Ecumenical Blast Against Israel

Here we go again....

FrontPageMag:

The departing chief of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC) slammed Israel’s “sin against God” in his August 26 good-bye to the world’s largest ecumenical group.

"Occupation along with the concomitant humiliation of a whole people for over six decades constitutes not just economic and political crimes but, like anti-Semitism, it is a sin against God," declared Kenyan Methodist minister Samuel Kobia, during his farewell to the WCC’s governing central committee...read more

Daily Star via FrontPageMag:

There is great discomfort these days among those who backed Barack Obama’s “new” approach to the Middle East when he took office 10 months ago. That shouldn’t surprise us. Everything about the president’s shotgun approach to the region, his desire to overhaul all policies from the George W. Bush years simultaneously, without a cohesive strategy binding his actions together, was always going to let the believers down........

Barack Obama’s devotees may imagine that because he spent a few years abroad as a boy, he is well equipped to understand our complicated world. Perhaps he is, but his approach to the greater Middle East, shorn of the soaring rhetoric, has been artless and arrogant. The president is being tied up every which way by his foes, who can plainly see that the Obama vision is an unsystematic one. If ever the US has been close to achieving potentially terminal self-marginalization in the region, it is now...Obama's Mideast Confusion


Don't forget to catch up with Campsmore's daily Off The Wall News!

Jan Markell interviews Jim Fletcher

Jim Fletcher from Prophecy Matters and Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries discuss BHO's Cairo speech; his agenda, and the Leftist church's attitude to the Middle East...HERE

Jan also interviews Dr Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission...HERE.

I also recommend visiting Joel Rosenberg's weblog for frequent updates on the Iranian election aftermath.


Lori's links and comments:

Ancient Holy Land quarry uncovered, team says,

Dead Sea peril: sinkholes swallow up the unwary,

IDF to Emboss Ten Commandments Emblem on Military Korans,

McCain on Iran: We have to be on the right side of history,

US exports to Iran up in Boo's first months,

Ahmadinejad tells US, UK to butt out,

Democrats urge - to keep 'fingerprints' off Iran crisis,

Bibi: Nuclear Iran could lead to ME tinderbox,

Iranian air force to hold exercise,

Italy calls on Iran to accept G8 invite,

Al Qaeda says would use Pakistani nuclear weapons,

Putin spies in America,

Russia has great credibility in the Middle East,

Russia buys 12 spy drones from Israel,

Israel and Russia to renew, upgrade tourism agreement,

Korean ship with suspicious cargo heads for Myanmar,

Irish PM hails 'successful' EU summit result ,

Sarkozy says burqas are 'not welcome' in France,

Sarkozy in historic address to French parliament ,

The world will know the Ark? ,

Thanks, Lori!

Action Alert -- Help Support Pro-Israel Legislation!

A word from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews:

Dear Friend of Israel,

We have all heard the saying, “The road to ruin is paved with good intentions.” The message is clear. While good intentions may provide the starting point for our efforts, they mean little – and can, in fact, have an opposite effect – if they are not translated into positive deeds.

Today I want to tell you about one organization, founded with a noble purpose, that has strayed far from that original purpose – and tell you what you can do to help set it back on its proper path.

In 1949, the United Nations formed the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The original purpose of this agency was to provide emergency aid to the few hundred thousand Arab refugees who had fled their homes or been displaced in 1948 due the ongoing war waged by Arab nations upon the newly-formed state of Israel.

Sixty years later, UNRWA’s reach and budget has expanded exponentially. Unlike every other instance of refugee relief, in this case care of all descendants of the original refugees is also provided by UNRWA. Today the agency provides for more than 4 million people, both those living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and those who live in established communities but are nonetheless considered “refugees” by UNRWA’s definition.

While its stated purpose is humanitarian, UNRWA has evolved into an organization that many say perpetuates, rather than eases, the plight of Palestinian refugees and the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict in general. For instance, UNRWA often plays an indirect role in supporting Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Hamas members have been found on the agency’s payroll, a fact that did not seem to bother UNRWA Commissioner-General in 2004 Peter Hansen, when he told a reporter, “I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime.” More recently, the agency revealed that it has no screening system in place to exclude members of terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad from working in its schools.

A couple of high-profile cases have brought to the world’s attention the connection between Hamas and various other terror groups and UNRWA. It was revealed recently that Awad Al-Qiq, chief rocket-maker for the Islamic Jihad terror group, worked as a science instructor at an UNRWA school in Gaza. Said Siyam, a senior Hamas leader targeted and killed by an Israeli air strike during last month’s Gaza war, was on the UNRWA payroll for years, also working as a teacher. These are only two of the most glaring examples.

