They misled you and overcame you-- those trusted friends of yours. Jer 38 v22

Why some real Christians might be anti-Israel

I was given a recording of a session presented by an earnest Christian at the New Wine festival, and it really spoilt my day after listening to it in the car.  I can't imagine what it felt like to be sitting in the meeting.  I was left feeling, "have I been wrong all this time – have I been wasting time and effort and money in loving and supporting the Jews and Israel.   But then reality started to return and I realised several things were wrong with what I had heard.   I want to share these thoughts in case you find yourself on the receiving end of just such a battering.

Pre-emptive strike of God given authority

The speaker spoke of feeling called by God to do what he was doing, which, straight away, dismissed the validity of all who might disagree.  Also his claims of seeking Christian unity mean that those who do not agree with the views he put forth are guilty of provoking disunity.   Such claims must be followed up with truth and accuracy, but his address was taken up with expounding an extreme version of the situation, which aligns with that of the Palestinian Authority.   The speaker spoke of working for Christian unity and made token attempts at empathising with Jewish Israeli suffering, but he was not able to do so with any commitment.

Palestinian Christians

The speaker’s authority to speak on the subject came from spending time working with Palestinian Christians in Palestinian areas.   He speaks of them being delightful, spirit filled believers and of his feeling that Revival was near.   All of this may well be true and accords with my experience of born again Arab Christians, but it was all blown away when he went on to repeat Palestinian revisionist history.   The sincerity of Palestinians Christians is fine, but it proves nothing if used to campaign against Israel, since the argument fails to take into account the taint of Replacement Theology and Liberation Theology, which are widely held in most Palestinian churches.  No attempt was made to differentiate between the many cultural Christians and those with a living faith.   No mention was made of the Palestinian Christians who passionately believe in the Israel’s position in God’s word and purposes.    Neither was any consideration given to the intense Muslim persecution under which the Palestinian Christians find themselves which means they have to express their faith in nationalistic terms, if they want to avoid the violent attentions of their Muslim oppressors.   (Islam maintains that all territory which has once belonged to Allah must never be surrendered. Thus when a Muslim says that "the land (Israel) belongs to us", he means it belongs religiously to the Uma (worldwide brotherhhod of Muslims) but we think he means it belongs legally to individual Palestinians.)

He cites some Palestinian families that can trace their ancestry way back, but this proves nothing.  Zionists do not dispute that the land had both small Jewish and small Arab populations, even through the centuries the land lay desolate.   The claims of a few families, even if verifiable, cannot be projected to validate the claims of all those who came into the area after its restoration began and those claiming refugee status.

Christian unity rests in the fact that God manages to love, bless and work with His redeemed children; even though some of us must be wrong about some stuff.

Blackening the opposition

He spoke of a meeting seeking unity in the Middle East in which prayers were said for Israel’s Prime Minister and for Yasser Araffat.  He says a Christian Zionist attempted to attack the person praying for Yasser Araffat.  We all make mistakes and all groups have those whose passion exceeds their sense, but that doesn’t invalidate the whole movement.   It is not known if the prayer for Mr Araffat was sound Christian prayer or political flattery and hypocrisy.   (Mr Araffat and his men are Muslims, responsible for persecuting Christians)    Was the prayer for Mr Araffat’s repentance and salvation?

He worked to discredit Christian Zionist sources by telling us that one story was passed on around the Internet (including the ICEJ) but was eventually traced back to malicious planting.   This possibility is certainly a challenge to both sides of the debate to check their sources and weigh their validity before forwarding or quoting items, but can not be used to write off all support of Israel.

Terminology

It was noticeable that he spoke entirely of Palestine as if it was a nation; a Palestine Authority fiction that has now become widely accepted in the world.   Palestine is not a nation – it is a people group seeking to establish a nation state for itself within Israel.

Sources of stories

The stories he used appeared identical to the stories regularly emanating from Palestinian media and spokesman, with no distinguishing Christian characteristics.   The stories are heartrending, but are they true?

One must weigh the validity of stories with the track record for honesty of those who are telling them.   Sadly, the Palestinian news machine is regularly caught fabricating stories today, so one can reasonably assume it has done the same in the past.   See Palestinian Propaganda  and  Little Mohammed   and the blogs which dismantled the stories broadcast against Israel in the 2006 war with Hizballah.

One story recounted of Israeli brutality turned out to be that of the incident at Netzarim Junction in September 2000 in which Mohammed al Dura died, allegedly from Israeli bullets.   The speaker said, "we know it happened because we saw it on TV in the report from France 2".   This speaks volumes about what he is willing to accept as fact.  What we saw was 59 seconds of pre edited, shaky and confused action, produced from a whole weekend's footage.  Investigation and analysis of the evidence that had been excluded told an entirely different and much darker story, suggestion the deliberate creation of a young martyr (Little Mohammed)  to get the "Intifada" up and running.

The history also appears to come entirely from Palestinian sources.   While it is true that History is not an objective subject, and that all accounts will be told from one side, Palestinian textbooks and information sources are notorious for containing the most blatant lies.  You only have to visit the PA website and see the map; the whole land is Palestine and Israel does not exist!  The consumer must decide who he is prepared to believe.

The speaker recounted horrifying stories of Jewish terrorism – but are they true, and are the stories getting embroidered with time?  Certainly his telling of the regrettable events at Deir Yassin was considerably embellished beyond the account at the web site set up to remember the incident.  This site is sympathetic to the Arabs, not the Jews.    Concerning the belief that Israel practiced "terrorism" please see the page on Britain's role and responsibility for Israel.

He also spoke of some DNA research about a special identity of Palestinians, which is close to Jews.  However, checking on the internet reveals plenty of dodgy science seeking to support Palestinian connection to the territory.  While Palestinian and Jewish DNA might well be closer than expected, one should not use this to pursue spurious arguments.

He recycled accusations of Ethnic Cleansing; a popular accusation since the conflict in the Balkans.  In fact, population exchanges were practiced in several areas in the twentieth century as a result of conflicts.  (for example India and Pakistan, by the British)   The population exchange that occurred naturally between Jews and Arabs as a result of Arab dispossession and expulsion of Jews from Arab lands and the Arab advice to Arabs to leave Israel while their armies destroyed it was not deemed acceptable.   In fact the only "ethnic cleansing in Israel has been the removal of all Jews from Gaza in an attempt to appease the world which was siding with the Palestinians.

Finally

It is difficult to reply to such violent antipathy towards Israel, from a speaker who claims to be working for Christian unity.   Somebody recently spoke of Israel uniting Christians, and I pray this will be so.   But Israel is also a subject which is deeply dividing Christians, and since it is so important in God's purposes it is important that we are united facing in the right direction ( God's direction ; not facing in the same direction as His enemies. ) However, while Christians are divided about Israel within churches and denominations,   Israel is uniting Christians from across all denominations.

A last thought

Even if the Jews of Israel were proved guilty of some of these charges, should that change anything?

Are we called to comfort   (Isaiah 40) and bless Israel  (Genesis 12) only if they are perfect?

Does God  love me only if I am, and always have been, perfect?

Of course not!