Jews

June 15, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 2 Comments

Antisemitism is much more than “A Certain Perception of Jews!”

When attempting to tackle the age old problem of antisemitism, the very first thing to do is to understand the meaning of the word. The one aspect of the word that is understood across the board, is that even though the word contains “Semitism”, it only refers to the Jewish people. Semites include both Jews and Arabs, yet antisemitism has never applied to Arabs.

While the actions that can be labeled as antisemitic go back thousands of years and are documented in the Jewish Bible as early as the book of Exodus, the word itself is much younger. Many theologians, philosophers, pseudo-scholars and historians published numerous works against the Jewish people throughout history, but it is not until the late nineteenth century that the word anti-Semitism was coined. The first usage of such a word was by German journalist Wilhelm Marr who in 1873 published a pamphlet titled: “The Victory of the Jewish Spirit over the Germanic Spirit. Observed from a non-religious perspective.” In the pamphlet, he used the words Semitismus and Judentum interchangeably to describe Jewry and/or Jewishness. The usage of the word Semitismus led to the coining of the word Anti-Semitismus used in another pamphlet titled The Way to Victory of the Germanic Spirit over the Jewish Spirit”, in which Marr clearly sated his feelings about the Jewish people. In 1881, to remove all doubts, Marr founded the first German organization dedicated to fighting the “Jewish threat” to Germany, thus The League of Anti-Semites was born. The usage of the word continued to spread and was widely accepted by 1885.

Since that time, many reputable scholars have documented antisemitism through the ages, and have introduced their own definitions of the word, some better than others. Organizations helping to define and fight antisemitism, could be divided into Jewish and non-Jewish. Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are often more in tune with Jewish history, customs and/or the scarred jewish psyche of the post-holocaust era.

This is not to say that non-Jewish organizatons and/or scholars are insensitive or unaware of the trauma of antisemitism, but simply that there is a Jewish component to it making it much more personal to the global Jewish community than the rest of the world. A perfect example would be the 2008 US State Department definition: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” It is not from a Jewish institution and as a result, lacks some clarity and factual boldness. Yet there are scholarly works done by non-Jews that excel at defining antisemitism. Edward Flannery “the Anguish of the Jews” or “Toward a Definition of Antisemitism” by Gavin Langmuir are two of several that I would recommend. So , definition vary in clarity and weight.

This brings me to a recent adoption of a definition of antisemitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. It is pretty much verbatim the US State Department definition, “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.” The alliance adds that the definition is a ” non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism.”

I am saddened and concerned about this nebulous description of “the longest hatred.” While the second part of the definition is helpful in qualifying that antisemitism can be both in words and deeds, the first part of the sentence uses words that are watering down the whole definition. Words like “a certain” or “perception” or “may be expressed” are a very weak way to describe the on-going irrational hatred against the Jews. I find it hard to believe, but it is almost as if these words were selected with political correctness in mind. It is interesting to note that the Alliance also based its working definition on a document known as the “Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust.” While that document is a great work aimed at describing and denouncing the Holocaust, it must be understood that antisemitism precedes the Holocaust by more than twenty centuries and continues beyond the 1940’s with a revived and repackaged version of contempt against the Jewish people. So defining antisemitism using mainly a foundation of Holocaust is too narrow.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center reported the adoption of the [not so]new definition and praised it. In their mind, it “will force European countries to confront the growing crisis head-on.” I think that the definition would be clearer and much more powerful if it didn’t try to package antisemitism and Holocaust denial under the same umbrella. Holocaust denial exist because of antisemitism and must be fought as such, but it does not exist alongside antisemitism.

A simpler definition of antisemitism would work even better. It deserves to be more succinct, direct, and bolder in terminology. I propose this one “Anti-Semitism is the irrational hatred of the Jewish people characterized by destructive thoughts, words and/or actions against them ”. Under such a definition, we can include Holocaust denial, BDS, Christian Palestinianism, Replacement Theology and many other erroneous claims demonizing the Jews and/or Israel.

When it came to define antisemitism, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance was faced with the challenge of getting 31 countries to adopt the same working definition, and I am certain that it wasn’t an easy task. By their own definition, they are “an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to place political and social leaders’ support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance and research both nationally and internationally.” I still feel that their agreed upon final draft was too vague and thus less than satisfactory if their goal is to fight those who want all the Jews dead and Israel off the map!

May 23, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 7 Comments

Could Radical Islam be the Curse of Genesis 12:3 ?

