Will the Real Islam Please Stand-Up?
I have been researching, studying, teaching and writing about anti-semitism, Islam, sharia, Israel and the Jewish people for about 15 years. What I am about to say could easily get me pegged as a right-wing-bigoted-racist but I certainly hope that my readers would not give-up until they have read my entire article.
Those verses are real and they mean exactly what they say. Let us also consider the fact that most of the verses in question are normative and not historical. In other words, they are more open-ended than historically linked, and thus still very much apply to the “infidels” to this very day. Consider just a few of those verses below:
Sura 47.4 – “When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have latid then low, bind your captives firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take a ransom for them, until the war shall lay down her burdens.”
From Zionism to Palestinianism: The Great Christian Betrayal!
by Olivier J. Melnick
It was in 1894, when Hungarian Jewish reporter Theodor Herzl followed the Dreyfus Affair in Paris, it took him no time to realize that anti-Semitism was alive and well. Herzl was shocked to hear “Death to the Jews” on the streets of Paris. Napoleon might have been friendly to the Jews of his time, yet the “Jewish Enlightenment”, also known as the Haskalah, was mostly a failure.
Convinced that the Jewish people needed a state of their own, Herzl published his booklet Der Judestaat (The Jewish State) in 1896. In that small but visionary piece of work, he envisioned Eretz Yisrael and though he received a lot of criticism for it, was convinced that even though hardships and obstacles populated the journey, “Palestine” was the destination. Theodore Herzl, while not the originator or of the concept of Zionism, was definitely the visionary, catalyst, and leader of political Zionism. Ernst Pawel, in The Labyrinth of Exile: A life of Theodor Herzl, explained: “he brought to it leadership, organization and a unique blend of fantasy and practical realism, but his most important contribution by far was the messianic image of himself, his stature in the eyes of the Jews and in the eyes of the world 1“.
And so it was, in 1897 and not without struggle that Herzl organized the First Zionist Congress. As President, he convened six more until 1902. It was in Vienna, in 1897, that he said almost prophetically: At Basle I created the Jewish State. In five years, perhaps, and certainly in fifty, everyone will see it 2“. Add 50 to 1897 and you get 1947…the rest is history!
He also quickly realized that Zionism was a purely political movement in search of sustainability. A morphing into a more practical Zionism was becoming necessary. It eventually led to the birth of “Cultural Zionism”, appealing to a wider spectrum within the Jewish community of that time. Two key players were Ahad Ha’am 3 (Hebrew for “one of the people”) whose vision as the father of cultural Zionism was: “A Jewish state and not merely a State of Jews” and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who had emigrated to Israel in 1881 and dedicated the rest of his life–not without hardship–to the rebirth of Hebrew as a modern tongue 4.
But as political, practical or even cultural as it might have become, it could be argued that Zionism was, before anything else, a biblical concept. In a sense, we can also say that God was the first Zionist. He created the Jewish people to whom He gave the Torah (Exodus 20) and the Land “from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15). It was only a matter of time before Bible believing followers of the Messiah would support and pray for Eretz Yisrael, becoming a group within Christianity, known as “Christian Zionists”.
While the biblical concept of supporting the existence of Israel and the Jewish people goes back much further, It was again, Theodor Herzl who might have used the term “Christian Zionist” for the first time in 1896. It is also believed, according to Edward Flannery amongst others that the re-birth of Israel in 1948 as well as its growth, had quite a bit to do with Christian Zionists. He stated that “without Christian Zionism, it is highly unlikely that the present State of Israel would have come into being so rapidly as it did 5“.
Christian Zionists have always varied theologically, yet they all maintain a common ground when it comes to certain essentials about Israel and the Jewish people. They all have a vested interest in Eschatology (the biblical study of the last days). They see a clear biblical distinction between Israel and the Church, they believe in the physical return of the Jewish people to Israel, the rebuilding of the Temple and Israel coming to faith in Messiah, amongst other things.
