Posted on 09/07/2005 12:52:59 PM PDT by sionnsar
Heartening and uplifting news about a group of brave and decent Christians who have decided to challenge the Anglican animosity towards Israel. The group, being organised by Simon McIlwaine who is a practising member of the Church of England, will be called ‘Anglicans for Israel’* and will have the following aims:
'1. To resist the call for a boycott of Israel.
2. To support the people of Israel and to secure defensible borders for the State of Israel.
3. To promote bonds of fellowship and interfaith understanding between Anglicans and the Jewish people.
4. To recall the Church to G-d's Covenant with the Jewish people and to call the Church to affirm the centrality of Israel to the Jewish faith.
5. To call Anglicans to repentance for the wrongs-of both word and deed- inflicted by Christians on the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.
6. To fight all libels against Israel and the Jewish people and their State.
7. To promote reconciliation and ties of friendship between the people of Israel and the righteous Arabs who oppose terrorism and wish to have peaceful relations with Israel.
8. To protect the Christian communities threatened by Islamic extremism in the Middle East.
9. To bring the Church back to an understanding of the Jewish roots of our faith.'
Following the vote last June by the Anglican Consultative Council to ‘commend’ divestment from companies supporting Israel’s polices, based on a travesty of a report on Israel by the Anglican Peace and Justice Network (see my June 27 post) to which Dr John Moses, the Dean of St Paul's, objected, Mr McIlwaine wrote to Dr Moses thus:
'I am a regular worshipper at St Paul's and am writing to you, as I am deeply concerned by the signs that our Church is close to adopting a boycott of Israel. As an Anglican who cares for Israel and its people, I felt it important that I write to you to congratulate you for your courage in opposing the motion to adopt the APJN' s recommendations. A very large number of laity and clergy — as I know from my discussions with Dr Irene Lancaster of Manchester University — are frankly horrified at the prospect of an Anglican boycott of Israel. If the Church were to disinvest from Israel, the consequences would not only be catastrophic for future Anglican-Jewish relations, but would also give a green light to those who are not prepared to accept Israel's legitimacy and existence and who seek the destruction of what is not only the only Jewish homeland, but is also the only real democracy in the Middle East.
'Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which the Christian population has grown, and indeed Israeli Christians probably have the highest educational and economic status of all Israel's citizens. Religious activity — including evangelism — is legally protected and upheld, and there is no other state in the region which affords its citizens complete freedom of religious observance. Yes, indeed, the number of Christians in the West Bank has dropped — but that is mainly because of their appalling treatment by the Palestinian Authority, which has fomented a rising tide of Islamic radicalism since its formation in 1994. Christians are being expelled by Moslems from their homes and businesses, are having their farms stolen and are being assaulted — all with the connivance of the Palestinian Authority and its security agencies. A friend of mine in the Israeli Army watched in horror as Fatah terrorists seized a Church in Beit Jala and used it as a vantage point to shoot at him and his comrades. Of course, if he fired back and the Church was damaged, he was well aware the Army would get all the blame. Fatah terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and not only desecrated it, but looted and threatened the monks there — who, I assure you, were and are deeply, deeply grateful for their rescue by the Israeli soldiers.
'There is much confusion over the status of the West Bank. It is incorrect to call it the "occupied territories". They are land that was seized by Jordan-illegally — in 1949 in the course of a war launched against the infant State of Israel with the goal of its destruction. It is land that was gained by Israel in a war of self-defence in 1967. As such, these can be considered "unallocated" territories pursuant to the expiry of the Mandate, and there is a good case for saying that Israel legally and morally has the better title, especially as Jordan forbade Jews to become citizens or own property in territory under its control, and the Mandate required that Jews be given the same right to reside there as Arabs.
'In any event, I feel it important to stress that the land was not stolen from the Arabs, and Jewish settlements are built on what was Jordanian state-held land during 1949 to 1967 or on land which was lawfully owned by Jews before their forcible expulsion in 1949. It is unfair that Israel should be singled out for vilification, with the long history of attempts by Arab regimes to destroy her simply ignored by APJN. The security measures that Israel has taken have only been taken to prevent her citizens from being murdered by terrorists. Suicide bombs have not discriminated between Jew, Christian and Moslem.
'Having visited Israel recently, I have seen the security fence on many occasions and along much of its length. Except in a very few places — and then only to protect motorists from snipers — it is not a wall. It is probably the most humane measure that Israel can take to protect all her citizens from murder and it has saved countless lives. Finally, I feel it important to stress that none of the legal challenges by Palestinians to the construction of the fence concern the amount of (generous) compensation offered. Israel has an activist Supreme Court which cares for the rights of all its citizens, as well as the Palestinians who live under Israeli administration.
'Once again, I thank you for your courage in opposing the boycott and I hope and pray that other senior members of the clergy will act to oppose any motion at the forthcoming Synod to adopt the APJN recommendations.’
To which one can only hope that Mr McIlwaine now finds many other similarly well-informed, courageous and principled Christians who will join his group and turn it into a force that can defeat the moral and spiritual evil that has so consumed the Anglican church.
*The email address for this group is: anglicansforisrael@hotmail.co.uk
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. It is a little-known fact that a growing percentage of these people are Russian Orthodox Christians. There are even Russian Orthodox Christians who have served in the Israeli army. The "Palestinian" islamists despise these Russians worse than anyone else, and cite their presence in the Israeli army as a sign of the "Palestinians' " "oppression" by "foreign invaders". The growing good relations between Israel and Russia is in part motivated by the large numbers of Russian Jews and Christians in Israel.
The anti-Israeli stance of "mainline" liberal protestants, including those who have unjustly taken over the Episcopal and Lutheran churches from evangelical orthodox catholics, is a SCANDAL!!!! An even bigger scandal, which includes the Israeli situation, is the way that these liberal protestants fawn all over the very worst muslims, including islamoNazi terrorists and fifth columnists.
This will simply be ignored by the "anti-Zionists" in the Anglican hierarchy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.