Israel

April 3, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

We Are Handling Three Viruses, Not Just One!

The whole planet is in total panic mode over the Coronavirus pandemic. Countries and states are struggling to mitigate and are working around the clock to develop a vaccine. We will eventually flatten the curve and manufacture a vaccine, bringing us back to normal, whatever the new normal is going to be, not to mention what it will do to our global economy. In the meantime, we are practicing social distancing, wearing masks and gloves when getting groceries and disinfecting just about anything coming into contact with our persons or homes. This is not the first virus plaguing humanity and it won’t be the last.

This being said, there are still quite a few inconsistencies with this pandemic, one of them being the sudden drop to almost no cases and no death in China (home to 1.4 billion people) for the last three weeks. There are also some very troubling reports about hot zones and hospitals being empty and deserted as opposed to being at full capacity. It is hard to know who to believe anymore, but the virus is real, lethal and very contagious…that we can all agree on. That’s the first virus!

Viruses infect people. They alter the normalcy of daily life and force people into making drastic changes to protect themselves until they find a cure if they find one. It can be argued that antisemitism is the longest-running virus in the history of mankind. It was started by Satan who chose to fight God by fighting and seeking to destroy the ones He [God] loved. The great enemy of God still wants to destroy the chosen people of God (Zechariah 2:8) but God promised otherwise (Jeremiah 31:35-37.) Nevertheless, he continues to infect the hearts and minds of men in ways that drive them virulently against Israel and the Jewish people.

The latest example being Rick Wiles, who recently claimed that the Coronavirus was killing Jews because they rejected Jesus. This man who claims to be a Christian pastor does not represent biblical Christianity and will have to account to the God of Israel for hating His people. This is wrong on so many levels! First, when Yeshua (Jesus) came, He was rejected by both Jews and Gentiles who happened to equally be falling short of God’s glory. He actually gave his own life for Jews and Gentiles (John 10:18.) Additionally, saying that the Jews are being punished is ignoring all the other people around the world, representing many other religions including Christians, who are also getting infected and dying from COVID-19.

The sad part about the virus of antisemitism is that we as a civilization have had a cure for it since its inception. Those who continue to spread that virus are willfully ignoring the existence of the cure because they want the virus to infect as many Jews as it can, and recently it has started to peak again. We are far from flattening the curve of antisemitism, and yet we could do it, through teaching biblical truth about Israel and the Jewish people and by promoting love and compassion instead of hatred.

Those who don’t see the Jews as being punished by COVID-19, might see them as being behind it. They see a conspiracy theory. This is nothing new. We were and continue to be accused of world takeover in a pamphlet published in the early 1900s and quickly uncovered as a hoax, known as The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. Additionally, we were also accused of being behind the black plague of the Middle Ages, simply because far less Jewish people died than the rest of the world. That’s the second virus, more pervasive than the first!

But even before the virus of antisemitism was born, mankind was under the curse of a spiritual virus for which there is also a cure. This virus goes back to the Fall of man in Genesis 3. As we pressed forward, we, as a race continued to be born in sin and live in sin. To be sure, sin is not just breaking one of the Ten Commandments, but it is falling short of obeying God’s commands who by the way, gave 613 commandments to the Jewish people, not just ten. As a result, we are all infected by this spiritual virus and it always leads to death, as in “separation from God for all eternity in a state of perpetual torment.”

Yet, for this one, there is also a cure and it is received freely as a gift from God who gave His only son to take away the sins of the world (John 3:16). That is the third virus and it is the most lethal because it is not transmitted by body fluids, by contact or even airborne. It is carried in our DNA, and only God can alter our DNA through the atoning blood of His ultimate Passover lamb (Isaiah 52:13-53-12.)

Humanity through science, creativity, and resilience will conquer and survive the first virus, we can also conquer the second one through education and activism. As to the third, the most lethal one, it is actually the easiest one to cure, because all we need to do is believe that Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world who gave His own life as the ultimate cure for this spiritual virus.

