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January 29, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

BDS directly affects Israel but should concern all of us!

Boycotts, censorship and cancellations have become very popular words in 2020. From “Cancel Culture” to “Social Network Censorships” to “Boycott, Divestment & Sanction (BDS)”, people are being exposed to what it means to have our civil liberties reduced, altered, or even revoked. We are being exposed to the danger of such actions and the repercussions they will have on us and the next generations. Of all of these attempts at crippling our freedom, the BDS movement is most likely the least of them when it comes to affecting Americans. Outside of a certain segment of the evangelical community–vocally and militantly pro-Israel–the rest of the Church and most Americans either don’t care or don’t know about BDS. If you are one of my subscribers, this might only be a refresher, but this bears repeating.

BDS isn’t an invention of the Church, but it has become increasingly attractive to many Evangelicals, where some believe that it is a valid, yet a peaceful, way to protest against Israel. There are several problems with that train of thought, but let us first look at the source of the BDS movement. You might be surprised by what you discover.

It is ironic that most of the people taking such a political stand have very little knowledge of how it got started and by whom. This movement was started on July 9, 2005, by the Palestinian civil society and orchestrated by the current leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian BDS National Committee. Omar Barghouti is co-founder of and the main spokesperson for BDS. His organization claims that Israel must meet three obligations for BDS to stop:
1.   Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall;
2.   Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3.   Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

Too often, there is an unspoken expectation from the Palestinian side. Much of the “not-so-hidden” agenda of the Palestinian Authority is focused on the destruction of Israel and the Jews. At the time that the Palestinian people were invented in the mid-1960s, the problem of refugees didn’t exist. The Jewish people abandoned the use of the term Palestine when Israel was declared a State in 1948. The word became exclusively descriptive of the Arab side and was adopted by Arafat when he created the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).

The creation of a Palestinian narrative that has been purported over the last 50 years of historical fabrications has helped the world turn on Israel. However, the Palestinian Authority doesn’t really care about the well-being of even their own “citizens”. If they did, they would never use some of their own people as human shields or use schools and hospitals to store weapons and explosives. They are obsessed with the demonization of Israel, the turning of David into Goliath! If they succeed, they are just one step closer to appearing justified when they attempt to annihilate Israel. It is actually quite scary to see how much the West has been swayed towards the Palestinian agenda over the last few decades. Although, some of the Palestinian agenda has been pushed back recently by the signing of the Abraham Accords and the additional countries joining ranks in establishing formal relations with Israel.

The Palestinian Authority takes great pains to misinform, or simply not inform, the people they are trying to influence with the facts surrounding their standoff with Israel. The proper word for it is “propaganda”! The hope is that most people would accept their lies and historical revisionism simply as facts, and too often they do! UN Resolution 194 contains one short paragraph out of 15 on compensation to refugees – not even Palestinian refugees in particular – but refugees in general. People truly need to verify statements before they buy them and then sell them back as facts. Interestingly enough, the only specific identifying term used in that resolution is “Palestine”, and within the context of that 1948 document, it is clear that it refers to the geographical area known as Israel, not a people group.

BDS was born out of a Palestinian desire to enroll otherwise unengaged and apathetic people in their fight against Israel. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas’ goal might be the total destruction of Israel, but that is not a good marketing technique to recruit supporters for their agenda. Creativity calls for other means of striking the Jewish people.

What if they could get support from different groups of people? This would greatly advance their agenda, wouldn’t it? BDS does just that and it does it well, in the government, the entertainment industry, the universities, and even some Christian denominations such as The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) whose General Assembly voted in the spring of 2014 to divest from three companies engaged in business within Israel (Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions). This is the same PCUSA that unsuccessfully tried to blot out the name Israel from their prayer and hymn books in 2014, leading to a split within the denomination.

