Middle East

December 26, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Antisemitism 2020: A Year in Review – Part I

There are many topics that could be covered to punctuate the year 2020. Most of them are unusually different from previous years. The race riots, the pandemic, or the elections are just three of them. It could also be argued that 2020 will be remembered as the year when we became the Divided States of America. Nobody in America ever saw such polarization between neo-liberals and conservatives, and the chasm will probably get wider as time progresses. There is also a way to look at Jewish life through the year 2020; Antisemitism! I have been monitoring antisemitism domestically and globally for over two decades, and once a year, I review what events have made each year unique from that perspective. 2020 is no different. Events varied from wake-up calls to challenges to crimes, and they were both domestic and global. Keep in mind that even a global act of antisemitism has many ripple effects that will reach the United States. So, let’s review the year a month at a time:

January 2020: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Every January 27, we are reminded to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. As multiple heads of state and key representatives gather to pay tribute to the victims and the helpers (Righteous Among the Nations), the rest of the world is also invited to post a photo of themselves with the hashtag #WeRemember. But 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. Instead, people can visit one of the numerous US-based (30 states) Holocaust memorial/museums, read on the topic, share with the next generation and/or attend conferences and peaceful protests.

February 2020: 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. The organizers repeatedly claim that the satirical tone of the carnival is to be remembered when one considers any of its floats. They regularly ridicule the Jewish people.
The “Aalst Jews of 2020” were wearing oversized shtreimels (fur hats), dressed in black this year, but the bottom half of their bodies were that of insects or vermin; ants to be exact (don’t miss the extermination innuendo here). 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, and the many people wearing Nazi uniforms…All of it in the name of innocent satire!

March 2020: The Covid-19 Vaccine versus BDS
As of March, 149 countries had been infected. The global number of cases exceeded 150,000 and deaths were over 5,600. We thought that it was bad, but we knew nothing yet. Several countries in the world were racing against the clock to research, discover, test and manufacture a vaccine for Covid-19. At the forefront of these modern countries was Israel.
And then, there were 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: “Would BDS people refuse the vaccine if it came from Israel?” They should if they were consistent and ethical.

April 2020: A New Bible Without Israel
The Danish Bible Society published a new Bible known as “The Bible 2020.” It should be called the RTV (Replacement Theology Version.) This Bible is no Bible at all, and it is a very dangerous document. It chose to inaccurately replace or just ignore the word “Israel” (73 times in the New Testament), calling it instead “the land” or “the people.”
It is just one more proof showing us how close we are from the final chapter in the “Real Bible”, where Messiah Yeshua returns to establish his kingdom after fighting all those who went against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:10), and establishes His messianic kingdom with His people among which the Jews will be the head and not the tail. That is the biblical truth that includes Israel AND excludes the enemies of Israel.

May 2020: Trump, Ford and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion!
In May, President Trump made a very uncomfortable comment as he was visiting a Ford factory in Michigan. As he was addressing executives about the founder of Ford Motors, Henry Ford, he said, “The company was founded by a man named Henry Ford, good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff, you got good blood.”
Ford’s antisemitism is indelibly printed in the chronicles of history. It cannot be denied, it shouldn’t be minimized and will not be forgotten. I do not believe that President Trump was promoting Eugenics or racial superiority in the way that Henry Ford did when he published The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, but his statement can be used against him by his enemies and also by those who espouse such a view, linking President Trump to a group of fringe antisemites that already are believed by some to support him.

June 2020: Black Lives Matter but BLM doesn’t
2020 saw the tragic death of George Floyd and the rise of the BLM movement. But before we blindly join and support the BLM movement based on somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, from a mix of compassion, rightful indignation and misplaced guilt, we should investigate who the BLM movement supports and promotes.
Black Lives Matter clearly supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). BDS has been pushing for a total boycott (academic, cultural and economic) of Israel and those who support Israel and Israeli products and companies. It has made great strides towards convincing people across the globe that Israel was the perpetrator of crimes against humanity, oppression, invasion and persecution. BLM is also one of more than 150 organizations within the coalition known as Movement for Black Lives (M4BL.) Let’s support all black lives, but not through a manmade movement that has a shaky foundation at best. Rather, because of our Messiah who supported all lives, enough to die for them. We all should support black lives and it definitely matters how we do it!