We will survive COVID-19, we can survive antisemitism, but will you survive the spiritual virus of the Fall of man? I pray that you do!

March 14, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

When Israel Finds a Cure for the Covid-19, How will BDS Respond?

By now, there are very few countries in the world that have not heard about the coronavirus. As of this writing, 149 countries have been affected and infected. The global number of cases exceeds 150,000 and deaths are over 5,600. Italy is on lockdown. France not far behind and America restricted flight from Europe, as well as just declared a national emergency. I have never experienced anything like this in my sixty years on this planet. Countries are reacting differently to the crisis, although more and more are realizing the potential gravity of the unknown and are setting up emergency facilities and personnel. For all of us, this is unchartered territory!

At the same time, several countries in the world are racing against the clock to research, discover, test and manufacture a vaccine for Covid-19. At the forefront of these modern countries is Israel. The tiny Jewish state could be weeks or even just days from having a vaccine to treat Covid-19. A Canadian company also claims to have developed a vaccine. But developing one is not an easy task and once the vaccine is proven to work it must be tested. depending on the source, the length of the testing for this upcoming vaccine could be anywhere from 90 days to 18 months. Even 90 days could be a long time when we are seeing the exponential growth of the infection on a global scale, but doing nothing just because the potential deadline for a commercially viable vaccine could be months away, is irresponsible. So the race is on!

The likelihood of Israel finding the cure is pretty high. The Israel Institute for Biological Research is optimistic. As a matter of fact, Prime minister Netanyahu had given the institute the directives for such research as early as February 1, 2020. In the meantime, Israel has closed its borders and is requiring anybody stepping foot on Israeli soil to go into a 14-day quarantine, no exceptions. Drastic? I don’t think so, but time will tell. Additionally, the Israeli government is also recruiting IDF soldiers and teenagers to help sanitize public places. Israel is a small country with too many enemies. To Israel, securing borders is an existential necessity. Succumbing to the Coronavirus or being unprepared, could open the door for Israel’s enemies to attack several fronts at a time when hospitals are already beyond full capacity and the country crippled by the virus’ effect on the economy. Israel had no choice but to close its borders. Additionally, Israel has also developed a test kit that yields results in 25 minutes and will make it available worldwide within days.

The virus is not antisemitic nor is it anti-Palestinian, it doesn’t discriminate and it doesn’t stop at borders or checkpoints. That is why Israel is doing all they can to help those affected in Gaza and the West Bank, no questions asked. Why? Because Israel values life, any life…even the life of her enemies. Even though they probably cannot spare any of them right now, Israel donated several hundred Covid-19 test kits to the Palestinian Authority, and there will be more coming. They also delivered 20 tons of disinfectant to the Palestinian Authority to help them sanitize their area. Would the opposite have happened if Israel was in need? Sadly, I doubt it!

And then, there are the usual BDS movement people across the globe, selling the false idea that Israel is an occupying, colonialist and human rights violating country. They convince a plethora of uneducated people to boycott Israel. Evidently, they boycott whatever is not going to be too inconvenient. So here is the million-dollar question: “Are BDS people going to refuse the vaccine if it comes from Israel?” They should if they were consistent and ethical, but we all know that they won’t.

If BDS accepts the vaccine, they lose their right to oppose Israel on anything else, as long as it is based on a false premise. They should be grateful that the very country they are trying to see off the map of the Middle East is actually ethical and compassionate enough to see beyond all this and concentrate on the sanctity of life. God wouldn’t have it any other way!

As we fight the Coronavirus together, there is no time for disagreement between Democrats and Republicans or Israelis and Arabs. The virus is after all of us without discrimination and if we wish to eradicate Covid-19, we have no choice but to fight it together as humans. Incidentally, now is a very good time to believe in God and to trust Him, since nothing, not even the damaging Coronavirus, comes as a surprise to Him!

