The Christ at the Checkpoint Manifesto
Truth, Half-Truths and Lies: “Christ at the Checkpoint” anti-Israel Conference
The Christ at the Checkpoint Manifesto
By Olivier Melnick 20 Comments
One thing that the enemies of Israel have in common aside from their passionate desire to see that tiny strip of land obliterated, is that they are very creative in their ways to promote her destruction. It does not matter that Israel became a modern nation in May 1948, after vindication by the UN vote (33 Yes and 13 Nos) in November of 1947. It does not matter that Israel is the ONLY democracy in the middle east where many Arabs are better treated than in their own respective countries, and it certainly doesn’t matter that God Himself covenanted with Israel and the Jewish people so that Israel would never be destroyed (Genesis 12:1-3; Jeremiah 31:35-37)!
From the moment Israel was reborn as a modern nation, neighboring Arab countries and soon after other worldwide countries started to work overtime on a plan to thwart her growth if not her very existence. As it turned out, the UN, the very organization used as a platform to Israel’s rebirth out of the ashes of the Holocaust, has passed more resolutions against Israel since 1948 that any other country in the world.
Today, many solutions are brought forward to bring peace in the middle east between Jews and Arabs. While common sense dictates that any good solution requires compromise which is a bilateral effort, the options presented to Israel seem to be unilateral at best. At the end of the day, the destruction of Israel is always part of the equation, either in an obvious or insidious manner.
Three recurring options can be defined.
1. A Two-State Solution
Based on direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Two-State Solution envisions two countries side-by-side: Israel and Palestine, carved out of the Land currently know as the State of Israel. Constant disagreements pertaining to borders and sensitive areas such as the Temple Mount have rendered the Two-State solution very unlikely. Yet it continues to be pursued.
Regardless of the numerous geographical, political and spiritual roadblocks, many countries have pushed for Israelis and Palestinians to “get along” and live side-by-side. Just about all American presidents have tried to bring about a Two-State Solution since the first attempt was presented by the Peel Commission Report of 1937 under the British Mandate of Palestine.
Beyond governments, grass root movements such as Christ at the Checkpoint (CatC) have organized conferences (2010 and upcoming in March 2012) at the Bethlehem College of the Bible. Under the guise of hope, peacemaking and reconciliation, this gathering turns out to be a hateful parade of politically correct pro-Palestinians and anti-Zionists wanting nothing less than Israel admitting her “colonialist” approach to the middle east crisis. Their agenda is only fueled further by recent movies such as With God on Our Side or Little Town of Bethlehem were Israel is clearly (but inaccurately) represented as the oppressor or “New Nazi of the Middle east” creating an “apartheid nation”. Both movies are boldly endorsed by an array of Evangelical Christians.
Even though many Israelis and Palestinian might genuinely be in favor of a Two-State Solution, the Palestinian leadership has made it impossible to achieve, especially when one looks at their unilateral demands. The Two-State solution is NO SOLUTION!
By Olivier Melnick 10 Comments
There is a 17th century Japanese proverb often rendered in drawings, carvings and/or sculptures known as sanbiki no saru or “three monkeys”. By respectively covering their eyes, ears and mouth, they embody the principle of “See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil”. They are known worldwide as the “Three Wise Monkeys”.
While in and of itself, the maxim teaches some very good principles, it can also lead to the opposite results when applied within the wrong context like in the case of Western civilization and Islam.
Recently, the “peaceful and democratic” Muslim Brotherhood (MB) declared that their ultimate goal was the “Mastership of the World” or in other words complete world domination. As ludicrous as this may sound to many tolerant, politically-correct westerners, the MB is dead serious! They plan to do it by re-establishing the Caliphate (rulership of Islam under the caliph or spiritual head). They might be well on their way in Europe with the help of the OCI (Organisation de la Conference Islamique), already acting as a corporate caliphate of 56 Muslim nations (1.3 billion muslims).
This is the same Muslim brotherhood who within days of toppling down Qaddafi and his regime decided to established Sharia n Lybia. This is the same Muslim brotherhood who has infiltrated the Egyptian government after Mubarak’s departure and will most likely take over Egypt in the next elections.
Incidentally, former US President Jimmy Carter was just in Egypt and is telling the world that the Muslim brotherhood want to assume political control but he [Carter] wants to re-assure us that the peace treaty with Israel will still be honored. I feel safer already!
