When it comes to chronicling the "Oldest Hatred", stories abound. 2014 was no different, and in a sense, was even more heavily loaded with statements, events, tragedies and even death, than the previous year. All seems to indicate that Anti-Semitism is on the rise globally AND exponentially, in frequency AND intensity. A review of the main anti-Semitic acts that punctuated this last year will suffice to make your Judeo/Christian hair rise on your head.
A new fad has been spreading across the world like wildfire that originated in France in 2005, from the twisted xenophobic mind of stage comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala. Known as "La Quenelle" (French word for a fish dumpling), it consists of extending one arm like in the Nazi salute, but keeping it down along the body as you touch your shoulder with your other arm.
The new gesture is catching on and has been spotted during TV shows, on the Internet, in the printed press and many other places. It is also being duplicated by youths all over, who are mostly clueless about the message they are sharing. Additionally, famous athletes have used it during sports events. It has also been spotted in the military and in front of synagogues or Holocaust monuments.
This new gesture has made Anti-Semitism trendy and has emboldened Jew haters the world around.
On November 10, 1938, simultaneous violent attacks on Jewish businesses, Synagogues and properties occurred all over Germany. Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass” was a new phase in anti-Semitism leading to the Final Solution. While not many are willing to admit it, the modern day Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement (BDS) started in 2005 by Mahmoud Abbas, could very possibly lead to what took place during AND after Kristallnacht
PCUSA (Presbyterian Church USA) has been at the forefront of the BDS movement for several years now. They have never publicly claimed that they desire the end of Israel, but we must not forget that the BDS movement was started by the Palestinian Civil Society who clearly wants the end of Israel and all Jews. PCUSA has published a booklet and DVD entitled: "Zionism Unsettled". Knowing that the agenda laid out in the booklet has recently garnered the praise of ex-KKK leader David Duke and much of the Iranian media, should suffice to prove its anti-Semitic agenda.
President Obama made a visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jerusalem Post Washington Bureau Chief, Michael Wilner originally planned to join Mr. Obama and cover the US President's visit to Saudi Arabia for his newspaper. But Michael Wilner was denied a visa to the gulf country. He was the only journalist who was denied entry to Saudi Arabia on this trip. ! Is he a political agitator? No! Is he a human rights activist? No! Is he a terrorist? No! So what seems to be the problem? Oh Yes, I failed to mention, Mr. Wilner is Jewish, not Israeli Jewish, simply a Jew who lives in America and reports for the Jerusalem Post. No surprise from Saudi Arabia!
What greatly concerned me was the US administration's reaction to the banning of Michael Wilner's entry into Saudi territory. They were not disgusted, outraged, or even highly offended. They were simply "deeply disappointed" as was stated: "We are deeply disappointed that this credible journalist was denied a visa,"US National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said on Tuesday. "We will continue to register our serious concerns about this unfortunate decision."
I feel better already for the American Jewish community. Next time anti-Semitism shows its ugly head, will our government be "disappointed" again?
Growing up in post-World War II Paris, I remember my father telling me that during the German invasion of France, all Jews progressively saw their rights disappear and property being confiscated from them, eventually leading to the Final Solution. Few saw the handwriting on the wall, most people simply refused to believe that humanity could have become so corrupt as to completely seek the total eradication of the Jewish people. By the time the rumors were confirmed, it was too late and millions of innocent people had perished including six million Jews.
On April 14th, on the first night of Passover, some in the Jewish community of Donetsk, Ukraine were handed out leaflets written in Russian (translation here) on government letterhead, ordering Jews to register their real estate, modes of transportation and family members over the age of 16. Jews were told that if they failed to comply, expulsion was inevitable.
The leaflets ended-up being a forgery to create tension between Ukraine and Russia. The very fact that such an idea against the Jews would even cross the mind of any people group is evidence that humanity is not getting any better. If and when things heat up against my people to the level of the 1930s and 40s mass murders, it is clear that the new willing executioners will be ready, standing-by in the antechamber of anti-Semitism.
The world has witnessed what some call an unlikely reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Both parties desire the complete destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. They might have different approaches to their goal, nevertheless, it remains the same. So, is there a real winner in the reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority?
The Palestinian Authority has been under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas since 2005. Its political party is Fatah and at the risk of being accused of oversimplification, it could be said that Fatah is more of a secular political party while Hamas leans towards Islamic fundamentalism.
Drawing from the Palestinian Authority's reputation of being more moderate, Abbas has pushed the West for Palestine's recognition on the World scene at the UN and UNESCO. Over the last few years, inching their way towards what appeared to be an inevitable UN and world recognition in the near future, they have picked-up some momentum. The current "reconciliation" may hurt that momentum.
