United States

May 5, 2022 By Olivier Melnick 9 Comments

One Ship, a Few Horses But No Jews!

The year 2021 saw a big surge in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States. According to the Anti Defamation League, 2021 saw a 34% increase over 2020. This is only for the United States and this only tabulates the incidents that were reported, and only if they were filed as hate crimes against Jews. Needless to say, if we were to take them all into consideration, the number is guaranteed to be higher than 34%.

It still seems as if most people remain silent when anti-Semitism takes place. There is this eerie feeling of emotional disconnect. There will always be those who speak up against acts of xenophobia and social injustice, but when it comes to anti-Semitism, it still feels like too many people are looking the other way. There is a name for such people, they are called bystanders. For whatever reason and whatever justification is offered, those who do not react to, whitewash or ignore anti-Semitism are bystanders, and as justified as they might feel that they are, at the end of the day, a bystander always facilitates the crimes of the perpetrators one way or another. Unfortunately, history is replete with events that took place at the expense of Jews. These were events that show how humanity’s warped view of the Jews led some people to completely ignore their plight.

Some will remember “The Voyage of the St. Louis” which took place in the late 1930s. The ship sailed from Hamburg, Germany on May 13, 1939, with 937 passengers on board…Destination: Cuba. To put this in perspective, this was only six months after the pogroms and boycotts of Kristallnacht in Berlin (Nov. 9-10, 1938) which was the onset of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” Some Jewish people appeared to be seeing the proverbial handwriting on the wall and made arrangements to flee Germany before it was too late. They secured entry papers for Cuba and also applied for US visas. They were going to stay in Cuba until their papers came through. By May 24, the ship had arrived in Cuba, but all passengers were denied landing. Their landing certificates had been invalidated days before they left Hamburg unbeknownst only to them, but not to the organizers of the voyage.

The ship waited a while and then was forced to depart. It made it to the US Florida coast, but again, all passengers were denied landing. They tried further north in Canada to no avail. Eventually, the St. Louis turned around and sailed back to Europe. France, the Netherlands, Belgium and England each took about a quarter of the passengers as refugees. 254 of the passengers ended up perishing in the Holocaust. This was an avoidable tragedy. For the United States, it was about a decade past the Great Depression and immigration certainly wasn’t a popular topic with the people or within government, especially on the cusp of another presidential election for FDR. This is understandable, but during a world war, drastic measures should be considered if they are going to save many lives, unless they are Jewish lives, or so it appears!

If you think that this was unacceptable, you are not going to like the story of the Lipizzaner horses. Before we look at what happened to these horses during World War Two, we need to recognize their beauty, elegance and rich 425-year history. These unique horses were developed and bred by the Hapsburg monarchy (Austria) going back to the 16th century. They have been associated with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. They can be trained to perform prestigious moves no other horse could do. They are rare and unique protected animals. So, it is understandable that if their breed runs the risk of extinction, much would be done to prevent that from happening, and rightfully so!

In 1945, during the last few months of the war, as the Russian Red Army was pushing toward Germany, the Lipizzaner horses were in great danger of becoming food rations for starving Russian soldiers. An appeal for help was launched to the United States and General Patton (a horseman himself) was dispatched with a team to rescue the horses and bring them to safety, preserving the breed for the future. Their mission was very successful…Well, at least for horse lovers!

For almost a year, various Jewish organizations brought intel to the United States about the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. They repeatedly pleaded with President Roosevelt to either bomb Auschwitz-Birkenau or at the very least, the railroads leading to the camps. The stern and sobering response from the war department was that such a move would necessitate, “the diversion of considerable air support essential to the success of our forces now engaged in decisive operations elsewhere…” The real reason behind the decision not to bomb the areas was that FDR, again, didn’t want to end up with a large number of Jewish refugees on his hands. The United States did indeed divert resources and manpower more than once for various missions, but never to rescue Jews out of the camps during the war. In the Fall of 1944, the United States bombed factories less than 5 miles from the Auschwitz death camp but chose not to proceed with the destruction of Auschwitz or the leading railroad. The rescue of horses with a 425-year history superseded the rescue of the Jewish people with an almost 6,000-year history. Forget the history and just consider that animals were rescued but human beings were ignored and sent to their death.