In the book of Genesis, G-d made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants (the Jewish people) in which He unconditionally promised Abraham several things including many descendants, a specific area of land in the Middle East known as Israel and in verse 3, He also promised to reward those dealing with Israel and the Jewish people according to their behavior, as we read: “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.”

This promise from G-d isn’t an empty one as we can track through biblical history how He caught up with those who mistreated Israel. It didn’t take long for G-d to punish Egypt with the death of all their firstborns as the tenth plague inflicted on the Egyptians whose Pharaoh–who didn’t know Joseph– had ordered the death of all male children of the Jewish slaves he controlled (Exodus 1:8-22; 11:1-7). A curse for a curse!

We can also look at the story that unfolds in the Book of Esther. Haman, the arch-enemy of the Jewish people wants to get rid of Mordecai and all his people, so he fabricates a story and builds gallows to hang Mordecai. By the end of the book, it is Haman who is hanging dead on the gallows (Esther 3:5-15; 7:7-10), again…A curse for a curse!

But the Genesis 12:3 principle doesn’t stop with the biblical narrative. It continues through time as we can see with the Spanish empire that had been leading Western Europe for close to 600 years until the late 1400’s. That era was known as the “Golden Age” of Spain and it lasted until 1492, a date that according to most historians and scholars isn’t only the time when Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue”, but also the year when Queen Isabella chose to drive out all the Jews of Spain. Subsequently, 1492 became known as the start of the decline of the Spanish empire.

Genesis 12:3 could be labelled “G-d’s foreign policy as it pertains to Israel.” And if indeed G-d keeps his word, He will catch up with all the enemies of Israel sooner or later. Sometimes sooner, sometimes not, sometimes with a similar curse, but not necessarily always with matching curses.

Looking at the situation in Europe today, it is hard not to connect the impact of radical Islam to the behavior of certain countries towards Israel. All or most of the countries of the current European Union have had a history of antisemitism that, one way or another, can be traced back to the second Century BCE. Consider just a few of the European countries who expelled their Jewish communities over the last 600 years (several more could be listed):

England: Expelled the Jews in 1290
France: Expelled the Jews in 1306, 1321-22, 1394
Spain: Expelled the Jews in 1492
Sicily: Expelled the Jews in 1492-93
Lithuania: Expelled the Jews in 1495
Portugal: Expelled the Jews in 1496-97
Germany: Expelled the Jews in 1510, 1610, 1885
Bavaria: Expelled the Jews in 1551
Italy: Expelled the Jews 1567, 69, 1593
Austria: Expelled the Jews in 1670
Czechoslovakia: Expelled the Jews in 1745
Russia: Expelled the Jews in 1891

This doesn’t include a record of other major events in the annals of Jewish history that have punctuated the Jewish people’s story with horrific acts of antisemitism such as the Crusades, the Blood Libels, The Host Desecration accusations, Talmud burnings, the Inquisition, the Pogroms and of course the Holocaust. Without performing an in-depth socio-demographic study of all these countries, we can still speculate that there might be a connection between the treatment of their respective Jewish communities and how G-d might be responding in the twenty-first century.

Radical Islam had already almost impregnated all European countries until very recently. People like Bat Ye’or saw the hand-writing on the wall of European civilization as early as the mid 1970s in her seminal work Eurabia. Mark Steyn understood the demographics “point of no return” in 2006 in his book America Alone. I wrote about it as early as 2000 in my first book They Have Conspired Against You.

With the advent of the migrant crisis in the last two years, Europe has now been placed on a collision course. Germany and Sweden are leading the way in what could become to the first country wide cultural suicides. They are plagued by a brand of political correctness that has crippled them. They have lost their ability and in some cases their willingness to fight for their native sovereignty and established law of the land. Belgium, England and France are not far behind.

While we cannot dogmatically ascertain the connection between Jewish expulsions and God’s curse, there is a strong possibility that the steady, exponential and irreversible decline of Europe might be a result of these nations disdain for the chosen people of G-d. This certainly doesn’t place all Muslim as a curse to Europe, just like not all Germans were Nazis, but one cannot ignore the on-going cultural and demographic jihad happening in Europe. “G-d’s foreign policy as it pertains to Israel,” doesn’t allow for any grey areas. You bless or you curse and the results, while not always immediate and similar, have always been in kind– a curse for a curse and a blessing for a blessing– The wake-up call is imminent and many will be surprised!

January 22, 2016 By Olivier Melnick 8 Comments

Is Holocaust Denial Really about the Holocaust?