February 26, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Hitler would be very proud of the Aalst Carnival in Belgium!

The city of Aalst, Belgium has officially held its carnival since 1923. Parades of that sort actually go back to the Middle Ages. Aalst almost always makes the news for its 3-Day carnival taking place yearly at the end of February. The organizers repeatedly claim that the satirical tone of the carnival is to be remembered when one considers any of its floats. They claim to poke fun at people indiscriminately. Freedom of press and freedom of expression are at the core of the Aalst Carnival, and within reason, in a world where these two are quickly being squeezed out, if not disappearing altogether, this is a breath of fresh air that we must respect. Unless it is taken too far!

Going back to the French Revolution of 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen said in its article 11, “The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law. Furthermore, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights added in its article 19, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Important boundaries for all of mankind were put in place to protect our freedoms on just about every level. The laws are in place to protect us, but keep in mind, that even if something is not illegal, it does not mean it is appropriate. We should never allow ourselves to abuse the power of free speech, even in a satire!

Belgium also has some very specific boundaries regarding freedom of speech, like most countries in the West. Through an organization known as UNIA, Belgium monitors and defends people who have been victims of discrimination. They are very helpful in determining when freedom of speech crosses the line and becomes racism and/or incitement.

The 2019 Aalst Carnival featured some giant orthodox Jews with grotesque facial features, wearing pink outfits with oversized shtreimels (Jewish fur hats) with rats on their shoulders and money bursting out of their pockets. The depiction was so despicably antisemitic that even UNESCO–not Israel’s strongest supporter over the years–decided to remove the Aalst Carnival from its list of “cultural heritage of Humanity.”

The embarrassment created by the UNESCO removal in 2019 should have taught the organizers a lesson and should have given them a serious incentive to put an end to the antisemitic elements of the carnival. Instead, it appears that it emboldened them to go further. This would be outrage at any time of history, but in 2020, it is oil thrown onto the fire of global antisemitism. This will inevitably provide justification to those who want to kill Jews, as we are starting to witness that again.

The “Aalst Jews of 2020” were again wearing oversized shtreimels, dressed in black this year, but the bottom half of their bodies were that of insects or vermin; ants to be exact.

A small replica of the Western Wall was also paraded with words “complain ant” (words that apparently look like the words Western Wall in dutch.) Joining the crowds were dozens of people wearing caricatural orthodox Jewish garb and large fake crooked noses, not to mention the many flyers with stereotypical renditions of Jews with side curls, crooked noses and curly hair.

The 1940 Nazi propaganda film “The Wandering Jew” depicted Jewish people as rats coming out of sewers to invade the world. Jews were compared to parasites and vermin. In other Nazi works, they were compared to insects like lice that must be exterminated. You know the rest of the story. Antisemites currently do not need any incentive to hate the Jews, so why go there?

Without the help of Aalst Carnival, global Jews are again at risk for their lives. Comparing them to insects or rats is giving antisemites justification for their actions, When the mayor of Aalst was asked, he responded that there was no antisemitism in his city. Seriously? Even Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes ONLY stated that the carnival “was causing damage to our values and the reputation of our country.” Unfortunately, words never condemn actions unless they are followed by consequences for those actions.

The Aalst Carnival MUST stop its antisemitism and all other kinds of xenophobic displays or it should not be allowed to continue. I don’t care how funny people think it was–as all watchers were smiling or laughing as the floats passed by them–it continues to fuel the unnecessary and irrational global tsunami of antisemitism that is now claiming Jewish lives again!

In 2013, they chose to wear Gestapo uniforms, walked around wearing cans labeled “Zyklon B” — the poison that the Nazis used to kill Jews in gas chambers, and paraded a cattle car similar to those used to transport Jews during the Holocaust. At this rate, it won’t be long before the floats look like crematoria or gas chambers!

