Protestant missionaries: the Palestinians are like Jesus and Israel is like the Romans

Representatives of several U.S. Protestant denominations have published a letter comparing Israel to the Roman Empire and the Palestinians to Jesus. (Read it here: "O Come, O Come Emmanuel!") The letter, which takes the form of an Advent prayer quoting Isaiah's prayer for the coming of the messiah, was signed by missionaries representing, among other denominations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church.

Their letter starts on a religious note (" 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel!' we will sing and pray as we make the advent journey to Christmas"), but it quickly shifts gears. The second paragraph provides a distorted, one-sided outline of Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank over the past year, using the typical tactics of describing the incursion into Gaza in isolation from its historical background, using casualty numbers which do not differentiate combatant casualties from civilian ones, and suppressing information about Hamas use of human shields.

The letter also claims that Israel in 2009 evicted hundreds of Palestinian families in the West Bank and destroyed their homes in order to expand Israeli settlements. In support of this shocking claim, the letter cites a webpage at the Palestine Monitor website (read here) which in turn cites an unnamed study by the U.N. Rather than supporting the letter's claim that hundreds of West Bank homes were destroyed, the U.N. study figures quoted by Palestine Monitor claim only 43 homes were demolished (excluding those damaged in the Gaza war) and makes no mention whatsoever of settlement expansion. The Palestine Monitor article does go on to claim without citing a source that hundreds of Palestinian homes are "threatened by Israel’s policies", however, that article simply does not support the claim made in the missionaries' letter concerning hundreds of West Bank home destructions to expand settlements in 2009.


The letter then goes on to compare Israel's actions to those of the ancient Romans, stating:

Reflecting on the society into which Jesus was born, we see many similarities to life here today. The ancient Israelites were occupied and suffered at the hands of a foreign power. The Roman occupied lived freely, able to use and abuse the local population at will, while the subjugated peoples lived in constant uncertainty and anxiety, never sure how they would be treated or whether they would be singled out for random punishment. This is being repeated today for Palestinians living under the longest occupation in modern history, generally trying to live life and survive, but sometimes crossing the line into illegal and counterproductive violence, such as firing rockets from Gaza into Israel. O Come, O Come Emmanuel!

To put this comparison in perspective, remember that the Roman forces in Judea are said to have massacred tens (if not hundreds) of thousands including woman and children, literally festooning roads with their crucified victims. The Roman war against the Jews included the Romans burning Jerusalem, including the temple, to the ground.

And of course, there was that whole Christ-killing thing... The letter goes on to subtly invoke that old standby, Jewish deicide:

What the Palestinian community faces, Jesus knew when he walked these stony hills.

True to form, the letter concludes with both a prayer and a pitch for members of these denominations to put their religious commitment to promoting peace and justice into action through participation in church-sponsored anti-Israel activism. It provides links to various websites which purport to even-handedly promote peace but, in fact, focus mainly on Israel-bashing -- for example, one maintained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America entitled "Peace Not Walls". (Read here.)

That ELCA webpage touts a fraudulent series of four maps purporting to show Palestinian losses and Israeli gains since 1946. In fact, it offers free of charge laminated cards bearing that series of maps to those who request them. These maps (which are commonly promoted by anti-Israel activists) utterly distort the history of the region by conflating several categories of "having land" (individual ownership, various forms of political control, etc.), by completely ignoring the historical context of Arab losses and by simply lying. The first map (labeled "Palestinian and Jewish land 1946", see below), shows land owned by Jews or Jewish agencies in white and all other land in the area, including the Negev and Judean wilderness, in green. It claims that the green was "Palestinian land", although, in fact, most of this land was not owned by either Jews or Arabs, was under the political control of the British Empire and was vacant.



Thus a map of the 1947 U.N. partition plan which divided the area between Jews and Arabs appears to show a massive loss of "Palestinian land", reflecting the fact that the largely vacant and inarable Negev desert was partitioned by the U.N. to Israeli political authority. The third map in the series (labeled "1949 - 1967") shows further decline in "Palestinian land" which resulted from Arab losses in the 1948 war. That map fails to mention that that war was a war of aggression started by the Arab states, thereby absolving them of responsibility for those losses. That map also describes the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip and the Jordanian-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as "Palestinian land". The last map (labeled "2000") inexplicably shows more than half of the West Bank, including the entire Jordan Valley excluding Jericho, as "Israeli land".




All prayers for peace and for the coming of the messiah aside, it doesn't take much to see this sort of thing for what it is: deliberately distorted anti-Israel propaganda dressed up in sheep's clothing. It would do every party to this conflict so much more good if those who purport to advocate peace would do so by promoting accurate, well-balanced views of the history of the conflict and by avoiding deliberately inflammatory invocations of Christ-killing imagery. At this or any other time of year, is that too much to ask?


NOTE: For those interested in following up on this letter, either by researching its signatories or by replying to them, the names of the signatories are listed below:

• Allison K. Schmitt, deployed staff member, Global Mission, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America;
• Bethany Fullerton, Bethlehem;
• Rev. Ian W.Alexander, Global Ministries – UCC/Disciples;
• Heather & Ryan Lehman, Jerusalem
• Janet Lahr Lewis; United Methodist Liaison in Israel and Palestine
• Rev. Mark K. Holman, Pastor of the English-speaking Congregation at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Old City, Jerusalem
• Peter Miller, Jerusalem

Methodist missionary to Israel: having portrait of Golda is "not very American"

In honor of the Fourth of July holiday, Janet Lahr Lewis, the United Methodists' chief liaison for Methodist visitors to Israel and Palestine, has published a column on the Methodists' official website in which she complains that the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Israel has on its walls

"portraits of ... Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, even Theodore Hertzl -- not very American in my view."

