected approach. It is working and the world appears to be overwhelmed by terrorism, not knowing what’s coming next or how to respond, let alone prepare for it. Just days ago, Manuel Valls declared that France had to “learn to live with terrorism.” This and his lack of a clear plan to protect France caused him to be booed at a gathering in Nice to honor the July 14th victims. His statement is NOT appropriate unless France chooses to become a dhimmi state. France is obviously a favorite target for ISIS and its cohorts. Reasons can be given for that preference. France is very big on freedom and equality. France has been more involved in responding to ISIS on their turf with force. And of course, Muslims never forgot that Charles Martel defeated Islam’s invasion of France in Poitiers in 732. So there is bad blood between France and radical Islam. Terrorism will continue on French soil.

It used to be that the highest challenge with terrorism was that nobody knew where or when it would hit next. This was already a tremendous challenge to keep up with. This continues to be the case except that now we can add method to location and timing. In other words, we don’t know where or when terrorism will occur but we also don’t know how. This makes for a very volatile recipe. France is not alone in this predicament. The whole world is a potential victim of Apocalyptic Islam. Europe is obviously struggling with its own migrant crisis, and the Summer months will inevitably usher many more emigrants to the region. Loose borders allow for many migrants to move about freely between European countries, and we have already seen terrorists come out of the migrant human flow, where they hid until the opportune time. They were all Muslims. There is an unavoidable connection between Islam and terrorism and this has nothing to do with racism since Islam isn’t a race but an ideology. Obviously, not all Muslims are terrorists, but so far, all terrorists have been Muslims. Nobody speaks of Christian terrorism, Jewish terrorism, Buddhist terrorism, Hindu terrorism…etc.

For reasons that escape me, very few “moderate” Muslims speak up against radical Islam. Is it fear, indifference, allegiance? nobody really knows. In the meantime, Islam continues to push the envelop and France continues to make way for new laws in favor of Islamic culture.

So when French kids go back to school this September they will have a choice to take Arabic as a second language. New French Minister of Education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (a Muslim herself) has worked hard to pass a new educational reform adding Arabic to the list of foreign languages that French pupils will be able to choose from, starting in Middle school. This has not gone unnoticed and has garnered quite a bit of criticism from more conservative parts of the French government. She calls the resistance from some French deputies an “absurd controversy.”

I am not against teaching Arabic in French universities but I don’t agree that it needs to be done so early in Middle schoool. Many fear that it will be at the expense of basic French that many students also struggle with. But it goes deeper than just adding one more foreign language. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem also added that if there are no teachers to currently teach Arabic in French schools, she will work hard to bring “outsiders” as she called them. If I lived in France and had my young children in schools, I would be worried about “outsiders” coming to teach Arabic. Especially at a time when France needs reassurance that its citizens are safe. She did mention that all of it will be done by choice from the parents.

I believe that this is going to open the door to more Islamic influence in French schools at an earlier age. Jewish kids have already been leaving the French public school system in large numbers. Seeing how Islam has pushed its way into French culture, government and education and has not integrated or assimilated, adding Arabic as an elective in Middle school is not a good idea. It actually looks more like appeasement than anything else. The question is “How long will it remain an elective?” After all, If France has to “learn to live with terrorism”, Arabic might come in handy!

July 5, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 4 Comments

Holocaust Memory: What Would Elie Wiesel Do?

Eliezer Wiesel was born in 1928 in Romania. He was fifteen when he and his whole family were deported to Auschwitz. He spent most of his internment in the camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, with his father Shlomo. Elie Wiesel survived the horrors of the Holocaust. He was greatly motivated by the desire to take care of his beloved father who unfortunately died in Buchenwald just a few weeks before the liberation of that camp. One of his three sisters and his mother also perished in the camps. Elie had become a Holocaust survivor and an orphan at age 17.

Elie Wiesel passed away on July 2nd , 2016 at the age of 87. In a sense, the passing of this giant is the silencing of one voice who for six decades, as he continued to live through the nightmares of his gruesome experience, chose to perpetuate Holocaust memory in any way he could. He leaves behind him 57 books, too numerous to list or recommend here except for Night, written in 1960, that should be a must read for everyone. Night is Elie Wiesel’s Memoir of his time in the Death Camps with his father. Among the myriad of awards and recognitions that he accumulated over the years, Wiesel received the Nobel Peace prize in 1986. But to him, even in his last days, much remained to be accomplished to remember the past and alleviate a similar future.