Well, actually, it was only a day later that the city of Campo de Criptana, Spain featured such a float in their parade. Nazi uniforms, train car and crematoria along with prisoners in striped outfits. Some say that the village is a great friend of Israel. Even if they are, what a poor way to commemorate the Holocaust!

Is it time for all the Jews of Belgium to make aliyah to Israel?

Aaslt you would make Hitler very proud!

February 11, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Could it be “Open Season” on the Jewish People?

The treatment of Jewish people around the world is now making the news almost daily. It is obvious that antisemitism is running rampant. The question has changed over the last two decades. First, it was, “What will we do IF it happens again?”, then it became, “What will we do WHEN it happens again?” Now we have to ask the question “What are we doing NOW that it is here?” Yet, the majority of the world is still in denial or willful ignorance about the crisis of antisemitism that is plaguing us all.

We can have a propensity to measure the danger of a conflict taking place in the world by its proximity to where we live. If a war raging across the planet is far enough, then we don’t have to worry about it and chances are, it won’t disturb our lives too much. This sounds very selfish, but deep down, most people don’t really feel affected. To some degree, antisemitism can be viewed through a similar set of filters. People who live in areas where there a very few Jewish people or in some cases none, do not feel that concerned. “Sure, it looks bad in Brooklyn, Paris or Israel…But that’s not my problem, I don’t live there…” some will think.

Antisemitism IS a war, but a non-conventional one. If it was somewhat geographically contained during the Second World War, it no longer is today. In December 2019, a series of attacks against orthodox Jews took place in Brooklyn. We still remember the terrorist attacks at the synagogues in San Diego and Pittsburgh. This is real, this is global and this happening almost on a daily basis. But the recent tragedy that we should pay attention to took place in Paris, and it could create a terrifying precedent.

On April 4, 2017, in Paris, Sarah Halimi, a 66-year-old Jewish woman, was thrown from her third-floor window. Her body landed on the pavement. It remains uncertain if she was thrown alive or already dead from being tortured. What the police found out was that the perpetrator was Kobili Traoré, her Muslim neighbor, who screamed “Allahu Akbar” and “I have killed Satan” as he recited verses from the Qur’an that according to him ordered him to kill Jews. That is such a tragedy, and yet it is only part of the story. How can it possibly get worse?

Kobili Traoré was found under the influence of marijuana and was placed in a mental institution. The whole incident took place during a presidential election year in France–not a good time to make public the murder of a Jew by a Muslim. It took months for the family of Mrs. Halimi to get the French authorities to admit that it was indeed a murder AND that it was an antisemitic hate crime. That is another tragedy because if it had been a person from any other ethnic group thrown out of a window after being tortured, nobody would have questioned the nature of the crime.

The court eventually declared that Traoré had indeed murdered Sarah Halimi willingly, but because he was under the influence of marijuana, he was irresponsible and couldn’t be prosecuted. The whole thing was thrown out of court and Mr. Traoré was ordered to go into rehab.

One of the lawyers for the Halimi family, Francis Szpiner, declared: “Sarah Halimi jurisprudence” has been created: “anyone who suffers from a delusional puff because of the use of illicit and dangerous substances will be exempt from criminal responsibility”, and that is the real danger. I am terrified at the idea that someone can smoke a joint or get drunk, go on a killing rampage to get a few Jews, and then plead intoxication, walk free, go to rehab for 30 days, and plan their next murder. In essence, this is exactly what precedent this case is making.

No punishment for killing Jews is truly making it open season on the Jewish people wherever they are not wanted–which is just about anywhere but Israel. Journalist Céline Pina of French paper Le Figaro wrote: “When one kills in the name of Allah, the excuse of mental imbalance does not hold. If there is one thing in common in all of this blood that keeps flowing, it is the implantation of Islamists on our soil, their network of mosques, their propaganda through books, satellite dishes, their speeches which permeate many districts and territories, their shows of strength…. the situation is not under control.”