And if terrorists are the teachers, what is being taught in UNRWA-funded schools? It has been found that textbooks used in UNRWA schools often reinforce a point of view that is deeply hostile to Israel. One book obtained by Israeli officials at an UNRWA school glorified terrorists and anyone who died during armed struggle with Israel as “martyrs.”

To address this problem, a bi-partisan group of Congressmen, lead by Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), are reviving a bill (H. Con. Res. 29) they originally proposed several years ago. This bill would require that UNRWA operate in compliance with existing U.S. laws to ensure that no American taxpayer dollars are being directed to terrorists or to further terrorist propaganda. In addition, it would call on UNRWA to publish online copies of all the education material used in its schools, and urge the agency to adopt strict screening procedures to ensure that no terrorists are included among UNRWA staff.

Let’s challenge UNRWA to make sure that its good intentions truly ease suffering and further the cause of peace in the Middle East. Join the fight for fairness for Israel by responding to our Action Alert and urging your Congressman to support this bill that calls on UNRWA to reform. And, after you have done so, please help us spread the word on this important legislation by forwarding the alert to your friends. Thank you, my friends, for making your voice heard!

With prayers for shalom, peace,

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

What really happened in the Middle East.

Terrorism Awareness Project has a presentation that puts the current and historical issues of the Middle East into perspective. It helps to dispel some common myths such as the one that Israel somehow stole the land from the Palestinians.

Be aware, however, that some of the photos are quite graphic. Watch it HERE

ISRAEL'S HISTORY AND RIGHT TO EXIST

There are some excellent resources that explain the complexities of the problems between Israel and her neighbors. This is but one...

This section of DiscoverTheNetworks examines how Israel came into existence, and explains why it is (contrary to the claims of much of the Arab world and the Arab lobby) a nation every bit as legitimate as any other in the world. In his November 30, 2007 article titled "Israel’s Right to the Land" (published by FrontPageMagazine.com), Sean Gannon provides the following analysis of this topic:

The view that the Middle East peace process ... is essentially a mechanism for the vindication of Palestinian rights over the West Bank and Gaza is widely held ... in Western Europe, where an awareness of Israel’s legitimate claims and entitlements has been a casualty of the predominantly left-wing media’s embrace of the Palestinian cause. Whereas Arab prerogatives are exhaustively documented, the Jewish right to this land is almost entirely ignored. The anniversaries this month of three of the founding documents of the modern Middle East present an opportunity to redress the balance and reassert the Israeli case. Read more....

See also: PALESTINE FACTS

Early History

World War I

The British Mandate

Israeli Independence

Israel 1948-1967

Israel 1967-1991

Israel 1991 to Present

Current Events

New post by Joel Rosenberg.

Joel Rosenberg has a new post on his WEBLOG.

U.S., Israel and the future:
3 webcasts from San Diego and Jerusalem

I encourage everyone who has a love for Israel and an interest in Middle East affairs to keep track of Joel's blog.

Three new articles from FrontPage Mag plus a new King in Israel?

The feral antipathy towards Israel, the concerted bid to leverage it out of the community of nations, accounts for the obstinate reluctance on the part of Western academics, intellectuals, professionals, churchmen and journalists to examine the true history of the region, which would expose the Palestinian claim to plenary proprietorship as largely fraudulent while buttressing the Jewish and Israeli title to rightful occupancy. As Joan Peters has shown in her scrupulously researched seven-year study From Time Immemorial, examining census reports and internal memoranda during the British Mandate, perhaps a majority of the “original” Palestinian inhabitants were relative newcomers to the territory in question, having migrated into the Holy Land from the surrounding Arab countries, mainly from what was then known as Greater Syria (i.e., Syria and Lebanon) when still part of the Ottoman empire, and afterward during the post-Balfour period.

A Mid-East Fiction


One of the perks of being Israeli is that people in far-off places seem to take an interest in your problems. For instance, Queen’s University and York University of Canada are planning a conference for June 1, 2009, on “Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace.” There’s already a website that’s issuing a call for papers and setting forth the “vision” of the conference.

Canada Conference Plans Israel’s Demise


When voters go to the polls on November 4th, they will choose not only a new presidential administration, but also the candidate's circles of influence. In the case of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, this includes Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said professor of Arab studies and director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Obama's Middle East Studies Mentors


And finally at Israel National News, a very interesting viewpoint from an historian:

Historian: Conditions Are Ripe for a King of Israel