Part II with the rest of 2020 will be published next week.

December 4, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Asking Wolves to Tend Sheep Never Ends Well for the Sheep!

2020 has been a year that the world will remember even though all of us wish we could forget it. Inevitably and sadly, when the world goes through a crisis, there is always a segment of the population that will favor blaming the Jews for that crisis. So, it has been no different with the current Covid-19 pandemic, as some have irrationally accused Israel and the Jews of the virus. Conspiracy theories abound!

The result has been a global surge in acts of antisemitism. At the same time, people are trying to come to an agreement on some kind of an international definition for antisemitism in a concerted effort to fight it more holistically, and that is commendable. As it stands, most of the world has been adopting the United States Department of State’s definition that is as follows, “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” I honestly find it surprising that The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted that same definition in 2016. Additionally, they were quick to clarify that it was a non-legally binding definition. In other words, these are just words.

But even then, that definition is a start, although I find it to be a bit vague or possibly too soft. When I hear “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews”, I feel like the use of defining terms should have a bit firmer. For instance, I would have stated “a certain perception of Jews, which is expressed as hatred toward Jews”, because I have yet to see any iteration of antisemitism not being hatred of the Jews or Israel. Then, the definition goes on to say that antisemitism can be “rhetorical and physical”, and we know that to be true, but by introducing the idea that antisemitism may be expressed as hatred, we now open the door to the possibility that rhetorical or physical acts of antisemitism may not be hateful and thus, could be justified. Simply stated, this definition is too soft and too vague. But this is not the only challenge with trying to combat antisemitism. We also have to look at who is speaking against the oldest hatred and how they are possibly spinning the concept to fit their agenda.

When a conference or seminar is organized, it is common sense to gather a panel of the foremost experts on the topic at hand. The last thing that the organizers want to be accused of, is that they have gathered a panel of people who have not earned the right to speak on any given topic. You would not gather a group of white supremacists or KKK members to speak on the ills of slavery, just like you would not ask a group of neo-Nazis to speak on Israel’s right to exist. In reality, such gatherings might take place, but nobody would take them seriously, let alone attend the conferences. Well, you would think so, but this is 2020 after all, and the sky is the limit when it comes to the irrational, and when the working definition of antisemitism is non-legally binding, strange things can happen.

So, when I found out that a webinar-panel discussion was scheduled for mid-December, on the topic of “Dismantling Antisemitism, Winning Justice”, I got excited, be it for a very short moment until I realized who was on the panel. I expected experts like Manfred Gerstenfeld, the Israeli former Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who also founded and directed the Center’s Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism program, or maybe Deborah Lipstadt an American historian, author and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. These people are just two of many experts I can think of on the topic of antisemitism.

Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that the webinar on dismantling antisemitism will be led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Marc Lamont Hill, Peter Beinart and Barbara Ransby. This would provide great material for a Saturday Night Live skit if the topic wasn’t so tragically serious.

Rashida Tlaib just finished participating in a conference titled ” Against All Odds: Palestine beyond 2020“, organized by American Muslims for Palestine. She was also joined by congresswoman Ilhan Omar and terrorist supporters like Hatem Bazian or Tarek Hamoud who has is tied to Hamas. At the end of the conference, Miss Tlaib retweeted “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free ” which is a euphemism for the total destruction of Israel and all Jews.

Marc Lamont Hill was employed by CNN until he made some very antisemitic comments and also claimed that we all need to strive for a free Palestine from the river to the sea. Additionally, he was part of a fundraiser for a known terrorist.

American Jewish journalist Peter Beinart is also on that panel. He has called the Jewish state a cancer. He goes as far as comparing modern Israelis and American Jews to Nazis against the Palestinians. Yes, Mr. Beinart is Jewish! Whatever that means to him.

Barbara Ransby is a professor in Chicago and she supports terrorist Rasmea Odeh. She has also promoted violent protests against Israel.