These are two extreme cases of bystanders’ actions or lack of, sealing the fate of many Jewish people. Bystanders come in all sizes, shapes and colors. Sadly, it looks like we are not immune to making the same mistakes again today. So little is being said or done to speak up against acts of anti-Semitism or injustices against the Jewish people, that we could see more tragedies unfold. When the life of an animal ever becomes more important than the life of a human being, then we should look at ourselves in the mirror, because maybe just maybe, we are the ones who have become the animals?

April 21, 2022 By Olivier Melnick 1 Comment

Meet Deborah Lipstadt: The New US Antisemitism Envoy!

Most Americans might not know who Deborah Lipstadt is, and yet, her new appointment as the US antisemitism envoy by President Biden shouldn’t be ignored. First, let us look at Ms. Lipstadt’s background and credentials. She is an American historian of Jewish descent and an expert on Holocaust history and antisemitism. In her 1993 book Denying the Holocaust, she exposed the views of historical revisionist David Irving who claims that the Holocaust never happened. David Irving sued Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books for libel, and in 2000, Lipstadt won the case. Incidentally, a great movie telling that story and titled Denial, was made in 2006.

Deborah Lipstadt wrote several other books on the topic of antisemitism and also has been a consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 1994 she was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council by President Bill Clinton. In 2021, President Biden nominated her for the position of United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism, and on March 30, 2022, after a long delay, the US Senate confirmed her unanimously.

The position was created in 2004 and had several people at its head since. There is no doubt that from the standpoint of understanding antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt is qualified for the task, and it is a very difficult task requiring some hard decisions to be made. In her recent book Antisemitism Here and Now, she defines antisemitism as: “Antisemitism is not the hatred of people who happen to be Jews. It is hatred of them because they are Jews.”

She has a point. I agree that antisemitism is the hatred of Jews because they are Jews, and as a form of xenophobia, it is quite unique. The challenge for Lipstadt and others trying to define, expose and teach against antisemitism, is to define it properly. Make the definition too narrow and real acts of antisemitism will fall through the crack but make it too wide almost to the point of saying that any criticism of Jewish people and/or Israel is antisemitism, and when real antisemitism occurs, people won’t pay attention. Defining antisemitism requires a delicate balance between overreaction and nonchalance. My best attempt at crafting a definition is as follows: “Antisemitism is the irrational and demonic hatred of Jewish people and Israel characterized by thoughts, words and/or deeds against them.” Even my definition probably falls short of properly defining antisemitism, but I believe that it is critical to accept the fact that antisemitism is irrational and demonic. Once we understand that only Satan can make the irrational look and sound rational, it all fits!

As I have said before, any definition of antisemitism that doesn’t include a spiritual component will always fall short. It is truly impossible to understand antisemitism without including Satan’s hatred for the “apple of God’s eye”. He [Satan] is obsessed with destroying all the Jews so that not one will be left when it is time to say Baruch Haba Bashem Adonai (Zechariah 12:10)–the single event that will usher in the Second Coming of Messiah AND pronounce the demise of Satan.

I am not sure that Deborah Lipstadt includes the demonic criteria in her definition, nevertheless, the task that she has been entrusted with is so critical at this time in our history. She has become the spokesperson on the subject, and there is no doubt that the expectations will be very high as to how she will denounce, expose and fight the oldest hatred.