She is right, and I believe that the situation is spinning further out of control. We are approaching–if we are not already there–the time when “Righteous Gentiles” will have to step up to the plate and help their Jewish friends. It is very serious. Christians are coming to an important crossroads. This is eerily reminiscent of what Yeshua said in Matthew 25:40: “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” While this is an event that is contextually taking place during the Great Tribulation and after the Rapture, the principle remains. The world is desperately in need of a new generation of “Righteous Among the Nations.”

January 20, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Do we really need to talk so much about the Holocaust?

The further we move away from an event, the harder it is to remember it, its details and even its outcome. Any event enters the annals of history the minute they take place, and there is nothing man can do to erase that event from our collective memories. Nothing can take it away unless it is an event that the vast majority of people wish to forget or even tell the rest of the world it never happened. There are four types of people in any event of history: the victims, the helpers, the perpetrators and the bystanders. As it pertains to the Holocaust, they all need to be remembered.

Not only do we run the risk of forgetting an event, but we also run the risk of allowing history to repeat itself. When it comes to the Holocaust, it would be tragic on both levels. In January 2020, we remember the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau (1/25), and we also commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day (1/27). As Forty heads of states and key representatives gather to pay tribute to the victims and the helpers (Righteous Among the Nations), the rest of the world is invited to post a photo of themselves with the hashtag #WeRemember.

The beauty of a hashtag is that it inserts itself into the worldwide web to never disappear or be changed, and that has power in and of itself. Once composed and posted, a hashtag serves as a beacon bringing people to a particular topic, where all similar hashtags congregate. It can be very helpful. The downside of a hashtag is that too many people use them as gimmicks to satisfy their own conscience. Can someone post #WeRemember or #FightAntisemitism and feel satisfied that they have done their good deed to speak up against the Holocaust and antisemitism? Sure they can, but does it really help?

Hashtags alone only serve to point to the gravity of the Holocaust and the danger of the new antisemitism, as much as a repeated word can. Hashtags will not defeat Holocaust deniers, historical revisionists and antisemites. Hashtags are the bumper stickers of the twenty-first century, they make a statement in passing as they move to their eternal abode in cyberspace.

They don’t speak up, they don’t sign petitions, they don’t march on the street in protest, they can’t teach history, ethics or morality. We need people for all that. Create all the hashtags you want, they might tug on the strings of our hearts, but until we move into action, nothing will change.

We can do so much more:
• Visit one of the numerous US-based (30 states) Holocaust memorial/museums like the one in Washington DC or even Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. If you cannot visit a museum, get online to their sites and learn from their extensive databases and research tools.
• Read on the topic. Start with the autobiographical short book “Night” by Elie Wiesel. Move on to “The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945 by Lucy Dawidowicz. Then in an effort to understand how the Holocaust further affected Jewish/Christian relations, read “The Jewish People and Jesus Christ After Auschwitz” by Jakob Jocz.
• Please, share your knowledge with the next generation. Two-thirds of millennials do not know what Auschwitz was. Additionally, 22% of Americans have never heard of the Holocaust.
• Attend marches and/or protests in your city or near you if they take place to show your support to the Jewish community and your disagreement with the enemies of Israel.
• Be ready to even go further by helping Jewish people in dire need. We can be proactive in 2020 instead of reactive in the 1930s and 40s. Things might get worse before they get better.

The African American communities should not stop telling their people about slavery and segregation, just like the Native American communities should not stop educating their young ones about the poor treatment and fate of their forefathers. So, why should we stop speaking of the Holocaust and why should we let those who deny it, get away with it?

Remembering a happy and positive moment requires no action but simply bring pleasure as we reminisce. When we are called to remember a somber moment on mankind’s timeline, remembering the event is just the tip of the iceberg. Sharing our memories, past experiences and teaching others about those events is key. Very soon, all the survivors of the Holocaust will be gone and the task of continuing to honor their memory will fall on those of us who still believe that the Holocaust happened and it could happen again. So, YES, we need to continue talking about the Holocaust, today more than ever!

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