I wonder if Mr. Carter is aware of the statement made by MB deputy chief Rashad al-Bayoumi regarding the Egypt/Israel Peace Treaty:
“We weren’t party to the peace treaty, it was signed away from the Egyptian people and thus the people must have its say,” the Muslim Brotherhood official said. Referring to the issue of recognizing Israel, al-Bayoumi said that the Muslim Brotherhood was not required to recognize Egypt’s neighbor to the north, saying that Israel was an “occupying entity and we will not allow anyone of our members to meet with an Israeli. I won’t allow myself to meet with a criminal and there’s no chance that we’ll cooperate with Israel,” the Egyptian official said.
Sahih Muslim 30—Muhammad said: “I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah.”
Qur’an 5:51—O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.
Then you have the rest of us “the infidels” who put their trust in the one who died to first bring peace in the heart of men–Messiah ben Joseph– and ultimately will return to bring real shalom to the whole world, and reign as King out of Jerusalem–Messiah ben David (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). Two Messianic offices in one person: Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth. He came to atone for our sins, died and rose again so that we can repent and make Him our Lord and Savior. Then, when God the Father looks at us, He will see no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil!
By Olivier Melnick Leave a Comment
Greek mythology tells us that once, long ago, all the evils of the world were contained in a box, sealed and given to Pandora. Eventually, succumbing to curiosity, she opened it and all the evils were released. Of course, the opening and releasing were easy, as to the capturing back of all evil and re-sealing of Pandora’s box, well, that’s a different story!
Late October 2011, a proverbial Pandora’s box was opened when UNESCO decided to include the Palestinian Authority on its roaster of member nations. The approval required two thirds of UNESCO general assembly and passed by 107 to 14 (52 abstentions). Almost immediately, the State Department announced that its funding of UNESCO would cease. It is now clear that the catalyst to the State Department’s decision was the legal requirement to stop funding any agency that would recognize Palestine. Yet, one is to hope that there was also a shred of moral or ethical motivation, but regardless, damage has been done.
The Palestinians are determined to acquire recognition by the U.N., but if they cannot parade through the front door with pomp and circumstance, they will quietly enter through any door that will get them any closer to international recognition. The UNESCO membership acquisition was one of those back doors. There are many more the Palestinians could go through, in their attempt to strengthen their case, and don’t think for a second that they won’t!
UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The organization has many facets, and thrives to make our world a better world through the promotion and support of education, science and culture. For the last decade, it has emphasized “cultural diversity” in an effort to help radically different people groups get along and promote world peace. Conceptually, it is very hard to argue with that, and this is why the world has been giving its support to the organization.
But Pandora’s Box being opened, we can expect the imminent effects of its evil imposed on our world at any time. As a matter of fact, the first blow was given in the form of a Palestinian Youth magazine know as Zayzafouna. It recently came to the attention of a few who care enough to be watchdogs, such as the Palestinian Media Watch who passed the information to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, that the magazine’s February 2011 issue featured an article in which a ten-year-old Palestinian girl said that Hitler told her in a dream: “I killed them [the Jews] so you would all know that they are a nation who spreads destruction all over the world.” The magazine, we are told, promotes democracy and tolerance. Why is it then, that a young girl could write about Hitler being her role model?
To their credit, UNESCO quickly pulled their support away from the magazine, denouncing its hateful article.
As I see it, there might be some benefits to the Palestinian membership at UNESCO. Now that Pandora’s box has been opened and many evils have been released, it is only a matter of time before the next antisemitic deed comes from the Palestinians. This is going to force UNESCO to realize how ludicrous and how wrong their move to accept a group of people committed to the total destruction of Israel was. This is also going to force UNESCO to take sides with common sense, decency and real democracy, a far cry from what Hamas promotes. UNESCO will eventually realize their mistake, but at what cost? It would have been a lot easier and much safer to keep the fox out of the chicken coop, than to hope that the animal would not eat too many chickens before he decides to become a vegetarian.
There is nothing peaceful about Hamas, Fatah or Hizbullah. Why is the world allowing those terrorist organization to pretend that they care? Beats me! But even UNESCO, in its attempt at promoting world peace, (and many of them are definitely worth mentioning), is still falling short of real peace.
Real shalom will only come with the real Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace) and that is Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, who over 2000 years ago at this season was born to die for all of us and give us hope.
Incidentally, as for Pandora’s box, the legend also tells us that when all the evils of the world were released, one item remained in the box, and that item was “hope”!