I wish I could be excited and hopeful about this appointment, but I am concerned about some statements she has made. I honestly don’t care if she is a liberal or conservative, as long as she is competent in her field. Unfortunately, I must disagree with her statement about Holocaust denial. In the aftermath of the lawsuit that David Irving brought on her and Penguin Books, she was quoted saying, “Generally, I don’t think Holocaust denial should be a crime. I am a free speech person; I am against censorship.” I couldn’t disagree more. Denying the existence of the organized, methodical genocide that was the Holocaust SHOULD constitute a crime! I too am in favor of free speech and I too am against censorship, but we must have moral boundaries and by making that statement, Ms. Lipstadt might have committed another–albeit different–sin of denial.

Holocaust denial is willful blindness to the facts of history. It is unfounded historical revisionism and should absolutely be punished as a crime. I understand that Ms. Lipstadt might be academically and scholarly competent to teach on the Holocaust and antisemitism, but she might also be blinded by liberal political correctness, and that would really be a shame!

February 23, 2022 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Joseph Goebbels Would be so Proud!

I like to remember Joseph Goebbels as the short-lived Chancellor of Germany in 1945. He inherited the title the day that Hitler committed suicide, on April 30, 1945. He held that title for one day until he poisoned his six children and committed suicide with his wife on May 1, 1945. So, he was Chancellor for a day, but the real damage that he inflicted on European Jews was in the years leading up to that day.

Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s Reich Minister of public enlightenment and propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He had belonged to the Nazi party since 1924. As Minister of propaganda, Goebbels was responsible for the brainwashing of German citizens through the dissemination of antisemitic literature, painting the Jewish people as subhuman and vermin needing destruction. His role for the Third Reich was to convince the German people that the Jews had to be eradicated. He was rather successful. He was also an accomplished orator who practiced his speeches ahead of time with precision and attention to body language. He wanted to convey authority. Not long after his 1933 official appointment, he organized a Nazi book burning. Books considered subversive or promoting any ideology contrary to Nazism were destroyed. It was “Cancel Culture” before its time.

When German diplomat Ernst Vom Rath was assassinated in Paris in November 1938, Goebbels orchestrated the production and distribution of antisemitic materials to be released by the press. The German people had been indoctrinated for a few years already against the Jews and Goebbels gave an inflammatory speech on November 8, 1938, at a meeting of the Nazi Party, and incited the people, something he was very good at. It didn’t take long for the situation to grow into a full-blown pogrom and boycott of Jewish businesses. It became known as Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) and it is recognized by historians as the starting date for the Holocaust. According to the dictionary, propaganda is “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” The German people would not have bought the Nazi agenda if it was not for Goebbels’ well-oiled propaganda machine.

Goebbels knew that in order to indoctrinate a large number of people into believing in the validity of a cause he had to work tirelessly at spreading lies and rumors. He did it through speeches, rallies, book burnings and literature distribution. He also helped to write the now-famous Reichtag’s speech of 1939 when Hitler announced that if a war would take place, all Jews would be annihilated. Eventually, the propaganda ministry took over the radio industry and the film industry, leaving the German people very little chance of hearing and viewing anything other than Nazi propaganda. Goebbels didn’t come in one day and decide to take over communication and change it all to antisemitic propaganda. He moved slowly and strategically, and so are the anti-Semites of today.

In the last few weeks, there has been a seemingly well-orchestrated distribution of antisemitic flyers in the United States in North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, California and Texas. Some of these awful flyers were just found in neighborhoods of Colleyville, Texas, where a synagogue was attacked, and a rabbi and congregants were taken hostage a month prior. What are we to make of these flyers?

Some people are trying to brush off the incidents as stupidity while others are simply picking up the flyers and throwing them away, not giving them any attention. In some cases, this would be the appropriate response; but considering the increased hatred for Jewish people recently demonstrated all over the world, these flyers cannot be ignored. They are definitely a symptom of something much more sinister. I believe that they are part of a greater propaganda campaign to demonize the Jews. Even if many people shared their outrage at the flyers, many more will accept their lies as truth and further denigrate the Jewish people. Propaganda usually holds just enough – albeit twisted – truth to be believable.