She goes on to write that

"For me, though, the Israel independence day evokes visions of slaughter and destruction, of forced marches and imprisonment. The U.S. Independence Day evokes thoughts of “freedom fighters” and “patriots.” ... Why don’t we refer to Palestinians fighting for the same rights as “freedom fighters” and “patriots,” instead of as “terrorists” and “extremists”?"

Lewis' column is published in the July 13, 2009 edition of the "Faith in Action" newsletter published by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, which can be read here.

Lewis serves as the coordinator of Methodist missionaries working in Israel and Palestine. A biographical statement on their website states that

"Lewis ... educates visitors about the realities of the situation, organizes conferences, develops media campaigns, offers worship opportunities, hosts delegations to the area and oversees other special events ... (She) is the main contact for Volunteers in Mission teams and United Methodists who wish to follow the recommendation of the denomination’s General Conference to spend a significant amount of time in the area with local Christians."

While serving as the United Methodist liaison to Israel and Palestine, Lewis simultaneously served for many years as one of the leaders of the Palestinian organization Sabeel, working in Sabeel's Jerusalem office and organizing their international outreach. Sabeel is one of the main promoters of the anti-Israel boycott and divestiture movement. (Read here.)

The Methodist church may have their reasons for questioning how "American" their countrymen are. They should make those reasons explicit, rather than snipe in an offhanded manner. If they consider having portraits of Israeli leaders to be un-American, they should explain exactly why. If they cannot, they should apologize for promoting the view that friendship with Israel represents disloyalty to the United States.

Moreover, the United Methodist church needs to explain why their liaison in Israel and Palestine, charged with facilitating both missionary visits and church tours to the area, would characterize the founding of the State of Israel in such a biased, distorted manner.

Lastly, the United Methodists should clarify whether they agree with Lewis' characterization of Palestinian military actions against Israel as patriotic freedom-fighting.

Do these views represent the official policy of the United Methodists or are they only the personal views of their chief missionary representative in Israel?

Obit: Rev. Franklin H. Littell, scholar of the Holocaust

from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The Rev. Franklin H. Littell, 91, of Merion Station, a Methodist minister widely acknowledged as the father of modern Holocaust studies in America, died Saturday at home after a long illness.

Mr. Littell dedicated his life to Holocaust research after spending nearly 10 years in postwar Germany as chief Protestant religious adviser in the U.S. high command. He was the first American scholar to offer courses on Holocaust and genocide studies, and at Temple University he established the nation's first doctoral program on Holocaust studies in 1976.

His scholarship examined individual responsibility in a free society and sought to encourage interfaith dialogue, especially between Christians and Jews.

Mr. Littell was the author of more than two dozen books and more than 1,000 articles, and was working most recently on his memoirs. He also was an activist who had marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil-rights struggle, said Marcia Sachs Littell, his wife of 30 years.

"He believed you could not hide behind the ivory tower of academia or the sanctity of the church," said Marcia Littell, a professor of Holocaust studies at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. "You must be actively involved in all that you do."

and...

In 1970, Mr. Littell founded the annual Scholars' Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches, which for the last decade has been based at St. Joseph's University. His 1975 book, The Crucifixion of the Jews (Harper & Row), was the first work to explore Christianity in response to the Holocaust.

In 1976, in addition to beginning the doctoral program on Holocaust studies at Temple, he founded the National Institute on the Holocaust there.

President Jimmy Carter named Mr. Littell a founding member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. In 1979, he was the first Christian appointed to the International Governing Board of Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust, in Jerusalem.

Mr. Littell was emeritus distinguished professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Richard Stockton College and a visiting professor in the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at Hebrew University in Jerusalem for 25 years.

Presbyterians Tell Jews: If You Support Israel, "Get a Life"

Anti-Israel activists, acting under the aegis of the mainline Protestant denominations, are telling Jews: if you care about Israel you need to "get a life". Seems to me that insult cuts a bit deeper when applied in the opposite direction.

Who are these people and what is their connection to this issue? These are the hypocrites who intervene in the name of non-intervention and support terrorists in the name of peace. They come from various liberal Protestant backgrounds but seem to share certain baggage relating to Jews. They tend to both hold Jews to a higher standard and regard Jews with disdain. They tend to have learned about Jews from the bible and apply that "information" to current events in an entirely inappropriate manner.

(Jimmy Carter has a long history of doing precisely this in his mostly neglected career as a Sunday school teacher. Those who've heard his lessons have reported that he generalizes about Jews as examples of various character flaws using the applicable biblical quotes to support his arguments. It's a short journey from that traditional form of anti-Semitic allegory to applying these lessons to current events.)

I assign all of them to read Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day for its critique of "honorable amateurs" with no understanding of realpolitik. These people, who combine their low level prejudices with naive good intentions can do more damage than they consider possible. I'm thankful for the gut feelings of the vast majority of Americans on this subject. They recognize the absurdity of these wacky amateurs and wholeheartedly reject the divestment movement.

Now read this from A Recovering Presbyterian: Presbyterians Tell Jews: Get a Life:

Since I have been examining church anti-Israel activism and its relationship to antisemitism, the following item struck me as a good example of problematic statements and actions undertaken by ‘leaders’ in mainline denominations. It contains several features that are very revealing about the current state of opinion and action in many of the ‘mainlines’.