For at least the last 100 years, Christian Zionists have been the one arm of the Evangelical church that maintained a very friendly, positive attitude towards Israel and the Jewish people. Most Israeli Prime Ministers since 1948, have recognized the friends they had within Christian Zionist circles.
Unfortunately, the tide is changing. Christian Zionism appears to be dying worldwide. To be sure, Israel hasn’t lost all of its friends within the Evangelical ranks. Additionally, Messianic Jewish believers, regardless of their acceptance or lack of by the Jewish community at large, do support Israel unconditionally. I am one of them.
This changing tide is known as “Christian Palestinianism” and will turn into a tsunami if nothing gets done. It has already swept a large number of Evangelicals into questioning, disliking AND rejecting any kind of Zionism. Christian Palestinianism is Christian anti-Zionism, and as such it must be confronted.
In her book Eurabia: the Euro-Arab Axis released in 2006, Jewish author and activist Bat Ye’or almost prophetically calls it “Palestinian Marcionism”:”The Christian policy that would eliminate the Jewish source of Christianity by suppressing the link between the Hebrew Bible and the Gospels represents an old and lingering trend, always opposed by the Church. It was first formulated by Marcion, a second-century Byzantine priest of pagan background who was strongly influenced by Gnoticism. Today, Palestinian Marcionism (Palestinianism) paves the way for the Islamization of the Church as it prepares mentalities for an Islamic replacement theology…and encompasses the whole paraphernalia of traditional antisemitism“6.
While Bat Ye’or would claim that Christian Palestinianism is quite ancient –and to an extent she is correct–others such as British scholar Paul Wilkinson see the modern movement as being about 20 years old. He would posit that the modern founder of Christian Palestinianism is Naïm Ateek who started the movement in 1994 when he founded the Palestinian Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center known as SABEEL.
Some of the major proponents of Christian Palestinianism today are leaders such as Naïm Ateek or Elias Chacour. But more importantly, the torch of anti-Zionism is being passed down to people who used to be Zionists or at the very least not anti-Israel. These include British vicar Stephen Sizer who describes Zionism as a “devious heresy”, Professor Gary Burge of Wheaton College in Illinois, or even Liz Hybels (wife of Chicago area Willow Creek mega church senior pastor Bill Hybels). There are many more names I could add to this list.
A tragic example of this destructive ideology is the movie Little Town of Bethlehem (2010) painting the portrait of three men who wanted peace and reconciliation in the region: an Arab Muslim, an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Christian. They promoted their views of reconciliation against all odds. Really, who would disagree with that?
The issue does not lie in the validity of such an aspiration but in how the different sides were being portrayed. Palestinians were being compared to African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement following the leadership of Martin Luther King and fighting the National Guard for their freedom, while Israelis were being painted as the oppressors and invaders of “Palestine”. It is a shame to see that many Evangelical are buying into the lies of Christian Palestinianism.
The same can be said for a more vocally Christian project known as With God on Our Side, directed by Porter Speakman Jr. and endorsed by Tony Campolo and Vice President of World Vision, Steve Haas. It has also received rave reviews from Christianity Today
Christian Palestinianism is Replacement Theology on steroids! With any vestige of the Jewish roots of Christianity eradicated, Israel and the Jewish people will become irrelevant and this is a risk we cannot afford to take! Evangelicals who moved from Christian Zionism to Christian Palestinianism are putting Israel and the Jewish people at risk. Are they no longer reading their Bibles to believe in such lies as Yeshua being the first Palestinian? How can they biblically validate Palestine?
Christian Palestinianism is Christian anti-Zionism which is Christian anti-Semitism in disguise. This shift from Israel to Palestine in the Christian psyche really is a slap in the God’s face and a grave altering of His Word. This is indeed the “Great Christian Betrayal” and I tremble at the idea that these people will one day answer to God and have absolutely no logical explanation for how they treated the “Apple of His Eye”.
What we can AND must do, is support Israel’s right to exist and right to the land. Israel is the only ray of hope in the Middle East as the only true democracy. The number of Israel’s true friends within Evangelical circles is dwindling down. We are becoming a minority, yet one of our members is God Himself, and that, I can live with!