Originators of BDS count on the altruistic feelings associated with boycotting for a social justice issue. It becomes easy for anyone to feel good by refraining from buying Israeli products. This seems like a peaceful and worthy protest that could (from their perspective) make a difference and force Israel away from occupation, apartheid and crimes against humanity. Of course, the current BDS supporters are plagued with decisions to boycott that force them to be very inconsistent at best. Divestment is usually a matter of reinvesting your funds elsewhere, and there are plenty of opportunities for such a move. When it comes to boycotting, it is a bit trickier, especially if you want to be consistent and do it with integrity. People will easily stop buying Jaffa® oranges or Osem® cookies from Israel, but don’t ask them to stop using the Intel® chip in their personal computers or their mobile phones altogether (both originated from Israeli ingenuity). The boycott crosses into academia and entertainment as well as business.

BDS proponents often nip the pro-Israel narrative in the bud by loudly condemning Israel, which has become the hip, liberal mantra du jour, even though their own narrative is flawed and biased. Christians don’t want to be labeled as “haters”, especially of Jews. What they may do is find an easier way to participate in BDS rather than an all-out boycott. Divestment can be done silently. When sanctioning comes, they will have to make a choice – and I pray it is a decision based on biblical insight.
• BDS uses a false premise of Israeli occupation and apartheid policies. It is our responsibility to expose their lies and educate those who don’t know BDS or who believe that it is a cause worth fighting for.
• BDS proponents are inconsistent in their boycott and need to be made aware of their hypocrisy or ignorance about Israel’s contribution to the modern world (and the list of those contributions keeps growing every day), not to mention all the everyday products used by millions.
• BDS sends the wrong message to a lot of people thinking that they are helping to make the world a better place when in fact they are supporting anti-Israel, anti-Semitic terrorists.
• BDS counts on people’s ignorance and natural desire for justice to sell their falsified agenda of Palestinian victimhood.

BDS is dangerously infecting the masses with the wrong idea about Israel. It is evident that Israel isn’t “100% squeaky clean” when it comes to politics, but they are a far cry from the picture that BDS is painting. People might have different opinions on how antisemitic the BDS movement is, or if it even is, but one must wonder why BDS aims at stopping Israel from their “crimes” against Palestinians, and yet, they are turning a blind eye to all the other countries where real crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansings are taking place. What an obvious case of a double-standard!

BDS becomes very dangerous when it reaches the political realm and can turn into official policymaking and even bills and laws. Recently, the Biden administration picked Mr. Maher Bitar as the Senior Director for Intelligence on the NSC. The NSC or National Security Council describes itself as follows, ” The National Security Council (NSC) is the President’s principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his or her senior advisors and cabinet officials.” Maher Bitar’s résumé includes a very long list of anti-Israel involvement, BDS support, radical Islamist terrorism, and plain and simple antisemitism. Shouldn’t the Senior Director for Intelligence on the NSC be an unbiased intelligence professional?

BDS might be only aimed at Israel with its destructive agenda, but it is the symptom of a much greater threat to Western civilization. We can and must expose it, denounce it and fight against it.

Additionally, another thing we can do is to make sure that we do our best to buy Israeli products in the USA to beat the BDS proponents at their own game. There are sites offering a partial list of what BDS wants you to boycott. While the mentioning of this list doesn’t mean that this author endorses all of it, you will undoubtedly find plenty of brands that you already support; just review them, keep at it, and tell others. This would be a strong application of Genesis 50:20 when Joseph proved to his brothers that what some want to use for evil, God can turn around and use for good: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

What BDS proponents, by commission and omission, too often have in common is a lack of a biblical approach to Israel and the Jewish people. Biblical truth provides a solid foundation for Israel. It describes a people created by God through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the twelve Tribes of Israel as well as precise land boundaries starting early in Genesis 12 and continuing through chapters 15, 17, and following. Zionism isn’t this evil colonialism feeding on Arab blood, yet without a biblical backbone, Zionism lacks the strength to fight the hypocrisy, hatred and double standard of the BDS campaigns around the world. BDS relies on the Bullying, Delegitimizing and Slandering of Israel and does it on a foundation of lies that can be debunked. If truth really matters, let us speak up! So instead, let’s Buy, Defend and Support Israel, Israeli products and corporations.