Presbyterians ‘in the pews’ may or may not know the PC(USA) has an Israel/Palestine Network. This was formed in response to an action of the 216^th General Assembly, and it is supported, maintained, and advised by national PC(USA) staffers. It claims of itself that it:

“works in close cooperation with ecumenical partners and with the Office for the Middle East, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, the Presbyterian Washington Office, the Presbyterian UN Office and with other appropriate entities of the General Assembly and General Assembly Council.”

Its pronouncements therefore have a fair degree of official imprimatur from the PC(USA) and reflect opinions current among the national staff and offices of the PC(USA). Recently, the Israel/Palestine network launched a new, updated website. Among many other things (some of them very problematic in their own right), the I/P Network of the PC(USA) presented a power-point presentation that it attributed to Jeff Halper. I draw your attention to slide 31. Here the reader is told THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN THE DIASPORA MUST GET A LIFE.

I have said this is illustrative of the problems often encountered by churches in their pro-Palestinian activities that quickly morph into anti-Israel activities and then overtly anti-Jewish activities.

· The first problem is the painfully, unavoidably obvious double standard. This can easily be demonstrated by substituting any other group for ‘the Jewish community’. If Presbyterians regarded the Jewish community as an ethnic designation, the question arises: would Presbyterians post materials that tell the African American community to get a life? Would Presbyterians post materials that tell Italians to get a life? Would Presbyterians suggest that Native Americans should get a life? Would Presbyterians tell Iranians to get a life? The answers are NO, NO, NO, and NO. These would be extraordinarily inappropriate, insensitive and racist statements. If Presbyterians regarded “the Jewish community” as a religious designation, then the question is this: Would the Presbyterian Church publish materials that tell Hindus to get a life? Would they suggest Moslems get a life? Would they suggest that members of the Baha’i Faith get life? Would they argue that Roman Catholics ‘must get a life’? Again, in all four examples, the answer is an emphatic NO. How then is it possible that Presbyterians can think that telling “the Jewish community” it must get a life is acceptable in any possible universe? How then can the PC(USA) evade the rather obvious implication that its double standard is a form of anti-Jewish bigotry?

· The second problem is the attribution. Jeff Halper is the coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition. Halper is Jewish, Israeli, and has a unique opinion on the situation and on American Judaism. At one point Halper asserted that “[He] would argue that American Judaism is in danger of being turned into a cult.” The thing is, even if his opinions are inherently offensive, Jeff Halper can speak because his criticism does, to some degree, come “from the inside”. The immediate problem, however, with the decision of the PRESBYTERIAN I/P Network to publish these comments with its apparent endorsement is that Presbyterians cannot criticize from the inside. When Presbyterians support comments such as “The Jewish community in the Diaspora must get a life”, they are speaking of people of a different group from themselves. It can in no way be construed as self-criticism – instead it appears to be more accurately construed as bigotry. [This is, in all honesty, a common phenomenon – engaged in by the PC(USA), the UMC, and many other groups. These have frequently found certain Jewish personalities or groups to endorse their activism as if this somehow inoculated them from antisemitism. But it is a patently false argument because it seizes on small minority opinions as if these were representative of Jewish people generally, and because it fails to account for the distinction between what it might be acceptable for a member of a race or religion to say about that race or religion and what would be unacceptable for a person to say about member of a different race or religion.]

· The third problem is the question of audience. By featuring this on a Presbyterian website, the Presbyterian I/P Network must intend it to be read by someone. The questions are who? And to what purpose? It is obvious that the Presbyterian activists who made this decision cannot really believe that telling the Jewish community in the Diaspora to ‘get a life’ will somehow prompt Israelis to change the policies to which the I/P Network objects. It is equally obvious that this is not directed at the Jewish community – because it is clear that members of the Jewish community would not be persuaded by Presbyterians telling them to ‘get a life’. Its appearance on a Presbyterian website instead seems to be directed at Presbyterians – to convince them to ignore (without a hearing or consideration) opinions from Jewish people that conflict with the I/P Network’s agenda. It seems to be indicating that good Presbyterians don’t have to listen to Jews because Jews need to ‘get a life’.

I’m left wondering how long Christian groups will content themselves with a brand of activism that clearly crosses lines into the offensive and immoral over and over again. I’m left wondering how long it will be before the members of Christian organizations will start to say enough. I’m left wondering how many times these same members will content themselves with the inherent corruption of having their ‘corporate witness’ commandeered by those so driven by their own political agendas that they take no note of the consequences of their actions – either to those organizations or to others.

Will Spotts

Anti-Israel propagandist touring US churches

The traditional covered dish dinner of the small town American church has changed. Along with the pot roast and macaroni and cheese, you may now be served a helping of anti-Israel propaganda delivered by a professional propagandist. These propagandists are insinuating themselves into the mainstream via the grassroots, attending regularly scheduled suppers and meetings to deliver a carefully crafted anti-Israel message. It has now become commonplace within many churches in this country to view Israel in only the most negative terms, and to dismiss all Christian support for Israel as a form of fundamentalism. In fact, it has become difficult to discuss the issue at all within many churches unless you adhere to the views of people like Janet Lahr Lewis.