In 2005, The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 60/7 to officially choose January 27 as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. This is the day when the world is supposed to mark and remember the Holocaust and its victims.

2016 marks the 71st anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today more than ever, the motto NEVER AGAIN needs to be repeated to older generations and taught to the newer ones. as very few of the Holocaust survivors remain alive today, we run the risk of forgetting one of the most–if not the most–tragic genocide of human history.

This date is different from the Jewish commemoration of Yom HaShoah that takes place each spring in Israel. The International Day is an event sponsored by the United Nations. Even though I have lost faith in the ability or even the willingness of the UN to deal with Israel fairly, I appreciate UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s statement about this event: “Denying historical facts, especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust, is just not acceptable. Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of any State or people. I would like to see this fundamental principle respected both in rhetoric and in practice by all the members of the international community”. Of course, with all the pressure applied at the UN by many countries who are vowed enemies of the Jewish State, the tug-o-war between historical accuracy and political correctness is ever present.

In 1978, staunch antisemite Willis Carto founded the Institute for Historical Review (IHR.) Mr. Carto passed away last year but the website is still up and even though their administrator claim that they are not Holocaust deniers, their site is replete with books, videos, CDs and DVDs promoting that very view. It is interesting to note that a site called “Institute for Historical Review” almost exclusively deals with Holocaust denial and Jewish cabal theories. IHR is one of many websites promoting historical revisionism, yet they have in common to focus on Israel, the Jews and the Holocaust more than anything else.

On one hand, it is only when it comes to the Holocaust that people come out of nowhere with a pseudo-scholarly approach to the Jewish tragedy. People like David Irving, Louis Faurisson, Roger Garaudy, Louis Farrakhan or Bobby Fisher are just a few names in the pantheon of antisemitism and Holocaust denial. It appears to be such an obsession for these men (and many more) to prove that the Jewish catastrophe was a hoax.
On the other hand, very few people, if any, are interested in writing books trying to play down or deny events such as the Sudanese mass killings, the war in Kosovo, the Armenian genocide or even the Stalin massacres. All these tragedies (and so many more throughout history) were responsible for the death of millions of innocent people. When one evaluates the level of interest in denying the Holocaust as opposed to any other genocide, there is a flagrant imbalance. Why?

Additionally, nobody seems to hold any ethnic group or sub-group corporately responsible for the ills inflicted by a small section of their community onto another ethnic group. This being said, we would even have to prove that Israeli Jews are guilty of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, and they are not. But, let us assume that it is the case for a moment. The question would then arise:” Why should all Jews be equally responsible for what Israelis do to Palestinians?” Logically, they shouldn’t, right? But you see, antisemitism is highly illogical.

Using the same logic, all Turks of all times should be held corporately responsible for the Armenian genocide of the 20^th Century. There is certainly a small percentage of people who hate the Turks, but nobody sees all Turks of all times responsible by proxy. Yet this is exactly what looms over the global Jew wherever he is geographically or historically. Even Jewish people today–and as difficult as it might be–do not see all Germans as Nazis.

So maybe, Holocaust denial is more about the demonization and ostracism of the global Jew than it is about historical revisionism. This would lead the world to consider the Jews as lesser important or even “sub-human”. This concept was exactly what Hitler used to justify the Holocaust. So wait a minute, Holocaust denial could lead to another Holocaust?

It is exactly for that reason that we must continue to remember the Holocaust; because of Holocaust deniers. We must also continue to remember the Armenian genocide, but that one doesn’t seem to suffer at the hands of Armenian Genocide deniers (the same principle applies to all other genocides). Even though we continue to witness an increase in “Holocaust fatigue”, for as long as people try to tell us that the Holocaust never happened, it is OUR duty as decent human beings to continue to tell them and the rest of the world that IT DID happen, because very soon, all the first hand witnesses of the Catastrophe will be all gone.

In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old. Isaiah 63:9

December 11, 2015 By Olivier Melnick 19 Comments

Jews Don’t Need to Convert to Jesus…The Pope Knows Best!

When it comes to Judeo/Christian relations, the Catholic Church carries centuries of baggage from anti-Judaism to anti-Semitism to anti-Zionism. At the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, the Catholic Church was officially propelled onto the world scene and continued to widen a theological gap between Christians and Jews. A gap that would also become political, sociological and geographical until it came to its apex in the 1930s and 40s when it was given a pseudo-racial twist. Let’s face it, in the Jewish psyche, the Catholic Church is responsible for a lot of anti-Semitism, but be that as it may, not all Catholics are anti-Semites.