As to the current flyers, several things need to be brought up. They either list all the people involved in handling Covid as Jews, or they show a list of Biden’s administration staff who are Jewish. The goal is to make people believe that the Jews control everything for their own benefit. This takes us back to the 1903 hoax written by Sergei Nilus “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” claiming to be the minutes of a Jewish cabal meeting organized to take over the whole world.

Also on the flyer, is a quote from Revelation 2:9, “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” It seems to indicate that the Jews are from the synagogue of Satan, in other words, demon-possessed. It certainly doesn’t help when early theologians like John Chrysostom used those words with authority to denigrate the Jews. Contextually, the Synagogue of Satan is most likely describing gentiles acting like Jews and corrupting Jewish customs. When kept in the proper context, these accusations cannot be antisemitic as they were not directed towards Jews. It does give a very negative reputation to Christians, as well as, give fuel to the Jewish community for claiming that the New Testament is antisemitic. The quote of Revelation 2:9 gives the creators of the flyer some false cred, painting them as Christians, while they are most certainly not.

Possibly the most ironic statement made on the flyer is, “These flyers were distributed randomly without malicious intent.” Seriously? The flyer claims that the Jews control everything and that they are from the synagogue of Satan, not to mention the link to the virulently antisemitic site www.goyimtv.tv, and there is no malice? What about the fact that they were all distributed in states that have large Jewish demographics?

The flyers are a sign of the times. They tell us that it continues to be very dangerous for Jewish people around the world. They are part of the propaganda to turn the world against the Jews. We do know that the whole world will eventually turn against the Jews from Zechariah 12:3, “On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.” This is not an invitation to do nothing. On the contrary, it is a call to action. The bullies against Israel and the Jews will always exist and will even increase in numbers, but they must be fought, exposed and punished by law. We also know that at the end of the story, Satan is defeated, and Yeshua prevails. Israel will never be forsaken by God no matter how hard bullies and anti-Semites come at her (Jeremiah 31:35-37).

We will not be able to completely eradicate antisemitism until Yeshua Ha Mashiach, the Prince of Peace is back on earth, and we enter the Messianic Kingdom in His presence. Until then, we cannot end it, but we certainly can fight it and show the Jewish people who their friends truly are.

The flyers are to be taken very seriously. They are proof that the Jewish people continue to be the victims of propaganda. Propaganda is very pernicious. It patiently infiltrates all levels of society to brainwash people into believing lies as the truth. It worked for Hitler and Goebbels, and if we remain silent, it will work for the new anti-Semites of the twenty-first century. What’s next, the burning of Jewish books again? Goebbels would be so proud!

February 4, 2022 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Amnesty International: Israel Criticism or Blatant Antisemitism?

The NGO Amnesty International just made the news again with a 276-page report entitled “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and crime against humanity.” To most people, the title will say it all and they will not bother reading the over-200 -page report. Amnesty International still relies on a name and reputation that was originally established with ethical intentions to fight crimes against humanity, but where does Amnesty International stand today?

Amnesty International was started in the United Kingdom in 1961 by Lawyer Peter Beneson. His intentions were very honorable as he was quoted saying, “Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done.”

Fast forward to 2022, and Amnesty International publishes a vitriolic report against Israel’s right to exist. They boldly declare, “Amnesty International has analyzed Israel’s intent to create and maintain a system of oppression and domination over Palestinians and examined its key components: territorial fragmentation; segregation and control; dispossession of land and property; and denial of economic and social rights. It has concluded that this system amounts to apartheid. Israel must dismantle this cruel system and the international community must pressure it to do so. All those with jurisdiction over the crimes committed to maintain the system should investigate them.”