Janet Lahr Lewis is a professional anti-Israel activist who (according to her bio) worked for Sabeel's main office in Jerusalem for 10 years and has since served as the executive director of Friends of Sabeel for two years, in which position she runs their international outreach operations. She has also achieved a level of prominence within the United Methodist Church, which is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the U.S. Her UMC profile lists her as the UMC "liaison between ecumenical groups and Israel and Palestine"... Janet is the main contact for ... United Methodist visitors who wish to follow the recommendation of the General Conference to spend a significant amount of time in the area with (Israeli and Palestinian) Christians." In other words, the United Methodist Church has installed a strident anti-Israel activist as their primary contact person for groups wishing to conduct fact-finding tours of Israel and the Palestinian territories under church aegis. (More here in this piece on Sabeel)

Lewis, who worked as a civil engineer and "troubleshooter" at a Old Cast Stone Products in Thompson, OH, says she received a calling on a visit to "the Holy Land". According to the bio she posts on the official website for United Methodist missionaries:

“After taking a typical Holy Land tour and seeing the devastating consequences of the ongoing illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, I experienced not only a ‘call’, but rather an undeniable ‘push’ to go back to that not-so-holy land and do whatever I could to help bring about ‘freedom for the oppressed,’” Janet recalls. She sold her house in the U.S. and volunteered for several years, first in the Galilee, then Bethlehem where she “lived with my neighbors under the heavy hand of injustice and military occupation.”

I'm not sure how that bio corresponds to the more than 12 years working directly for Naim Ateek at Sabeel, but, putting that aside, the main point is clear: she is the most senior United Methodist missionary in Israel and she is an outspoken partisan for the Palestinians against Israel.

I was wondering what she's been doing lately , so I googled her name and found that she's on a peculiar type of speaking tour. One targeting small town Methodists with her slick, well-honed message. Lewis has been a woman on a mission of late, going from church to church on a tight schedule, spreading her message of opposing the existence of Israel in the name of peace. On September 26, she hosted a conference with Naim Ateek in Bethlehem. (read here) After that, both his and her U.S. tour began. He went to the Sabeel conference in Boston, and she went on a speaking tour of small town America.

On September 30, Lewis spoke at the Angola, Indiana United Methodist Church, which describes her as "the missionary this church supports" (by which they must mean they send her funds).

On October 25, she addressed the Reno, Nevada First United Methodist Church: "News from Holy Land": "Lewis has served in the Holy Land since 1994, coordinating relations between ecumenical groups and their hosts. She is an educator, organizer, journalist and worship leader, working towards a peace for Palestinians and Israelis."

She was in California for a meeting with the good people of Chico, California's Trinity United Methodist Church on October 27. More here, this time featuring an "Arabic Dinner" (in a covered dish?).

On November 2, Lewis "gave the message" at a worship service and an "in-depth presentation of her work" at a potluck dinner at the St. Thomas United Methodist Church of Glen Elyn, Illinois. "Come and learn a little about one place where the church is at work in the world."

From November 2: Wesley United Methodist Church, Naperville: Announcements:

"UM Missionary in Israel/Palestine to Speak at Wesley; Friday, Nov. 2 @ 8 pm
The End the Occupation (ETO) group has invited Janet Lahr Lewis to come to speak at Wesley after their monthly potluck, at 8 pm on Friday, November 2.
Janet Lahr Lewis is a missionary with the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church and is serving as a liaison between ecumenical groups in Israel and Palestine. Come and hear the story that isn’t told in the American press about life in the occupied territories and the justice of the Palestinian cause. You may wish ~ are welcome ~ to come to the ETO potluck which precedes her presentation at 7 pm."

Then this notice of another event from a local Illinois paper:

"Nov. 4: Good Samaritan United Methodist Church will feature missionary Janet Lahr Lewis at 10 a.m. Nov. 4 at the church, 960 W. Army Trail Road, Addison. She will describe her Mission of Peace in Palestine and Jerusalem. Donations for her work will be taken and a luncheon will follow. For details, call (630) 543-3725."

Then this from the Downers Grove Illinois First United Methodist Church calendar:

"Tuesday, November 6, 2007: Stories from the Holy Land: Janet Lahr Lewis
Time : 7:00pm to 9:00pm Description: Janet is a UM missionary working in Palestine, sponsored by our Conference. Location: Chapel Hall Organizer: Jonathan Dean"

Then this from Fairview United Methodist Church of Ohio's Miami Valley area:

Monday, Nov. 12 at Fairview UMC, Dayton, 7:00 p.m. Reception following.
828 W. Fairview Avenue, Dayton, OH 45406 Ph: (937) 274-2178

Tuesday, Nov. 13 at Aldersgate UMC, Huber Heights, 7:00 p.m. Soup Supper at 6:00 p.m.
5464 Old Troy Pike in Huber Heights, OH Ph: (937)-233-8151.

Janet Lahr Lewis, a missionary through the General Board of Global Ministries, serves as the Coordinator of Friends of Sabeel-International at the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, Palestine. Friends of Sabeel support the work of Sabeel-Jerusalem by promoting nonviolent solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Janet's responsibilities are numerous. She circulates updates about developments in the ongoing crisis and suggests courses of action people can take to address it. She educates visitors, organizes conferences, develops media campaigns, offers worship opportunities, hosts delegations to the area and oversees other special events.

“Christ calls us all to be ministers of justice,” she observes. “Through my work with the Palestinian Christian community, I will be able to answer this call by working for a just and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis, so that reconciliation and healing can occur.”

A native of Cleveland, OH, Janet earned an associate degree in civil engineering and architectural design from Lakeland College and has studied theater arts at Texas Christian University. Prior to her current assignment, she worked for twelve years with
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. She has also worked closely with Archbishop Elias Chacour, a prominent Palestine Christian peace activist.

The United Methodist Women geographic mission study for 2008 is on Palestine, so this is an excellent opportunity to receive current, first-hand information about the area. We invite you to join us for these presentations.