January 22, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Remember, Retell and Resist!

Here we are again, approaching the day that the international community has chosen to remember the Holocaust. It is different from Yom HaShoah (Day of the Catastrophe) which falls annually, a week after Passover in Israel (started in 1953). Each year, on January 27, the international community remembers the Holocaust in various ways from synagogue services to vigils to educational events that include Holocaust survivors or scholars. Survivors are dwindling down to a few thousand globally. Considering that anybody born at the onset of the war in 1939 would be eighty-two-years-old today, most survivors of the Holocaust are in their late eighties or early nineties. Soon, they will all be in our memories. Or will they?

Remembering the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during World War II by observing International Holocaust Remembrance Day is critical. This is an anniversary that was set up by the United Nations. Living at the time of history nearing the complete loss of the remaining survivors of the Holocaust, remembering the uniqueness of the Holocaust is crucial to the future of humanity in general and the preservation of our global Jewish community in particular. The motto of “NEVER AGAIN” arose soon after the closing of World War II and has been the ongoing creed of all those who want the Holocaust to be remembered.

Many people are displaying what could be called “Holocaust remembrance fatigue”. Questions arise like, “Why do people see the Holocaust as such a unique event in the history of mankind?”, “Why are we talking about the Holocaust again?”, “Could we also remember other genocides?”, “Was the Holocaust exaggerated?” These are all great questions. But considering that a large percentage of millennials cannot name one concentration camp and cannot even say how many Jewish people died in the Holocaust, we cannot remain silent.

Why do people see the Holocaust as such a unique event in the history of mankind?
It has been argued by many that the Holocaust stands as a unique event in the history of humanity. Recently, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem has been at the center of a controversy with the possible appointment of a new chairman. Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to appoint Effi Eitam as the new head of Yad Vashem and has received a lot of criticism for it. For now, Eitam’s nomination is on hold because of some of his words and actions against Palestinians during his tenure in the IDF. It is clear that Yad Vashem needs a strong voice to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust to the next generations, but people are divided on the uniqueness of the Holocaust. Some believe that it was a terrible genocide that must be remembered like the Cambodian genocide (1975-79), the Armenian genocide (1915-22), or the Rwandan genocide (1994). Incidentally, these three horrific carnages amount to 5.8 MM death total, which is less than the Holocaust alone. However, numbers are not everything; because any way you look at it, one death is one too many! All the genocides of history are tragic events showing how the deep depravity of the human race has led many to commit heinous crimes against their fellow men. There are no excuses for any of them.

I belong to the group of people who believe that the Holocaust was very unique and as such, holds a special place in the somber pantheon of crimes against humanity. My intention is not to minimize the atrocities of any of the other genocides of history. Every other genocide was a result of one people group declaring hegemony over another people group and committing ethnic cleansing to push that group into oblivion, or at least to get them to leave the area. This why I believe it was unique.

Only during the Holocaust were the victims hunted down by Nazis way beyond German borders. That is why it is unique. In any other genocides, the potential victims had an opportunity to move to a different area or even emigrate to another country and many did. In the case of the Holocaust, Nazis went out of their ways to round up all the Jews they could find in Europe. How far did they go? As far as the railroad systems of Europe would allow them. Cattle cars packed with over 80 people with no food, water, or sanitation were brought to camps and ghettos inside and outside of Germany. Foulness and humiliation soon followed, and many died during the journey. No visible Jew was safe anywhere in Europe. This obsession that Hitler had with bringing Jews back to their death was possibly a factor in his final defeat. In “The Destruction of European Jews”, Historian Raul Hilberg quotes Heinrich Himmler who from 1943 onwards, was the Chief of German Police and Minister of the Interior, including the Gestapo and the Waffen-SS. Himmler was clear about his destructive goal. As Jews were being decimated and a potential war labor force with them, he was quoted saying, “Economic questions should not be considered in the solution to the Jewish question.” Hitler and his cohorts were so possessed with eradicating all Jews from Europe that they ignored everything else.