This statement of just a few lines is laced with lies and false assumptions that can easily be debunked if one takes the time to do proper research such as the work of the Jewish Virtual Library. In fact, the entire document prepared by Amnesty International is built upon years of propaganda and the false narrative about the Palestinian people living in the Land of Israel centuries before the Jews. It is critical to understand that since the Bar Kochba Jewish revolt against the Romans under Emperor Hadrian, the land of Canaan, also known as Israel, Judea and Samaria was renamed. The whole land was renamed Palaestina and Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina. The name change was done by the Romans to further humiliate the Jews in their defeat against Hadrian. The name was simply meant to be a geographical name change, never based on history or archeology. Back then, none of that even crossed the minds of the Romans. They just wanted to ridicule the Jews in calling our land and capital by a non-Jewish name.

Not long after the birth of the modern State of Israel on May 14, 1948, the name started to take on more of a geopolitical meaning. Up to that time, there were Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs. Now, the Arabs had become Palestinians and the Jews were Israeli Jews. The chasm was created and continued to widen for several decades. Today, it is accepted as a fact that Jews are occupying Palestinian land and the accusation of apartheid keeps coming from various foes like the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), some people in Hollywood, academia, government and even some church denominations.

If one is seeking the truth in that matter, it doesn’t take long to realize that pre-1948, Palestine only had a geographical meaning. A great way to prove that is by looking at a “Palestinian coin” prior to 1948. The coin will have the word “Palestine” in Arabic, English and Hebrew and next to the Hebrew version of the word, there are two letters in parentheses (Aleph-Yod). These two letters stand for the initials of Eretz Yisrael, meaning “the Land of Israel.” Every pre-1948 Palestinian coin had words added to remind people that Palestine was really the land of Israel, and nobody complained or even cared.

Amnesty International compiled this 276-page report to prove that Israel is oppressing the rightful owners of the land. They boldly claim that “Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has pursued an explicit policy of establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic hegemony and maximizing its control over land to benefit Jewish Israelis while minimizing the number of Palestinians and restricting their rights and obstructing their ability to challenge this dispossession. In 1967, Israel extended this policy beyond the Green Line to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which it has occupied ever since. Today, all territories controlled by Israel continue to be administered with the purpose of benefiting Jewish Israelis to the detriment of Palestinians, while Palestinian refugees continue to be excluded.”

It looks like Amnesty International chooses to ignore some very important events in history that have helped validate Israel’s right to the Land. Going back to 1917, we cannot ignore the Balfour Declaration that was the modern catalyst for the 1948 rebirth of Israel. The Balfour Declaration, penned in November 1917 by Lord Arthur Balfour, was a simple policy statement drafted to facilitate the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in what was then known as Palestine. It was official and carried some political weight, but it was not until three years later that things really gelled for the Jewish people, at the San Remo Conference in Italy. At that time, it became a “binding act of international law” and was incorporated in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. The minutes of the “San Remo Palestine Meeting of the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers” shed much light on the legal aspect of Palestine becoming the homeland for Jews. Additionally, more can be learned about that part of history in Randall Price’s (Editor) recent book “What Should We Think About Israel?” This is all part of history and I cannot help but wonder if Amnesty International is ignoring it?

Accusing Israel of Apartheid shows that Amnesty International doesn’t really understand the meaning of the word and it is also a slap in the face of the myriad of South African people who suffered from apartheid for decades. The dictionary definition of apartheid is, “a former policy of segregation and political, social, and economic discrimination against the nonwhite majority in the Republic of South Africa.” While Israel is far from being perfect, this is not what Israel is all about. While almost no Jews live in the Arab world today, 21% of people in Israel’s 9.5MM people are Arabs, which is much more than in 1948. This is not apartheid and it is the opposite of ethnic cleansing.

Amnesty International’s report was quickly rejected by serious scholars, honest students of history and many Jewish organizations; but the intention was to make noise on the international scene, and that, they did! Calling for the dismantling of Israel is an all-out war against the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog clearly stated the truth, “This report, which frames Israel as an apartheid state, doesn’t belong in the category of criticism designed to promote human rights, but rather in the category of ideological delegitimization of the very right of Israel to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people.”