There was this fund-raising appeal from the November newsletter of the First United Methodist Church of Bloomfield, Indiana:

November Outreach Spotlight:
UM MISSIONARY LIAISON IN JERUSALEM
What it is: The United Methodist Church liaison in Jerusalem is a ministry established in 1987 at the request of Palestinian churches. Janet Lahr Lewis has recently succeeded Rev. Sandra Olewine in this mission, serving as Coordinator of Friends of Sabeel-International. Friends of Sabeel is a network of international organizations that promotes nonviolent solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With seemingly endless challenges in the Middle East, it is important that we continue to support this vital United Methodist mission. Please consider making a donation by cash or check in this month’s yellow mission envelope. Make checks payable to FUMC with Missionary in Jerusalem on the memo line.

What it means: “After taking a typical Holy Land tour and seeing the devastating consequences of the ongoing illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, I experienced not only a ‘call,’ but rather an undeniable ‘push’ to go back to that not-so-holy land and do whatever I could to help bring about ‘freedom for the oppressed,’” Janet recalls. She sold her house in the U.S. and volunteered for several years, first in Galilee, then in Bethlehem where she “lived with my neighbors under the heavy hand of injustice and military occupation.” “Christ calls us all to be ministers of justice... Through my work with the Palestinian Christian community and Sabeel, I will be able to answer this call by working for a just and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis, so that reconciliation and healing can occur.”
-Janet Lahr Lewis

And this notice of fund-raising from the ground up: The Lake Villa, Illinois United Methodist Church collected $26.85 in pennies for Lewis between April and September. (They had a collection bucket in the back of the sanctuary).



That's just what I found in a brief google search, so I assume I'm missing most of her speaking engagements. Too much information? Why am I boring you with this trivia? Grassroots organizing can shape debates and influence policy-making virtually unseen. The religious anti-Zionism of Sabeel, Janet Lahr Lewis' message, is intrinsically anti-Semitic and is aimed at delegitimizing the state of Israel. This very extreme message is working its way into the mainstream because professional propagandists like Lewis are given a forum in American churches. That's how public opinion is being shaped from the ground up.

During the Great Depression, Father Coughlin spun a yarn about Jewish bankers taking control of the world. Father Coughlin proved that a virulently anti-Semitic message can be made acceptable to millions of American Christians given the right climate. He used the mass-media to spread his hatred, so everybody knew what he was saying when he said it. Sabeel activists like Janet Lahr Lewis are largely flying beneath the radar, helping to frame the debate and shaping future generations outside the awareness of the mass media. That's how the divestment campaigns have gotten as far as they have. In spite of the fact that they haven't yet succeeded, they have become part of the mainstream debate. That is, in and of itself, a sort of success for Sabeel. They can wait for the political climate to change to see if the ideas they're planting will grow.

So now these ideas are promoted in small town churches, by people respected and liked within their communities. That is why Janet Lahr Lewis' speaking tour is important.

We must not let a new generation of anti-Semitic demagogues put a friendly, acceptable face on bigotry.


Janet Lahr Lewis

UPDATE: Interfaith Peace Group Removes Holocaust Denial Author from Reading List Without Comment

I recently posted about the so-called "Interfaith Peace Initiative" of Providence, Rhode Island. (read here) This organization was founded by Susanne Garrison Hoder, one of the proponents of the anti-Israel divestment campaign within the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church. (read here) Hoder campaigns against U.S. support for and corporate involvement with what she calls "Israeli Apartheid" against "non-Jews". (read here) Here's a quote:

"When the world saw what was taking place in South Africa, a global divestment and boycott campaign ended the separation of that country’s people according to race. In America, people of conscience have not been allowed to see the parallels between Israeli actions toward non-Jews and the South African experience."

The "Interfaith Peace Initiative" portrays itself as a place where people of different religions and different political views but who all advocate peace in the Middle East can come together to discuss the issues and build a coalition for peace (read here) . (In spite of the broadness of their name, the main focus of this group is the Arab/Israeli conflict -- other war torn parts of the globe must find peace without their assistance.) Their mission statement goes so far as to stress that they have included voices both Zionist and anti-Zionist, creating the impression that this is a broad-based, inclusive group (read here).

I recently discovered that this group was recommending a book by a notorious anti-Semitic polemicist and Holocaust denier named Michael A. Hoffman II. Hoffman is the sort of fellow for whom opposition to the existence Israel is not sufficient. He has devoted himself to the promotion of some of the most virulent anti-Jewish literature in current publication, as he himself would admit. In fact, on his website, (direct link here; archived version here) he actually advertises himself as a sort of pioneer of anti-Semitism saying

"Areas of interest which Hoffman has pioneered: Judaism: the anti-Biblical religion of racism, idolatry, superstition and deceit."

In addition to opposing Judaism, Hoffman's works are devoted, in large part, to denying the Holocaust, although Hoffman prefers to call himself an advocate of "historical revisionism". Not surprisingly, Hoffman is also an advocate of current events revisionism as well, having authored "The Israeli Holocaust Against the Palestinians", a book which focuses on what Hoffman sees as the fundamental cause of the Arab/Israeli conflict: Judaism itself is fundamentally evil.

Speaking of revisionism, Hoffman actually revised the history of this book's creation in that he invented a Jewish co-author, whom he called Moshe Lieberman, and for whom he invented a fictitious biography: former researcher at Hebrew University. When confronted with the fact that Hebrew University has no records of employing a Moshe Lieberman as a researcher, Hoffman invented another bio for him and went on to say that his imaginary co-author was in hiding in order to avoid detection by Jewish assassins. Right.