These will be the four speakers on this panel dedicated to the dismantling of antisemitism. Is this to be taken seriously? You better believe it is. These people really believe that they have a message that can make a difference. Maybe they think that by eradicating Israel and eliminating all Jews, antisemitism will cease to exist. After all, “no more Jews” means no more need for antisemitism. What a farce! I find it hard to believe that anybody would take this webinar seriously, but then I looked at who was organizing such an event and I was shocked even further.

The event is co-sponsored by several “Jewish” organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Jewish Currents and the Jewish Vote, among other groups. A quick perusal of these Jewish groups will reveal that they are JINOs or “Jewish in Name Only.” They actually are a disgrace to the Jewish people, the memory of the Holocaust and the modern state of Israel. These groups have proven to have no affinity for the people they claim to represent. They are very liberal organizations that in the name of social justice will quickly throw Israel and the Jews under the bus. They regularly claim that Israel is occupying stolen Palestinian land and that Jews are weaponizing antisemitism to their advantage.

We are told by the event website, “Join social justice movement and political leaders as they share what fighting antisemitism looks like to them and how it connects to their own liberation struggles. Panelists will address their own experiences of fighting oppression, how they learned about and have experienced antisemitism.” I cannot wait to hear how self-proclaimed Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib and African America Marc Lamont Hill have experienced antisemitism.

I am actually not sure if these panelists believe that they can solve antisemitism. Are they so delusional that they could see themselves as the providers of a solution against antisemitism, but still see Israel as a threat to the world and Jewish people as colonizers and murderers? I realize that 2020 has been an upside-down year on so many levels, but to let wolves tend the sheep will never end well for the sheep. If these people are the experts on antisemitism, we are so doomed!

November 6, 2020 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

Kristallnacht and the Temple Mount: What Can They Possibly Have in Common?

Sometimes when I look at the history of Israel and the Jewish people, I feel like I am watching the opening credits of a Star Wars movie. The main theme appears in text form from the bottom of the screen and slowly moves up as its size reduces towards the horizon and eventually disappears off the screen completely. As years go by, I continue to see the absolute necessity to tell people about critical markers on the timeline of Israel and the global Jewish community. This is why I continue to educate my audience about things like the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, BDS and other important events that plague the Jewish people.

If it happens today, it is part of the news, but as soon as tomorrow hits, it becomes part of history. The problem is that not all of history is worth recalling, but whose choice is it to pick what part of history to remember? We all have different interests, customs, traditions and even agendas. They all dictate what we choose to remember, commemorate or celebrate. This being said, there are events that transcend history and must be recalled by all, lest history becomes forgotten, erased or altered, putting us in a dangerous position where history could repeat itself.

One of these nefarious events took place on the night of November 9-10, 1938 and is remembered every November as Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass.” But, before we can look at Kristallnacht, we must consider what just happened to the Temple mount that will help us to understand how the two are connected.

This is not the first attempt and probably not the last one either, but 138 countries of the United Nations approved a draft resolution naming the Temple Mount solely as an Islamic holy site, by the name of al-Haram al-Sharif. The title of the resolution itself is so politically charged that it shows the slant taken, “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem.” It is important to note the few countries that voted against the resolution. They were Israel, Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Hungary, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and the United States. The European countries who supported the resolution were Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK to name just a few who also claim to be friends with Israel?

The Temple Mount currently hosts several buildings that are all Muslim. The Dome of the Rock with its gorgeous golden roof–often mistaken for a mosque–is an islamic shrine containing the rock/location from where, according to Islam, Abraham ascended to heaven. The Dome of the Rock was built in the 7th Century AD and further renovated and restored throughout the centuries. The Temple Mount also includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque that was built in AD 705, just a few decades after the Dome of the Rock. Many archeological excavations and studies have been made on the Temple Mount. It was believed for a while that there were no Jewish connections to the area, or at least, as stated by British archeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon, “no trace of the Temple remained.” She eventually changed her views to declare that much of the remains of Herod’s Temple (2nd Temple) could still be found. Additionally, remains of Solomon’s Temple (First Temple) were also discovered underground, proving without the shadow of a doubt that the geographical location known as the Temple Mount did indeed host both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. For an in-depth archeological, historical and biblical study of the Temple and its surroundings over the centuries, Dr. Randall Price wrote his authoritative volume, The Temple in Bible Prophecy: A Definitive Look at Its Past, Present and Future.