Under the self-righteous cloak of criticism of Israel and the protection of human rights for Palestinians, Amnesty International continues to spew its antisemitic venom on the international scene, painting Israel as the unlawful occupier of Palestinian land and emboldening antisemites the world over. This report hit the scene just as antisemitism is at its highest in the past decade. The timing almost seems to be planned. I beg all truth-seekers to study the annals of history to not only learn about the events of the past but to also learn how to debunk the Amnesty International report and come to appreciate Israel even more! And again, while not perfect, Israel incorporates Arabs in every aspect of Israeli life from police, fire, doctors to the judicial system and Parliament. This is hardly “apartheid”! This, in the Middle East, has sadly always been and apparently will remain, a one-way street.

January 21, 2022 By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment

Are We Learning Anything from Pittsburgh, Poway or Colleyville?

80 years ago this week, a handful of high-ranking Nazi officials gathered in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee for a conference during which they discussed the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. This was the Nazi euphemism used to privately describe the systematic and deliberate attempt at destroying all European Jews. The various officials represented all the government agencies that were called to work together towards the nefarious goal that almost succeeded.

The conference was not the start of the annihilation of the European Jews. Most of its participants were aware of Nazi Germany’s efforts to mass murder Jews. The Einsatzgruppen had been working for about a year, but they were not efficient enough. Shooting Jews into mass graves that they had dug themselves was too slow for Hitler even though about a third of all the Jewish victims of the Holocaust were killed by mass shootings. The conference only lasted 90 minutes and out of it, a list of 11 million European Jews was drafted. There are very few surviving copies of the protocol document documenting the Conference.

Today, very few people remember, let alone know about the Wannsee Conference and the official implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” Ignorance, apathy or pure disdain are no excuses. If we continue to ignore the dark markers of history, eventually, they will disappear, and the next generation will think that they were just myths or propaganda with no factual truth. We cannot afford that, especially at a time when the weed of antisemitism is starting to regrow and thus choke our historical accuracy and make Jews into monsters again. We are always only one anti-Semite away from another tragedy. This was made clear in Colleyville, Texas, even if the outcome was a good one for all four hostages.

On Saturday, January 15, 2022, a hostage situation unraveled in Colleyville, Texas near Fort Worth. Pakistani UK citizen, Malik Faisal Akram entered Congregation Beth Israel during a live-streamed Shabbat service and took the Rabbi and three congregants hostage. The man claimed to be the brother of extremely dangerous terrorist Aalia Siddiqui, serving an 86-year sentence in a nearby Fort Worth prison. He repeatedly requested her immediate release. It turned out that they were not related after all. By the end of the day after one of the hostages was first released, the Rabbi who had received FBI training helped the other two hostages escape shortly before the FBI raided the facility and shot Malik Faisal Akram.

This is one hostage story that ended well for all, and we ought to praise God for how swiftly the SWAT team intervened. Unfortunately, these do not always end well. Many will remember the 2015 “I Am Charlie” terrorist attack on French soil, culminating in the death of four Jewish hostages at the Paris Kosher Supermarket. Closer to home, we remember the 2018 deadly Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting that killed eleven and wounded six (the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in America). Then there was the Poway Chabad Synagogue in Southern California in 2019. One person was killed and three were injured.

It is important to look back and learn from the past, but as we all look forward, the questions remain. Can these tragedies happen again, and if yes, can anything be done to prevent them from happening?

Let me reiterate that we are just one antisemitic person away from the next tragedy. So, yes, we will most likely experience more of the same in the future, but this should not deter us from being involved in the fight against antisemitism. Three aspects of this fight need to be discussed: education, prayer and involvement.