Imagine my surprise when I found Hoffman's book on a list of books under the heading "By Jewish Authors" on the Interfaith Peace Initiative's list of recommended books (read archived version here). As outrageous as it is to recommend the book of this notorious anti-Semite as that of a peace advocate, or as reflective of an accurate view of Israel, these outrages are compounded by portraying Hoffman as representing a Jewish position. (Which raises the question, why does this group identify Jewish authors and separate out their books when the religious or ethnic affiliations of other authors aren't specified? More on this below.)

Since I posted on this subject, someone at the Interfaith Peace Initiative has had the good sense to remove Hoffman's book from their reading list. I am very glad to see them stop legitimizing Holocaust denial. But I still have some questions for this group:

Why was Hoffman's anti-Jewish book on this reading list in the first place? Does it reflect the views of the Providence Interfaith Peace Initiative? Was this book removed from the reading list because their views have changed or for some other reason? Why was an anti-Semitic book presented as representative of a Jewish view?

Why does this reading list single out authors it identifies as Jewish and list them separately from other authors while other groups are not so identified? This list, including works by Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe, Micheal Neumann and Anna Baltzer, consists exclusively of criticism of Israel, many by authors who identify themselves as anti- or post-Zionist. Is this "By Jewish Authors" reading list really intended to be representative of Jewish views?

The American right wing sometimes trot out black conservatives as representative of a significant minority viewpoint within the black community, although polling indicates that this is statistically untrue. The Republican convention tends to highlight the presence of black delegates in spite of the low representation of blacks in that party. Of course, this deliberate distortion is designed to create the image of a diverse, non-racist organization. I believe that the "By Jewish Authors" reading list of the Providence Interfaith Peace Initiative exists for precisely the same reasons: it presents a distorted impression of Jewish views on Israel, it provides cover for the extreme anti-Zionist bias of the group and, by highlighting the presence of Jewish authors, it counters charges of bigotry. 

To be blunt, this seems pretty sleazy. To restate: this group trumpets its inclusion of Zionist views, while promoting a harshly anti-Zionist bias. For propaganda, it singles out Jews for special attention while not doing so for others. It uses Jews as a cover for its bias. It deliberately tilts the debate on Arab/Israeli issues against Israel. It portrays itself as advocating peace while instead advocating for one side in the conflict, a recipe not for peace but for continued war.

But here's what I'd like to know: after having recommended a book of bigotry and Holocaust denial for several months, why have they removed this book from their website without comment? No explanation, no apology, no correction, nothing has been done to undo the damage they have done or the insult to the Jewish community.

If this group truly intends to be an interfaith peace initiative, they need to go a long way to explain their inclusion of bigoted voices and their distortion of their own mission.

"Interfaith" Peace group peddling Holocaust denial

Following up on a piece concerning Susanne Garrison Hoder, who founded what purports to be an interfaith peace group in Providence, Rhode Island, and also advocates for divestment from Israel via a United Methodist Church "Divestment Task Force" (read here):

It turns out that Hoder's "Interfaith Peace Initiative" publishes a reading list (read here) which recommends "The Israeli Holocaust Against the Palestinians" by the notorious Holocaust denier and anti-Jewish polemicist Michael Hoffman II. Hoffman, the author of "Judaism's Strange Gods", maintains a website called www.revisionisthistory.org. The opening text of this website reads as follows: "Areas of interest which Hoffman has pioneered: Judaism: the anti-Biblical religion of racism, idolatry, superstition and deceit."

That must spark some interesting interfaith dialogue...

as must Mr. Hoffman's writings promoting the blood libel, calling Jews "parasites" and denying the existence of gas chambers in Nazi concentration camps. Here's a list of some of Hoffman's writings from a single page of links (the website has many, many more, as well as years of bizarre commentary on current events):

1. The Truth About the Talmud: Jewish Supremacist Hate Literature
2. The Jewish Century
3. Shavuot Pogrom: "Nazis, Christians, Whores and Goyim"
4. A Debate: Is Spielberg Guilty of Falsifying the Talmud in his Movie "Schindler's List"? The Truth About the Racist, Chauvinist Talmud
5. The Jewish Mentality - Book I
6. On Jews and Christians Living in the Same Place
7. Are They "Jews" or Are They Really Khazars?
8. The Searing Racism that is a Racist Thought Crime to Expose

In case anyone has any doubts as to the nature and intentions of Hoffman's works, they are readily available on hundreds of websites, but the reader must be willing to visit the websites of neo-Nazis and other racists.... or the Interfaith Peace Initiative of Providence, Rhode Island.

[SIDE NOTE: The Interfaith Peace Initiative reading list lists Hoffman's books under the heading "By Jewish Authors" (others on the list: Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe, Michael Neumann; in other words, not exactly a representative sample of Jewish opinion. The religious affiliations of other authors on the list are not specified). Of course, Hoffman isn't Jewish; for this book, he invented a co-author named Moshe Lieberman, whom he identifies as a "former researcher at Hebrew University". Interestingly, no such person has ever worked at Hebrew University as a researcher and Hoffman has been unable to produce Mr. Lieberman. Hard to believe a scholar of Hoffman's repute would make something like that up.]


Author recommended by Interfaith Peace Inititiative (not a parody -- this was posted at his website):

Methodist voices, reasonable and unreasonable

Susanne Garrison Hoder bill herself as "the founder of the Interfaith Peace Initiative in Providence, R.I., and a member of the Divestment Task Force of the New England Conference". On the one hand, she seeks peace by bringing people of different religions together. That's admirable. On the other hand, she's part of the "task force" driving the United Methodist Church's anti-Israel activism. That's reprehensible.