Why are we talking so much about the Holocaust?
A lot of people, including some Jewish people, feel that the Holocaust is discussed too much and too often. Frankly, I wish that I wouldn’t have to discuss it so much, but I do. Nobody ever questions the Fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 or the coronation of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804, as that would be irrational since it has been part of history for so long. Nobody ever doubted Sir Winston Churchill or Albert Einstein ever existed, because there are so much film footage and photographs of them. Yet, the Holocaust is now being put into question. Regardless of the myriad of recorded first-hand accounts, photographs, newsreels and artifacts, some people have the audacity to claim that it never happened. They are known as historical revisionists or Holocaust deniers. They write books, make movies and appear on TV programs, doing their very best to inculcate upon the uneducated minds of many the idea that the Holocaust was a hoax or at the very least Jewish propaganda to steal the land of Palestine and illegally settle the Jews in it. This is why I continue to speak about the Holocaust. Not to mention that one of the six million Jewish victims was my maternal grandfather Maurice Weinzveig, taken by the Gestapo out of his Paris home in the summer of 1942 to die a week later upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

What about the nonchalant use of the swastika by teenagers who tattooed it on their shoulders and posted their selfies on social networks? They either knew what it represents, ignored it, or worse… they used it as a slap in the face to the Jewish community. They possibly didn’t know exactly what it means, which is another reason why Holocaust education must go on. If we don’t, between the ignorance, fatigue and malicious deconstructing, in twenty years or less, the Holocaust will have become a myth that might not even get a mention in history books. God forbid!

So, now what? We all have to become Holocaust advocates and fight antisemitism as if we were the last person who believed in that fight. In that process, we are guaranteed to find more like-minded people who see the importance of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism and all other kinds of xenophobic habits.

As much as I believe that the Holocaust must be taught starting in Middle school and upwards, it is upon us to educate ourselves and share our knowledge within our own family units and various spheres of influence. We cannot wait for or rely on others to take on this important task. Here are a few things you can do to make sure the Holocaust is never forgotten and that the call of “never again” will be remembered:

Listen to a Holocaust survivor: As time passes by, for most of us, it can be challenging to meet one in person. The powerful work of the staff at The Holocaust and Antisemitism Foundation brings many testimonies from survivors on video, and by virtue of that medium, renders their unique stories eternal. Additionally, the Steven Spielberg Shoah Foundation has over 54,000 video testimonies of survivors that are there to stay. Every single one of them is poignant and memorable in its own way.

Visit a Death Camp: Walking alongside the one-way train tracks and through the eerily empty barracks and on the death-camp grounds will leave an indelible mark in your memory. The Death Camps are the gruesome monuments left over from one of the darkest periods of mankind’s history. If at all possible, everybody, and most definitely every Christian should walk through one of them once in their lifetime.

Visit a Holocaust Memorial Museum: There are several Holocaust Memorials in the United States. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. or the Simon Wiesenthal Center/Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles are just two of the most impactful and fruitful in their respective communities and nationally. The list is much longer and warrants several different visits if possible.

Read an account of the Holocaust: From survivors’ accounts to biographies, historical accounts and even poems, the choices are many. Every human being should read the short but life-altering account of Elie Wiesel’s time at Auschwitz-Birkenau retold in Night, his story of resilience and survival against all odds. A detailed and accurate account of the Holocaust can be found in Lucy Dawidowicz The War Against the Jews or in The destruction of the European Jews by Raul Hilberg. If you are not a reader, you can always watch Schindler’s List.

It is our duty as human beings to remember the Holocaust, retell its history to the current and future generations and resist antisemitism by speaking-up against those who deny that it ever happened. Don’t rely on others to remember the uniqueness of the Holocaust! Don’t wait for someone else to come alongside or speak up in your place. speak up and remember because it is the right thing to do!