Most news outlets, commentators and even scholars, usually comment on antisemitism from a secular viewpoint. The Jewish hatred is approached from different vantage points that are too often crippled by political correctness. Why was it so hard for the FBI representative in Colleyville to admit that a hostage situation in a Synagogue on Shabbat, to free antisemitic terrorist Aalia Siddiqui, was indeed an act of antisemitism? He was quoted saying “the issue was not specifically related to the Jewish community”. Regarding the same act of antisemitism, CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) was quick to whitewash the incident and refocus the public’s attention towards Aalia Siddiqui, painted as a martyr/victim. I can appreciate their desire to protect the Muslim community from backlash because of what one man –who happened to be a Muslim–did, but we must be careful not to overcompensate. Eventually, the FBI had to back-pedal and admit that this was a clear case of antisemitism. The FBI Director finally admitted that it was “an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community”.

Proper education is key here. Anytime we are swayed towards a biased narrative, our judgment becomes blurred, and our decisions are no longer based on facts, but on either the culture or a certain political agenda. That is dangerous. The fact that the Colleyville incident was not immediately labeled as an act of antisemitism, shows that, as a society, our values are shifting. For Christians, it should be clear that the culture should never dictate the Gospel, but rather the Gospel should punctuate the culture while being contextualized, but without compromise.

Jewish people, today more than ever, need to know that Christians have their backs. 2,000 years of antisemitism, many times by people whom the Jewish community believed to be Christians, is a lot of baggage for evangelicals today. Unfortunately, this is baggage that cannot be ignored or minimized, even though it might not be yours personally. If you are a Christian, it has been connected to you by the Jewish community. This baggage must be studied and understood if we want to be able to relate to our Jewish friends and earn the right to speak. Only then can we tell them what it means to be a Bible-believing follower of the Jewish Messiah.

Alongside education comes prayer. Truly, prayer needs to be at the foundation of all that we do as believers. Praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6) is important, but this ought not be the only prayer for Israel and the Jewish people. We need to remember to pray for the safety of our Jewish friends and families, but also for their salvation (Romans 10:1). Additionally, as believers, we are even challenged to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

We must also remember that the hatred for Israel and the Jewish people is not politically, geographically, culturally or even economically driven. It is a spiritual battle against Satan and those he chooses to use to hurt God by hurting the apple of His eye (Psalm 83:5; Zechariah 2:8b). Satan is the creator of antisemitism and we should never underestimate his drive to destroy the Jews.

So, we learn, we pray and then we speak up, and not necessarily always in that order. Learning is a continual thing; prayer is always necessary and speaking up occurs whenever there is a reason to voice our support. Speaking up will go a long way in rebuilding bridges between Christians and Jews that have been burned over the last 2,000 years.

A simple phone call or email to your local synagogue or Jewish community center to voice your support to the Jewish people will mean a lot in times of trouble. Christians might even consider volunteering to repair or clean up damages on Jewish property because of acts of antisemitic vandalism. The Jewish community might decline the offer, but the offer will never go unnoticed.

For churches that have an outside marquee, it is very easy and quite effective to show support for the Jewish community relating to a tragedy such as a hostage situation or even a killing.

Even outside of a reaction to a tragedy, churches can always display a “Happy New Year to our Jewish friends” or “Happy Passover” or “Happy Hanukkah” at the appropriate time. This too, as simple as you think it is, will go a long way. If the Jewish community organizes a rally in support of Israel or to fight antisemitism, now is the time for Christians to participate and show their support.

Education, prayer, and involvement are not that complicated, but they take time, the right attitude of the heart and a desire to make a difference for God’s kingdom. Once we earn the trust of our Jewish friends, we have also earned the right to speak and the Gospel can move forward.

Let’s not wait for the next Pittsburg, Poway or Colleyville to react. Rather, let’s be proactive and educate ourselves, pray and speak today! Antisemitism might never completely disappear on this side of eternity, but that should not discourage any of us from getting involved in fighting it. Because when it comes to loving Israel and the Jewish people, we are on God’s side!

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