For one person to fill these two contradictory roles could present certain difficulties. How can someone, on the one hand, bring conflicting parties together to work for peace, and, on the other, advocate against one of the parties? And how does this dilemma play out in the area of religion, where humanity's highest aspirations mix with its worst prejudices?

Of course, dealing with those difficulties require consciousness of them, and, judging by what she's written here, that may not be a burden Ms. Hoder has borne heavily. She has just published a piece called "American tax dollars supporting apartheid" on the United Methodist Reporter website, which is an official arm of that church. The factual distortions in the piece are many, her bias is palpable and her view of the conflict completely one-sided (although she does insert in her diatribe the non sequitur that she "celebrated Rosh Hashana with a rabbi" to reassure those who may be put off by her rancor).

But let me draw your attention to what she appears to advocate. She says "(p)eople from all over the world with Jewish ancestry are invited to live on property taken from Palestinians. Yet Christians and Muslims whose ancestors have lived in the Holy Land for 2,000 years and 1,300 years, respectively, cannot return." Hodor seems to advocate the "right of return" for descendants of Palestinian refugees from Israel, and oppose the right of return for Jews. This runs contrary to two-state solution which has been the goal of the "peace process" and provides the only real hope for peace in the region. Hers is a recipe for continued war and killing in the name of a radical, unachievable peace. That kind of peace advocate Israelis and Arabs don't need.

Here's a letter from David Preston of Jacksonville, Florida published by the United Methodist Reporter in response to Hodor's commentary:

Israel, South African "apartheid" cannot be compared

To compare a system which oppressed those who were ostensibly powerless (apartheid) with a system in which one is surrounded on vitually all sides—including within your own borders—by enemies who have as their stated goal your destruction (Israel) is nonsense and is morally indefensible.

In South Africa, blacks had very little power, military or economic, and the white government was all-powerful. In Israel, the Palestinians have routinely demonstrated their power through bombings, rocket attacks and the pressure of international governments and the press.

The Palestinians have been kept in their miserable conditions by the greed and corruption of their own leaders: Arafat, Hamas and the PA. Arab governments in the region have refused to allow the resettlement of the Palestinians in their lands in order to keep the Palestinians as a useful tool to weaken and destroy Israel.

Nelson Mandela preached reconciliation and cooperation. The Palestinians and their Arab supporters continue to advocate violence, even conditioning their own children to hate from birth. Look at some of the images of children being taught to hate Israelis, and the culture of violence and death against Israel, America and the West in general, which dominates the indoctrination they receive.

Israel is fighting for its life against a sea of violent, hate-filled people that are stuck in the 7th century. To allow Israel's destruction in the face of the genocide being waged against would be immoral.

As United Methodists, it's time to get beyond this infantile notion that holding hands and talking about peace will actually bring about peace. World War II should have taught us that lesson for all time.

UPDATE: Hoder's group promotes book by Holocaust denier Michael Hoffman II. Read about that here.

Methodist Board of Global Ministries Are on a Mission To Demonize Israel

from the Forward

"Some Methodists Are on a Mission To Demonize Israel" (Opinion, by Yitzhak Santis)

n 2004, the United Methodist Church passed a resolution calling for “members of each congregation to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from all perspectives.” The call for impartiality by the largest mainline Protestant church in the United States was a laudable one, but it has since become clear that for some Methodists fair-mindedness is not on the agenda.

Within the church there are various bodies that address specific subjects of concern to the whole denomination. One of these, the General Board of Global Ministries, embarked on a yearlong, church-wide “mission study” program on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To date the perspective presented by the program has been so predominantly Palestinian, and the effort to vilify Israel so transparent, that one can only conclude there is a campaign underway to persuade Methodists to support divestment at the denomination’s quadrennial General Conference next year.

The centerpiece of the mission study is a slick 220-page volume written by Reverend Stephen Goldstein. The book, which is published by the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, is available for purchase on the United Methodist Church’s official Web site.

The pattern of presenting biased opinions against Israel repeats itself over and over again in the mission study — as it does in the resources and links offered on the Web site of the General Board of Global Ministries.

Take, for example, the mission study’s bibliography, which is available for downloading from the board’s Web site. The first item listed is an article titled “Remember the Liberty.” Published by a group called Americans for Middle East Understanding, the article claims Israel deliberately attacked an American Navy ship during the Six-Day War in 1967. No countervailing view is included.

Indeed, in his book Goldstein describes the incident as having been “covered up for 30 years.” To get what he calls the “full story,” Goldstein directs readers to none other than the Web site of Americans for Middle East Understanding.

In both the bibliography and the book itself, some of Israel’s harshest critics — including Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, George Ball, Robert Fisk and Ilan Pappé — are given overwhelming representation. And the bibliography’s list of recommended videos, available from Americans for Middle East Understanding, feature titles like “Children of the Nakba,” “Palestine is Still the Issue” and “Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land.”

One section of the bibliography is titled “Jewish Religious Fundamentalism and the Place of Religion in Judaism and Israeli Society.” No comparable section addressing Islamic religious fundamentalism in Arab societies — let alone the role of radical Islamists in fomenting terrorism — is to be found.

Study mission participants are directed to download photos from the United Methodist Church’s Web site. The photos of Israelis focus on soldiers, tanks and the “wall.” The photos of Palestinians feature hugging children, a woman sewing and men smiling.

Absent from the Web site are photos showing the effects of Palestinian terrorist bombings on Israeli civilians. The message is clear.

Meanwhile, Goldstein’s narrative is plagued by severe factual errors. For instance, it describes “Baruch Goldstein’s assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in February 1994.” Rabin was shot by Yigal Amir in November 1995.