Being pro-Israel doesn’t mean that one is anti-Palestinian, sadly, the opposite is seldom true!
1. Pawel, Ernst: The Labyrinth of Exile: A Life of Theodor Herzl (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, New York, NY, 1989) Page 3.
2. Eban, Abba: My People: The Story of the Jews (Random House, New York, New York, 1968) Pages 335-337.
3. Ahad Ha’am, The Jewish State and Jewish Problem, trans. from the Hebrew by Leon Simon 1912, Jewish Publication Society of America, Essential Texts of Zionism.
4. St. John, Robert: Tongue of the Prophets (Wilshire Book Company, N. Hollywood, California,1952) page 266.
5. Wilkinson, Paul: For Zion’s Sake (Paternoster UK, 2007) page 14
6. Bat Ye’or, Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis (Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2006), p. 213.
Was the Gaza War a Media Campaign?
After nearly a month of fighting between the IDF and Hamas and several failed cease fire attempts, a truce was reached. As Israel continues to withdraw its troops over the next few days, the high cost of the Gaza War will be assessed. Palestinian officials released a death toll of 1,830 while Israeli officials announced the death of 64 people. From any perspective, that is 1,894 lives too many!
Netanyahu is willing to meet under the Egyptian leadership but he has made it clear that for the time being, IDF troops will remain stationed by the Gaza border, ready for immediate action if Hamas breaks the truce. Unfortunately, based on Hamas’ track record of nine broken ceasefires in three weeks, this newly reached respite is fragile at best.
The destruction by the IDF of the many tunnels built in the Gaza strip, as well as the many sites used for rocket launching from civilian areas was at least a short-term success. But I fear that its longevity might be more of a dream than a reality as we know that countries like Iran and Qatar are eager to rearm Hamas.
While over 3,000 rockets were fired by Hamas, the 2014 Gaza War was NEVER much of a military campaign but rather a media one. To be sure, Hamas’ desire remains the complete annihilation of Israel through jihad as clearly delineated in their 1988 Charter. They have figured out that they can enroll the help of a biased media that has become so efficient at indoctrinating the clueless masses and corrupt governments against Israel and the Jews. So the result becomes a smorgasbord of unfounded statements that serve only one purpose: the demonization of Israel. Truth is no longer sought!
While the current truce might be short lived, there is little doubt as to the military success of Israel in Gaza. The media war on the other hand– while not the massive success expected by Hamas and its cohorts – ended up being very damaging to Israelis and diaspora Jews. The bias is so obvious that it is nauseating.
Western Media outlets have now become co-conspirators in the criminal campaign led by Hamas. A myriad of photographs are being published all over the press, depicting children’s agony, blood and death all over Gaza. All of it putting the United Nations in an uproar and sending a message of Israel’s crimes against humanity. Yet the vast majority of the photos are either staged or recycled from the Syrian civil war and even Iraq.
The strategic placing of rocket launchers in schools, hospitals, mosques and other areas of Gaza densely populated by innocent civilians has been exposed. It is now clear beyond the shadow of a doubt that like Netanyahu stated so well:” We are using missile defense to protect our civilians and they [Hamas] are using their civilians to protect their missiles.” The premise often used by the rest of the world (mostly liberals) is that Gaza is such a small densely populated area that a high number of civilian casualties is to be expected. Not only does Hamas use civilian areas, but they force civilians to remain in those areas instead of helping them to take shelter. A recently ceased Hamas combat manual revealed that human shields were encouraged if not forced upon people.
The funding received by Hamas could have been used in the building of hospitals, schools and other facilities to serve the Palestinian people. Instead, much of it was re-directed towards the building of a network of tunnels, most of them destroyed by the IDF. In the meantime, the US empowers Secretary of State John Kerry to pledge $47 million to Hamas to help rebuild Gaza. What makes them think for a minute that this time Hamas would actually use the funds ethically? All the while former president Jimmy Carter claimed that Hamas must be recognized as a legitimate political partner in the Middle East. Had he lived in the 1930s and 40s, he would have probably tried to promote the Nazi agenda as a humanitarian effort!