Benjamin Netanyahu immediately decided to put a halt to the peace process since Israel cannot and will not negotiate with terrorists, ever! The safety of Israel is first and foremost. Frankly, it wasn't much of a peace process to start with since Abbas was never really interested in recognizing Israel and continues not to be.
PC USA held its biennial 2014 General Assembly in Detroit. The result of the week-long gathering of delegates, leaders and other participants is still having major ripple effects within the Christian community at large.
Resolution 04-04 was the one that after several hours of a rhetorical ping-pong match, resulted in a vote in favor of divestment from Israel. The financial ramifications due to the divestment from Motorola, HP and Caterpillar are not really an issue. The motive behind the move is what really matters. PC USA joined other denominations in a bold move against Israel, like the Mennonites and Quakers and some within the Methodist denomination.
This has been such a biased case against Israel that it is very difficult not to see the anti-Semitic thread driving the whole move. The farce that was the 2014 PC USA general assembly was painful to watch, as no scripture was ever used to back up their pseudo-Christian move to divest. Why? Because none can be found. Instead, they would rather side with the "oppressed" Palestinians against the "oppressors" from Israel. Like it or not, this latest move aligns the pro-BDS voters with Hamas.
Mid-July in Paris was the first time that such a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian demonstrators was gathered. 10,000-20,000 people did not go unnoticed on the streets of Paris, especially when they were heard shouting "Death to the Jews", "F*# the Jews", "Hitler was right", "We will burn you" or "Jihad, Jihad, Jihad". When some of the demonstrators called for prayer, several thousand started to shout Allahu Akbar, removing all doubt as to the ethnic/religious fabric of the angry mob. It had simply morphed into an alibi for anti-Semitism.
Not too far from the demonstrators, about 200 Jewish people had gathered inside a synagogue for a special service to remember the three Israeli victims of the recent kidnappings/murders. All of a sudden the angry mob decided to throw café chairs (some of them lit on fire) at the building and continue to scream "Death to the Jews". By God's grace, a pogrom was averted but it appears that It is no longer sufficient for anti-Semites to denigrate the Jews with thoughts, words and even destructive acts against their property, now they want the people too.
The sad part to me is that the two sides of the vise are being tightened by the apathetic French by-standers. A by-stander who does nothing only facilitates the work of a perpetrator. Sometimes your boldest move is made by your lack of action.
After nearly a month of fighting between the IDF and Hamas and several failed cease fire attempts, a truce was reached. As Israel continued to withdraw its troops over a few days, the high cost of the Gaza War was assessed.
While over 3,000 rockets were fired by Hamas, the 2014 Gaza War was NEVER much of a military campaign but rather a media one. To be sure, Hamas' desire remains the complete annihilation of Israel through jihad as clearly delineated in their 1988 Charter. They have figured out that they can enroll the help of a biased media that has become so efficient at indoctrinating the clueless masses and corrupt governments against Israel and the Jews. So the result has become a smorgasbord of unfounded statements that serve only one purpose: the demonization of Israel. Truth is no longer sought!
There is no doubt in my mind that as the "scapegoat of humanity", from a human standpoint, Israel cannot win. But there is also no doubt in my mind that as "the apple of God's eye" (Zechariah 2:8), Israel will prevail. The truth must be told and if our voices remain all that we have, let us use them as much as we can!
The world ha been plagued by numerous attacks by Muslims from different factions. Damages have gone from verbal abuse on the streets of London to broken storefront in France to the crucifying of Middle Eastern Christians and the beheading of two American reporters. The perpetrators' common denominator is that THEY WERE ALL MUSLIMS. This is a fact and would only qualify as Islamophobia (a phobia is an irrational fear) if the story were fabricated to ostracize and/or demonize the Muslims. If, like some choose to do, I would state that "all Arabs are Muslims and I hate Islam, thus I hate the Arabs", that would undoubtedly make me an Islamophobe, but that statement is erroneous, so perish the thought. It would be the same as saying that all Germans were Nazis and I hate the Nazis, thus I hate all Germans!" Absolutely ludicrous!
I am convinced that true-to-the-Qur'an Islam IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE and only true-to-the-Qur'an Muslims are real Muslims. So NO, I do not believe that radical Islam is the exception, I believe that radical Islam is the real Islam and that the rest of the world's Muslims are not moderate but either nominal or cultural, but I ache for the 1.5 billion Muslims who are prisoners of Islam. God loves all people and I love God and want to be in His will, thus I will strive to show His love to all, and as a result I CANNOT HATE MUSLIMS.