January 4, 2021 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Antisemitism 2020: A Year in Review – Part II

As I have been monitoring antisemitism domestically and globally for over two decades, I always 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. In my previous post, I reviewed January to June 2020, let’s review the rest of the year now:

July 2020: Israel’s Right to the Land

When the world struggles with a pandemic and increasing racial/cultural riots, Israel takes second place on the news. Don’t quote me wrong, there is still plenty of antisemitic rhetoric to be heard, and acts against Jews still abound. But, somehow, there had been a bit of a respite. That was until the approaching deadline for Israel’s annexation of territories from the West Bank became news. The day for the move was July 1st, but Benjamin Netanyahu decided to delay it a bit. Historically and politically, the 1917 Balfour Declaration followed by the 1920 San Remo Conference really made it clear that the land then known as “Palestine” belonged to the Jewish people. I see three reasons why this is true:

Biblically, Israel owns the whole land: Going back to the book of Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:18-21; Leviticus 25:23.)

Prophetically, Israel needs the whole land: There is an important factor that plays out in the future of the Jewish people. It is known as the Law of Return, which was passed in 1950 in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament.) The Jewish people are also promised by God that in the future they will all return to the land, even in unbelief. In other words, a Jewish person’s spiritual connection of lack of, to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has no bearing on God’s promise to bring the Jewish people back to the land in the last days (Ezekiel 36:22-28.)

Geopolitically, Israel runs the whole land better: With their proverbial head in the sand, most people do not realize how much better life in Israel can be for all people. This tiny sliver of land in the Middle East truly is a beacon of light in a very dark place. It is recognized as the only true democracy in the whole region.

August 2020: The Abraham Accord and the Antichrist

From a human perspective, in a region that has been punctuated by wars since Israel’s birth as a modern nation on May 14, 1948, seeing peace between Israel and Arab neighbors is highly unexpected and very exciting. There has been a “proverbial” hatred between Arabs and Jews for at least 75 years. It’s complicated! But from a human perspective, peace is good. As long as we understand that humanly speaking, peace simply means the absence of war.

At the end of the day, the world is quickly getting ready for the Antichrist (Daniel 9:26-27), but the world is also ready for the Messiah. It is up to those of us who know the difference, to teach those who would be tempted to follow the Antichrist, and lead them to the only true Prince of Peace known as Yeshua of Nazareth

September 2020: It’s All the Jews’ Fault

As 2020 went on, just about everything has been blamed on the Jews. This is nothing new, as we have been the scapegoats of humanity for centuries.

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 has been suffering from two huge spikes of new cases of Covid-19.

The Protests/Riots: 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 choked to death. The group known as US Campaign for Palestinian Rights came up with that unfounded accusation.

October 2020: A Jewish Cabal!

QAnon: The strange attraction that people have for the mysterious group known as QAnon is also leading people to blame the Jews. 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.

November/December 2020: Hope Only in God’s Word

Bible Prophecies are directed by God Himself for the benefit of mankind. From that perspective, almost 30% of the Tenach (Old Testament) is prophetic, and almost 22% of the B’rit Hadashah (New Testament) is prophetic.

Now, let’s look at the one world event that we are living through today that is a guarantee that we are in the last days. I am speaking of the regathering of the Jewish people to the land of Eretz Yisrael. God promised to restore the land of Israel and He did when He allowed for the birth of the modern state of Israel on May 14, 1948. Beyond the restoration of the land, He also promised in Ezekiel that the Jewish people would return to it in the end times. Ezekiel 36:24 is clear, “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.” This speaks of the physical restoration of Israel and it has literally been happening in front of our very eyes for the last few decades. Additionally, In Ezekiel 37, the prophet is given a vision known as “the vision of the valley of dry bones”, in which he is told that Jewish people will return to Israel. This is about Israel’s national restoration, which is controlled by the God of Israel.

But the national physical restoration is only part of this world event because we will also see the spiritual rebirth of Israel as we read in Ezekiel 36:25-27. There are still some unknown elements to the end times, but, what we need to know, is that as we see the Jewish people repopulating their ancestral biblical land, we are living in these end times for sure, and this should encourage us and motivate us to share the Gospel with our people.

in 2021, let us all commit to learning more about the Bible, Israel, end-times and antisemitism so that we can make a better difference in our fight against the oldest hatred!

Happy New Year!

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!

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