No serious scholar or archeologist would venture to say that the Temple Mount has no Jewish connections, unless they had an agenda and wanted to push a narrative to delegitimize Israel’s presence and right to self-determination. This is exactly what we are seeing at the present time. This resolution is yet another attempt at re-writing history and delegitimizing Israel. This allows Israel’s foes to paint the Jewish state as an oppressor, invader and colonizer, trying to claim Muslim land, when in fact the real estate where the Temple Mount is located precedes Muslim history by at almost 2,000 years, Solomon’s Temple era having started around 1000 BCE. Biblically speaking, the destruction of the second Temple that took place in AD 70, was prophesied by Yeshua Himself in Matthew 24:2, “And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” It is nothing short of a miracle that we can actually find even traces of the two Jewish building at that location.

So, when the United Nations declare that the Temple Mount has no Jewish connection, they de facto become co-conspirators in the crime of delegitimization of Israel. The danger here, is that if people believe that Israel has no right to the area, it further feeds the narrative of Israel’s occupation and crimes against humanity. Now, the question still remains, “How does the Temple Mount connect historically to Kristallnacht?” Well, it doesn’t connect historically, but it does connect politically, and this is how.

First, a little background on the events that transpired in Germany on the night of November 9-10, 1938. During that dreadful night, a critical event took place that would seal the fate of six million European Jews. That was 82 years ago. The event is known as Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass.” The reason given by the Nazis was the assassination of German official Ernst vom Rath, shot two days prior by Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish teenager reacting to his parents’ deportation. In reality, the boycott/pogrom of Jewish synagogues, schools, businesses and homes resulting in the death of almost 100 Jewish people and the destruction of 7,500 properties was well planned, and anything but a reaction to the death of a German official. Additionally, 30,000 Jewish people were sent to concentration camps. Historians agree that Kristallnacht was the onset of the Holocaust, shifting Nazi antisemitism from mere rhetoric to pure violence and murder. It set in motion the death factories aimed at accomplishing “the final solution.” They almost succeeded!

So, it is very important to remember Kristallnacht and tell our children about it, especially in light of current world events. We have seen an increase in acts of antisemitism worldwide, in several cases leading to the death of people in Europe and the United-States. Antisemitism has now become a reality almost on a daily basis. It can no longer be ignored, and yet in the eyes of many, it is not really that important of an issue. As a matter of fact, a recent survey showed that 32% to 50% of young Americans had very little to no knowledge or understanding of the Holocaust. Most couldn’t even name one concentration camp.

Alongside the ignorance of history, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is becoming mainstream. So mainstream that people don’t bother checking if any of its accusations are based on facts or fiction. People in Hollywood, in government and even in several Christian denominations are doing their best to cripple Israel and the Jewish people. They are not trying to bring justice to the Middle East as they would want us to believe but rather, they want to completely eradicate Israel from “Palestine”.

The Jewish people have also been accused by some, of creating propaganda with the events of Kristallnacht, the ghettos and the Holocaust, to build a case for themselves to move to “Palestine”, uproot the “native Palestinians” and settle down under the guise of Zionism. When people buy the false narrative of Jewish occupation on a “Muslim only” Temple mount area, they can easily be swayed into buying a revisionist position on Kristallnacht. After all, one of the best ways to completely eradicate a people group is to erase their history. If their history cannot be proven, maybe it never happened, and if it never happened, or was best grossly exaggerated, it also becomes easier to paint this people group as the problem. As it stands, most people are not history buffs. The era of the Internet and social networks has turned us all into consumers of information, and in and of itself, this is not a bad thing. The problem is that we used to be consumers of well prepared, nutritious meals as we took interest in the details of history. Today, most of us only have time for junk food as we barely digest the brief internet soundbites and headlines rarely checked for veracity. So, when people de-judaize the Temple Mount, nobody pays attention or if they do, they don’t question it. The generation that believes that the Temple Mount is a Muslim site only will have no problem believing that Kristallnacht was Jewish propaganda to claim the land of Israel. If and when history repeats itself, this current generation suffering from “self-imposed historical Alzheimer” might not see it coming before it is way too late. That is the very reason why we cannot remain silent!