The mission study takes the view that Israel and Zionism are mostly at fault for the elusiveness of peace. It assumes the mantle of psychoanalyzing an entire society, and its tone and tenor are suffused with hostility and group stereotyping.

One example: “To this day there is a latent hysteria in Israeli life that springs directly from [the Holocaust]. It explains the paranoiac sense of isolation that has been a main characteristic of the Israeli temper since 1948…. And it has been the single most significant factor in Israel’s unwillingness to trust their Arab neighbors or the Palestinians…. Since 1948 the Holocaust and the fear of antisemitism have also created a consciousness that has contributed significantly to preventing Israel from making peace with its Arab neighbors.”

Or another: “The viewpoint of the early settlers was that of Western European colonialists. Today we would surely judge that outlook as basically racist, and it still is.” As proof of this assertion, Goldstein quotes at length the infamous “Zionism is Racism” 1975 resolution passed by the United Nations in 1975 and rescinded in 1991.

The study guide’s overall effect is to demonize Israel and those who support it. It is filled with glaring omissions, outright factual errors, misinformation and half-truths.

For example, Goldstein distorts a quote by David Ben-Gurion to supposedly prove that expelling Palestinians was always part of a Zionist master plan. In 1937 Gurion wrote a letter to his son Amos. Goldstein describes the letter as follows: “[Ben-Gurion] had written that if the Palestinians could not be removed from the country by negotiations, then ‘we will expel the Arabs and take their place.’”

In fact, Ben-Gurion wrote exactly the opposite: “We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their place.” Had Goldstein done his homework, he would also have read in the same Ben-Gurion letter, “All our aspiration is built on the assumption — proven throughout all our activity in the Land — that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs.”

Goldstein gives scant attention to Palestinian terrorism, while condemning the security barrier that has reduced Israeli deaths by terrorism from dozens each month to practically none. He takes Yasser Arafat’s side in the failure of Oslo at Camp David. He sympathetically discusses Palestinian refugees, but never mentions that hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced to flee Arab countries as refugees.

For Goldstein, it seems, Israel is solely responsible for the Palestinians’ circumstances, while Palestinians have no active role in this conflict. Palestinians, he appears to suggest, are only victims. He patronizes them by giving their leadership, which has failed the Palestinians time and again, a free pass. And, he discounts the considerable role played by others in the region.

What can explain such deliberate distortion? Perhaps Goldstein’s own words give a strong clue.

In the study guide’s opening pages he includes an in-depth personal history, in which he shares his story of alienation from Judaism and conversion to Christianity. Raised a Jew in Brooklyn and New Jersey, he speaks of managing “to get myself expelled from Hebrew school” and walking “away from my bar mitzvah.” He describes himself in high school as “attempting to deny being Jewish. If I were an adult, I would have been labeled a self-hating Jew.”

That an important mainline Protestant denomination such as the United Methodist Church is promoting this distorted and inaccurate program reopens a troubling set of issues in Christian-Jewish relations. We must frankly ask the Methodist church’s leadership how a yearlong study that is so flagrantly insensitive and biased could have been allowed to get past a first edit — let alone endorsed, implemented and distributed.

With divestment resolutions already emerging from several regional Methodist conferences, it is difficult not to view this study mission as an effort to ensure that if, as expected, divestment is voted on at the church’s national conference next May, delegates will have been prepared to cast their votes correctly.

Under these circumstances, the Methodist leadership should now engage seriously with the Jewish community, which overwhelmingly opposes divestment from left to right. Such engagement, if it leads to a truly fair presentation of the issues, could prevent a major setback in interfaith relations.

But talk is not enough. It would be an appropriate first step for the United Methodist Church to immediately suspend this flawed and fraudulent study mission, and restart it only after a serious review of the process has taken place. The church needs to ensure that materials representing a broad spectrum of mainstream Israeli and American Jewish perspectives are fully allowed into the discussion. Not only would this be in line with the church’s own policy of studying the issue “from all perspectives,” but it would support, rather than erode, the recent decades of Jewish-Christian rapprochement.

Yitzhak Santis is director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council’s Middle East Project.

Methodists bordering on anti-Semitism

The ADL reacts to the New England Methodist call for anti-Israel divestment | Ynetnews

excerpt:

Foxman furiously condemned recommendations made by the New England branch of the Methodist Church for its members to divest "from twenty companies identified as supporting the Israeli occupation in Palestine."

The recommendations were made by a "task force" of clergy and church members set up to implement a "resolution to end the Israeli occupation," a statement by the Church added.

Foxman, who is currently in Israel, said it was "sad that a religious institution whose job should be to reconcile continues to be biased and bigoted."

He added that in the past two years, "there has been a war perpetrated by Hizbullah, katyushas rockets, and terrorist acts. Now Hamas, that does not recognize Israel's right to exist and perpetrated violence, has gotten itself elected, and is in control of a million and a half Palestinians. And the Methodists are still there to teach Israel a lesson."

"My reaction is one of outrage to this biased decision, which borders on anti-Semitism. The facts show that any decent fair-minded, spiritual, godly person would not come to a conclusion to boycott the victim, the one that has been praying for peace, suing for peace, hoping for peace. To make Israel the target is just outrageous," Foxman added.

In the Church's statement, William P. Aldrich, chairperson of the 'Divestment Task Force,' was quoted as saying: "Selective divestment is consistent with the United Methodist commitment to a just and sustainable peace for all the people of the Middle East." He added that the divestment campaign "offers a tangible way of working toward this goal."