To Wiesel, apathy or indifference was one the worst evil in the world. That is exactly why he spent the bulk of his life educating a world in shock that later morphed into a numb world to eventually become the postmodern world in denial that it currently is. He once said “I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.” He had always felt guilty of not being able to do more for his dad during their imprisonment in the camps. He felt that he didn’t deserve to live as he also wrote “that I survived the Holocaust and went on to love beautiful girls, to talk, to write, to have toast and tea and live my life – that is what is abnormal.”

Beyond a powerful legacy, he leaves us with a tremendous challenge. We must continue his fight. If we remain silent, his voice will fade away into oblivion or worse, get relegated to a couple of statements about an event that many are already starting to doubt. The world cannot afford to be silent, apathetic or indifferent.

The Holocaust took place more than 75 years ago which means that any survivor still alive today would be at least 75 years old–as unlikely as it might be–if they were born in the camps. The average age of all holocaust survivors today is closer to 80. Logically, the 500,000 worldwide Holocaust survivors, will all be gone within ten years…and then what? I fear that beyond the respectful eulogies and posthumous accolades Wiesel receives, people will quickly move back to their busy lives and allow the revisionists and antisemites to win the next battle.

We must continue to educate people about the Holocaust. There are numerous Holocaust memorials and museum throughout the world, many of them in the United-States. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Wasshington, D.C (whose founding chairman was Elie Wiesel) is one of them. Visit the one nearest you and make sure you accompany yourselves with some people from the next generation. This goes along with Wiesel’s statement that “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.”

We must also continue to speak up against any form of xenophobia, being antisemitism or any other kind. Wiesel came out of the camps barely alive, but he still had enough breath to keep fighting. He wasn’t only the ambassador of Holocaust remembrance, but also spoke against any and all ills rooted in racism. The current threat of a global annihilation of Israel and the Jews is very real. Europe is on high alert, Israel has been on edge since 1948 and the rest of the world can often be found on the forefront of the new antisemitism, blindly demonizing the Jews. Be aware and sensitive to what is happening in your own community and be responsive to defend and even lend a hand when needed. It is always appropriate to reach out and help those in need, even if they turn you down, your intentions will not go unnoticed.

In Night, Wiesel capsulized the agonizing feeling of not being able to forget the atrocities of the Holocaust ” Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”

To honor the memory of Elie Wiesel is more than appropriate, but to remember the Holocaust is vital to the survival of Western civilization. As a matter of fact, to remember the Holocaust and teach it to the next generation IS to honor the memory of Elie Wiesel.

June 8, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 5 Comments

BDS and the Great Evangelical Divide!

There are several ways to look at Israel’s right to exist. Historically, Israel was reborn as a modern nation on May 14, 1948 when Ben Gurion declared statehood at Tel Aviv Independence Hall. This was the result of a November 1947 vote by the United Nations. But there is also the biblical context that cannot be ignored. Israel and the Jewish people are mentioned on almost every page of the Bible. Israel’s boundaries are drawn out by G-d Himself and given to Abraham and his descendants as an eternal and unconditional covenantal promise (Genesis 12:1-3, 7, 17:7-8; 25:5-6, 26:3; 28:3-4; 35:9-15.) Yet, the very existence of Israel–while it depends exclusively on G-d’s promise–is at times put in question by various Evangelical groups. When the BDS movement was started by Mahmoud Abbas about a decade ago, it created a platform for various groups to express their opposition to Israel’s current “occupation” of “Palestinian Land.” The trend continues as BDS still finds supporters across the very wide Evangelical spectrum.