So here we go again on the merry-go-round of disinformation. Postmodernism has rendered truth irrelevant or maybe just relevant in the eye of the beholder.
• If truth still mattered, Israel would receive a Nobel Peace Prize for its handling of the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza War. Instead they are getting scolded for defending themselves.
• If truth still mattered, Hamas would be guilty of double war crimes: against Israel AND their own people. Instead they are being lauded as victims.
• If truth still mattered, a lot of people from the media would loose their job for their nauseating bias.
There is no doubt in my mind that as the “scapegoat of humanity”, from a human standpoint, Israel cannot win. But there is also no doubt in my mind that as “the apple of God’s eye” (Zechariah 2:8), Israel will prevail. The truth must be told and if our voices remain all that we have, let us use them as much as we can!
In closing, consider the reputation of the evil man I am quoting as well as the ramifications of his statement followed by the history we know today.
Can Kristallnacht 2.0 Be Averted?
On November 7, 1938, teenage Jewish boy Herschel Grynszpan, while in Paris heard of his family’s expulsion. He decided to assassinate the German Ambassador to France, but not able to locate him, settled for another official by the name of Ernst Vom Rath who died two days later on the 9th of November. While I never am one to condone revenge of any kind, I empathize with Gryszpan sense of desperation.
Grynszpan provided Joseph Goebbels with the perfect excuse to launch a series of pogroms that became known as Kristallnacht or “the Night of Broken Glass”.
These pogroms (organized riots) took place during the night of November 9-10, 1938 throughout parts of Germany and Austria. They were solely against Jewish property and Jewish people. 91 Jewish people were killed, 30,000 were arrested and sent to camps, 1,000 synagogues set on fire and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed. Kristallnacht was a combination of pogrom and boycott.
In her superb work on the Holocaust titled “The War Against the Jews: 1933-1935″ Lucy Dawidowicz writes:
On Kristallnacht, the Jewish community of Germany went up in flames…. All Jewish institutions were burned down or banned by order of the Gestapo. The Jewish press was suppressed… Tasks of emigration, welfare and education assigned by the Gestapo. Its real function was to preside over the final liquidation of German Jewry1.
Lucy Dawidowicz and the vast majority of Holocaust scholars see Kristallnacht as the starting point of the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. The question that we need to ask ourselves now is: “Is another Kristallnacht on the way and can it be averted?”
In the last few days I posited that the Third Intifada could be global and happening now in from of our very eyes. I still believe it, but we might be seeing something bigger on the horizon, like another Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht 2.0 so to speak!
The main difference between and intifada (uprising) and another Kristallnacht, is the fact that the first one is mostly reactive and somewhat disorganized, while the later is pro-active AND very organized. These are some of the signs that indicate that things are heating-up towards Kristallnacht 2.0 in Europe. Events like these all took place in the last few weeks and they are just a few out of many and the escalation of violence is unprecedented, at least since the Holocaust:
• Saint-Nicolas, Belgium: A café owner displayed a sign in his window saying: ” Dogs are welcome inside but Zionists are not!”
• Antwerp, Belgium: About 500 people demonstrated on the streets, screaming: “slaughter the Jews”
• London, England: During a street protest, people were brandishing signs saying :” Hitler you were right” or even “f*** the Zionists”. A Jewish boy on his bicycle was hit by a rock thrown at him by a woman wearing a niqab.
• Spain: A letter signed by 100 Spanish celebrities such as Penelope Cruz called Israel to “stop the Genocide“.
• The Hague, Holland: an ISIS ( the new self proclaimed Caliphate of the Islamic State) street gathering has been calling for the killing of “dirty Jews from the sewers”.
• Berlin, Germany: Street protesters are calling for Jews to be gassed.