September 17, 2020 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

There is Peace, and then there is PEACE!

Don’t quote me wrong, I have no intention of minimizing the event that took place at the White House on September 15, 2020. It was truly historic! Considering the geopolitical crisis that has punctuated the Middle East since Israel’s birth as a modern nation on May 14, 1948, any Israeli/Arab peace treaty is a monumental achievement. There had only been two in 72 years. Egypt was the first in 1978 at Camp David under Jimmy Carter and between Anwar El Sadat and Menahem Begin. It was followed by Jordan in 1994, at the White House under Bill Clinton and between King Hussein and Yitzhak Rabin. Then came the 2020 negotiations in the Middle East under Donald Trump and his team, and the impossible took place; the United Arab Emirates declared that they would normalize relations with Israel and soon after them, Bahrain followed suit.

While nobody knows the details of what is to happen next, President Trump hinted at the fact that 5-6 other Arab nations are lined up to normalize relations with Israel. This is truly changing the entire dynamics of the Middle East. The Abraham Accords (Abraham being the father of both Jewish and Arab nations), as they are being called, are truly history being written in front of our very eyes. The positive aspect of such an event is most definitely welcome in 2020, a year that until now, could have been renamed “The year of all tragedies.”

In an exclusive interview with Vice President Mike Pence, Joel Rosenberg confirmed that the current administration desires to go the extra mile to strengthen US/Israel relations after they had been strained by the previous administration. Pence called Israel,“our most cherished ally” and said that “the president had decided from the very beginning of his administration that he was going to do everything he could to strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance and try to advance peace.” What a departure from the shaky relations that the US had under Barack Obama! Incidentally, Pence also mentioned that it was Democrat President Harry Truman who recognized Israel literally moments after Ben Gurion had declared independence in Tel Aviv.

The Peace Treaties that were signed are very special because they open the door to more countries in the region, and that is a good thing. Additionally, they put Iran and the Palestinian Authority on notice. When more countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Sudan and others decide to normalize relations with Israel, the Middle East as we have known it for the last several decades will be a thing of the past. Iran, already weakened by major US sanctions, is seeing its hegemony of the region erode by the day. As to the Palestinians, their response to the peace deals was still typical of their ideology and agenda; they sent missiles onto Israel from Gaza. The consensus from the Palestinians is that “there will be no peace until Palestine is free.” For now, the Palestinian Authority has decided to dig its heels in the sand, but with a weakened Iran increasingly unable to finance Hamas and Hezbollah, the tide might turn soon. The Palestinian narrative might become irrelevant. Wow, I never thought I would say that in my lifetime! We are truly living as critical history is being written. It is about peace. But there is peace and there is PEACE!

Again, I do not wish to brush aside the momentous event that took place days ago, but I also want to bring some biblical perspective if I may. From a human perspective, nobody can argue that peace is good. The Bible tells us to get along with our fellow men whenever and however possible in Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” We are also told not to seek revenge or hold a grudge in Leviticus 19:18, “ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” So, there is definitely a biblical precedent for seeking peace with our neighbors. What about Israel? Does the Bible give us clues as to peace in the Middle East Region and the safety of Israel? I believe it does.

The first thing we must understand is that, from our limited human perspective, peace is simply the absence of war. This doesn’t make peace not worth seeking, but that is not the whole story. The peace we should be seeking is the one that comes from the Prince of Peace, Messiah Yeshua as He is called by that name in Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Yeshua the Prince of Peace will return in the future to establish His messianic kingdom on earth as He promised. Isaiah goes further in describing what life will be in the messianic kingdom, under the just rule of Messiah, the Prince of Peace, in Isaiah 11:6-10 we read, “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also, the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.

We are told that the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord and that the wild will fellowship with the tame as never seen before. The prophet Ezekiel (Chapters 40-48) also tells us with great details about that future time in history when a beautiful Jewish Temple will be rebuilt in a New Jerusalem. That is what real PEACE will be all about, and anything but that is a thin veneer of “pretend peace” painted over a lost world in need of a Savior. The Bible also tells us that a false peace will exist, and while I recognize the incredible events of the last few days, biblically speaking, I still see the region undergoing turmoil. The door has been open for more peace in the Middle East and for Israel to start feeling more secure. Israel will have to feel more secure in order to let her guard down and agree to sign a seven-year treaty with a charismatic new world leader that the Bible knows as the Antichrist.