On one hand, there are plenty of Evangelical denominations supporting and loving Israel such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the Calvary Chapel movement, the Assemblies of God and many more. On the other hand, Israel has been treated as a pariah by several mainline Evangelical groups for years. The Presbyterian Church USA (PC(USA)) voted to divest from Motorola, HP and Caterpillar at their last General Assembly in 2014 and they are about to vote further into BDS at their 222nd General Assembly in Portland, OR this June. A resolution has been written that is so biased in favor of the Palestinian narrative that is is hard not to see traces of antisemitism through it all. Statements such as “Hamas has arguably offered long-term truces to Israel in the past, but it also promotes an antagonistic ideology, which mirrors the extremist Israeli settler parties” comparing Hamas’ terrorist violence to Israeli settlers are simply outrageous. Further down in the document, it said that “In solidarity with those who suffer, the General Assembly encourages Presbyterians to read and reflect on documents like Kairos-Palestine that come from our Palestinian brothers and sisters and to support programs like Christ at the Checkpoint (CaTC). Again, the bias for the Palestinian narrative and demonization of Israel in both the Kairos Palestine document and the biennial CaTC conferences is evident. Here we have antisemitism parading as Christian justice in the Middle East. Amongst many contributors from various fields, people like Omar Barghouti and Munther Isaac also contributed to the drafting of this new resolution, adding their bias to the pool.

But even within the PC(USA) denomination, the disdain for Israel isn’t unanimous. Presbyterians for Middle East Peace recently put out a document in defense of Israel. The document titled “Two States for Two People” offers a more balanced hope for peace in the Middle East, even though it is lacking historical accuracy at times. And in all fairness to PC(USA) we must note that the BDS resolution of 2014 was passed by a very narrow margin. It remains to be seen if the 2016 General Assembly will pick up more momentum.

Another denomination that isn’t necessarily known for its support of Israel is the United Methodist Church. Quite possibly the largest mainline Protestant denomination, the United Methodists have been struggling with their support for Israel in an age of social justice and political correctness. They already turned down two divestment proposals in 2012. Like the PC(USA) members, United Methodists are far from unanimous on their support for Israel. Many would rather see BDS being enforced. Yet, they recently suffered a major setback when all four proposed BDS resolutions were turned down at their May 2016 General Conference. It is interesting to note that the vote came just a few days after Hilary Clinton, who belongs to the Methodist denomination, wrote a letter strongly denouncing BDS. But before I get too excited I need to remind myself that we are in an election year!

It is clear that the BDS movement, while still a force to be reckoned with within Evangelicalism, isn’t equally embraced across the whole spectrum of all Christian denominations. A full list of BDS advocates and/or opponents would take too much space here. Suffice it to say that the recent move by the United Methodist Church proves that BDS isn’t a clearly defined victory. It might even be experiencing an early demise as people within Evangelical denominations and even outside of Christian circles are starting to see its one-sidedness towards the Palestinian narrative. This recent vote against BDS by United Methodists and the attempt at a more balanced approach to the Middle East crisis by some within PC(USA) is a breath of fresh air. But for all this to continue from the momentum created by some, more people need to voice their outrage at BDS. As a matter of fact, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to “Boycott BDS” might become a game changer. For those who fight BDS like Cuomo and myself, we realize that the movement is not only bad for Israel and the Jewish people but in most cases it also hurts the very people it claims to be helping like in the recent case of the closing of SodaStream.

People need to grab hold of the biblical truth about Israel’s place in G-d’s plan (without turning a blind eye on any possible injustice committed by Israel towards her neighbors.). But we must also seek factual truth about the Middle East crisis, something that conferences like Christ at the Checkpoint and documents such as Kairos Palestine are not interested in. Unfortunately, since most contemporary Christians do not spend enough time in their Bible, they do not always have the proper arguments to debunk BDS lies. I am convinced that in due time all BDS proponents will suffer the curse of Genesis 12:3. BDS often shows signs of disdain or even hatred for Israel and the Jewish people. It could even be argued that BDS is simply another branch on the tree of antisemitism. I wonder how those who promote BDS and call themselves believers reconcile their actions with Psalm 83?
Psalm 83:3-5 They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire together against Your treasured ones. They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more.” For they have conspired together with one mind; Against You they make a covenant.

May 23, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 7 Comments

Could Radical Islam be the Curse of Genesis 12:3 ?

In the book of Genesis, G-d made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants (the Jewish people) in which He unconditionally promised Abraham several things including many descendants, a specific area of land in the Middle East known as Israel and in verse 3, He also promised to reward those dealing with Israel and the Jewish people according to their behavior, as we read: “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.”