By now, there are not that many places in the world where the acronym ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) remains unknown. They have acquired quite a ruthless, bloody reputation in just a few months. When it was first announced that they were a splinter group from Al-Qaeda, we witnessed an almost "tongue-in-cheek" yet blasé reaction from most people. Little did we all know about the rapes, crucifixions and beheading that were about to take place. The bold Caliphate declaration by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on June 29, 2014 was a surprise to most, but it remained unchallenged. It is a long shot to expect the rebirth and growth of an Islamic caliphate, but we must remember that even if the Third Reich was short lived, it was lethal.
ISIS is very impressive and attractive to a myriad of radical Islam aficionados (Muslims or not) and has managed to attract followers from various corners of the planet with their supremacist ideology. They have an uncanny ability to draw people making them a real but very unpredictable danger.
It is time for civilized people to unite against the Islamic State. It is also time for the more liberal among us to realize that ISIS is the new Nazis of the Middle East, not Israel!
It was in the midst of a daily service on November 18, that the lives of the congregants of ultra-orthodox synagogue Kehilat Bnei Torah were changed forever. Apparently "inspired" by the butchers of ISIS, two Palestinian cousins with hatchet and gun in hand, barged inside the house of prayer and killed four people–three of them rabbis– and wounded many more. This was the worst attack in Jerusalem since 2008.
Once again, in the midst of a bloodbath, Israel's enemies have joined forces. Perpetrators, supporters and reporters all seem to look at the Middle East crisis through the same warped lenses of bias and anti-Semitism.
• CNN originally reported that the attack was perpetrated on a mosque not a synagogue (most likely a mistake, but seriously!?)
• CBC Canada News originally reported that:"Jerusalem police fatally shoot 2 after apparent synagogue attack". Absolutely nothing was mentioned on the Jewish victims at first.
• The New York Times was beyond vague as they headlined: "four killed in Jerusalem synagogue complex". The reference to the two men being Palestinians was scratched.
There was malice in the act itself, there was malice in those supporting it and there was even malice in the heart of those reporting the tragedy. Long gone are the days when I gave them all the benefit of the doubt and allowed them to claim ignorance.
Recently, It is within a 1939 edition of the Larousse Dictionary that the flag of Palestine was found amidst the flags of the world. We can see a flag made of two equal squares, a light blue on the left and a white on the right. Superimposed in the center of the 2 squares is a yellow Magen David (Star of David), which as we all know is the Jewish symbol par excellence. Dated from 1939, which was the start of World War Two, the dictionary wouldn't include Israel (not re-born as a modern nation until 1948). Note also that on the first line of flags on the left page, you can see the German flag harboring the now infamous swastika of the Nazi regime. There is thus no question as to the time frame of the publishing of this volume. So what happened that changed it all?
For those of us who are concerned with historical accuracy, the meaning of "Palestine" is pretty straight forward, it simply describes the ancient name given to Eretz Yisrael and thus to a piece of land biblically known as the "Land of Canaan" (Genesis 17:7-8) given to the children of Israel by the God of Israel, period!
This re-definition is the result of a geo-political move by Yasser Arafat after the Six-Day war of 1967. The Palestinian people were created and forced to remain in refugee camps created at the time as well. After almost half a century of propaganda and indoctrination, history has been reversed and rewritten and the Palestinian flag certainly doesn't bear the Star of David any more. On their site on Palestinian Facts, the explanation of the new flag includes a statement about it adoption by the "Palestinian people" (who didn't exist then or now) as early as 1917, yet in 1939 it was the flag with the Jewish Star.
This wraps up 2014 as it pertains to my analysis of the world's approach to Israel, the Jewish people and anti-Semitism. We have certainly seen a great increase of the Jewish hatred, especially in Western Europe, but also in the Middle East and elsewhere. The findings of the ADL during their survey led them to conclude that almost one third of there total population of the countries surveyed is harboring anti-Semitic views. That is huge, considering that in many cases theses people have never met a Jewish person in their life.
I fear that we have yet to see the worst of it all. Several Jewish communities are moving to Israel or preparing to do so like the 6,000 French Jews who departed France this year.
I see this as the final attempt from Israel's enemy (Satan) at eliminating the Jews who are the Apple of God's eye (Zech 2:8). I call it eschatological anti-Semitism and even if God has promised from His word to never forsake Israel (Jer 31:35-37), casualties can and probably will increase.
There hasn't been a better time than now to express our love for Israel and the Jewish people. The Jewish Messiah (Yeshua) is on His way back, but until the glorious day of His return on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the Jewish people need friends. My prayer is that you would be on God's side and bless Israel (Genesis 12:3). Thank you for your support!
Many blessings in Messiah for 2015.
Posts