This is not a witch hunt against Catholics, yet it must be said that most of the Jewish persecution by the early Church and through the Middle Ages was performed by Catholic leaders who were also the representative of Christianity and technically of Christ on earth. The Crusades, the Blood Libel, the Host desecrations, the Black Plague, the Inquisition, the Pogroms and the Holocaust are all intertwined in a web of deceit that eventually leads back to the Catholic Church on way or another. Much of this was initiated by the Church and progressively picked-up throughout history to become lethal to the Jews as best explained by Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg in The Destruction of the European Jews. He saw the fate of the Jewish people as a three-step process over time: “From the 4th century the Christian missionaries told the Jews ‘you may not live among us as Jews’. The secular governments who followed them from the late middle-aged decided ‘you may not live among us’ and de Nazis finely decreed ‘you may not live’. Hillberg spoke of ostracism followed by expulsion and annihilation. In a nutshell, this is the history of my people.

From the early Church Fathers (200 CE) until 1965, the Catholic Church held all Jewish people corporately responsible for the Crucifixion of Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus.) It wasn’t until 1965, during Vatican II under Pope Paul VI, that the accusation was rescinded. In a declaration known as Nostra Aetate (In our times), Pope Paul VI promulgated that Jews were no longer to be held guilty of deicide (the killing of God.) The hope was that this “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions” would exonerate the Jewish people. Of course it never occurred to the Catholic Church that nowhere in the Bible are the Jews declared guilty of killing Yeshua because in His own words, He gave His own life for all mankind as it is recorded in the Gospel of John 10:17-18, ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. ¹⁸No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

Additionally, the Catholic Church has long felt that they had replaced ethnic Israel in the plan of God. All the blessings that God had promised to bestow upon Israel would apparently be transferred to the Catholic Church or even to all Christians to speak more broadly. All Covenants made between God and the Jewish people would now apply to the “New Israel” or spiritual Israel. This is commonly known as Replacement Theology, and this also cannot be substantiated by Scripture as long as you apply a consistent, literal and contextual system of interpretation.

While we continue to witness both anti-Semitism and philo-Semitism within the Catholic ranks, there has been an effort from several Popes to reconcile with the Jewish community even further. So much so that the current Pope has now announced that Jewish people do not need Jesus and that the Catholic Church should not try to convert Jewish people. There has been a certain amount of collective Catholic guilt regarding their treatment of the Jewish people. This rather recent reaction or possibly over-reaction, seeing the Jewish people as covenantal people in no need of Yeshua does a lot of good for the healing of Judeo/Christian relations. In a recent statement, Rabbi David Fox Sandmel, ADL Director of Interfaith Affairs reaffirms the importance of such a move by the current Pope: “This new Vatican document is a remarkable reaffirmation of the positive changes in the Church’s teaching about Jews and Judaism since the promulgation of Nostra Aetate 50 years ago. It is significant because it places a very clear emphasis on the rejection of the deicide charge, Christianity’s indebtedness to Judaism, the rejection of replacement theology, and the ongoing validity of the Jewish covenant with God.”

It is true that the Jewish people could easily do away with centuries of Christian anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, Jewish history has been recorded in blood for the most part. That history is part of the Christian baggage that cannot be unloaded. It would behoove Christians to stop believing what they have heard about the Jewish people and not add to this already overwhelmingly heavy baggage. To that end, the 1965 Declaration of Nostra Aetate might have helped somewhat, and the current papacy might even contribute further, unfortunately the roots of anti-Semitism–Christian or not–go very, very deep!

It is also true that the Jewish people have not been replaced by Catholics, Christians or any other people group who might consider themselves the “New Israel.” That rejection of Replacement Theology was made clear in the declaration of 1965. It might not have been adopted by Catholics the world over, but it remains an “Ex Cathedra” statement by the Pope, and as such should leave no option but obedience to it by Catholics worldwide. Human nature often gets in the way, I am afraid!

And of course, it is of the utmost importance to stop trying to “convert” Jews to Christianity. But is it possible that the reason for such a change is different that what the Pope would expect. Simply put, Jews don’t convert because they have no need to convert. If indeed, Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah (Isaiah 52:13-53-12) then there is nothing more natural for a Jewish person than to follow their Jewish Messiah. It is a personal choice that nobody can force us to make. So in a sense, the Pope is right, Jews do not ever need to convert to Yeshua, yet if it turns out that He [Yeshua] is the Jewish Messiah spoken of by the Jewish Prophets (Gen. 49:10, Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7, Mic. 5:2), then maybe it would benefit the Jewish people to follow Him.