This promise from G-d isn’t an empty one as we can track through biblical history how He caught up with those who mistreated Israel. It didn’t take long for G-d to punish Egypt with the death of all their firstborns as the tenth plague inflicted on the Egyptians whose Pharaoh–who didn’t know Joseph– had ordered the death of all male children of the Jewish slaves he controlled (Exodus 1:8-22; 11:1-7). A curse for a curse!

We can also look at the story that unfolds in the Book of Esther. Haman, the arch-enemy of the Jewish people wants to get rid of Mordecai and all his people, so he fabricates a story and builds gallows to hang Mordecai. By the end of the book, it is Haman who is hanging dead on the gallows (Esther 3:5-15; 7:7-10), again…A curse for a curse!

But the Genesis 12:3 principle doesn’t stop with the biblical narrative. It continues through time as we can see with the Spanish empire that had been leading Western Europe for close to 600 years until the late 1400’s. That era was known as the “Golden Age” of Spain and it lasted until 1492, a date that according to most historians and scholars isn’t only the time when Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue”, but also the year when Queen Isabella chose to drive out all the Jews of Spain. Subsequently, 1492 became known as the start of the decline of the Spanish empire.

Genesis 12:3 could be labelled “G-d’s foreign policy as it pertains to Israel.” And if indeed G-d keeps his word, He will catch up with all the enemies of Israel sooner or later. Sometimes sooner, sometimes not, sometimes with a similar curse, but not necessarily always with matching curses.

Looking at the situation in Europe today, it is hard not to connect the impact of radical Islam to the behavior of certain countries towards Israel. All or most of the countries of the current European Union have had a history of antisemitism that, one way or another, can be traced back to the second Century BCE. Consider just a few of the European countries who expelled their Jewish communities over the last 600 years (several more could be listed):

England: Expelled the Jews in 1290
France: Expelled the Jews in 1306, 1321-22, 1394
Spain: Expelled the Jews in 1492
Sicily: Expelled the Jews in 1492-93
Lithuania: Expelled the Jews in 1495
Portugal: Expelled the Jews in 1496-97
Germany: Expelled the Jews in 1510, 1610, 1885
Bavaria: Expelled the Jews in 1551
Italy: Expelled the Jews 1567, 69, 1593
Austria: Expelled the Jews in 1670
Czechoslovakia: Expelled the Jews in 1745
Russia: Expelled the Jews in 1891

This doesn’t include a record of other major events in the annals of Jewish history that have punctuated the Jewish people’s story with horrific acts of antisemitism such as the Crusades, the Blood Libels, The Host Desecration accusations, Talmud burnings, the Inquisition, the Pogroms and of course the Holocaust. Without performing an in-depth socio-demographic study of all these countries, we can still speculate that there might be a connection between the treatment of their respective Jewish communities and how G-d might be responding in the twenty-first century.

Radical Islam had already almost impregnated all European countries until very recently. People like Bat Ye’or saw the hand-writing on the wall of European civilization as early as the mid 1970s in her seminal work Eurabia. Mark Steyn understood the demographics “point of no return” in 2006 in his book America Alone. I wrote about it as early as 2000 in my first book They Have Conspired Against You.

With the advent of the migrant crisis in the last two years, Europe has now been placed on a collision course. Germany and Sweden are leading the way in what could become to the first country wide cultural suicides. They are plagued by a brand of political correctness that has crippled them. They have lost their ability and in some cases their willingness to fight for their native sovereignty and established law of the land. Belgium, England and France are not far behind.

While we cannot dogmatically ascertain the connection between Jewish expulsions and God’s curse, there is a strong possibility that the steady, exponential and irreversible decline of Europe might be a result of these nations disdain for the chosen people of G-d. This certainly doesn’t place all Muslim as a curse to Europe, just like not all Germans were Nazis, but one cannot ignore the on-going cultural and demographic jihad happening in Europe. “G-d’s foreign policy as it pertains to Israel,” doesn’t allow for any grey areas. You bless or you curse and the results, while not always immediate and similar, have always been in kind– a curse for a curse and a blessing for a blessing– The wake-up call is imminent and many will be surprised!

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