• Paris, France: 4,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators defy a ban on the streets of Paris as they burn the Israeli flag, many of them shouting “Allah Akbar“
• French Facebook site: For a short time, the French Facebook site hosted a page from Young French Revolutionaries that displayed photos and names of 32 Jewish people for the sole purpose of finding them and physically assaulting them. They found one of them at his home and descended on him violently. The site has since been closed by Facebook under pressure. Incidentally, a new site came up that Facebook titled “Death to Israel and Zionists” and according to Facebook it also doesn’t violate their community standards! They must be reported.
• Paris, France: A synagogue and several Jewish stores were firebombed in Paris and suburb.
• Nice, France: In the south of France, people on the streets were shouting “we are all Mohammed Merahs“, comparing themselves to the 2012 Toulouse Muslim murder of a rabbi, three Jewish school children and three soldiers.
For some reason–and it might be related to the fact that the largest community of European Muslim lives in France– the temperature is the hottest there. This only helps us to measure the gravity of the situation and plan ahead for other areas to be hit.
Some call it urban guerrilla warfare, some call it street protest and some –like I did last week– even call it an French Intifada. I think we are well beyond that and that at the very least, we are witnessing the birth of a new Kristallnacht, no longer localized but soon to be global. With the help of the social networks and the media, the “global Jews” is responsible for everything in Israel, Gaza and anywhere else they look for a scapegoat. People are not attacked because they are vocal Zionists showing bold support for Israel. All Jews are at risk even as they go about their day saying nothing, simply for being Jewish, and this my friends is anti-Semitism at its worst!
I think that the very fact that many of the perpetrators show some signs of being better organized is very ominous. Jews are scared to go outside now. Forget going outside wearing a star of David necklace or a yarmulke, they are just afraid to go out. Applications for Aliyah are multiplying. The attacks are coming from all fronts: Schools, streets, social networks, publications, radio, Internet and to an extent also some levels of government.
So really, Can Kristallnacht 2.0 Be Averted? I am not certain that it can, especially if the current French government continues to watch as if their hands were tied–maybe they are tied by fear of reprisals and terrorism on their own soil, or worse…by choice! But anytime in history that abuse, destruction of property and killings were minimized if not stopped, was when people who cared for people did something.
Albert Einstein already knew that in the 1940s when he said: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
The sad part about France that might also be a reflection on the vast majority of the Western world, is that many are thinking that they are not anti-Semites, yet they are happy to see the “Jews” leave. “Good riddance” they probably think, “let them move to Israel”. They are missing an important aspect of this crisis, and that is the fact that those going after my people have a much larger agenda. For the most part, the animosity is between Muslims and the Jewish community for now, and the Muslim perpetrators (yet it is important to note that not all perpetrators are Muslim) are not fearful of the authorities. They are defiant, appearing as if they were in a judeophobic trance. But their jihad is anti-West not just anti-Jew.
Kristallnacht was the spark that started the Holocaust. Excuses were made, momentum was picked-up and blood… a lot of blood, was shed. So is there no hope for the Jews of France and the rest of Europe? What will happen if we allow Kristallnacht 2.0 to take place in Europe?
Call me naive or mistaken but I think that I might have the solution to this mess. I found my answer 31 years ago in the person of Sar Shalom (Isaiah 9:6-7), Maschiah ben David (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Some will agree with me and some will fight me for my beliefs in a Mashiach who came to die as a kippur for His people (Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22). I also believe that this Mashiach who first cams as Maschiah ben Yoseph is about to return on the Mount of Olives soon as Maschiah ben David.
If you disagree with me, and before you accuse me of “not being Jewish anymore” I would ask you to consider that even if I am wrong–and I don’t believe I am– in siding with those that follow Yeshua the Messiah, I am making every effort to let them know that THEY have NO CHOICE BUT TO LOVE ISRAEL AND THE JEWSIH PEOPLE (Psalm 83:5).
Israel and the Diaspora Jews have the assurance that true disciples of Yeshua have their back. It doesn’t matter if you embrace me or reject me, Israel. I have your back as well. Kristallnacht 2.0 might not be fully averted but you will not fight alone!
1. Dawidowicz, Lucy S. : The War Against the Jews: 1933-1935″ (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, NY, 1975) page 196.
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