October 28, 2015 By Olivier Melnick 5 Comments

Terror in Israel: Lone Wolves are still Wolves!

In the last month, Israel has reported almost 800 acts of terror. Much speculation arose in the media around the globe as to the possibility of a third Intifada slowly taking place. Yet, as of now, if we compare the current events to those of the First Intifada of 1987-1991 and of the Second Intifada of 2000-2005, we are not seeing an out-of-control uprising of a large number of Palestinians. It is simply too early to tell. There is little doubt that it could pick-up more momentum and become a third Intifada, but for right now it appears to be a random series of acts of terror by Palestinians acting as “lone wolves”.

Frankly, the recent attacks on Israeli citizens–as isolated and sporadic as they have been–are still posing a great danger to everyday life in the land. They represent individual jihad more than a third Intifada, but at the end of the day, the same people are targeted, the same people are victimized and the same agenda is promoted. Terror is terror is terror! Many unnecessary fatalities have been reported.

• Unpredictable Terror:
One of the grave dangers posed by this on-going terrorism in Israel is the fact that each act of terror is very unpredictable and very different form other murderous acts. Here are just a few:
• October 20: The stoning of a car forced an Israeli citizen to exit his vehicle and led him to be killed by a moving truck.
• October 18: A Palestinian grabbed the rifle off an IDF soldier, killed him and wounded eleven more people.
• October 16: A Palestinian disguised as a journalist stabs an IDF soldier
• October 13: A stabbing and shooting on a bus in Southern Jerusalem led to the killing of 4 people and wounding 15 more.
• October 1: Shooting to death of a young couple under the eyes of their wounded young children.

These acts are all different which makes them nearly impossible to predict or thwart. This unpredictability is possibly the greatest threat to Israel right now. Israel has become a world leader and expert on how to detect explosive devices ahead of their detonations. But how do you detect a knife made out of a school ruler? How do you predict the stoning of a car on the road? How do you avoid a car running into a group of people waiting at a bus stop? It is simple…You don’t!

• Cheap Terror:
Martyrdom has long been part of the Palestinian culture. Young Palestinians are indoctrinated at a very early age against Jewish people. They are told and taught about “killing Jews.” Death is part of the fabric of many Muslim countries in the Middle East, especially when it is connected to Israel. The promise of a “heavenly harem” of 72 virgins along with financial incentives to the families of homicide bombers have been common practice in Palestinian circles.

Not every Palestinian is keen on losing their life to “the cause”, but just about anyone would be willing to randomly hurt Israelis as they have done recently. This demands a very small investment of willing “Palestinian Martyrs” and thus is a cheap method of terror that becomes very attractive to many. We can expect a lot more of these acts in the upcoming weeks.

• Financed Terror:
It was good to hear that the US decided to cut its financial aid to Abbas by $80 million (why they still sent the remaining $290 million defies logic). Financial help to a terrorist group is basically terrorism. Why would we look at any other terror states such as Iran funding Hamas, Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda and see them as terror partners but ignore the United States involvement in terrorism?
Not one dollar of the $290 million that the United States sent Abbas in 2015 was ever justified, unless of course we bought Abbas’ lies about Palestinians being the victims of the Israeli occupation. The fact that the US retained $80 million in funding shows that something is wrong, but it is akin to trying to get somebody to stop smoking by pulling a few cigarettes out of their pack and letting them smoke the rest. It simply won’t work!

This current wave of spontaneous terror attacks on Israeli citizens and soldiers is not an intifada per se, at least not an “old school” intifada. Yet it might end-up being more damaging than the previous two intifadas. If creativity prevails, we will see more attacks in ways that nobody could predict. This has become a logistical nightmare for Israel. No wonder the mayor of Jerusalem recently announced to its Jewish residents that if they had a valid carry license, they should never leave home without a firearm.

The wolves attacking Israel might not come in packs and might be far from being well organized and structured, but they remain wolves with a ferocious appetite for Jewish lives. It is not about Jerusalem, it is not about the Temple Mount and it is not about the disputed territories. It is simply about the complete eradication of Israel and all Jews.

I still rest in the fact that God continues to be a Zionist and continues to protect Israel from complete destruction as we can read in Psalm 121:1-4
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.

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