At first, the world will become mesmerized by this new figure. He is known by many names like “the little horn” (Daniel 7:8), “the prince who is to come” (Daniel 8:23), “the one who makes desolate” (Daniel 9:27) and “the man of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) to name just a few. He will rise to power very quickly (Revelation 17:13.) Possibly his biggest achievement in the eyes of men will be the covenant he will sign with Israel to bring complete peace to the region. This will allow the resumption of Jewish sovereignty on the Jerusalem Temple Mount (Daniel 9:27.) Needless to say, that this area of Israel is currently sitting on a powder keg with a very short fuse, so when he brings “false” peace, it will be received by many as real peace. That is not the end of the story, but soon after–three and a half years to be exact–this will be the end of peace on earth, as he will claim to be god and will require to be worshipped (Revelation 13:4-8.)

The antichrist will also gather all the nations against Jerusalem as seen in Zechariah 14:1-3, “Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.” and also in Revelation 16:16, “And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.” and yet, this is still not the end of the story.

The false peace that the antichrist will bring to the world will come to an end, but so will the antichrist’s career of lies, abuse and rebellion against God. Finally, he will fight against Messiah when He returns to earth and he will be completely defeated (Revelation 19:19-20.) Additionally, he will be thrown in the Lake of fire and brimstone forever (Daniel 7:11; Revelation 19:20.)

So, truly, there is peace and there is PEACE! What we are seeing right now in the Middle East should be exciting from a human perspective, but even more so from a prophetic perspective since it opens the door for the rest of God’s program to unravel and for the return of the Messiah to rule the earth.

I recommend that we all keep one eye in the Word of God and one eye in the sky because Yeshua is coming soon to rapture the believers before the antichrist steps onto the world stage. Will you be coming with us or will you be left behind? Don’t wait too long to decide.

In the meantime, L’Shanah Tovah for a prosperous New Year!

September 11, 2020 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

The Danger of Antisemitism by Omission!

Too often, people have a propensity to ignore issues if they feel that they are not directly concerned or if the issues are far enough from them geographically or otherwise. People might think, ” the riots and protests are not my neighborhood, so I am ok!” or ” the fires are not putting my house in danger, they are too far, we are safe.” Unfortunately, apathy can be part of human nature to the point where we ignore the obvious if the obvious doesn’t affect us at a critical level. At least critical to us.

So, many people will reason with themselves and think, “I am NOT antisemitic, but I am also NOT Jewish!” People will quickly claim that they don’t hate the Jews, that they don’t wish them any harm at all. They will also agree that antisemitism is wrong, and yet they will not hesitate to look the other way when acts of antisemitism are committed. Hurting Jewish people directly, verbally, or physically is antisemitism by commission while ignoring their troubles is antisemitism by omission. They are both wrong!

In the early 1940s, Maurice Weinzveig, my Russian maternal grandfather was hiding in the cellar of our Paris residence. He knew that Paris had become very dangerous for a Jew without naturalization papers. He had to keep quiet and hidden for a while to protect his life and that of his wife and daughter (my mother.) Unbeknownst to Maurice, a gentile neighbor who worked for the French police and who was secretly in love with my grandmother, wanted to get rid of her husband, “the Jew.” He called the Gestapo and let them know that there was a Jew hiding in his building. They came, they took him, they sent him to Auschwitz, and he perished in the smokestacks of the Nazi factory of death.

When the Gestapo showed up at our residence, the guilty neighbor stayed home behind closed doors. Incidentally, he lived long enough so that I would meet him as a young kid. Nobody could prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that he had called the Gestapo, but the whole building knew that it was him, so he never paid for his crimes. He even had me sit on his lap a few times as a little boy. I get chills down my spine when I recall those moments. He was guilty of antisemitism by commission.

