UPDATE 10 am Israel time Thursday: No major terrorist events reported thus far today.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Good morning from Israel! After a smooth ride from San Francisco to Zurich to Tel Aviv, we touched down at 3:45 am this morning and were back in our home in Ashdod an hour and a half later.
During the flight back, your humble servant had time to reflect on our last six months of Israel activism in northern California—a six months that has seen us demonstrate against SABEEL, fight against the attempt of Muslim students to silence Israeli speakers at UC-Davis, argue against the attempt to have North American Veolia Water excluded from bidding on a water project in our local area, and fight against the attempt to have Veolia Transportation’s contract with our local transportation district terminated.
Along the way, we put on 10 pro-active programs supporting Israel ranging from a presentation about “Jerusalem: The Eternal and Undivided Capital of Israel” to a presentation by the Western director of Christians United for Israel, to a talk by the northern California campus director of Stand With Us about anti-Semitism on UC campuses, to a talk by the Israel Consul General of the Pacific Northwest, to our wonderful annual Israel Independence Day barbecue, falafel and salad fest.
In thinking back about all of these activities, one point in particular stands out—and it is a point that those of you who find yourself on the front lines of fighting against those who seek to delegitimize Israel may find useful:
The Christian community around the world, especially in north America, is playing an ever greater role insofar as Israel is concerned–both negatively and positively.
During the last six months, we have often found ourselves up against two groups in particular: the Methodists and the Quakers.* The Methodists have turned over their sanctuaries and social halls to the BDS delegitimizers and worse. This year we saw the Sacramento First Methodist church hosting a regional SABEEL conference—a conference that featured vicious anti-Semites among the usual cast of Israel haters.
But more than this, the Methodists in this area have opened their doors to a steady parade of presentations by NGOs on the left such as the New Israel Fund that do nothing but accuse Israel of illegitimacy. And at each stop along the way, the Methodists have been walking hand in hand with the Quakers—or as they prefer to be called these days the “Friends”. Without even a pause for a single critical thought, both the Methodists and Quakers have bought into the absurd Palestinian claim of victimhood. In this narrative, no matter how much Israel tries to negotiate, no matter how many concessions Israel makes for peace, Israel will always be the monstrous oppressor of human rights.
Fortunately, the Methodists and Quakers pale in numbers to the evangelical Protestant Christians. Amazingly, these supporters of Israel are increasing in number every day, so much so that we can now depend on them to come out in great numbers at a moment’s notice to fight for Israel in any venue.
What’s the moral of this story? It’s an old one: beware of wolves (Methodists and Quakers) hiding in sheep’s clothing—at every instance in which they engage in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic behavior, they need to be publicly shamed. At the same time, if you haven’t done so already, reach out to the evangelical community. You will find yourself rewarded a thousand times over—and more important, you will find a friend to help you in the fight for Israel.
One last word about our arrival this morning. I can’t tell you how nice it was to arrive to our house at about 5 am and find today’s copy of the Jerusalem Post on our doorstep. Amidst all of the stories of this day in Israel, one small article on Page 6 caught my eye entitled: “UN official Falk says media shows pro-Israel bias in Mideast conflict reporting” (I had to read the headline twice to make sure that I had not sleepily misread it).
In addition to the fact that Falk’s thesis is ludicrous (read any newspaper or watch any TV news program and you are likely to hear so-called “journalists” bashing Israel) , the notorious Falk (who accused the U.S. government of complicity in the 9/11 attacks) has now made a speaking career of accusing Israel of engaging in ethnic cleansing and violating human rights.
In this context, it was not surprising to hear Falk rant that “the American public isn’t aware of the behavior of Israel or the victimization of the Palestinian people . . . Congress is so under the influence of the Israeli lobby in the U.S. , there’s no real debate.”
Of course what Falk is really repeating is the old anti-Semitic canard that American Jews control the media and that American Jews control the Congress (if you hear echoes of the fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Zion you are correct).
Oh—and a couple of items I forgot to mention . . . Where was Falk making these anti-Israel, anti-Semitic comments? At the University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington. And what was one of the other four groups sponsoring his talk? The American Friends Service Committee.
If you don’t do anything else today, write a one or two sentence letter to the Seattle Times condemning the University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington for giving a platform to this kind of speaker. Here’s the address to which you can send an email: opinion@seattletimes.com.
Or you can contact the University Temple United Methodist Church directly:
University Temple United Methodist Church
1415 NE 43rd Street
Seattle, Washington 98105
Phone: (206) 632-5163
Email: office@utemple.org
What have you done for Israel today?
The company supplies and exports generic medications which hopefully will clear most of the doubts they have about buying Silagra 100mg medications.* As safe as the original medication.As you can see from the above criterion generic version of cialis prescription online is also as safe and effective as the original medication. It is argued that tadalafil generic online one in ten men has a tendency to capture many other complications of diseases and disorders. It is also known as a cheapest sildenafil uk reason of Multiple Sclerosis. Then it is implanted in the same or fuller action. get viagra cheap
*It is important to note that not all Methodists and Quakers are as I describe above–I am merely referring to those in our area and in the Seattle area.
—
As of June 1, 2012, your humble servant begun to recognize those of you who support Israel by donating to this website.
Israelstreet is building a wall of Israeli flag support. To have your own Israeli flag, you must follow two steps:
Step 1: Simply click on the “Support Israel Street! Donate” button in the right hand column and submit your information.
Step 2: Send an email to israelstreet1948@gmail.com with the following information:
Your name (or location):
The donation that you made (for purposes of identifying you):
A. A donation of $10 puts your flag on this website for one month
B. A donation of $20 puts your flag on this website for two months
C. A donation of $30 puts your flag on this website for three months
D. A donation of $100 or more puts your flag on this website for a year
What you want on your flag :
Line 1: (Whatever you want within reason)
Line 2: Name of your city and country.
Please note that donations are not tax deductible in the U.S. The IRS does not permit political advocacy websites to have 501 status. All donations that you make will be used for the maintenance of this blog, and your humble servant thanks you deeply!
*Note that your flag will appear within 3 days of your submission.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.