But what about the numerous neighbors in the same building who witnessed all the raucous movement up and down their building? They chose to remain silent, discreetly observing behind the privacy of their window blinders, as if they couldn’t do one thing to prevent the two Gestapo officers from apprehending my grandfather. Some feared for their lives and that of their own families; others felt powerless against the Nazi regime. How many were thinking, “I am not Jewish; this is none of my business?” Hard to say. The truth is that they became apathetic bystanders, and a bystander who does nothing only facilitates the crimes of the perpetrator. See something and say or do nothing… and that my friend, is antisemitism by omission.

So, how does that concept translate to 2020 and the current multifaceted crisis that we are all in? In other words, what does this have to do with the virus, the riots, the economy, or any other crises we are dealing with as a society? Once again, and very sadly, the thread is Israel and the Jews:

Covid-19: The Jewish people have been accused of creating, causing and even spreading the virus to the world for two reasons: To “take over the world’ and to “monetize” the vaccine/cure that they have developed. This hardly explains how Israel is currently suffering from a huge spike of new cases of Covid-19. One response from antisemites has been to encourage people to infect Jewish people by coughing on them. As early as last Spring, coining the new word “Holocough” made of the two words “Holocaust” and “cough,” antisemites flooded the social networks with the idea. People might say: “But I am not Jewish, so how does that concern me?”

The Protests/Riots: The tragic death of George Floyd precipitated America into regional protests that quickly became uncontrollable riots like those seen in Portland, Oregon for the last three months. Some people found it interesting to spread the rumor that American police officers were being trained by IDF officers in using methods that include the way George Floyd was chocked to death. The group known as US Campaign for Palestinian Rights came up with that unfounded accusation. Additionally, the DOJ is investigating the possibility of ties between the BLM movement and terrorist organizations. Terminology like “intifada” or “from Minneapolis to Palestine, Racism is a crime” are showing up on street signs, graffiti and social networks. Once again, the Jews and Israel are being blamed for the racial unrest, either directly or indirectly. People might say: “Black lives matter, and I am not Jewish, so how does the other stuff concern me?”

QAnon: The strange attraction that people have for the mysterious group known as QAnon is also leading people to blame the Jews. QAnon is some sort of conspiracy theory from an alt-right ideology. It is supposed to ANONymously expose the international Jewish cabal to destroy Donald Trump and take over the world. The fact that it is based on a hoax from 1904–The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion- that has been debunked over and over, doesn’t seem to stop QAnon adherents. They claim that the Rothschilds are behind the whole agenda of controlling the USA behind the scenes. Sadly, they haven’t been denounced more forcefully by the current administration. People might say: “QAnon is just a conspiracy theory and I am not Jewish, so how does that concern me?”

The easiest scapegoat for humanity has been the Jews for the last 2,000 years. Irrational behavior against the chosen people of God has gone uninterrupted for a very long time. The enemy of God and the Jewish people, Satan himself, is turning the irrational into the rational, acceptable and even the expected. But we do not have to accept the irrational blindly. Rabbi, philosopher and activist Abraham Joshua Heschel who marched with Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Movement said: “Few are guilty, but all are responsible.” I would like to add to that that we can become guilty because of apathy. Jews and Blacks marching together against racism…Those days are gone!

Antisemitism by omission is still antisemitism. It might be watered down because people do not carry the guilt of being the main players in the longest hatred, but it is still dangerous, nonetheless. We cannot afford to remain silent about any form of injustice, period! For some reason, people will fight for various causes when they can be convinced that their voices and actions count for something. When people don’t feel concerned or in danger for their safety or even just for their comfort, they become apathetic. They feel like it is not their fight. But sitting on the fence of Jew-hatred is not an option. Indifference becomes our guilt.

Everything seems to indicate that the biblical predictions about the world going against Israel and the Jews are coming to fruition in our lifetime and rapidly (Zechariah 12:1-8; Daniel 9:27; Revelation 12.) Soon, we will all answer to a higher authority, and the God of Israel who calls the Jewish people the “Apple of my Eye” will not say to us, “don’t worry, you were not Jewish, so, this didn’t concern you!” While salvation cannot be lost, heavenly rewards can. We have a choice!

“If I were to remain silent, I’d be guilty of complicity.” Albert Einstein

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